Call of the Week-Responsibility for repairs

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The UK has been battered by some Storm Dennis this week, with many parts of the country experiencing incredibly strong winds. One RLA member gave our advice team a call this week, because heavy rainfall had meant that several things needed repairing at his rental property. He had several properties in his portfolio, and his […]

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LATEST: ITV Tonight news team to investigate Airbnb’s growing power

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Presenter Jonathan Maitland will look at how the platform has revolutionised travel accommodation, helped landlords increase revenue but also reveal downsides for communities.

ITV’s flagship news programme Tonight is to
broadcast an in-depth and critical look at Airbnb five years after it took hold
in the UK.

To be aired tomorrow (Thursday 20^th
February) at 7.30pm and presented by Jonathan Maitland, the programme will look
at how Airbnb has grown into a multimillion dollar behemoth revolutionising
both the way people book holidays and business accommodation, and how
increasing numbers of landlords make money from their properties.

“It’s been reported that 7% of residential
landlords have moved their properties to the short-stay market,” says Paul
Shamplina of Landlord Action.

The programme will also look at the downsides
of Airbnb’s success and examine two neighbourhoods where it’s impacting the
traditional housing market negatively.

This includes hollowing out areas as tourist
ghettos, driving up rents for longer-term tenants as supply to the traditional
market is squeezed, and encouraging the spread of ‘party houses’ used by stag
and hen-do organisers as a cheaper alternative to hiring a venue or hotel.

This final problem is one that LandlordZONE
has been reporting on for some time including last week when Airbnb told us
that it was preparing to take measures to ban these kinds of bookings, which
can lead to localised anti-social behaviour.

The Tonight team will also reveal how platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway and Booking.com are being used by rogue tenants to sub-let properties they have rented via long-term contracts, for a profit. Two weeks ago, industry association ARLA Propertymark published a withering report on Airbnb, which the platform subsequently said featured ‘flawed conclusions’.

Watch Paul Shamplina’s video about the programme

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: ITV Tonight news team to investigate Airbnb’s growing power | LandlordZONE.

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Consultation launched on extending minimum notice period for Section 21 in Wales

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The Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee has launched a consultation on plans announced by the Welsh Government last week to extend the minimum notice period for serving a Section 21 in Wales from two to six months. Under plans announced last week, landlords in Wales would be unable to gain possession of their property […]

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Estimated number of Landlords falls to 7 year low

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Hamptons International’s monthly lettings index shows that the number of landlords in the private rental sector (PRS) has fallen to a seven-year low. Over the last two years the rental sector in Great Britain has shrunk with the total number of privately rented homes falling by 156,410 since its peak in 2017.

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70th National Landlord Investment Show returns to Olympia

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The National Landlord Investment Show are celebrating their 70th show to date with a return to Olympia, London on 19th March 2020 with Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo. 

FROM kickstarting their journey at their very first show in Croydon

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Cash buyers quids in vs mortgage

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The latest research by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has found that cash is still king when it comes to securing the best price on a property looking at the average price paid by cash buyers over the last 12 months and how this compared to that paid by buyers funded via a mortgage to see what the difference was and how this varied regionally across the UK.

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Council stands by its decision to expand selective licensing despite landlord protests

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Rotherham officials dismiss criticisms, telling LandlordZONE that landlords just want to stop the expanded scheme ‘negatively impacting their profit margins’.

Rotherham
Council is going ahead with a renewed five-year selective licensing scheme despite
protests that it will be an unnecessary financial burden on landlords.

Landlords
in the Eastwood/Town Centre, Masbrough, Maltby South East, Dinnington,
Thurcroft and Parkgate areas will have to stump up £521 to rent out their
property from 1^st May.

During a consultation, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) told the council that the fees were too high, meaning that landlords would have to pay for an expensive licence while criminal landlords continued to operate below the radar. It believes the scheme will put pressure on non-selective licensing areas.

Most landlords who responded were also unhappy,
with 65% against the proposals, a finding which the council says, “correlates
to a lower perception of relevant problems within proposed areas and an
opposition to licensing fees and other proposed terms, which may negatively
impact their profit margins”. In contrast, 58% of private tenants agreed with
the proposal.

A council spokesman says: “Often tenants are
reluctant to come forward for help fearing eviction. The policy will support
tenants in ensuring that their housing is improved where necessary without them
making a complaint and putting their tenancy at risk.”

However, after the consultation, Rotherham Council decided to adjust the proposed boundary of the Masbrough designation (to remove several dwellings which weren’t considered suitable for selective licensing) and also to postpone the declaration of the Little London area in Maltby. Any landlord who already has a licence which covers the period prior to May 1st 2020 will need to re-apply for a new licence so they can continue to be licensed.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Council stands by its decision to expand selective licensing despite landlord protests | LandlordZONE.

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‘When will rogue letting agents be stopped from ripping us off?’

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Question is asked by group of landlords in Ipswich after rent payments due to them were used to prop up a failing property firm.

Landlords
in Ipswich are fuming after losing hundreds of pounds in rent to a rogue
letting agent and say they have been ‘failed by the system’ after her company’s
liquidators returned as little as 3.5% of the money owed to one landlord.

After the collapse of Jonathan
Waters Estate Agents, an Insolvency Service investigation discovered that owner
Jane Russell hadn’t put tenants’ deposits into a protection scheme or kept
rents in a separate bank account.

The company had collected just
over £7,000 of rent from tenants between March and August 2018. This should
have been paid over to the tenants’ landlords but had instead been spent in the
general running costs of the business.

The agency also had no record of
11 tenants’ deposits totalling £12,000 that had been received between March and
August 2018, while tenants’ deposits received between April 2017 and August
2018, that added up to £20,000, hadn’t been paid in either.

Anthony
Molyneux, whose tenant paid £975 to the Russell in May 2017, says he received
just £35 back from liquidators. Another Ipswich landlord, who asked not to be
named, received just a few pounds back from his tenant’s deposit.

Rob Sheils, senior investigator
for the Insolvency Service, says: “A fundamental part of Jane Russell’s role
was being responsible for safeguarding money on behalf of her tenants and
landlords, something she failed to do prior to the company falling into
liquidation.

“This disqualification should
serve as a deterrent to other directors who safeguard money from doing
likewise.”

Russell was banned
for five years from managing companies.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘When will rogue letting agents be stopped from ripping us off?’ | LandlordZONE.

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Can our father change an Irrevocable Trust?

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The question involves a trust set up by my father on his home. Please bear with me I do think it is important to put the background to the story in as it is quite complex.

My father set up a trust about 10 years ago.

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Protected: Quiz: Can you name these nine former Housing Ministers?

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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