Rent controls hurt tenants says new research

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Rent controls hurt tenants by drying up the supply of homes to rent and in some cases increasing rents according to new research published today. With the Mayor of London calling for the power to introduce rent controls across the capital, an analysis of existing research by the Residential Landlords Association on the impact of […]

The post Rent controls hurt tenants says new research appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Rent controls hurt tenants says new research

Paying for the Postcode

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It costs an average of £245,128 to buy a house in the UK; but how much of that is actually spent on the house itself, from bricks to baths, and how much is generated just from the location?

Research from comparethemarket.com indicates which regions are the most expensive in terms of the location alone

The post Paying for the Postcode appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Paying for the Postcode

A day in court with Shelter and the council’s impartiality?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

After a section 8 possession hearing, we got the possession granted and before court shelter approached us, but we declined to speak to them. Shelter also confirmed that the tenant was receiving housing through Universal Credit, but not paying us the landlord.

The post A day in court with Shelter and the council’s impartiality? appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: A day in court with Shelter and the council’s impartiality?

BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb

admin    Uncategorized     agents

On Monday 28 October at 7.30pm, BBC Inside Out (London*) will highlight the growing number of people making a business out of their tenancy via short-term rental platforms, without their landlords’ permission. The show covers the story of a landlord who ended up £10,000 out of pocket after his tenants ‘professionally’ sublet his property in Bloomsbury on Airbnb.

The post BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb

Three more agents expelled from TPO

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Agent
Registration:

Three agents were
expelled from The Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPO) in October after
owing their landlords substantial amounts of money.

With fines totalling
just short of £20,000, the three letting agents were expelled from
the Scheme and fined.

The three were based
in Essex, Kent and North London and as members of TPO, the agents are
obliged to comply with the awards made by the Ombudsman, which all
three agents failed to do.

Landlords in
Winchmore Hill area of London (N21) are being warned that a local
estate and letting agent Assetgrove Prime Sales & Lettings Ltd
(trading as Assetgrove Prime) has been expelled from The Property
Ombudsman (TPO) scheme owing a landlord £1,820.50.

A landlord made a
complaint to The Property Ombudsman after claiming that the agent
failed to pass on the last month’s rent and failed to compensate him
for a new cooker which was missing at the end of the tenancy.

The landlord was
also dissatisfied that when he raised the issue with Assetgrove
Prime, as the employee he had been dealing with stopped responding,
the agent denied that the tenancy was anything to do with them and
said it should be directed towards the employee who actually worked
for another agency.

Landlords, tenants,
house buyers and sellers in Strood, Kent, are being warned that a
local estate agent Chambers Estates Kent Ltd, (trading as Chambers
Estates) has also been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO)
scheme.

A complaint was
brought to TPO by a landlord who said Chambers Estates owed him three
months’ rent which had been paid by the tenant but not passed on.
The statements provided showed that rent was collected by the agent
but not paid over to the landlord. The agency agreement was clear
that monies should be paid over within a month of receipt.

The agent did not
respond to the original complaint submitted by the landlord nor a
subsequent letter sent by a solicitor. The Ombudsman supported the
complaint and awarded the landlord £2,376 for rent income due and a
further £400 for connected aggravation and complaint handling
failures.

Chambers Estates
failed to pay the award and The Ombudsman referred the agent to the
scheme’s independent Compliance Committee, which ruled the firm
should be expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme. Chambers
Estates is not currently registered with a redress scheme, which is a
requirement of every sales and letting agent in order to trade
legally.

Trading Standards
have been informed of the expulsion. Chambers also do no not appear
to be a member of a Client Money Protection scheme, also a legal
requirement, and do not have any professional memberships. The agent
does still have properties listed with OnTheMarket, however, these
are outdated.

Buyers, sellers,
tenants and landlords in Ilford, Essex, are being warned that a local
estate and letting agent Kingsman Property Limited (trading as
Kingsman Property) has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman
(TPO) scheme owing a landlord £14,921.23.

A landlord made a
complaint to The Property Ombudsman after claiming that the agent
failed to pass on rent owed to him, which had been paid by the
tenant.

The landlord had
entered into a Guaranteed Rental Income Scheme with Kingsman Property
which was meant to ensure that the landlord received the rent every
month. The agent also confirmed that they would obtain a multiple
occupation (HMO) licence as it was their intention to rent the
property to more than two tenants. The landlord received the rent for
a period of eight months, but Kingsman Property then stopped paying
the rent, resulting in the landlord dis-instructing them. At the
time, the agent owed the landlord more than £12,000 in rent.

Unfortunately, by
the time the landlord brought the matter to The Property Ombudsman,
it transpired that the agent had gone into administration, therefore
it was highly unlikely that any award that was made would be
recovered, but the landlord asked TPO to proceed anyway.

The Ombudsman
concluded that several aspects of the service that Kingsman Property
had provided fell considerably short of the standard of service
expected under TPO’s Codes of Practice. This included the failure
to ensure that the property complied with current HMO regulations,
the failure to register some of the deposits that they received and
the failure to pay the rent as agreed. The Ombudsman made an award of
£14,921.23, which included the rent that had not been paid
(£12,421.23), the deposit (£1,000) as well as an award (£1,500)
for the avoidable aggravation and distress caused.

Kingsman Property
failed to pay the award and the Ombudsman referred the agent to the
scheme’s independent Compliance Committee, which ruled the firm
should be expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme.

Kingsman Property is
not currently registered with a redress scheme, which is a
requirement of every sales and letting agent in order to trade
legally. Trading standards have been informed about Kingsman
Property’s expulsion. They also do no not appear to be a member of
a Client Money Protection scheme, also a legal requirement, do not
have any professional memberships or advertise on the any of the main
property portals, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.

Every sales and
lettings agent in England is required to register with a
Government-approved redress scheme, which enables consumers to have
their complaint reviewed independently in the event of a dispute
arising that the consumer is unable to resolve with the agent
directly.

An agreement
between the two Government-approved redress schemes (The Property
Ombudsman and The Property Redress Scheme, means Kingsman Property
Ltd will not be able to register for any form of redress until the
award is paid. Redress registration is required for the agents to
trade legally.

A full list of
Client Money Protection schemes, is: Money Shield, Client Money
Protect, NALS Client Money Protection, Propertymark, RICS, UKALA
Client Money Protection

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Three more agents expelled from TPO | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Three more agents expelled from TPO

BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb

admin    Uncategorized     agents

On the Monday 28th October at 7.30pm, BBC Inside Out (London) will highlight the growing number of people making a business out of their tenancy via short-term rental platforms, without their landlords’ permission. The show covers the story of a landlord who ended up £10,000 out of pocket after his tenants ‘professionally’ sublet his property in Bloomsbury on Airbnb.

The
tenants had a 22-month AST arranged through Base Property Specialists ltd. During
a periodic inspection, consented to by the tenants, the agent arrived early to witness
the tenants checking a family into the property. On returning to the office,
the agent reviewed Airbnb to find the property listed both as a single dwelling
and as two separate bedroom rooms. Airbnb had more than 70 booking reviews for the
property, with the first being the same month that the tenants’ tenancy
commenced, showing they had been subletting it from the beginning.

Property Base contacted the tenants informing them that they were breaching a number of licensing laws and instructing them to remove all listings from Airbnb (and any other sites they may have used), cancel all bookings, remove the key safe they had installed and make good any damage that had been caused. The tenants were offered two courses of action: to re-occupy the property themselves or surrender under the contractual Early Termination Agreement, which at that point totalled £4295.00

Despite the tenants requesting to stay and subsequently removing the key safe and repairing the damage, Base Property continued to receive reports from neighbours of people coming and going. When the agent arranged for a plumber to fix a maintenance issue, he was told by the occupants, a Russian family, that they did not speak English and were renting the property.

Commenting
on the case, Kristjan Byfield of Base Property, said: “One thing I
found extremely disappointing was Airbnb’s refusal to take any action whatsoever.
When we contacted them and provided evidence that the “hosts” were not the
legal owners of the property and were in breach of the landlord’s mortgage and buildings
insurance terms, local licensing laws, and both short-term let and HMO licensing,
their response was take it up with the tenants.”

By this point, the tenants were refusing to engage with the agent.  They continued to host on Airbnb despite denying it, even using a professional laundry service to prepare the beds.  They refused access to contractors who were due to fix a leak, causing further damage to the property. Kristjan Byfield called in the help of Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action who served the tenants with a Section 8 notice and thereafter, the Landlord Action solicitors issued possession proceedings.

Paul comments: “Kristjan and his team had done everything correctly. They had obtained thorough references, carried out regular property inspections and even given the tenants the opportunity to put the situation right when they were caught out. Unfortunately, unauthorised use for short lets is a growing problem, as Westminster Planning Enforcement team will discuss on the show, and councils are struggling to cope with the volume of cases.  At Landlord Action, we always have a number of sub-letting cases at any one time, particularly from landlords whose tenants have sub-let via Airbnb without consent.” Both Paul and Kristjan agree that there are lots of Airbnb hosts that do a fantastic job, do not cause disruption to neighbours and comply with all necessary licences.  However, the feel that Airbnb should be doing much more to prevent unauthorised hosts. “We have had a number of cases where the landlords agree for the tenants to sub-let, and with proper communication and agreements, it can work very well. However, 95% of issues such as this case could be eradicated if Airbnb invested in some simple technology to cross-reference the name of the host with the owners name, via the Land Registry, and then simply obtained proof of consent to sub-let if those name do not match” says Kristjan.

“Their
unwillingness to take responsibility and make improvements is damaging to the private
rented sector” adds
Paul.

Watch the
whole story on Monday 28^th October, BBC One at 7.30pm.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: BBC Inside Out uncovers opportunistic tenants subletting via Airbnb

Dan Wilson Craw laments the human misery that his demands would increase

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Dan Wilson Craw is Director of the organisation that calls itself Generation Rent. He was quoted yesterday as follows:

“Without a reliable housing benefit system, Londoners on low incomes are getting into debt, going without food and heating or being forced to move out of neighbourhoods they grew up in.

The post Dan Wilson Craw laments the human misery that his demands would increase appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Dan Wilson Craw laments the human misery that his demands would increase

Camera shop Jessops calls in administrators

admin    Uncategorized     agents

High Street
Retail:

Yet another
struggling retailer is looking to close stores, with a possible loss
of the company’s 500 employees’ jobs if all the shops were to
fold.

Even Dragons Den
star and serial business owner Peter Jones, who owns camera shop
chain, cannot sprinkle the necessary stardust, it would seem, to
make a success of the venture.

Peter Jones bought
the Jessops chain with the well known High Street brand name from the
administrators himself back in 2013 after the then business collapsed
owning creditors around £81m.

Jones has managed to
increase sales revenues in most of the years since his own purchase,
but the firm’s profits remain stubbornly low as rents have risen,
falling to less than £10,000 last year.

It is reported that
Mr Jones will now seek a complex rescue deal for the firm’s property
arm, JR Prop Limited, a company voluntary agreement (CVA) with its
landlords and lenders at a time when empty High Street shops have
reached their highest level in the last four years.

This CVA is an
insolvency process that allows a business to agree with its creditors
how it will pay off its debts, or a part of its debts, and is often
an opportunity to close unprofitable shops while retaining profitable
ones with renegotiated rents.

The BBC has reported
that sources close to the firm think Jones still sees a good future
for the business but has given no indication of which shops may
close.

Jones’ thinking
when taking over was that even though almost every mobile phone
incorporates a camera – some capable of taking better photos than a
dedicated camera – was that there was still a market for the
specialist camera sold through a High Street store and online.
However, sales have not met these expectations.

The second administration of Jessops follows a long line of failed High Street retailers with the likes of Maplin, Poundworld and Toys R Us and Debenhams either going down the tubes completely or going through the pre-pack CVA process. A whole host of others have gone through this CVA restructuring process.

With each High
Street closure, property values are affected and landlords are put
under more pressure to reduce rents.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Camera shop Jessops calls in administrators | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Camera shop Jessops calls in administrators

Crisis looming in supply of rented properties

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords are warning of a rented housing supply crisis as a new survey shows more landlords are selling properties than buying whilst demand continues to increase. According to research by the Residential Landlords Association based on a survey of over 2,700 landlords, almost 25 per cent have seen the demand for private rented property increase […]

The post Crisis looming in supply of rented properties appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Crisis looming in supply of rented properties

Rental supply crisis looming

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The RLA are warning of a rented housing supply crisis as a new survey shows more landlords are selling properties than buying whilst demand continues to increase.

According to research by the Residential Landlords Association based on a survey of over 2,700 landlords

The post Rental supply crisis looming appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Rental supply crisis looming