Kit Malthouse – another brand new Housing Minister!

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Recently elected as an MP for North West Hampshire in 2015 Kit Malthouse has taken over from Dominic Raab (now Brexit Secretary) as Housing Minister.

This is not what you would call a high profile appointment in a vital area of crisis for the UK

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Top 10 towns and cities that will bear the brunt of rising rents

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Two million tenants across the UK could be hit with rent rises in 2018, with Walsall topping the list of the 10 places where the highest number of tenants will face rent increases.

Over 70% of tenants in the West Midlands town could be hit with higher rents

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Kit Malthouse: Who is the new housing minister?

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MP Kit Malthouse will be the new housing minister, after Dominic Rabb was announced as the new Brexit secretary earlier today. Malthouse is the 17th housing minister since 1997 – taking on the new role just seven months after the announcement that Raab would take over from Alok Sharma in January this year. Formerly Parliamentary Under-Secretary […]

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Forum Spotlight: Students want to stay longer for graduation

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As thousands of students across the country prepare to graduate, this week’s Forum Spotlight looks at a question from a landlord on whether he should allow students to stay in his property for longer, while their graduation ceremonies are taking place. The situation The landlord has an eight bed HMO property, and all the students […]

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Petition update and Government response

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Petition: “Reintroduce full mortgage interest relief and drop the 3% stamp duty surcharge”

17,056 signatures – Click Here to sign petition

“We call on the Government to reintroduce full mortgage interest relief and to drop the 3% stamp duty surcharge which is increasing homelessness by driving many landlords out of the sector

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Bed Bugs – a growing problem for landlords

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Bed Bugs:

Bed bugs are a growing concern for landlords across the country. An increase in infestations means that more people are affected by this, and they are not easy to eradicate once an infestation takes a hold.

Bedbugs will lurk in cracks and crevices and they’ve been living on human blood for centuries. Though they aren’t known to transmit disease or pose any serious medical risk, the stubborn parasites usually leave itchy and unsightly bites.

Though bed bugs are not drawn to filth, as many people think, they are able to thrive more in an environment that is cluttered, or where clothing is left on the floor. School children are more likely to have clutter and leave clothing on the floor, and they can carry and pass on these bugs when they go to school.

In fact, if exposed to them, anyone can bring them home and quickly have a problem, as they breed at a phenomenal rate. It is thought that one of the reasons for the increased incidence is travelling and hotel stays. Corridors of infestations radiating out from airports, such as Heathrow and Gatwick, lend support to the theory that bed bugs have been brought back to this country from countries where they have never been eradicated.

The government recognise bed bugs as a serious and increasing problem and is launching a bed bug project to receive funding, among 53 other business ideas.

A new device could revolutionise how bed bugs are tackled, which is one of many new business ideas being supported by Innovate UK’s latest open funding competition.

The Bed Bug Project

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has identified a new bed bug aggregation chemical substance known as a “pheromone�, which acts as a powerful lure to the bugs.

One company connected to Vecotech Ltd, has received a grant of £220,034 to help with the commercialisation of a product to detect infestations at an early stage, which would lead to more effective control.

Professor James Logan, of Vecotech and Head of Department of Disease Control at LSHTM, has said:

“Bed bug control remains one of the most lucrative and growing markets in the pest management industry globally and insect numbers are also reported to be increasing rapidly.

“The common bed bug bite can cause reactions ranging from minor irritation to severe allergic hypersensitivity. They are a pest of significant public health importance and a major global economic problem, widely infesting homes, hospitals and dormitories and damaging the hospitality industry through infestation of hotels, cinemas and transport.

“There are a few bed bug detection methods and monitoring devices available, but there are no established products with proven reliability and efficacy for detecting low level infestations quickly.

“The objective of this project is to develop an effective test prototype of this powerful lure, to be used in a bed bug-specific trap, capable of detecting early stage infestations, that is effective, sensitive, long lasting, safe, affordable and discrete.�

Tackling Bed Bug Infestations – Control and Identification

If your tenants find a bug in the property, it is vital to capture it and put it in a plastic bag for identification. Proper identification is key to eradication. If the bug is a bed bug, here are a few things can be done protect your tenants while you await identification.

Advice your tenants to:

• Wash and dry all clothing and bedding on the hottest temperature.
• Thoroughly vacuum crevices, cracks, and stitching on mattresses, box spring, and upholstered furniture.
• Remove as much clutter as possible from the property. Bed bugs will hide in clutter. They are particularly fond of clutter underneath beds.
• Consider investing in mattress and box spring encasements.
• Put bed bug traps under the legs of beds to see if any bed bugs appear.
• While you and your kids sleep, you are the perfect bait to lure bed bugs out of their hiding. While the traps don’t stop an infestation, they will help you determine the magnitude of the problem.
• If you have a full infestation on your hands you need to bring in a pest control professional.
• See: https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/suppliers-directory/pest-control

A variety of low-odour sprays, dusts, and aerosol insecticides are available to control bedbugs. These should be applied to all areas where the bugs are observed as well as hiding places or spaces where they may crawl.

A pest control expert may recommend certain forms of deep-cleaning such as scrubbing infested surfaces with a stiff brush to remove eggs, dismantling bed frames and furniture, filling cracks in floors, walls, and mouldings, and encasing mattresses within special bags.

It is likely that you will hear more and more about bed bugs in the coming years. These pests are on the increase. Fortunately, they are a pest problem that has a solution providing you can educate your tenants to deal with it correctly. Don’t panic, just implement a sensible programme to deal with the problem as quickly as possible.

Bed bugs project among 53 business ideas to receive funding – see here

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Blog: Electrical safety in your rental home

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Ian Halton of the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT) shares details of the work the trade body has been doing to help landlords keep their homes safe.   The issue of electrical safety is high up on the Government agenda currently, with consultations in both England and Wales looking into tightening the […]

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Freehold co. blocking sale after service charge debacle and CCJ?

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I purchase a leasehold flat in late 2005, during the several years I lived there and for the following 5 years it was let, never at any time did I received correspondence from either the Freehold Co. or their Management Company.

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Motion to end s21 by London Assembly

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Section 21:

London Assembly Members yesterday voted almost unanimously to petition the Mayor of London to back a campaign, instigated by campaigning group “Generation Rent�, to abolish the thirty year-old no-fault Section 21 (Housing Act 1988) residential tenant eviction process.

A mainstay of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST), the section 21 no-fault eviction process has arguably been responsible for the rapid growth of the buy-to-let sector over the last 20 years. Giving landlords the certainly and security of getting their properties back in the event of rent arrears – by far the main reason for this type of eviction – section 21 is highly valued by most residential landlords.

However, despite arguments in the committee to the contrary, a majority of assembly members want to see the abolishing of Section 21.

Assembly member Sian Berry, who proposed the motion, said:

“The Assembly has firmly put its weight behind Generation Rent’s campaign to end section 21.

“London renters need to feel secure in their homes and know they can’t be thrown out on the streets for no reason. I’ve known far too many friends and colleagues forced to move out of their homes at really short notice at times when they would least choose to move.

“Having to move at short notice is one of the worst parts of being a private renter and ending section 21 would make a dramatic difference and solve this problem – it would also align our policies with other countries.�

Seconder of the motion Tom Copley, said:

“Our tenancy laws were introduced 30 years ago when only 1 in 10 Londoners rented from a private landlord. Now more than a quarter of us do, including increasing numbers of families with children.

“It is unacceptable that landlords can use section 21 to evict tenants for no reason. Private tenants deserve security to protect them from arbitrary or revenge eviction, the fear of which makes tenants reluctant to come forward to complain about substandard housing.

“The Government has just announced a consultation on three year private tenancies, but this will be meaningless unless no fault eviction is abolished. I hope the Mayor will use this consultation to urge the government to abolish section 21 eviction.�

The full text of the motion states:

“This Assembly welcomes the campaign to end section 21 – the clause of the Housing Act 1988 that allows private landlords to evict tenants without reason.

“We acknowledge that the threat of a no-fault eviction causes insecurity and stress for Londoners who rent privately and can discourage tenants from complaining about substandard housing.

“We welcome the action taken by the Scottish government to restrict no-fault evictions.

“We urge the Mayor to state his backing for the campaign to abolish section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and to lobby government for this change in the law.”

London Assemby Website: “Stop landlords evicting tenants without reason� – see here

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DWP Universal Credit newsletter for landlords

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The Department of Work and Pensions has published the first quarterly newsletter on Universal Credit. By the end of 2018 all Job Centres across the UK will have rolled out with Universal Credit ‘Full Service’, and the newsletter, which you can access here provides information to both private and social landlords. As part of the […]

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