Landlords ‘very unlikely’ to face sanctions over EPC rating breaches
Landlords are very unlikely to face prosecution for leaving tenants in cold and draughty homes, according to new research into energy efficiency regulations designed to protect renters across England and Wales.
Fewer than 6% of councils have taken any enforcement action against landlords illegally letting out properties with the lowest energy efficiency ratings, data obtained by the i newspaper reveals. But councils in England and Wales are set to receive a toolkit to help them enforce the regulations next year.
In April 2018, the Government introduced the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES), barring landlords from starting new tenancies for properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of F or G, the lowest gradings.
In April 2020, this was extended to cover all tenancies and should mean that 290,000 rented homes – almost half of which house tenants living in fuel poverty – should receive improvements.
The Government estimates it will cost about £1,200-£2,000 to bring an F or G rated property up to standard, and landlords can claim an exemption if costs exceed £3,500.
Flouting rules
But there are fears that thousands are flouting the rules and going unpunished; of the 268 authorities which responded to a Freedom of Information request from i asking for details of MEES enforcement, just 17 had taken any action. Since 2018, 449 compliance notices and just 17 fines totalling £65,600 have been issued for breaches of MEES.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been working with seven councils to test bottom-up, local authority-generated solutions to monitoring, compliance, and enforcement of the regulations.
A spokesman tells LandlordZONE that this helped develop a best practice enforcement toolkit of case studies, templates, and off-the-shelf tools to help streamline the process and make it less resource intensive.
He says: “We’re now conducting a second round of pilots to road-test and refine it with a new, wider pool of English and Welsh local authorities before we publish the final toolkit to all local authorities in England and Wales in 2021.”
©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords ‘very unlikely’ to face sanctions over EPC rating breaches | LandlordZONE.
View Full Article: Landlords ‘very unlikely’ to face sanctions over EPC rating breaches
London mayor: eviction pre-action protocols will NOT prevent ‘river of homeless’ on streets
Government plans for a pre-action protocol to help regulate possession proceedings within the private rented sector will fail to prevent a cliff edge in evictions once the ban is lifted, London mayor Sadiq Khan has claimed.
This pre-action protocol would require private landlords to meet the same rules as social landlords before issuing possession proceedings at the end of the moratorium.
They would then have a duty to reach out to tenants to discuss their situation, and to try to agree an affordable repayment plan. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has previously suggested that this will allow tenants to stay in their homes, and to deal with rent they haven’t been able to pay.
Overwhelmed
But Khan claims local authority housing services could be overwhelmed in a matter of weeks when the current eviction ban ends on 23rd August, if the Government doesn’t step in to help London’s two million private renters.
He believes it has failed to protect those who have run up rental debts during the pandemic from eviction proceedings and homelessness, and warns: “The capital also faces the impending prospect of a tsunami of evictions.”
Khan has suggested measures including emergency legislation to prevent landlords serving eviction notices to tenants affected by COVID-19 and a boost to the welfare benefits system to cover any rent shortfall.
In a letter to Jenrick, he says: “The imbalance of power between renters and landlords means that the Government’s reliance on them agreeing ‘affordable repayment plans’ is unrealistic, particularly in London where the shortage of housing creates competition amongst tenants and gives them little option but to agree to a landlord’s terms.”
©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – London mayor: eviction pre-action protocols will NOT prevent ‘river of homeless’ on streets | LandlordZONE.
View Full Article: London mayor: eviction pre-action protocols will NOT prevent ‘river of homeless’ on streets
Yes another N5B query – still no guidance notes from government?
Well I thought I’d finish the damn (new extended) form N5B, but I’m not sure I interpreted /answered question 15 correctly.
Well question 15 itself is simple enough that’s a definite NO but after that I’m not sure if i’m supposed to disregard questions 15c-15i .
The post Yes another N5B query – still no guidance notes from government? appeared first on Property118.
View Full Article: Yes another N5B query – still no guidance notes from government?
Labour calls for ‘landlord bung’ stamp duty decision to be reversed
The Labour party has labelled Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement that landlords will benefit from a reduction in stamp duty a “bung”, which will only worsen the housing crisis by reducing the supply of homes.
Labour’s shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire wants the Government to reverse its decision to give landlords and second home owners a tax break and has written to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick asking him for the reason behind the decision.
Last week, the Government raised the stamp duty threshold to £500,000 on transactions including second properties. Although property investors and second homeowners will still pay a 3% stamp duty surcharge on purchases, they won’t pay any further duty on the first £500,000 of the property’s value.
Debbonaire says: “It’s unacceptable that the Chancellor tried to sneak out this huge bung to second home owners and landlords while millions of people are desperate for support. He should be targeting support to those who need it, not helping people invest in buy-to-let properties and holiday homes.”
Second properties
She points out that 34% of homes bought in 2019/20 were second properties, meaning that this policy could cost the exchequer £1.3 billion, which could instead fund the immediate gap in local council finances.
Debbonaire adds: “At a time when we have an acute local government funding crisis, I question how the Government can justify giving a tax break to people already fortunate enough to own an existing property rather than giving councils the funding they need.”
Labour believes that with more than one million people on council waiting lists, the money could be much better spent on affordable housing to buy or rent.
Read more about Labour’s rental sector policies.
©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Labour calls for ‘landlord bung’ stamp duty decision to be reversed | LandlordZONE.
View Full Article: Labour calls for ‘landlord bung’ stamp duty decision to be reversed
Shadow housing secretary accusing Sunak of massive ‘Bung’ to Landlords
Labour’s shadow housing secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, has written an open letter to Robert Jenrick accusing the Conservatives of sneaking out a £1.3bn bung to second home owners and landlords in the Summer Economic Update.
This is despite the 3% surcharge still being applied to all second homes and residential rental property.
The post Shadow housing secretary accusing Sunak of massive ‘Bung’ to Landlords appeared first on Property118.
View Full Article: Shadow housing secretary accusing Sunak of massive ‘Bung’ to Landlords
Selling my rental property to the Local Authority
Selling my rental property to the Local Authority and need to serve a Section 21 notice to my tenants as well and will be talking to them. I’ve had enough of tenant and landlord regulations/legislation and having had 2 consecutive bad tenants on my other rental property I now want out.
The post Selling my rental property to the Local Authority appeared first on Property118.
View Full Article: Selling my rental property to the Local Authority
Categories
- Landlords (19)
- Real Estate (9)
- Renewables & Green Issues (1)
- Rental Property Investment (1)
- Tenants (21)
- Uncategorized (11,739)
Archives
- October 2024 (12)
- September 2024 (69)
- August 2024 (55)
- July 2024 (64)
- June 2024 (54)
- May 2024 (73)
- April 2024 (59)
- March 2024 (49)
- February 2024 (57)
- January 2024 (58)
- December 2023 (56)
- November 2023 (59)
- October 2023 (67)
- September 2023 (136)
- August 2023 (131)
- July 2023 (129)
- June 2023 (128)
- May 2023 (140)
- April 2023 (121)
- March 2023 (168)
- February 2023 (155)
- January 2023 (152)
- December 2022 (136)
- November 2022 (158)
- October 2022 (146)
- September 2022 (148)
- August 2022 (169)
- July 2022 (124)
- June 2022 (124)
- May 2022 (130)
- April 2022 (116)
- March 2022 (155)
- February 2022 (124)
- January 2022 (120)
- December 2021 (117)
- November 2021 (139)
- October 2021 (130)
- September 2021 (138)
- August 2021 (110)
- July 2021 (110)
- June 2021 (60)
- May 2021 (127)
- April 2021 (122)
- March 2021 (156)
- February 2021 (154)
- January 2021 (133)
- December 2020 (126)
- November 2020 (159)
- October 2020 (169)
- September 2020 (181)
- August 2020 (147)
- July 2020 (172)
- June 2020 (158)
- May 2020 (177)
- April 2020 (188)
- March 2020 (234)
- February 2020 (212)
- January 2020 (164)
- December 2019 (107)
- November 2019 (131)
- October 2019 (145)
- September 2019 (123)
- August 2019 (112)
- July 2019 (93)
- June 2019 (82)
- May 2019 (94)
- April 2019 (88)
- March 2019 (78)
- February 2019 (77)
- January 2019 (71)
- December 2018 (37)
- November 2018 (85)
- October 2018 (108)
- September 2018 (110)
- August 2018 (135)
- July 2018 (140)
- June 2018 (118)
- May 2018 (113)
- April 2018 (64)
- March 2018 (96)
- February 2018 (82)
- January 2018 (92)
- December 2017 (62)
- November 2017 (100)
- October 2017 (105)
- September 2017 (97)
- August 2017 (101)
- July 2017 (104)
- June 2017 (155)
- May 2017 (135)
- April 2017 (113)
- March 2017 (138)
- February 2017 (150)
- January 2017 (127)
- December 2016 (90)
- November 2016 (135)
- October 2016 (149)
- September 2016 (135)
- August 2016 (48)
- July 2016 (52)
- June 2016 (54)
- May 2016 (52)
- April 2016 (24)
- October 2014 (8)
- April 2012 (2)
- December 2011 (2)
- November 2011 (10)
- October 2011 (9)
- September 2011 (9)
- August 2011 (3)
Calendar
Recent Posts
- Defending Landlords from Unfair HMRC Attacks
- The exodus of landlords: How bad does it have to get?
- Renters’ Reform Coalition demands compensation for ‘no-fault’ evictions
- Rescue your Investment and move on: We’ll sell your properties in under 28 Days
- Landlords and second homeowners rush to sell – Zoopla