55% of ARLA agents witness landlords increasing rents

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David Cox, ARLA Propertymark Chief Executive, said: “Unsurprisingly, rent costs hit a record high in June as tenants suffered the impact of the tenant fee ban. Ever since the Government proposed the ban, we warned that tenants would continue to pay the same amount

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Lifetime BTL Remortages for over people over 75 years of age

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This is an extremely niche BTL mortgage product, but I am sharing the details on behalf of a broker friend who specialises in this market.

It isn’t easy to get a BTL mortgage if you’re over the age of 75

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Primark jumps on rent reduction bandwagon

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Rent reductions:

With “blood on the high streets�, retailers going into
administration and others obtaining rent reductions through the benefits of
CVAs, successful retailers are “seeing red�.

The CVA (company voluntary arrangement) is similar to the
personal IVA (individual voluntary arrangement), where an insolvency procedure
allows a company with debt problems, or one that’s insolvent, to come to voluntary
agreement with its creditors. This often means landlords accepting a reduction
in rent, store closures and consequently, rental values generally are
suffering.

So those tenants such as Primark who find themselves locked
into higher rents through existing leases see themselves at a disadvantage to
those other traders who have effectively been let-off their lease obligations.

Primark chiefs, says the The
Sunday Times, are calling for a 30% reduction in their own rents as a
result of feeling “hacked off� that other retailers are gaining a competitive
advantage from lower rents as a result of CVAs.

Primark is trading successfully through 189 UK stores but wants
to see its rent bill reduced on leases that it is locked into and have several
years yet to run. In return for reaching a compromise with its landlords,
Primark has said it is willing to invest in store refurbishments and enter into
longer leases.

Primark is joining other successful retailers who are
seeking to reduce rents to a level which reflects the changing retail property
environment. Next, and Waterstones the bookseller are thought to have secured substantial
rent reductions up to in the region of 30% when leases came up for renewal this
year.

Strong retailers are increasingly annoyed to see failing
businesses, competitors of theirs in some cases, benefiting directly by exiting
existing leases without penalty or achieving substantial reductions in rent.

Property Week
reports that fashion retailers Arcadia and Monsoon, like other well-known UK high
retailers, have managed to close unprofitable stores, while paying lower rents
for their remaining profitable ones.

One landlord told Property Week that Primark’s property team
has been instructed by senior management to go out and get rent reductions.

“They are looking at CVAs and are hacked off that they are
losing a competitive advantage. They want a slice of the action,� said this
landlord.

Landlords, on the other hand, are increasingly angry themselves
because they are losing income as result of CVAs, and some are challenging the
system. But ultimately many landlords have to accept rent reductions as being preferable
to driving their tenants into bankruptcy and being left with unoccupied premises,
a liability when they have to pay business rates and insurance bills.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Primark jumps on rent reduction bandwagon | LandlordZONE.

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The issue of costs that are the responsibility of the tenant?

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Recent legislation prohibits the applying of fees to tenants. Our AST clearly sets out the exact nature of the tenants responsibilities during their day to day occupation of the property. For example if a light bulb fails it is their contractual obligation to replace it

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Jacob Rees-Mogg: Cutting and decentralising tax

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Jacob Rees-Mogg has co-authored a paper for the Institute of Economic Affairs titled ‘Raising the Roof – How to solve the United Kingdom’s housing crisis.’

The Paper draws on some of the entries for the second Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize to find free-market solutions to the United Kingdom’s housing crisis.

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Nearly 60% of all adults say they have no Will

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Nearly 60% of all adults say they have no Will *  That’s a surprising statistic when you consider the implications on those that we love.

Not having a Will means that your next of kin will be faced with additional responsibilities after your death

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Are Zero Deposit Schemes The Way Forward?

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With all the adverse legislation now surrounding Tenant Deposit Protection I like to give my tenants another choice.

Guess which one they pick given this pitch?

“You need to pay one month or rent up front plus five weeks deposit.

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Evesham HMO landlord gets £14,500 fine

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HMO Licence:

The landlord based in Evesham was found to be housing 11 EU
migrant workers in a HMO property which required a licence to operate.

The landlord was ordered to pay £14,500 after he was found
to be illegally renting his property to the migrants without a current HMO licence
in place and with several safety issues.

Wychavon District Council has issued four civil penalty
notices to the landlord for a number of management regulation breaches as well
as the lack of the licence.

The Council’s action follows an inspection of a three-storey
HMO property located in Waterside, by its Private Sector Housing Team and the Police
on 20 March 2019.

This is the occasion in which the Wychavon Council has invoked
the relatively new procedure of using civil penalties as a quicker means of enforcement
that going to court. The civil penalty enforcement route was introduced last
year as part of a government initiative to crackdown on rouge landlords and in particular
those operating their HMOs without a licence.

On inspection a number of hazards were discovered within the
property, including poor internal layout, poorly working fire alarms, no fire
doors or compartmentation and the kitchen lacked a working oven. Inspectors also
found a family sharing a single room, unrelated adults sharing rooms and
overall the house was being used by eight adults and three children.

Wychavon Council is now forcing the landlord to fix these
issues which pose a serious risk to the tenants living there.

The landlord was collecting £810 rent per week in cash for
the property, a total of £42,000 per year.

An HMO is defined in law as a property rented out to at
least three people who are not from the same ‘household’ (for example, a
family) but sharing facilities such as the bathroom and kitchen. It is a legal
requirement that landlords operating HMOs must have the appropriate planning approval
and a current HMO licence issued by their local authority.

Wychavon Council’s private sector housing team has been
working together with the police and the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority
(GLAA) to identify potential abuses of the housing rules, in particular those
for migrants, in the area and undertake inspections of the properties. This is
to ensure the condition of properties is compliant with the health, safety or
welfare regulations to ensure the safety of the occupants and that they are not
victims of modern slavery.

Cllr Christopher Day, Executive Board Member for Housing,
Health and Wellbeing on Wychavon District Council, said:

“Landlords like this are taking advantage of vulnerable
people who have a lack of knowledge of the legislation surrounding renting in
the UK. We hope this serves as a clear warning that we are cracking down on
illegal HMOs in the area and there will be severe consequences for not abiding
by the law.�

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Evesham HMO landlord gets £14,500 fine | LandlordZONE.

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The lowest-paid will suffer most by the Government war on landlords

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I have written an article published yesterday by conservative home titled ‘The Government’s war on landlords will only make the housing crisis worse for the lowest-paid.’

The article is concerning the proposed scrapping of Section 21

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Call on Boris to review the Benefit Assessment Period of UC

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Caridon Landlord Solutions calls on Boris Johnson to review the Benefit Assessment Period (BAP) of Universal Credit which is catching landlords and tenants out.

Landlords and tenants who do not understand the implications of coordinating the Benefit Assessment Period (BAP) of Universal Credit with the dates of their tenancy agreement are

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