PRS giant says just 0.49% of its 2% rent arrears are due to Covid

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A rental property building firm has managed to collect an impressive 98% of rents from its hundreds of tenants around the UK during lockdown.

PRS REIT’s extraordinary rent collection figures are in stark contrast to the recent Shelter report showing how thenumber of private tenants in England who have fallen behind on rent has grown during the pandemic, to 442,000.

Even the bullish Belvoir property group has reported that at least 5% of its tenants are in arrears.

Tenants at PRS REIT’s smart rental properties are made up of families, downsizers and early retirees – and prospective renters are checked to make sure they can reliably cover the rent.

A spokesman tells LandlordZONE: “We’re pleased that rent collection has remained resilient during the lockdown period.

“This reflects the continued significant demand for our high-quality product, which is supported by market-leading customer support for residents.”

The real estate investment trust, which invests in new-build homes for the private rented sector, reports that rent collection “wasn’t materially impacted” by the national lockdown, with 98% of rent due in the quarter to the end of June collected – down from an even more impressive 99% in the quarter before lockdown.

The firm says it’s agreed payment plans for those households that needed help and reports that the equivalent of just 0.49% of annual rent was in lockdown-related rent arrears.

PRS REIT recently finished building its 2,000^th home and has another 2,900 in development.

It’s blamed COVID-19 on a slowdown in home completions, which fell to 135 new rental properties in the last quarter, down from 330 in the previous quarter, because construction had been suspended or disrupted. And while the pace is now slower, due to social distancing requirements, it expects about 450 new homes to come on line by September.  

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – PRS giant says just 0.49% of its 2% rent arrears are due to Covid | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: PRS giant says just 0.49% of its 2% rent arrears are due to Covid

Letting agents! Get up to speed on the post-Covid world for £25

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Are you a letting agent who has either been away from the game for a while during Covid or who wants to continue your professional development?

Then HF Assist is offering agents a three-and-a-half hour online workshop lead by Susie Crolla from the Guild of Letting & Management and Hamilton Fraser brand ambassador Paul Shamplina.

“Like all our courses it’s aimed at independent agents who probably aren’t signed up to an industry body but who want to develop professionally,” says Shamplina. “It’s what we’re all about – supporting and protecting agents.”

The workshop will count towards an agent’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours and is to take place between 9am and 12.30pm on 30^th July.

It will give agents post-Covid guidance plus legal updates and compliance advice, and also inform them about the current situation with possession notices and evictions.

And for those unaware of the looming banning of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and the repercussions of the tenant fees, Susie and Paul will also brief those attending on these topics too.

Other issues to be covered by the duo include the recent changes to electrical safety standards and looming new procedures to comply with the government’s soon-to-be revealed eviction pre-action protocols.

The Back to Business: Returning to work post COVID-19 workshop costs £25 to attend, and requires online registration.

“We ran quite a few courses last year but because agents can’t do face to face meetings now, we though we’d give something back to agents by offering them an affordable and practical update that’s in their own ‘letting agent language’,” says Shamplina. “At that price it’s a no-brainer as agent will also get a workbook before the event and also a certificate when they’ve completed it.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Letting agents! Get up to speed on the post-Covid world for £25 | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Letting agents! Get up to speed on the post-Covid world for £25

Minister calls for landlords to end ‘No DSS’ discrimination following court judgement

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing Luke Hall has today urged landlords and letting agents to play their part in ensuring discrimination against tenants in receipt of benefits is stamped out.

The minister’s comments follow news from housing charity Shelter that it has won a landmark ruling that found the ‘No DSS’ practice unfairly discriminated against a single mum-of-two with a disability, on the grounds of sex and disability under the Equality Act.

“Everyone should have the same opportunity when looking for a home and discriminating against someone simply because they receive benefits has no place in a modern housing market,” says Hall (pictured, above).

“That’s why we have been working with landlords and letting agents to help ensure prospective tenants are treated on an individual basis and that benefits are not seen as a barrier to giving someone a place to live.”

Although the government says the vast majority of landlords provide a fair and professional service, it has been working with landlords and tenant groups, letting agents and websites, and the mortgage and insurances industries to discuss how to tackle the issue of ‘No DSS’ adverts.

Major lettings portals including Zoopla and Rightmove agreed last year to stop the use of ‘No DSS’ adverts on their websites, and several major lenders agreed to remove restrictions on mortgages which prevented landlords from letting to tenants on benefits.

But the practice is far from stamped out. While the three main property portals now prevent agents from using terms like ‘No DSS’ in their adverts, the practice remains rife if you trawl through agency websites or some of the more peripheral classified listings portals.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Minister calls for landlords to end ‘No DSS’ discrimination following court judgement | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Minister calls for landlords to end ‘No DSS’ discrimination following court judgement

Belvoir Group expands estate agency business through strategic alliance with The Nottingham

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Belvoir is delighted to announce the development of a strategic alliance with The Nottingham, offering franchisees within the Belvoir, Northwood, Newton Fallowell and Lovelle networks the opportunity to significantly increase estate agency services in new locations.

Under the new agreement, the vast majority of The Nottingham’s estate agency and lettings activity will transfer over to the Belvoir Group, with The Nottingham ceasing trading for new estate agency and lettings operations at the end of August.

Dorian Gonsalves, CEO of the Belvoir Group said: “This strategic alliance represents an exciting and mutually beneficial opportunity for both the Belvoir Group and The Nottingham, and is expected to pave the way for further joint initiatives in the future.

“Franchisees within the Belvoir Group will have an opportunity to offer The Nottingham’s members high quality estate agency services, either from existing building society branches or from Belvoir’s stand-alone offices throughout the UK. In the first instance this opportunity will be extended to a number of our franchisees to increase their footprint by taking a presence in up to eleven of The Nottingham’s branches and working together in Nottingham, Leicester and Cambridgeshire.

“I am confident that this innovative alliance will prove to be a great success, as Belvoir and The Nottingham already share many core principles, including a determination to ensure that the customer remains very much at the heart of all aspects of the business.”

David Marlow, CEO of The Nottingham said: “We are confident that the Belvoir Group will be a first class partner for the Society. Belvoir offers an extremely good strategic fit with our existing building society network, enabling us to maintain estate agency services in a number of locations where we currently offer these services and providing future potential for us to extend services into locations where we haven’t previously had an estate agency and letting presence. In addition, we are looking forward to supporting customers who are buying or renting through the Belvoir Group with our extensive range of building society services.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Belvoir Group expands estate agency business through strategic alliance with The Nottingham | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Belvoir Group expands estate agency business through strategic alliance with The Nottingham

Once in a generation opportunity to reboot the market in favour of tenants!

admin    Uncategorized     agents

In a letter to the Housing Secretary, the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has expressed his concern at the prospect of the current eviction ban coming to an end on August 23rd. and wants to prevent private landlords from serving section 21 and section 8 notices where tenants have accrued arrears as a result of COVID-19.

The post Once in a generation opportunity to reboot the market in favour of tenants! appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Once in a generation opportunity to reboot the market in favour of tenants!

Landlords warned not to discriminate against benefits tenants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The NRLA warns landlords should not have blanket policies that discriminate against those in receipt of benefits. Responding to a court case in York which has ruled that it is unlawful for landlords to discriminate in this way, Chris Norris

The post Landlords warned not to discriminate against benefits tenants appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Landlords warned not to discriminate against benefits tenants

Landmark ‘No DSS’ ruling is nail in the coffin for landlords who refuse benefit claimants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords and letting agents risk prosecution if they will not allow housing benefit claimants to rent their properties, following a landmark court case.

A ruling at York County Court has found that the ‘No DSS’ practice unfairly discriminated against a single mum-of-two with a disability, on the grounds of sex and disability under the Equality Act.

The woman – represented by homeless charity Shelter – works part-time but had been turned down by a letting agent who refused to rent her any properties because of its long-standing policy of not accepting housing benefit. This made her homeless and she was forced to move into a hostel with her children. 

The charity says ‘No DSS’ policies have stopped hundreds of thousands of people from renting and points to its research that shows 63% of private landlords do not let, or prefer not to let, to people receiving housing benefit. 

The only way that victims of DSS discrimination can currently seek formal redress is through a county court claim which, according to Shelter, have so far all resulted in the defendant agents or landlords agreeing to change their practices, apologising and offering compensation to their clients. But it believes this does not go far enough.

Nail in the coffin

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate, says the momentous ruling should be the nail in the coffin for ‘No DSS’ discrimination.

“It will help give security and stability to people who unfairly struggle to find a place to live just because they receive housing benefit. It will change so many lives,” adds Neate.   

The National Residential Landlords Association agrees that landlords shouldn’t have blanket policies that discriminate against those receiving benefits. 

Policy director Chris Norris adds: “No landlord should discriminate against tenants because they are in receipt of benefits. Every tenant’s circumstance is different and so they should be treated on a case by case basis based on their ability to sustain a tenancy.”

Read more about the ‘No DSS’ issue.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landmark ‘No DSS’ ruling is nail in the coffin for landlords who refuse benefit claimants | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Landmark ‘No DSS’ ruling is nail in the coffin for landlords who refuse benefit claimants