EXCLUSIVE: Injunctions are not the answer to anti-social tenants during evictions ban, industry tells minister

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Housing minister Christopher Pincher (pictured, above) has claimed in Parliament that landlords are able to deal with tenants who are behaving anti-socially during the evictions ban with a range of alternative regulatory tools other than evictions.

His comments were in response to MP Clive Betts, Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, who asked what powers landlords ‘have at their disposal to tackle tenants who breach their tenancy agreement as a result of anti-social behaviour’.

Pincher replied that landlords, faced with such problem tenants, should consider using injunctions, closure orders and community protection notices to deal with them.

This raised eyebrows among the landlord community, who are well aware that such measures are expensive, protracted and time-consuming options even when compared to the UK’s evictions processes.

“Whilst the police and councils do have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour, the feedback we are getting from tenants and landlords alike is that this is often too slow and ineffective,” says Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association.

“Such behaviour causes misery for those affected including fellow tenants and neighbours and it is vital that it is not allowed to fester.

“By far the quickest way to deal with it is to evict those who are responsible. We call therefore for the restoration of powers to enable this to happen as a matter of urgency.”

Not practical

Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action says Pincher’s suggestions are ‘not really practical’.

“When the police are called about a breach of the peace within a rented property they will arrest someone if a crime has been involved, but otherwise they will just ‘have words’,” he says.

“The police don’t want to get involved in evicting tenants.”

Shamplina says injunctions are extremely costly and can run into thousands of pounds and that even if landlords get their day in court, they’ve got to persuade the judge that the tenant is a multiple offender.

“Most landlords have small portfolios and don’t want to fork out that kind of money. It’s why the blanket evictions ban needs changing – it protects tenants who are behaving anti-socially and who know they can’t be evicted.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: Injunctions are not the answer to anti-social tenants during evictions ban, industry tells minister | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Poole landlord is second ever to receive banning order

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A rogue landlord in Poole has become the second person in England to be banned from renting out residential properties.

Mahmut Gilgil, of Blandford Road, was convicted in May 2019 of 12 offences relating to his rented HMO above a kebab shop in the town.

He was found to have breached fire regulations and had also failed to maintain common areas or repair property defects, which affected his tenants’ safety and welfare. He was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,425 in costs.

The offences were so severe that inspectors from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council decided to file for a banning order.

This took effect on 3^rd June and prevents Gilgil from letting or managing houses in the UK for five years. If he breaks the ban, he could be jailed or fined up to £30,000.

Councillor Kieron Wilson, portfolio holder for housing, says: “The safety of tenants who privately rent should always be paramount and they are entitled to live in accommodation that is well managed, safe and habitable. Landlords have a duty to manage their properties well and in accordance with the necessary regulations.

“The scale of the offences committed by this landlord meant that this action was considered absolutely necessary and proportionate and I hope it sends out a clear message that rogue landlords who are putting residents’ health and safety at risk and poorly managing their properties will be dealt with.”

The first landlord to be banned from letting a property in England was David Beattie after he was prosecuted by Telford & Wrekin Council.

He admitted managing an HMO in Dudmaston without a licence and was found to have deliberately misled tenants over their rights by telling them they could be evicted within 48 hours. 

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Exclusive: the cities where government is piloting harsher EPC ‘policing’

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LandlordZONE can reveal the cities where the government is piloting harsher enforcement of its Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) which from April 2018 required all properties with a new or renewed tenancy to attain a minimum EPC ‘E’ rating prior to being rented out.

From April 1^st 2020 this was expanded to include all rented properties. Landlords had asked for the regulations to be postponed following the Coronavirus pandemic, but – with the exception of Scotland – this fell on deaf ears within the corridors of power.

The local authorities involved in the pilots are Eden District Council along with Newcastle, Liverpool, Cambridge and Peterborough (as a join pilot), Bristol, Cornwall and Oxford.

As LandlordZONE reported in February, the first to begin its pilot was Oxford City Council.

It, like many local authorities, faced significant non-compliance among landlords and in Oxford 40% of rented homes do not have an EPC. Oxford, like the other seven cities within the scheme, was given £150,000 from the Department of Business, Industry, Energy and Strategy (BEIS) to police the MEES regulations through inspections of private rented housing and HMO licensing schemes.

Councils have also been given extra powers as well as funds. For example, Oxford City is issuing £200 fines to landlords who do not have an EPC for a privately rented property.

A report by consultant RSM into MEES and EPC enforcement published before the pilots began concluded that to be effective, a national landlord register should be adopted alongside urging tenants to report non-compliant landlords, increased local property licensing and increased funding for councils and trading standards.

The co-ordination of the eight pilots is being managed by the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Exclusive: the cities where government is piloting harsher EPC ‘policing’ | LandlordZONE.

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B2L mortgage on house we will end up living in?

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We have a property on the market for £385,000, mortgaged at £120,000 on an expensive 4% RBS One account. We want to unlock the potential from the house & downsize

We found a house that we really want

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CBILS for developer?

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Has anyone else heard of the Government’s CBILS scheme paying out to developers?

I spoke to a broker last week who was waiting for an announcement that CBILS was being widened out to cover developers too, but I haven’t heard of any developers getting one yet.

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Increase rent – Increase Bond?

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If I raise the rent to match (or be slightly under) the LHA rate, what about the Bond secured as a deposit?

The Bond at the time was for the 5 weeks max rent, so do I ask for an increase to match the rent increase?

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Want a truly passive investment where you can sleep soundly at night, given these testing times?

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Landlords wanting to remove some of the hassle connected with the do-it-yourself letting process, or even using a letting agent, could consider “guaranteed rent”, renting their property to the local authority to rent out on their behalf. But exercise caution.

This is known in the industry as rent-to-rent or guaranteed rent: the property is let to the council, or sometimes to a private managing agent, who may rent to tenants or in turn to a local authority, for them to rent out.

This is done on a fixed term, usually 3 to 5 years, the monthly rent is guaranteed for that period whether the council has a tenant in the property or not, and the council is obliged to make sure the property meets all the necessary letting standards. It then returns the property in its original tenantable state at the end of the term.

Sounds a little too good to be true doesn’t it! Well, it can work out really well but from the landlord’s point of view there can be some pluses and some decidedly nasty minuses.

Yes, for the landlord the process gives peace of mind, its a let-it-and-forget it process where the landlord does not need to think about it for 5 years or so, and simply watches the rent pop into their bank account every month.

The first slight negative is that the rent will be slightly less than they would get on the open market, simply because of the trade off between having no hassle, no letting fees, and none of the expense of re-letting when tenants come and go – often this a very acceptable trade-off.

The second negative is that the whole process can become a legal minefield if things go wrong; even with a council this can happen, but more so with a private company or individual.

There have been some real horror stories with rent-to-rent when unsavoury characters or inexperienced individuals – talked into this by so called property gurus – rent properties from unsuspecting landlords and play fast a loose with their property: properties divided into multi-housing units (HMOs), overcrowding, letting without a licence, non-payment of rent and either handing the property back with expensive damage or refusing to hand it back at all.

Of course, renting to a council or a reputable agency reduces this risk to a minimum, but even so there can be problems. The legalities of this are complicated: it’s a lot more complicated legally that simply renting between a landlord and tenant because another legal entity is sandwiched between the two: ( The Landlord – > The Renter – Agency or Council) < – The Occupier (The Tenant)

Some agents will rent from you or act as an agent between you and the council, who in turn will let to their own tenants, usually low income/welfare individuals or families.

It is therefore vital for your own sanity that in this case you choose an agency that is well-established and with a track-record of successfully managing private rented accommodation. They should be members of at lease one of the main professional associations, preferably ARLA Propertymark, the National Approved Lettings Scheme’ (NALS), the ‘Ombudsman Services’ scheme, the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA) and the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

I suggest you do your due diligence thoroughly by checking out the agency, and requesting to speak with other landlords who have used their services long-term. With councils this is less important but still worth doing. We’ve come across many landlords who have had problems when they let directly to councils.

You need to do checks with your mortgage lender, your landlord policy insurers and the freeholder of your rental property if it is leasehold. Get permission in writing in each case, otherwise your guaranteed rent arrangement may breach the terms of one of these. The last thing you need is for your insurer to refuse a claim because of this, or your mortgage lender demands immediate re-payment.

Having a valid contract between you and the council (or the agency) is key to a trouble-free and a pleasant experience. This is a commercial arrangement and therefore a million miles away from the Housing Act Assured shorthold tenancy – you leave that side to the agent. You need a commercial (business) (Landlord & Tenant Act 1954) tenancy between yourself and the council or the agent. You also need a detailed schedule of condition / inventory, ideally from an independent surveyor or inventory clerk.

These rental bodies will often provide their own contracts for you to sign, but you should resist doing this, at least until you have had expert legal advice, and when I say expert I don’t mean your family solicitor, I mean an experienced property lawyer familiar with this type of arrangement.

You would expect a council or a reputable agency to honour their contract and return the property back on time and in its original or better condition, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. Number one because the Housing Laws are such that the council or the agency will not necessarily be in a position to gain vacant possession just when it’s needed. Secondly, agreeing what is original condition is open to interpretation, hence the importance of a good schedule of condition.

Landlords are often drawn into the trap of thinking that renting to the local authority or a good agent is going to be trouble free and there will be no arguments as to what’s right and wrong: not always to case.

Don’t get me wrong when I’m pointing out all what can go wrong. Don’t let this put you off using guaranteed rent arrangements; it has many advantages not least of which should be a nice passive investment return. What I am saying is that preparation is the key to a successful outcome, so bear in mind the points I’ve mentioned above.

Coronavirus could wipe out the UK’s smaller Guaranteed Rent operators

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Want a truly passive investment where you can sleep soundly at night, given these testing times? | LandlordZONE.

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Rent and Legal Guarantee now available for existing tenancies

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Debt is a reality in every type of business, but unlike almost any other service provider, landlords are unable to terminate a contract with their client if payment is not received.

Only a court may end a tenancy agreement on the basis of non-payment.

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Free webinar: Join rental market experts to get your questions answered

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Four experts from the private rental market are gathering tomorrow online to host a LandlordZONE webinar that will explore all of the key issues facing landlords and letting agents in the private rental market.

All are welcome to the event which is free to attend and will feature Theresa Wallace, Head of Compliance and Customer Relations for Savills’ Residential Lettings Division and Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action and regular on Channel 5 show Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords.

The other experts are Tim Frome, Head of Legal at Landlord Action and leading mortgage broker Daniel Lee.

All four will give their views and advice on the leading issues facing the sector at the moment including the tenant fees ban, the government’s decision to extend the suspension of evcitions and the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the rental market.

The four are also likely to discuss the implications of the looming Section 21 bar, how mortgage holidays may affect creditworthiness and staying safe when renting properties.

The Ask The Experts webinar will start at 11am tomorrow and last for an hour. To reserve your seat at the ringside, register online here.
  

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Rent Family Home and Move it into Ltd Company?

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I’m currently in the process of purchasing a new family home. The plan is to keep our current family home and rent it out, the mortgage is low on the property (7% LTV to be precise). I currently also have a LTD company which holds 2 rental properties.

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