Zero Tolerance – £30k per offence?

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My council have invented a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in relation to enforcement of housing standards. They are saying that effectively they can fine up to 30k PER ‘OFFENCE’ and will be an ‘on the spot’ type of fine whereby the landlord will not be given any chance whatsoever to put the situation right

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Don’t believe what you read in Newspapers

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Further you cannot believe what you watch on television which is extremely anti-landlord. All journalists have their own Agenda. They are not all left wing but a good proportion are.

I take as an example Battered Wives. I only do “family homes� and that means two and three bedroom houses.

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Would it help the situation if I become a live in landlord?

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I am become a member of Property118 a few years ago. It’s my first time to creating an article. I have a problem I hope other members can help me with or give me some advice.

I have a HMO house.

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Lenders’ body calls for halt to government intervention in the buy-to-let market

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Mortgage Finance:

A leading association for mortgage lenders, The Intermediary
Lenders Association (IMLA) is calling on the Government to put a stop to its
legislative interventions in the buy-to-let market.

As reported by financialreporter.co.uk,
the IMLA’s new report is warning the Government that the private rented sector
is “still absorbing the adverse effects from recent tax and regulatory changes�,
which it says “may force some landlords out of the sector”.

“We are concerned
that layers of government intervention have adversely affected small-scale
landlords’ ability and appetite to invest in properties over recent years,”
says the IMLA.

Any more changes, it says, would have an adverse effect on “much-needed�
tenant choice and potentially raise rents.

The IMLA says, The English Private Landlord Survey 2018,
published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, shows
for the first time that professional landlords now account for a bigger
proportion of the PRS than small-scale landlords.

According to the Government survey professional landlords
now represent 48% of the PRS, which is up from 38% in 2010. At the same time the
number of single-property landlords has dropped from 40% to just 21% over the
nine year period.

Legislative changes were cited in responses to the survey as
the main reason for small-scale landlords planning to sell some or all of their
properties – 61% cited these legislative changes as the reason.

Kate Davies, executive director of IMLA, commented: 

“The UK’s private rented sector is under significant
pressure. Landlords up and down the country are effectively having to fill the
gap left by a shrinking social housing sector that is struggling to accommodate
demand from lower income households.

“At the same time, it must continue to meet the needs of
people who either want the flexibility of renting or who are not yet able to
step onto the housing ladder in the face of increasing house prices and tighter
mortgage regulation.

“We are concerned that layers of government intervention
have adversely affected small-scale landlords’ ability and appetite to invest
in properties over recent years.

“As increased tax and regulatory responsibilities
increasingly disincentivise landlords, we face a possible topping out of the
PRS. While it’s good to see professional and institutional investors increasing
their stake in the nation’s housing stock, the number of one-property buy-to-let
investors has fallen by almost half.

“Squeezing the PRS puts the pressure on millions of renters
in Britain. We are strong advocates of a fair market with a quality supply of
homes. Restricting the PRS risks a lack of supply, rising rents and a fall in
the quality of rental accommodation.

“We have repeatedly called for Government to put the brakes
on regulating and taxing our nation’s landlords. We urge a more moderate
approach to ensure our private rental sector remains strong for the millions of
renters who rely on it.�

New IMLA report: ‘Buy-to-let: under pressure’

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Lenders’ body calls for halt to government intervention in the buy-to-let market | LandlordZONE.

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Student rents indicating increasingly competitive market

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Data from Accommodation for Students (AFS) analysing the cost of student accommodation* in 2019 has found that the average rents across many cities are close to the 20-year average of £79 per week. This is good news for students indicating that there is value to be had

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Student rents indicating increasingly competitive market

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Student Rents:

The 2019 student rents are close to their 20-year average are indicating an increasingly competitive market.

Data from
Accommodation for Students (AFS) analysing the cost of student accommodation*
in 2019 has found that the average rents across many cities are close to the
20-year average of £79 per week. This is good news for students indicating that
there is value to be had but may mean that landlords have to work harder to
secure student tenants.

Currently
(2019) the average price for student accommodation is £86 per week but if
London is removed, where its buoyant market commands an average room rent of
£187, the UK average would be £79. The relatively small difference in price
between the 20-year average and that of 2019 reflects the fact that in the
majority of UK cities, the competitive nature of the student housing market,
with the growth of the PBSA sector particularly outside the capital, has curbed
rental increases.

Overall, this
has been a functioning housing market, with value to be had in the majority of
cities. Cities like Wolverhampton, Bolton, Hull and Dundee have 20-year average
rent costs of £62, £63, £65 and £66 respectively.  At the opposite end of the scale are more
expensive locations like Brighton (£106), Guildford (£111) London (£115) and
Kingston (£117).

While this
might be anticipated, with such locations generally high cost anyway, cities
with strong Universities, and hence attractive to students, like Birmingham
(£70), Newcastle (£74) and Sheffield (£75) have all offered great value over
the last 20 years.

Simon
Thompson, Director of Accommodation for Students, comments: “AFS has been
the home of student accommodation for 20 years, featuring 198,000 student
houses across all major UK university towns and cities. Analysing rents over
this period, demonstrates a vibrant market, where at one end of the spectrum
there are properties on the market for £900 per week (Chapter Spitalfields) but
students can also secure some very reasonably priced accommodation
elsewhere. 

“As the
market has become increasingly competitive for landlords, we have invested
heavily in making improvements to the AFS site. As well as offering automated
feeds, enabling letting agents to instantly upload multiple properties in any format
in real time, we are currently finalising a new landlord account area making it
easier for landlords to connect with the 3 million students that visit the AFS
portal every year.�

Following
major upgrade of the AFS portal, the company has seen the number of enquiries
through the site increase by 51% year on year.

* Data analyses shared student housing

www.accommodationforstudents.com is the World No.1 Student Accommodation Search Engine. AFS features at the top of search engines, hosts more content than any other student accommodation website and is currently one of the fastest ever property portals, with page download speeds of 0.8 seconds.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Student rents indicating increasingly competitive market | LandlordZONE.

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Living in the same building as their serial bad tenant… a couple’s worst nightmare

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It’s been heavily publicised that a large percentage of the UK’s retirees are struggling to live off their pension, so it’s no surprise that some over 65s have turned to renting out rooms in their home, or other properties they may have, to boost their income.  However, in this week’s episode of Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords (Monday 15th July, 9pm, Channel 5) viewers will see landlords, Jackie and John, a retired couple from a seaside village in Norfolk, locked in a battle with their non-paying tenant which is making their lives hell.  What makes it even worse, is she lives in the same building as them.

Jackie and John live in a converted Victorian building comprising of four flats. They live in one and rent their upstairs flat. On the recommendation of someone else in the village, they let the other flat to a lady called Katey who said she was desperately looking for somewhere. Their current tenants had just moved out so it was the perfect quick solution.

When the rent payments started to be delayed, Jackie and John reached out to the tenant who said she worked for herself so money was just a little tight at the moment and asked if she could pay weekly. The landlords agreed. They also helped get her another job in the local village and agreed to allow her to sub-let the other room to help her pay the rent. The landlords met the sub-tenant and were happy with the set up.

Despite all their support, the tenant then stopped paying altogether, even though she was receiving rent from the sub-tenant. After returning from a week’s holiday, the landlords discovered the tenant had changed the locks and would no longer engage in any form of dialogue.

Sadly, the situation then got even worse. The tenant made several accusations against the landlords, saying they were letting themselves into the flat and threatening her. The police were called on multiple occasions, and even though it was clear the retired couple had done nothing wrong, there was little the police could do. The stress of having their problem tenant living in such close quarters was bad enough, but being made worse because they were struggling to pay their own bills without the additional income. In a desperate state, they called Landlord Action.

Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said: “Having dealt with this kind of tenant for many years, I had my suspicions that she had done this before, and would likely do it again. I was extremely concerned for Jackie and John’s health, who were both visibly distressed, so we took the decision to offer the tenant a sum of money to sign a deed of surrender and leave the property.�

One of the landlords, Jackie, said: “We know we are kind people who went out of our way to help Katey. We have a good reputation locally as landlords so it was heart-breaking to be in this situation. She said we would never get her out of our flat and it drove me to the verge of a nervous breakdown. Katey’s behaviour had become so challenging and she was deliberately doing things to make our lives hell. Paul saved my sanity.�Paragraph

When the tenant finally left Jackie and John’s property, it was in an extremely bad state. Their once pristine flat was trashed and filthy. She had also stolen items from the couple, including security cameras, curtains, and remote controls.

But the story doesn’t end there. She then went to another local landlord down the road, who despite having her reservations and being warned by Jackie and John, fell for her story.

The second landlord, Lynsey, said: “I should’ve gone with my gut, but she sold me a good story. She moved in and paid the first month’s rent and then it stopped. Fortunately, I manged to convince her to leave and she vacated of her own accord after three months. I was still out of pocked by £1100 and the flat was trashed, but I know I got off lightly.�

Commenting on these cases, Paul said: “The problem is that the private rented sector is a very different market today and landlords need to take stock and understand it’s a lot more work intensive. Character references and affordability checks are vital. We really hope that when the government makes changes to Section 8 that any cases with a money order for rent arrears have a CCJ applied to them to help other landlords avoid taking on serial bad tenants.�

Police have now sent out a warrant for the tenant’s arrest, and she is due to be in court on 9th August, after failing to show up on 6th June. Watch Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel 5, Monday 15^th July at 9pm.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Living in the same building as their serial bad tenant… a couple’s worst nightmare | LandlordZONE.

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Johnson considers Stamp Duty switch from buyer to seller

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Conservative Party leadership contender, Boris Johnson, has confirmed his interest in switching Stamp Duty liability from the house buyer to the seller as proposed by Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

Last year Johnson stated Stamp Duty was “absurdly high� and last month he suggested he would consider scrapping it for homes worth £500,000 or less.

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Living in the same building as their serial ban tenant… a couple’s worst nightmare

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It’s been heavily publicised that a large
percentage of the UK’s retirees are struggling to live off their pension, so it’s
no surprise that some over 65s have turned to renting out rooms in their home,
or other properties they may have, to boost their income.  However, in this week’s episode of Nightmare
Tenants Slum Landlords (Monday 15th July, 9pm, Channel 5) viewers will see landlords,
Jackie and John, a retired couple from a seaside village in Norfolk, locked in
a battle with their non-paying tenant which is making their lives hell.  What makes it even worse, is she lives in the
same building as them.

Jackie and John live in a converted Victorian building comprising of four flats. They live in one and rent their upstairs flat. On the recommendation of someone else in the village, they let the other flat to a lady called Katey who said she was desperately looking for somewhere. Their current tenants had just moved out so it was the perfect quick solution.

When the rent payments started to be delayed, Jackie
and John reached out to the tenant who said she worked for herself so money was
just a little tight at the moment and asked if she could pay weekly. The landlords
agreed. They also helped get her another job in the local village and agreed to
allow her to sub-let the other room to help her pay the rent. The landlords met
the sub-tenant and were happy with the set up.

Despite all their support, the tenant then stopped
paying altogether, even though she was receiving rent from the sub-tenant. After
returning from a week’s holiday, the landlords discovered the tenant had changed
the locks and would no longer engage in any form of dialogue.

Sadly, the situation then got even worse. The tenant made several accusations against the landlords, saying they were letting themselves into the flat and threatening her. The police were called on multiple occasions, and even though it was clear the retired couple had done nothing wrong, there was little the police could do. The stress of having their problem tenant living in such close quarters was bad enough, but being made worse because they were struggling to pay their own bills without the additional income. In a desperate state, they called Landlord Action.

Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said:
“Having dealt with this kind of tenant for many years, I had my suspicions
that she had done this before, and would likely do it again. I was extremely concerned
for Jackie and John’s health, who were both visibly distressed, so we took the decision
to offer the tenant a sum of money to sign a deed of surrender and leave the property.�

One of the landlords, Jackie, said: “We know we
are kind people who went out of our way to help Katey. We have a good
reputation locally as landlords so it was heart-breaking to be in this situation.
She said we would never get her out of our flat and it drove me to the verge of
a nervous breakdown. Katey’s behaviour had become so challenging and she was deliberately
doing things to make our lives hell. Paul saved my sanity.�

When the tenant finally left Jackie and John’s
property, it was in an extremely bad state. Their once pristine flat was trashed
and filthy. She had also stolen items from the couple, including security cameras,
curtains, and remote controls.

But the story doesn’t end there. She then went to
another local landlord down the road, who despite having her reservations and
being warned by Jackie and John, fell for her story.

The second landlord, Lynsey, said: “I should’ve
gone with my gut, but she sold me a good story. She moved in and paid the first
month’s rent and then it stopped. Fortunately, I manged to convince her to
leave and she vacated of her own accord after three months. I was still out of
pocked by £1100 and the flat was trashed, but I know I got off lightly.�

Commenting on these cases, Paul said: “The problem
is that the private rented sector is a very different market today and landlords
need to take stock and understand it’s a lot more work intensive. Character references
and affordability checks are vital. We really hope that when the government
makes changes to Section 8 that any cases with a money order for rent arrears have
a CCJ applied to them to help other landlords avoid taking on serial bad
tenants.�

Police have now sent out a warrant for the tenant’s
arrest, and she is due to be in court on 9th August, after failing to show up
on 6th June.

Watch Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel
5, Monday 15^th July at 9pm.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Living in the same building as their serial ban tenant… a couple’s worst nightmare | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Living in the same building as their serial ban tenant… a couple’s worst nightmare

Living in same building as their serial ban tenant – couple’s worst nightmare

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It’s been heavily publicised that a large percentage of the UK’s retirees are struggling to live off their pension, so it’s no surprise that some over 65s have turned to renting out rooms in their home, or other properties they may have

The post Living in same building as their serial ban tenant – couple’s worst nightmare appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Living in same building as their serial ban tenant – couple’s worst nightmare