Planning Reforms – Take first mover advantage

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New Government Planning Reform and Permitted Development (PD) rules have been introduced.

The investors who get in quick will win a 1st movers advantage in the market.

I will be hosting a FREE Online Masterclass on this very subject but places are going fast.

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Landlords checks of EU tenants after Brexit: Government forced to reveal more details

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The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has managed to pressure the Home Office into publishing a statement setting out the equality impacts of the EU Settlement scheme, which landlords will have to help enforce.

The charity won its complaint to the Information Commissioner against Home Office secrecy around the scheme, which will force EU nationals and non-EU family members to apply to continue living in the UK legally after we leave the European Union. 

The Home Office had refused to release the Policy Equality Statement but now has 35 days to do so, or 28 days to appeal. 

Under the scheme, the Government plans to give EU citizens a digital code to prove their residency for landlords and employers to look up online.

Tenant criminalised

The JCWI believes that if the Government plans go ahead un-amended, people who have lived and worked in the UK legally for years will be criminalised and prevented from working, driving or accessing vital benefits while landlords will face fines for renting to EU nationals without status.

The JCWI says the scheme will force large numbers of EU citizens and non-EU family members out of status after the cut-off point next year.

It adds: “With so much at stake, the Home Office should be taking every possible step to protect people – instead, the department is trying to keep the risks a secret.” 

The JCWI is calling for a ‘declaratory scheme’ that will grant all EU citizens and family members resident in the UK automatic settled status and provide physical documentation as proof of status.

“After the cut-off point, far more people will fall out of status, with similarly devastating real-life consequences to those faced by the Windrush generation,” it says.

Read more about the JCWI and Right to rent.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords checks of EU tenants after Brexit: Government forced to reveal more details | LandlordZONE.

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This man claims to have built the ultimate property management tech. But is he right?

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A rental property platform founder who believes in his service so much he bought a lettings agency to gain access to its landlords to be guinea pigs is now offering larger portfolio landlords a chance to trial it for free.

Herddle connects landlords, agents, tenants and contractors to improve how they work together by helping them to communicate together more efficiently and cost effectively, and claims to remove 95% of the work for landlords, but give them ultimate control.

Its founder James Fforde (pictured, above), a serial entrepreneur and former chartered accountant, says he has spent a small fortune and three years developing Herddle because he believes traditional property management is ‘archaic’.

But it’s crowded market for kind of tech so why should landlords try out his? Fforde claims Herddle is unique because it handles every aspect of property management rather than focussing on particular areas, enabling landlords to see the whole picture in real time using either its app or website.

It is also not just tech – Herddle employs a team of property management professionals and each landlord gets a dedicated person to deal with them.

Herddle covers everything including sourcing tenants, portal listings, virtual tours, referencing, photos, rent collection, contract renewals, financial statements, invoice tracking, document management, compliance, maintenance and utility switching.

Fforde has deep pockets – to try out the platform, he bought London lettings agency Alan Ives in Plumstead last year and approximately 100 of its landlords are now using the platform.

Herddle chages individual landlords a 10% management fee, but those with larger portfolios are charged less, depending on the number of properties they manage.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – This man claims to have built the ultimate property management tech. But is he right? | LandlordZONE.

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LATEST: Shelter’s rhetoric on arrears and evictions ‘doesn’t give the full picture’

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Claims by housing groups such as Shelter and Generation Rent that England faces an evictions ‘tsunami’ at the end of this month are significantly wide of the mark, research by a leading industry accreditation scheme has revealed.

Safeagent’s survey of 106 letting agents found that most dismissed fears of widespread evictions as a result of the pandemic; 36% of firms said they didn’t believe any tenants would be evicted after the ban ends, while a further 57% said it would be less than 10%.

The majority said this wasn’t down to arrears built up during the pandemic, but planned proceedings or non-payment of rent before March.

In terms of arrears, 74% of agents said that the proportion of their tenants who haven’t been able to pay their rent over the past three months was less than 10%, while one in ten said it was between 10-20% of tenants, and 8% said none of their tenants were in arrears.

Arrears reality

For those who are in arrears, most tenants were behind by one or two months (42% and 44% respectively) while only 5% of firms said tenants had arrears of more than three months.

Safeagent chief executive Isobel Thomson says the results show that the rhetoric emanating from lobbying groups around arrears and the likely number of tenants to be evicted because of their inability to pay rent, doesn’t give the full picture.

“We know times are hard, but we also know how much good work is being done by agents and landlords to maintain tenancies,” she says.

“Agents are not seeing high numbers of tenants in arrears and they are reporting landlords being sympathetic and willing to work with their tenants to find solutions.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Shelter’s rhetoric on arrears and evictions ‘doesn’t give the full picture’ | LandlordZONE.

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Report calls for reform of UC including direct payments to landlords

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Earlier this year, Caridon Landlord Solutions joined other industry experts in responding to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the economics of Universal Credit. Following this, a series of recommendations for an overhaul of Universal Credit have now been handed to the Department for Work and Pensions by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.

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Exclusive webinar: What’s the future for landlording

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Landlords are in the thick of it this summer as the end of the eviction ban looms and red tape, taxation and costs ramp up on a local and national level.

So what does the future hold? Does it still make sense and money being a landlord? Has regulation gone too far?

Three big beasts of the private rental market are to gather virtually on 20^th August during a webinar hosted by Landlord Zone to answer these and many other questions.

These are Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action and star of Channel 5’s TV show Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords; Ben Beadle, CEO of the National Residential Landlords Association; and Eddie Hooker, CEO of Hamilton Fraser and My Deposits.

The trio will discuss and debate both the current state of the buy-to-let market, the impact of COVID 19, the ongoing government support for the property industry and landlords, the Stamp Duty ‘bounce’, trends and tips for landlords, as well as answering live questions from those watching.

The three have ample credentials to discuss the challenges facing the sector and to dissect what’s going on right now.
Shamplina has spent nearly three decades helping landlords with problem tenants, Beadle has been a landlord for over 20 years and Hooker has been working in the industry for nearly 25 years.

Book your ringside seat.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Exclusive webinar: What’s the future for landlording | LandlordZONE.

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Mini-boom drives house prices up 1.6% in July

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The August Halifax House Price Index has just been released showing the results of the Stamp Duty holiday with a sharp increase pushing prices to their highest ever levels in July at an average house price of £241,604.

The ‘mini-boom’

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