What can the PRS expect from Boris?

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Boris Johnson has been announced as our next Prime Minister at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, where he won 92,153 votes from members of the Conservative Party.

The question is what can the PRS expect from the new PM and will there be any spare capacity or time to effect any changes with a promise to leave the EU by Halloween?

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Professional landlords drive BTL lending

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Paragon Banking Group reported another quarter of strong growth. The latest update shows a total of £1.90 billion of new lending across all business lines in the nine months to 30 June 2019. This represents a 20% increase on the previous year.

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Housing condition assessment process to be updated

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Housing Health &
Safety:

According to the recently published English Housing Survey, the private rented sector had the highest proportion
of non-decent homes. In this 2017-18 survey, 25% of homes in the private rented
sector were non-decent according to the Decent Homes Standard. This is compares
with 19% of owner occupied homes, and 13% of socially rented homes.

Using the Housing
Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), 14% of privately rented homes have at
least one Category 1 hazard, compared with 11% of owner occupied homes, and 6%
of those in the social rented sector.

However, it has long been suggested that the HHSRS system
for assessing condition is complex and needs updating and improving. So, the Government
has eventually got around to announcing that an overhaul of the system will
begin this year.

The current system is used by local authorities to assess a
range of potential hazards in rented properties: damp, excess cold and
electrical faults as well as potential fire and fall / trip hazards. Accommodation
throughout England is assessed against 29 of these identifiable hazards.

Following criticism over many years that the system is too complicated
and inefficient to give consistent results, a consultation took place in
February of this year to consider options to update and simplify the process.

Recommendations following the consultation resulted in Housing
Minister, Heather Wheeler MP moving forward to “improve, clarify and modernise
HHSRS�, to address whether any of the 29 hazards can be removed or combined. The
Government will also improve the guidance given to local authorities, landlords
and tenants.

Heather Wheeler has stated that the intention is to make the
process simpler to understand by all parties concerned, and to be quicker for
local authorities to assess health and safety standards in rented homes.

The aim is to help the authorities to improve conditions for
tenants and better tackle rogue landlords. Wheeler has committed to directly
addressing what experts in the field have said: that the system should be
simplified, that minimum standards for common health and safety hazards should
be developed and that digital solutions for inspecting rented houses and flats
should be explored.

In summary, the review the Government intends to:

• Review, simplify and improve the processes and
  update the current HHSRS guidance.
• Develop a comprehensive set of Worked Examples clearly
  explaining the range of hazards to illustrate the application of standards to a
  range of risks.
• Review the current assessor training methods and
  the needs of assessors and other interested parties.
• Identify a simple of banding together the
  results of HHSRS assessments to make them much easier understand for
  non-specialists.

The review will investigate the use of digital technology to
speed up the process of assessment and improve understanding and consistency of
results for all concerned.

Guides will be produced to help both the professionals and landlords
/ tenants.

It is expected that new system will be implemented later in
2019 when Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 will be amended.

See – Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS): guidance for landlords and property-related professionals here

See – Reviewing the HHSRS here

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Housing condition assessment process to be updated | LandlordZONE.

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Mockery of hunting landlords

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This Makes an absolute mockery of their hunting for landlords to place on their ‘rogue’ database that they now plan to give the public access to.

There have only been 10 Landlords put on so far!

When will they learn

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Brokenshire to stamp out ‘poor doors’

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New measures to tackle stigma and help end the segregation of social housing residents in mixed-tenure developments have been unveiled by Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. The move aims to stamp out so-called “poor doors� where entrances for social housing residents stigmatise and divide them from other residents in the development and other forms of segregation

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‘A new deal for renting’ – Section 21 consultation

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The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government have now published details of its consultation into views on implementing the highly controversial decision to ban Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and improving section 8 eviction grounds. The consultation closes 11:45pm on 12/10/19.

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Tenants are not evicted for no reason

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The RLA has conducted its most wide ranging landlord research yet concerning government announced plans to ban Section 21 so called ‘no fault’ evictions.

The research included feedback from over 6000 Private Landlords and strongly contradicts the Government

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Make Sure You Insure What’s Behind the Door – Shocking episode of Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

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I think viewers of this
week’s episode of ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ will find it hard to believe
that the damage to a property in Cardiff was caused by just one person.

Of course, the show
highlights some of the more extreme cases of bad landlord and tenant behaviour,
but it is also a stark reminder that this can happen to anyone.  If you don’t have landlord insurance specifically
covering Malicious Damage, or the skills to repair the damage yourself like builders
Stuart and Steve in this week’s case, the outcome could be even more costly and
distressing.

Earlier in the year my
team received a call from Stuart Haines. Stuart and his best friend Steve are seasoned
landlords with a combined portfolio of 30 properties. As builders who have
worked together for 15 years, they have renovated and let many properties, but
never had they experienced anything like this…and in all honesty, it even shocked
me.

Stuart and Steve let one
of their properties in Cardiff, but after 4 months they stopped receiving rent.  With the tenant subsequently denying them
access to carry out necessary maintenance, they called on us at Landlord Action
to help. Getting possession of the property seemed easy in comparison to what
we were faced with when we entered the property.

There wasn’t a single
room in the property that hadn’t been vandalised. Not only were there belongings
everywhere, anything and everything that once made up this property had been
damaged, including a shattered sink, broken tiles, hammer holes in the walls, doors
hanging off, cigarette burns all over the floor and graffiti writing throughout
the property. There were also pigeon feathers everywhere in the property. The pictures
speak for themselves and viewers will see the full extent on tonight’s show –
watch my face!

The costs faced by Stuart and Steve totalled more than £25,000, made up
of £5,000 rent arrears, £2,000 in court fees and £20,000 to repair and
refurbish the property.

Although the pair are in a more fortunate position than most since they
have the skills to put the property back together, they feel let down by the
system which allowed a vulnerable tenant with mental health issues to reside in
their property.

Steve said “We are in a fortunate enough position that we have a
property portfolio to buffer some of the expense we have incurred and since we
are builders, the condition of the flat does not put us off. However, I believe
for many an experience such as this would break them mentally and financially. Direct
payments from the council stopped because the tenant failed to fill out the
correct paperwork, but we are at a loss as to why we as landlords were
penalised when we continued to house the tenant.�

In contrast, our second case on this week’s show sees a seemingly professional
tenant turn out to be a nightmare for Jean Pierre Barakat and his wife after a
series of broken promises.

Jean Pierre has a property in Finchley, North London. Having given up a
career as a photographer to take care of his disabled on, Jean relies on his
income as a landlord to live. He let it to a privately educated individual who
worked in the city and was confident that the tenant had the means to cover the
rent.

As it turned out, the tenant could afford the rent, but instead was using the money (totaling £7,000-£8,000 arrears) to set up his own business.  By complete coincidence, the tenant used to work for an old friend of mine, and after a long conversation between just him and I, he agreed to leave. Unfortunately, the relationship between the landlord and tenant had reached the point of no return resulting in threatening behaviour following an encounter at the property. Watch Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel 5, Monday at 9pm to find out what happens!

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Make Sure You Insure What’s Behind the Door – Shocking episode of Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords | LandlordZONE.

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Insure What’s Behind the Door: Shocking ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’

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I think viewers of this week’s episode of ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ will find it hard to believe that the damage to a property in Cardiff was caused by just one person.

Of course, the show highlights some of the more extreme cases of bad landlord and tenant behaviour

The post Insure What’s Behind the Door: Shocking ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ appeared first on Property118.

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Survey findings – 84% of private tenants are satisfied

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Housing Survey:

The recently published English Housing Survey (EHS) for 2017-18 reports that private tenants in England are satisfied or very satisfied with their rented accommodation and the way they were being treated with their landlord or agent.

This is a national survey of people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. It is perhaps the most comprehensive, credible and longest standing housing survey available, first run in 1967.

Some Statistics and Findings:

Aroundone-in-five
households (20%) in England live in the private rented sector, making renting
the second largest tenure after home ownership (64% or 14.8 million), with social
housing (17% or 4.0 million) lower than the private sector – 4.5 million
households now live in the private rented sector in England.

The majority (84%)
of private tenants report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their current
accommodation, which compares to 95% of owner occupiers.

In comparison to social
renters and owner occupiers, private renters spend the highest proportion of
their income on housing. Despite this, the majority said they found it easy to
pay their rent.

On average, private
renters spent a third (33%) of their household income (including Housing
Benefit) on rent. This is compares to 28% for social renters, and 17% for
mortgage payers.

The proportion of
household income spent on rent was higher for private renters in London, on
average 42%, than for the rest of England averaging 30%.

Most private renters
(71%) said they found it easy or very easy to pay their rent.

One fifth of private
renters (20%) were receiving Housing Benefit (HB) and for most recipients (85%)
said that the HB does not cover their whole rent.

Around three
quarters (76%) of private renters paid a deposit at the start of their current
tenancy, and most deposits paid were equivalent to the value of four or more
weeks’ rent.

Around three
quarters (73%) of deposit payers said they knew their deposit had been
protected in one of the Government authorised tenancy deposit protection
schemes, whereas 20% did not know.

Most private rented
sector tenancies ended because the tenant/s wanted to move out.

Of those who had
lived in their current home for less than three years, 72% moved house because
they wanted to. The main reasons for moving in the past three years were job
related (18% of moves), moving to a better neighbourhood (16%) and moves to a
larger home (13%).

Of those who did not
move solely by choice, reasons included:

• move instigated
  by a landlord (12%),
• moving
  on mutual agreement with a landlord (10%),
• moving at
  the end of a fixed term tenancy (8%).

Nearly two thirds of
private renters (63%) reported having no savings. Just over a third (37%) of
private renters reported having some savings. 11% had savings of £16,000 or
more.

More than half of
private renters (58%) thought they would eventually buy a home. A sizeable
proportion of those who expected to buy did not currently have any savings.

Over half (58%) of
private renters thought they would eventually buy a home. Younger renters were
more likely to think they would eventually become home owners. 77% of those aged
16 to 24 thought they would buy, compared with 40% of those aged 45 to 64.

Of the 42% of
private renters who did not think they would eventually buy a home, most (68%)
said this was because they could not afford to do so.

There was no
apparent link between those who thought they would eventually buy a home, and
those who had substantial savings that could go towards a deposit: 12% of those
who eventually planned to buy had substantial savings of £16,000 or more.
Overall 42% of those who intend to buy had some savings.

Despite improvement
over time, privately rented homes were more likely to have indicators of poorer
housing quality and safety than other tenures.

The private rented
sector had the highest proportion of non-decent homes. In this 2017-18 survey,
25% of homes in the private rented sector were non-decent according to the
Decent Homes Standard. This is compares with 19% of owner occupied homes, and
13% of socially rented homes.

According to the
Housing Health and Safety Rating System, 14% of privately rented homes have at
least one Category 1 hazard, compared with 11% of owner occupied homes, and 6%
of those in the social rented sector.

Private renters were younger than those in other tenures.
The average age of private renters was 40 years, compared with 53 years for
social renters and 57 years for owner occupiers.

In 2017-18, 68% of main tenants in privately rented
households were under 45 years, compared with 35% of social renters and 24% of
owner occupiers.

Read the full report here

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Survey findings – 84% of private tenants are satisfied | LandlordZONE.

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