BREAKING: MPs urge government to bring tougher fire safety rules in for ALL private rented properties

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Debate in parliament today included calls for government not to ignore shared rented homes, HMOs and smaller tower blocks when framing new legislation.

MPs are urging the Government to take
buildings under 11 metres tall into account amid concerns that it is only
targeting high rise blocks with new fire safety measures.

As
phase two of the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry opened this week, MPs met to
debate the fire risk in flats
and shared housing, also raising fears about the poor maintenance of fire
doors, issues with compartmentation
and risky building cladding.

MP for Reading
East, Matt Rodda, highlighted concerns about risks in residential buildings under 18 metres,
the level initially covered by the work after Grenfell to identify high-risk
buildings with Grenfell-like (or ATM) cladding.

“Thousands
of people in Reading live in multiple occupancy buildings under 11 metres –
which will be the same across the country,” he said. “These low-rise flats have
the same potential problems as high rises but they’re not on the government’s
target list.”

He
added that residents were concerned about the poor maintenance of some fire
doors, often in blocks where they didn’t meet relevant fire standards.

“Residents
have been left with poor quality building materials in their homes, while
advice and testing of these materials is not up to standard.”

He
said there were large numbers of unregistered HMOs in his constituency, which were
particularly dangerous and could be exploited by unscrupulous landlords.

“While
local authorities lack the power to investigate these concerns, there may be
many fire safety risks in those buildings.”

Mr
Rodda added that little ACM cladding had been removed from buildings, while potential
human error meant residents might accidentally cause a fire risk as time went
on.

Clive
Betts MP agreed that there could be major risks in non-high rise buildings, often
in the private rented sector. He said: “Managing licences is where local
authority resources is key –where there could be an appeal it should be a local
authority decision, as it’s not for ministers to second guess.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: MPs urge government to bring tougher fire safety rules in for ALL private rented properties | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: BREAKING: MPs urge government to bring tougher fire safety rules in for ALL private rented properties

Section 21 appeal to be heard

admin    Uncategorized     agents

An appeal that could have far-reaching implications for landlords’ rights to repossess their properties will be heard tomorrow (January 29th). Trecarrell v Rouncefield centres on the relationship between Section 21 notices and gas safety certificates. The landlord, Trecarrell House Limited, was initially granted an order to repossess the property using Section 21 powers, however the […]

The post Section 21 appeal to be heard appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Section 21 appeal to be heard

No wiggle room for pets

admin    Uncategorized     agents

At the start of the year, Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP, announced an overhaul of model tenancy contracts to put more pressure on landlords to allow ‘responsible tenants to have well-behaved pets’ in their rental property.

However, leading lettings and estate agent

The post No wiggle room for pets appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: No wiggle room for pets

Selling platform for probate properties launches but with punchy costs

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Probatepropertyhub.co.uk claims to be a credible alternative to auctions but loads a lot of the costs on to the buyer rather than the seller.

A new online platform connecting property buyers and
solicitors aims to provide a speedy way to liquidate probate estates has
launched, but with some punchy costs for both buyer and seller.

Probatepropertyhub.co.uk is a new one-stop for probate property sales, exclusively for probate solicitors who can list properties for auction or as a ‘buy now’ for estates needing a super quick sale.

The platform was launched to help solicitors, particularly when assets need to be liquidated quickly; the buy now option lets sellers skip the auction process, guaranteeing completion within 45 days.

But in return, buyers pay a 2.5% fee plus VAT which must be paid within 24 hours of the sale, not on exchange, a fee which is non-refundable, and landlords buying through the platform will then have 60 days to exchange and 90 days to complete, or lose the fee.

If buyers use its eBay-style ‘buy it now’ button, then buyers have just 45 days to get to completion. Also, the site charges a minimum fee of £2,500.

Also, if the platform achieves more than the ‘guaranteed
minimum price’ agreed between it and the vendor, it takes 50% of the uplift.

“As executors have a legal duty of care to
safeguard the assets of the estate, how does probatepropertyhub’s model work
with this model,” asks independent Proptech Real Estate Strategist Andrew
Stanton.

A spokesperson for the platform says: “Solicitors
are required to provide the best possible outcome for clients, but this is
often a balance between achieving a quick sale and getting the right price,”
says a spokesman.

“They are legally compelled
to achieve the best price possible and so this can make it difficult to market
a property.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Selling platform for probate properties launches but with punchy costs | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Selling platform for probate properties launches but with punchy costs

Daily politics update: select committee chairs, Universal Credit direct payments

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Today’s update looks at the MPs elected as chairs of their Select Committees and a call made by an MP for the housing element of Universal Credit to be paid directly to landlords. Select Committee The following MPs have been elected as chairs of their Select Committees unopposed following the passing of yesterday’s 4pm deadline […]

The post Daily politics update: select committee chairs, Universal Credit direct payments appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Daily politics update: select committee chairs, Universal Credit direct payments

Rough Sleeping Initiative gains £112m

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The government plans to help more rough sleepers off the streets and into safe accommodation after an extra £112 million funding for councils has been announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick.

The funding is a 30% increase this year and will be used by local authorities

The post Rough Sleeping Initiative gains £112m appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Rough Sleeping Initiative gains £112m

Joint AST and alleged victim has left?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

We have a couple only 6 weeks into a 6 months tenancy who have split up after a domestic incident involving the police, but no charges made. The alleged attacker is believed to have had similar issues before, but I have no proof.Also that person is known to smoke weed etc but again I have no proof.

The post Joint AST and alleged victim has left? appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Joint AST and alleged victim has left?

Retail turmoil sees more store closures and job losses in 2020…

admin    Uncategorized     agents

High Street:

Retail decline
continues in 2020 with several large groups closing stores and laying
off staff.

Retailers and staff
unions are seeking urgent action from government for the high street
as the number of stores, pubs and restaurants close, with town centre
properties lying empty in increasing numbers.

Throughout last year
around 16 stores closed every day. This was off-set to some extent
with around 9 new openings, but Britain’s top 500 high streets saw
a net decline of 1,234 stores, that’s according to figures produced
by the Local Data Company (LDC), retail analysts, and
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

These alarming
figures are for chain stores alone and do not include independent
stores – the closure figures produced for 2019 were the highest on
record.

So far in 2020 new
research shows that around 10,000 retail jobs have already been lost
in January, with Mothercare, Debenhams, Game, Beales, HMV, Arcadia
toy retailer Hawkin’s Bazaar, Morrisons and Asda closing, closing
outlets or announcing redundancy plans.

Changing consumer
shopping habits, including new technology and the rise in online
sales, are to blame for the store closures and loss of jobs,
according to new research. The rising prevalence of cashier-less
checkouts will likely continue to impact on the number of retail
jobs. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) predicts that with
new technology on the way 65% of retail cashiers and checkout
operators and 60% of stock control staff jobs will become redundant
in the future.

But despite all the
turmoil, landlords and owners of retail property are looking to the
future availability of 5G wireless network technology as a potential
high street saviour.

Scott Morey,
executive director at Altus Group, told ITV News:

“5G presents a
great opportunity for retailers to further improve the underlying
performance of their physical stores by transforming the customer
experience and shifting the role of their store personnel towards
higher value tasks.

“Shoppers
fundamentally rely on stores during various stages of their shopping
journey and 5G has the potential to further improve that
interaction.”

However, the
findings of an Altus Group report provide a more optimistic outlook
than the forecasts produced by the Office for National Statistics
predict 65% of all retail cashiers and checkout operator jobs will
become redundant in future, as will 60% of staff working in stock
control.

Prime Minister Boris
Johnson is set to decide this week whether to allow the use of
Chinese Huawei technology in Britain’s new 5G network despite
protests from the US Government.

Mr Morey thinks
that:

“Whilst 5G will
transform the consumer experience, the starting point will be for
telecom companies and real estate owners to provide the
infrastructure and physical location points so 5G can reach its full
potential.”

Meanwhile, John
Whittaker the
biggest investor in Intu,
the leading
shopping centres property
company that owns
Lakeside in Essex and
Manchester’s Trafford Centre among several others, is being forced
to to restructure his
shareholding to appease
lenders.

John
Whittaker’s
private company Peel
Group owns 29.3% of Intu Properties and
has had to stump up more cash for the
special-purpose vehicles that hold his shares in
Intu as the stock
price has fallen and
lenders got the jitters.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Retail turmoil sees more store closures and job losses in 2020… | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Retail turmoil sees more store closures and job losses in 2020…