LATEST: Competition watchdog says students due rent refunds during Coronavirus

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Competition & Markets Authority confirms to LandlordZONE that student rental contracts are likely to be covered by its guidance that businesses should offer refunds where a consumer isn’t allowed to use a service as a result of lockdown restrictions.

Student renters
could be due refunds if they have to leave accommodation due to the Coronavirus
crisis.

Guidance
on consumer contracts hit by COVID-19 issued by the Competition & Markets
Authority (CMA) – the body responsible for protecting consumers from unfair
trading practices – says in most cases, businesses should offer refunds where a
consumer isn’t allowed to use a service as a result of lockdown restrictions.

The CMA has confirmed to LandlordZONE that its guidance could apply to suppliers of student accommodation. It adds: “In most cases, the CMA would expect a full refund to be offered if a business has cancelled a contract without providing any of the promised goods or services.”

Students
around the country are staging rent strikes where their private landlord has
refused to offer a rent refund for the third term – despite them leaving their
accommodation after courses moved online.

The National Union of Students has written to private landlords with a list of demands to help student renters financially survive the crisis, including rent subsidies, reductions or waivers for six months for those impacted by Coronavirus.

The National
Residential Landlords Association says the Government had made it clear that
tenants remain legally liable for their rents and all aspects of the tenancy
agreement they’ve signed.

Policy director Chris Norris tells LandlordZONE: “Coronavirus doesn’t preclude any tenant from continuing to live in the property they rent. When lockdown restrictions were introduced it was for individuals to choose where that would be. For students, maintenance loans continue to be paid to cover rents and universities are providing hardship loans for those who might need extra support.”

He adds: “We’re sympathetic to the concerns of students who have left their university accommodation to spend lockdown with their family. In such cases, we’re encouraging landlords to be as reasonable as they possibly can and agree a suitable way forward with their tenants.”

Last week students began a rent strike in Preston.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Competition watchdog says students due rent refunds during Coronavirus | LandlordZONE.

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Housing first! Council approves key property licensing schemes, but without start date

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Islington says that because of Coronavirus it does now know when its new HMO and Selective Licensing schemes will come into force but that they will ‘level the playing field’ for landlords.

Islington Council has given
the go-ahead for two new property licensing schemes with the hope of improving
conditions in the private rented sector.

It’s
approved both a borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme and a selective
licensing scheme to cover all properties in the Finsbury Park ward that aren’t already
covered by a scheme.

A council spokesman tells LandlordZONE that no start date has been agreed due to the COVID-19 crisis. He says: “At this stage the decision has been made by the executive in principle but no start dates have been discussed so any instigation wouldn’t be in the near future.”

HMOs have some of
Islington’s poorest housing standards and many conversions don’t meet fire
safety standards; Finsbury Park ward has the highest number of complaints
about private rented property in the borough and it believes many people there face
higher levels of deprivation, and are at greater risk of being taken advantage
of by rogue landlords.

Islington Council says the schemes
benefit responsible landlords by levelling the playing field, ensuring rogue
landlords who avoid paying out for repairs aren’t saving money by renting
properties in poor condition.

Councillor Diarmaid Ward,
executive member for housing and development, says: “There are a great number
of responsible landlords in the borough, and these licensing schemes will help
the council to ensure that those conscientious landlords are rewarded, while
rogue operators offering poor conditions are more easily
identified.”  

However, the National Residential Landlords Association warns the schemes could lead to rent increases while criminal landlords might simply ignore them, as they do other regulations. In its response to the consultation, the association pointed out that the council already has sufficient enforcement powers to raise standards.

Read more about licensing during Coronavirus.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Housing first! Council approves key property licensing schemes, but without start date | LandlordZONE.

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Blog: What will September bring for student landlords?

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As we see the beginning of the end of lockdown, thoughts are starting to turn to what the ‘new normal’ will look like. For student landlords, this includes a fundamental unknown – what will happen in the next academic year?  Universities have been cautious so far about committing to either online or in-person courses. However, last week, Cambridge University announced that all […]

The post Blog: What will September bring for student landlords? appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

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‘Virtual hearings for duty possession cases are not workable’

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The court system that landlords rely on to evict tenants faces extreme challenges as one- by-one County Courts announce plans to hold possession hearings virtually until at least the Autumn, says The Law Society.

The Law Society has questioned the wisdom of using ‘virtual hearings’ for possessions cases as the court system gets ready to re-start evictions on 25^th June.

In an article published on its in-house website, the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales says it is concerned that plans to hear cases online or via telephone will exclude the normal system of duty solicitors being made available to tenants, and face-to-face horse trading prior to hearings.

Three London courts – Brentwood, Edmonton and Barnet – have all revealed that they are gearing up their processes to handle virtual hearings after the 29^th June, with more expected to follow in the coming days and weeks.

Pre-coronavirus, both tenants, landlords and legal representatives could haggle together before a hearing and often reach an agreement, but the use of virtual viewings means this will be much harder to achieve, and that tenants will have less opportunity to take up or be offered legal aid assistance.

The Law Society quotes one solicitor, Sue James of the Hammersmith & Fulham Law Centre, who claims that because a duty solicitor is an essential component in achieve proper access to justice for those losing their home, taking away this service will lead to more evictions and that the whole system will become unworkable.

“Clients facing possession proceedings often have welfare benefit problems which means they are on very low incomes” she says.

“They may also lack computers to access the court remotely or to have data or credit on their phones. Remote hearings for duty possession cases are not workable.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘Virtual hearings for duty possession cases are not workable’ | LandlordZONE.

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‘Lockdown has been a been a kick in the teeth’

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Leading residential HMO landlord, hotel operator and property expert Jimmy London reveals the challenges his businesses have faced during the Coronavirus crisis.

Busy landlord Jimmy London is coping with
a lack of income from his two hotels as well as managing rent losses from his
large property portfolio.

As the owner of House 2 Home, a property management company which sub-lets HMOs to tenants, he also runs online rent-to-rent training courses and is now looking to buy a portfolio of 15 residential properties on lease option for £2.2 million to turn over to HMOs.

He’s £11,000 down from his large portfolio
of 30 HMOs around the South-East where some of his 200 tenants are battling the
effects of Covid-19. London has also been hit hard by cancellations in the
hospitality industry and had to delay the opening of his new hotel above the
famous Bill Nicholson pub next to Tottenham’s ground in the capital.

“My friend bought the freehold, I lease
the pub and transformed the upstairs into 10 serviced rooms,” says London. “The
lockdown has been a been a kick in the teeth.”

London also has run a nine-bed hotel in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex for the last three years which is closed with all staff furloughed and bookings refunded.

Says London: “I run that at 95% occupancy, six days a week, which
I’m really proud of. We had bookings in May and June but I’ve refunded people
as it wasn’t fair to keep their money.”

He adds: “I’m also owed about £11,000 in rent because some of my
tenants have lost their jobs, but I’m working with them – I don’t want the
mickey taken.”

However, he remains positive and feels
confident that the businesses could even survive until Christmas if they had to.

“I’m making sure things are all ticking over at the hotels each week and on the phone a few hours a day working. I’ve got a good team around me and it’s really important to communicate with them all and to make sure everyone’s OK and safe. I won’t let Covid-19 pull down my businesses.”

Read another landlord interview.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘Lockdown has been a been a kick in the teeth’ | LandlordZONE.

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Blog: How adaptations could make your rental more desirable

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Henry Smith, Senior Programme Manager for the Centre for Ageing Better on our ageing population – and the changes that could make your rental more desirable. Due to the current coronavirus pandemic all of us are spending a lot more time in our homes and for older people especially, this doesn’t look likely to change […]

The post Blog: How adaptations could make your rental more desirable appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

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Anti evictions group claims success for Bank Holiday demonstrations across 19 cities

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Acorn says its message that the evictions ban should be extended for another six months was warmly received by members of the public at its various events yesterday.

Housing campaigners upped the ante yesterday during demonstrations in 19 cities to persuade the government to extend the evictions ban in England for up to six months, force landlords who receive mortgage holidays to pass on the savings to their tenants and scrap Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.

Acorn, the loose national coalition of renters’ rights campaigners, held the socially distanced demonstrations during a day of action on Bank Holiday Monday.

Hamstrung somewhat by the Coronavirus restrictions, the demonstrations in each city consisted mainly of affixing large banners to public structures proclaiming ‘No Rent Debt’ and ‘#HousingIsHealth’.

The largest events, which Acorn says were supported by the public, took place in Cardiff, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge, Sheffield, Hastings, Coventry and Lancaster.

Support

Nick Ballard, one of the lead organisers of the campaign, said: “All across the country, from Cardiff to Newcastle and everywhere in between, people in the streets have been talking to us and saying they want to support us, which is great.

“It is what we hoped we were going to get: people saying that they are against the evictions starting again.”

Campaign organisations like Acorn know their moment has come, as both the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Ministry of Justice considering what to do once the current evictions restrictions are lifted on June 25^th.

They have three options to consider – resume evictions including new and existing possession hearings; allow existing evictions that were initiated before the pandemic to proceed but prevent new proceedings; or extend the current ban for another three or, as Acorn would like, six months.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Anti evictions group claims success for Bank Holiday demonstrations across 19 cities | LandlordZONE.

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NAPIT electrical testing exceeds new regulation requirements?

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The new NAPIT Trade Association Guidelines for Landlords on “The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020” exceeds the requirement of these regulations.

The 2002 regulations come into force from 1st June and require that ECIR test standards to comply with the 18th Edition Electrical Wiring Regulations Inspection and Test requirements.

The post NAPIT electrical testing exceeds new regulation requirements? appeared first on Property118.

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