‘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.”

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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 […]

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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.

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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.

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Hemel Landlord Property Network- Meet Mark Alexander Tuesday 26th May

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The network is open to anyone who is interested in Property, whether you are a seasoned investor, new to investing or haven’t yet made that big property leap.

We meet monthly to chat about property in a relaxed environment.

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BREAKING: Mortgage holiday extension to include landlords, HM Treasury confirms

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Earlier today the ministry revealed that home owners could apply for mortgage holiday for a further four months, but has now told LandlordZONE that this is to include buy-to-let loans.

HM Treasury has confirmed to LandlordZONE that its mortgage holiday extension for home owners announced early this morning is to also include landlords with buy-to-let loans.

None of the guidelines and announcements earlier today from both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury mentioned mortgage relief for landlords but, after chasing around several government departments, a Treasury spokesperson has confirmed to us that the extended mortgage holiday scheme will include buy-to-let products.

Also, like the home owner loans, landlords will be protected from having their properties repossessed if they fall behind in their mortgage payments, until the Coronavirus crisis is over.

HM Treasury and the FCA jointly announced this morning that home owners – and now landlords – are to be offered a three-month mortgage holiday for a further four months, although landlords should remember that the ‘holiday’ is in reality a payment deferment that accrues interest.

The original scheme was due to run out at the end of June but is now to finish at the end of October, although the FCA says property owners should return to paying their mortgages where possible.

The FCA is to consult with lenders until 26th May on the proposals and then introduce the extended schemes.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “We welcome this announcement. Extension of the mortgage deferment scheme will enable landlords with mortgages to continue to provide flexibility to tenants who are struggling to pay their rents.

“The NRLA continues to campaign for further support
to ensure tenants can continue to pay their rents in the first place.
 This includes increasing benefits to ensure they cover the cost of rents
and Spanish style interest free loans for tenants in need of extra help.”

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Second county court reveals plans to get ready for 29th June evictions re-start

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Announcement from Edmonton follows similar announcement by Barnet earlier this week, both of which point to at least a partial re-opening of possession hearings system.

Edmonton County Court in North London is the latest to reveal that it’s getting ready to begin processing possession hearings again on 29^th June.

As we reported earlier this week, the first was Barnet. Both say that unless told otherwise by the judiciary, they expect to recommence hearings, albeit via telephone or video platforms including Microsoft teams.

Courts tend to pre-empt government policy; it was clear that an evictions ban was in the pipeline back in March when Blackpool County Court began warning solicitors of an imminent close-down of possession hearings well before the government announced it evictions ban.

The announcement by Edmonton, and the similar nature of the announcement sent out to solicitors and members of the public, shows that the court system is limbering up for the evictions ban to be at least partially lifted, and that a common approach is being taken.

Least worst

Like Barnet, Edmonton has written to the solicitors who use its court to warn that hearings are likely to be more difficult to complete remotely and that it is the ‘least worst way of dealing with these possession claims in present circumstances’.

“We well understand that these cases have previously involved large numbers of mainly unrepresented defendants with limited means attending our court and, in some cases, meeting and reaching agreements with representatives of claimants in the court building,” the update says.

“That cannot be accommodated during the current crisis. The parties will therefore be expected to engage with one another well before the hearing date to a much greater degree than previously.”

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Landlords support MPs calls to boost housing benefit

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Private landlords are supporting calls by MPs on Parliament’s Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee to boost the financial support available to tenants during the COVID-19 outbreak. Responding to the Committee’s calls for the Local Housing Allowance to be set at a rate that reflects real market rents, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the […]

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LATEST: Students at two private halls of residence begin landmark rent strike

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What is thought to be the first official rent strike within the student private rental market since the Coronavirus crisis began has been announced at two large properties in the centre of Preston.

A group
of University of Central Lancashire (UCL) students living at private halls of
residence in Preston have gone on rent strike.

The students, from Foundry Court in Brook Street (pictured) and Trinity Student Village in Great Shaw Street, are angry at being charged rent, despite not occupying their accommodation during the third term due to lockdown.

It follows protests at the Universities of
Sussex and Warwick where hundreds signed up to withhold rent.

Third year UCL student Natasha Riaz says: “There
is no possibility of me being able to return to my accommodation this
term due to Government imposed lockdown rules, yet the landlords are
charging £1,267.71 for a room that will have zero electricity consumption, zero
water usage and zero use of the gas supply.”

In an email to Natasha, property managers Homes for Students said the decision to continue charging rent had been made by the owner of the building who had significant fixed costs to meet.

Refund progress

According to student
housing charity Unipol, 80% of universities and 30% of private sector landlords
have refunded or waived rents for students who’ve left accommodation early. 

It says £98,762,400 still hasn’t been refunded by
universities while £392,578,800 hasn’t been refunded by the private sector
purpose-built student accommodation providers for the third term.

While the Government has
again reiterated that it won’t be offering financial help to students, the National
Union of Students (NUS) says the Scottish Government’s recent announcement is
far more practical. 

There, students currently tied into contracts in
institution-owned halls of residence or privately-owned purpose-built student
accommodation are now able to give seven days’ notice before ending their lease
for Covid-19 related reasons.

An NUS survey found that
while about a third of students in England are keen to be released early from
their rental agreements, less than a tenth have been given that opportunity.

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