Regular property visits protect landlords from subletting scams

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Property Visits:

Leading
independent inventory provider, No
Letting Go, Says that
regular property visits are vital to protect landlords and
letting agents from various activities that tenants can get up to,
including the growing risk of subletting scams and cannabis growing.

Stressing the
importance of an independent and professionally compiled inventory to
protect the landlord’s interests, the UK’s largest provider of
inventory services also says that a commitment to the check-out
process helps to provide financial cover in the event of property
damage.

Reporting the
increasing incidence of subletting scams’ No Letting Go says
this occurs particularly when it comes to fraudsters with short-term
lets using popular on-line platforms to rent out their landlord’s
properties without permission.

Quoting a recent
example, which featured on BBC One’s Inside Out programme, the
company says that the programme saw a managing agent discover a
family being checked into a rental property by the existing tenants.
Further research into the matter uncovered a long-running subletting
scam going on with over 70 reviews of the landlord’s property left
on Airbnb.

These tenants were
eventually evicted, but not before they had cost the landlord a
significant amount of stress and money in repairing property damage.

Nick Lyons, CEO and
Founder of No Letting Go says:

“The growth of the short-term lets market heightens the risk of unlawful subletting as the available technology makes it easy for tenants to let properties quickly and easily without the knowledge of landlords and letting agents.”

“If you don’t
put the right steps in place, subletting could be taking place in
your rental property for a long period before you are able to take
any action.”

What problems can
subletting pose?

Tenants subletting a
property unlawfully can cause serious issues for landlords. Not only
is there a heightened risk of property damage and abnormal levels of
wear and tear, but illegal subletting could invalidate a landlord’s
insurance policy.

Subletting can also
breach licensing schemes and a number of health and safety
regulations which could cause a further headache for landlords and
agents.

Nick Lyons explains:

“Subletting
could cost landlords thousands of pounds of a long period of time. As
well as the repair and maintenance costs to consider, there is also
the increased chance of costly void periods while the property is
being brought back to a lettable condition.”

“What’s more,
if you are forced to evict a tenant due to subletting, it could be
costly and time-consuming to repossess the property through the
courts. This issue could be further exacerbated by the government’s
plans to scrap the Section 21 evictions process.”

How can property
visits and inventories reduce risk?

While the risk of
subletting will never completely disappear and has grown as it has
become easier for tenants to let properties via short-lets online
platforms, there are steps agents and landlords can take to minimise
the chances of falling victim to one of these scams.

“Regular
property visits and inspections can help to identify the tell-tale
signs of subletting such as additional rubbish and the presence of
people not named on the tenancy agreement,” adds Lyons.

“By scheduling
regular visits, you will discourage tenants from subletting and in
the event that they are carrying out unlawful activity, you can bring
a stop to it as soon as possible.”

“Professional
inventories and carrying out the check-out process properly can also
offer additional protection.”

“If tenants
have been subletting a property, the presence of an inventory can
provide the required evidence for landlords to recoup some of the
property damage and maintenance costs from the tenant’s security
deposit,” Nick Lyons concludes.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Regular property visits protect landlords from subletting scams | LandlordZONE.

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£51,136 per inspection and hotel tickets!

admin    Uncategorized     agents

In 16 months Nottingham City Council has only managed to issue full licences to fewer than 3% of the applications received and apparently they’ve only done 176 inspections from approximately £9 million+ pounds in.

This equates to over £51,136.00 I repeat FIFTY ONE THOUSAND POUNDS AN INSPECTION.

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MANY TENANTS OWED £100’S BY THEIR LANDLORDS

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The Tenant Fee ban has
caused various unintended consequences since its introduction this summer. 

The Fee Ban means that
agents and landlords cannot charge for admin, key hand overs, inventory reports
and any other miscellaneous costs which now must be paid by the landlords. 

Part of the Fee Ban
covered a cap on tenancy deposits allowed to be requested. 

This meant that any
rental agreement under £50,000 in England can only ask for a maximum of five
weeks rent equivalent as a deposit. For any rental agreement over £50,000 six
weeks can be requested from the tenants. 

Alongside this holding deposits that are taken to secure a property that
a tenant wishes to apply for are allowed at a maximum of one weeks rent. 

It is now apparent that
there are hundreds of tenant’s due refunds on their rental agreement deposits,
some having paid eight weeks and over to abide by
their landlord’s requests in order to win the tenancy agreement from
a landlord. 

One of the tenancy
deposit protection schemes has just stated that since this piece of legislation
was introduced, they have had 2,550 repayment requests amounting to
over £817,000. 

Danny Zane the chair for
The AIIC and MD at My Property Group stated “This is just the tip of the
iceberg as for many years deposit requests had been on the rise in the highly
competitive Private Rented Sector. I am certain there will be many more
requests as many tenants will not even know about this and their rights”. 

The highest payment
released so far has been over £3,300.

Zane stated “This is
exactly as our Government intended with deposit caps coming into force and
renters being given back some of their hard-earned monies. Great news for
tenants all round”.

If you feel you may be
owed money then get in touch with the scheme awarded the safe holding of your
tenancy deposit.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MANY TENANTS OWED £100’S BY THEIR LANDLORDS | LandlordZONE.

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Northwood celebrates scooping top allAgents awards for fourth year!

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Northwood, which is part of the Belvoir
Group, has scooped the top national allAgents awards for Best Letting Agent and
Best UK Franchise for the fourth consecutive year.

The allAgents website is the UK’s
largest customer review site for the property industry, and the awards are
based entirely on feedback from clients who rate and share their customer
service experiences.

“I am absolutely delighted that for the
fourth consecutive Northwood have been named both Best Letting Agent and Best
Franchise in the UK,” said Northwood MD Phil Gee. “Voted for by consumers,
these awards are both a testament to the high caliber of our franchisees, and
to that of the whole Northwood team.

“At Northwood we believe in setting the
highest standards and it is greatly appreciated when this is acknowledged. In
total 32 Northwood offices won allAgent awards – and 29 of these were Gold,
which really is a superb achievement.

“Northwood’s network of offices is growing fast, with 86 branches
across the UK, and we have a proactive acquisition policy that is contributing
to further expansion. Whether you are a landlord looking to rent out your
property, a buyer, seller or a tenant looking for somewhere to live, we hope
you will get in touch with one of our award-winning Northwood offices and enjoy
the high level of customer services that is on offer.”

To locate your nearest Northwood
office, or find out more about acquisition opportunities please visit:  https://www.northwooduk.com/

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Northwood celebrates scooping top allAgents awards for fourth year! | LandlordZONE.

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How a UK startup went from $0 to a $1 billion real estate portfolio in three years

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• GuestReady CEO and Co-Founder, Alexander Limpert (33), went from cleaning and managing Airbnb listings to managing a USD 1 billion real estate portfolio in just three years. 
• The company has experienced rapid growth due to a surge in demand from new segments tapping into the Airbnb trends – such as senior hosts, who are supplementing their pensions with rental income, property investors and multifamily homeowners.
• To keep up with the demand, the company has grown its team globally from 70 to 150 in just 11 months. In the same period, they acquired Oporto City Flats in Portugal, We Stay in Paris in France and, European market leader, BnbLord. 
• Last June, the company closed their Series A funding round with $6 million. The investment was led by Impulse VC, the Russian fund backed by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. 
• GuestReady is operational in 14 cities across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

LONDON, 12 November 2019 – GuestReady Group announced today that it has passed USD 1 Billion assets under management. The news comes just three months after the company celebrated its third anniversary in August.  

The PropTech startup uses its in-house developed software to allow homeowners and property investors to tap into the Airbnb trend, by providing end-to-end short-let management and hospitality services.

“It was my first-hand experience of being an Airbnb host that inspired me to set-up a service that would simplify hosting to time stretched hosts. I started to look at how software can reduce spending time listing a property on multiple booking sites, managing check-ins and check-outs of guests, cleaning and maintaining a property, while upholding a 5-star quality service for our hosts and guests, CEO and Co-Founder Alexander Limpert (33) remarks. 

The company’s property management system helps centralise and automate processes, such as the dispatching of service providers, payment schedules and guest communications. 

GuestReady’s ambitious launch in 2016  set its growth trajectory, as it opened in six cities at the same time. 

“I must admit, it was an ambitious plan and would not have been possible without a great team of experienced entrepreneurs behind me. We knew that if we wanted to make GuestReady a success, we needed to think big ” Limpert explains. 

“In the beginning, it was just me and my girlfriend running and setting-up operations for GuestReady London. We put up all the listings, cleaned apartments, prepared the beds for guests, dealt with property maintenance, responded to guests queries and welcomed them at the property as they arrived. 

In 2016, after living and working one year in Asia, I moved back to London to set-up GuestReady and we appointed country managers in Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. By deliberately opening operations in a couple of cities, we were able to quickly test, learn, adapt, and scale our market strategy. 

Not all our markets got traction though, within a few months after our launch, we decided to exit Amsterdam and Singapore. We saw that the demand for our services in these cities was limited, so we decided to focus our resources elsewhere” Limpert continues. 

In the last year, the PropTech startup enjoyed a rapid period of growth with an increase of demand from property investors, multifamily homeowners and senior hosts. The latter demographic, are using short-term lettings as an extra source of income to complement their pension, pay bills and travel. Short-term lettings have also become a popular way to fill lengthening void periods – the time a property sits empty before the next tenant –  as research shows that the average time taken to fill an empty property increased in most regions of the UK. “It’s essential for landlords to maximise the income from their properties to keep yields healthy. Short-term lettings are helping property owners maintain a steady income while they wait for new longer-term tenants to move in” says GuestReady UK Managing Director, Steffan Maagefelt.  

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – How a UK startup went from $0 to a $1 billion real estate portfolio in three years | LandlordZONE.

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Shawbrook streamline and reduce BTL rates by up to 0.49%

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Specialist property lender Shawbrook Bank has streamlined its product portfolio and reduced rates by up to 0.49%. Their refreshed Buy to Let range boasts new benefits for your portfolio clients.

Rates are now  from 3.05% (Over 3 month Shawbrook LIBOR) and they have introduced new products for loans under £100k for BTL and HMOs

As part of this refresh they have dramatically simplified their product guide

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Electrical Safety Week 2019-what landlords need to know

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Electrical Safety Awareness Week, organised by Electrical Safety First and run in conjunction with the Home Office, aims to promote electrical fire safety in the home. According to Electrical Safety First, more than half of all accidental fires in the home are caused by electricity. The RLA has a wide range of resources on its […]

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Providing emergency accommodation instead?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Being a private landlord is a nightmare. So given the latest headlines I am thinking of going down the route of providing Emergency Accommodation instead.

Where do I even start?

Surely it can’t be any more stressful than evictions

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Tenants being quizzed by HMRC

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Tenants are being quizzed on the tax status of their landlords by HMRC.1 An HMRC fact finding letter goes on to suggest tenants may have to take tax off their own rental payments to ensure the correct tax is paid if their landlord is not resident in the UK and is not registered under the UK’s Non-resident Landlord Scheme (NRL) or face a fine.

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Election 2019: Reports Labour will ‘drop right-to-buy plan’

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A report published over the weekend suggests Labour has dropped its controversial plan to offer tenants the right to buy their privately rented homes. The Financial Times reported the party has decided to abandon the plan amid fears the policy was ‘not workable’. It attributes the claims to “party figures familiar with its UK election […]

The post Election 2019: Reports Labour will ‘drop right-to-buy plan’ appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

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