‘Like all councils, it is desperate to look tough’ says NRLA as Dales councillors plan new landlord fines

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Derbyshire Dales District Council is planning a tough crackdown on landlords who don’t comply with housing regulations – at least two years after the widespread initiative was introduced.

The Matlock-based local authority (pictured) is debating whether to pass a Civil Penalty Policy and threaten landlords with fines of up to £30,000 for housing offences under the Housing Act 2004 and a breach of a Banning Order under the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

An officers’ report states that the Derbyshire private rented sector, “consistently has some of the poorest quality housing with tenants having to put up with cold and avoidably hard to heat homes”.

It points to a small minority of landlords who knowingly flout their legal obligations, rent out accommodation which is substandard and harass tenants.

Penalties would cover issues such as housing repairs, energy retention and HMOs which fall short of criminal prosecution.

Derbyshire Dales is suggesting a fine of £1,875 for a low impact offence while a second set of fines related to the energy performance of rented properties would range from £200 for failing to provide tenants with an energy certificate to £5,000 for letting substandard homes and neglecting improvement orders.

The introduction of civil penalties as an alternative to prosecution and a way to root out rogue landlords came at least two years ago, Gavin Dick, National Residential Landlords Association’s local authority policy officer, tells LandlordZONE.

“Most councils already use them – this one has come quite late to the party and appears to have now realised it has this power,” he says. “Like all councils, it is desperate to look tough.” 

Read how councils have been using civil penalties to levy thousands off landlords.

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18,000 illegal evictions by landlords during Covid despite ban, councils report

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A nationwide ban on evictions hasn’t prevented about 18,000 households across England being made legally homeless during the pandemic, according to a report in the New Statesman.

Freedom of Information responses from 212 councils found that 22,798 households who applied for support after 1st April were legally homeless – which can include evicted tenants and those in short-term accommodation.

As these figures only cover around two-thirds of councils, the report claims that the total is likely to reach about 33,000 homeless households – minus the 15,000 existing homeless people housed under the Government’s rough sleeper programme.

Of the councils which responded, Manchester recorded the highest number of newly homeless people since April, with 858 households. The city’s Acorn group told the New Statesman that landlords should have been made more accountable and regulated closely to ensure they weren’t making people homeless.

Spokesperson Iris Breward said: “As it stands, there seems to have been the expectation that profits from renting to tenants would continue regardless of the current crisis, whereas tenants have been expected to continue to pay full rent despite the financial struggles that many are facing.”

The report also claimed that while the Government has suspended legal eviction proceedings during the pandemic, some tenants evicted by their landlord might have left without knowing their rights. 

However, the National Residential Landlords Association says during the ban, landlords have been unable to take action against anti-social tenants and end tenancies where it might help victims of domestic violence leave the perpetrator.

Policy director Chris Norris says: “We need the courts to deal with cases where tenants are committing anti-social behaviour or where there are long-standing rent arrears that have nothing to do with the pandemic. Over the last five months landlords have been powerless to take any action against those who cause misery for fellow tenants and neighbours.”

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This is a Joke – Judges rule EPC served?

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I have severed a section 21 on a tenant for a pre 2015 AST. The EPC was sent to the tenant 18 months prior but not signed for. However, the tenant denies receiving the EPC.

Two district Judges have independently determined on probability the EPC was severed and issued a possession order.

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What if they turn around and say they did not receive the S21?

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I used a company to send a section 21 to my tenants in May, and they were due out Aug 10th, but obviously haven’t left!

I have just found out the agency I used sent the notice via the post with a first-class stamp plus I have not chased my tenants to see if they have received it!

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John Lewis launches furniture rental service for frequently moving millennials

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Young renters moving home every year are fuelling a demand for rented sofas and chairs, according to John Lewis, which has today launched a new furniture rental service.

Those wanting to relax on a statement sofa, or homeworkers looking for a stylish desk can now enjoy them without forking out the full price tag, as the department store chain has hooked up with rental site Fat Llama.

John Lewis reckons attitudes to renting products have shifted dramatically, while sharing sites like Airbnb have brought about a change in attitude to ownership.

Customers will be able to rent John Lewis furniture including desks, chairs, dining tables and sofas for three, six or 12 months and then have the option to buy them at any time with payments already made deducted from the purchase price.

The longer customers commit to renting, the lower the rental price; a Belgrave sofa costing £1,899, works out at £108 for six months, or £80 for a year. 

Fat Llama will deliver the furniture within two working days and collect it at the end of the agreement, cleaning it and if needed, refurbishing it before it’s rented again. 

Chaz Englander, Fat Llama co-founder and CEO, says people are focusing more on access instead of ownership. “As we have seen in the US, renting furniture instead of owning it is becoming the new normal for millennials; a generation that is moving house every 12 months,” he explains.

“With this being our first step into furniture rental, it was important for us to find a partner that could supply high quality furniture at scale. John Lewis could not have been a better fit.”

The service kicks off in London but if it proves popular, could be rolled out across the UK.

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30,000 landlords have been trapped by the government’s evictions ban, claims lawyer

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A leading housing lawyer says it is likely that 30,000 landlords are trapped by the evictions ban and has warned them not to assume that these cases will proceed automatically once the ban lifts on Monday.

Alex Cook says it is ‘incredibly unfair’ that many of these landlords have been waiting since the beginning of the ban in March to proceed with evictions due to the non-payment of rent unconnected to Covid.

But, as we reported last week, these may not be prioritised unless a landlord can prove ‘extreme rent arrears’, something the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has yet to quantify.

Cook, who is a director of South Coast legal firm Helix Law, says many landlords are unaware of the need for them to do anything on or after 23^rd August.

“Without a reactivation notice nothing will happen with their claim and the arrears will continue to accrue,” he says.

“Landlords may mistakenly believe that the end of the ban on evictions means something will start to happen but that won’t be the case.”

Reactivation notice

Cook also has significant concerns over what a reactivation notice must include to be accepted.

“There’s no specific format to the reactivation notices and if tenants have stopped all contact it’s impossible for a landlord to know if coronavirus has had any impact on them or not,” he says.

“This may waste court time and result in claims taking longer than they should, unfairly impacting landlords even further.”
Those with new claims must now also comply with new requirements including setting out what knowledge they have on the effect of coronavirus on the tenant and their dependants, as well as serving another notice both on the tenant and with the court.

“Many landlords will ask how they are to obtain any information if a tenant is failing to communicate with them and will feel this is yet another hurdle for them to get the rent arrears they’re owed,” says Cook.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – 30,000 landlords have been trapped by the government’s evictions ban, claims lawyer | LandlordZONE.

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Suburban Taskforce calls for evidence

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The cross-party Suburban Taskforce has today launched a public ‘Call for Evidence’ to help chart a course towards a suburban renaissance across the country. The Taskforce draws politicians from both Houses of Parliament to review evidence of the state of Britain’s suburbs and then make recommendations to the Government on policy initiatives to enhance them.

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Covid and your contract: the challenge of the student let

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Life in lockdown has been difficult for us all and with universities across the country closing their doors, it has been especially challenging for student landlords.

For many of you, used to the annual influx of youngsters looking for a home in university towns and cities, this may be the first time the concept of voids has even crossed your mind.

I have been lucky. Although, like many of you, I have had to write-off and defer rents during the crisis, London – where I have my student HMOs – is still attractive to young people desperate to swap home for life in the big city, whatever that may look like.

Despite this I received my first call from student tenants asking me to waive payments almost as soon as the term ‘mortgage deferral’ was uttered by the Government.

This is despite the group being unaffected financially by the crisis.

While I made it clear that if any of them had difficulties paying that were related to coronavirus these would be taken into account, I also told them there would be no waiving or deferral of rent as a matter of course.

All of them are still living in the property and all still able to pay their rent.

It is this attitude, however, that is symptomatic of what I see as a growing problem.

The promotion of the landlord/tenant relationship as that of big guy/little guy, seems to be gaining traction to the point where tenants unaffected by Covid financially think it is acceptable refuse to pay rent.

The fact that courts are (currently) closed and will face a huge backlog of cases when they reopen may also be contributing to this change in attitude.

We need to reset.

Hardship, whether related to coronavirus or otherwise, is not confined to tenants. At the NRLA we have heard of landlords who have been left homeless after their tenants stopped paying rent.

The response that ‘that’s the risk landlords take’ would be deemed outrageous if we applied it to tenants losing their jobs, yet this attitude is seemingly acceptable towards landlords.

Contracts need to be taken seriously and I know many of you feel let down by universities which – despite relying heavily on the PRS to house their students – effectively turned their back on landlords when coronavirus hit.

Many institutions put pressure on landlords to waive rent they were legitimately owed after they closed their doors and students were effectively ‘sent home’.

This was while student landlords across the country were living in a state of limbo, not knowing if or when universities and colleges would re-open – or what would happen as regards tenancies for the next academic year.

In terms of students’ contractual obligations the NRLA has had some success in driving the message home.

I personally wrote to Universities UK stressing the Government’s clear guidance – echoed by the NRLA – that students, “should continue to pay rent and abide by all other terms of their tenancy agreement to the best of their ability.”

The trade body agreed to pass the message on to its university members.

The Government also officially confirmed students are NOT automatically entitled to repayable rent reductions or postponement as was falsely claimed.

Starting to look forward, moving out of lockdown I think it is important that we focus on the positives.

These have been dark times for us all, but universities are big business and it is in their interests to re-open – safely – to students as soon as possible.

Students, for their part, largely want to attend lectures and seminars in person – and enjoy the full university experience, socialising and living with friends away from home.

For those of you still battling to recoup arrears I would advise you to keep lines of communication open with student tenants and those due to move in.

See if it is possible to work out a payment plan with those who still owe rent and keep in touch with those due to move in.

Some universities have already said they will open campuses so that students can attend seminars and tutorials in small groups.

This is good news and I am confident that others will follow suit.

It is in everyone’s best interests to safely reopen the education sector – and student homes are a vital part of that.

As to the strength of the rental contract it is clear that urgent reform is needed.

Going forward, the Housing Minister Christopher Pincher has promised positive changes that will strengthen landlords’ rights. We look forward to working with him to deliver this.

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Buy to Let mortgage rates starting to increase

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With the stamp duty holiday having come into force a little over a month ago, the latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk explores how the buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage market may react to a UK economy experiencing its first recession in 11 years and also what this may mean for landlords.

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NRLA issues the facts about the ending of the eviction ban…

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On the 24th August the courts are due to begin to hear cases related to the repossession of properties again. This comes following a five-month suspension of all residential evictions in England – both new and ongoing cases – due to COVID-19.

Court eviction proceedings have been on hold since March. The government prevented landlords starting or continuing eviction proceedings to give tenants some security during the furlough and lockdown periods.

The ban was initially for a period of three months, but the government later extended it by a further two months and landlords will argue strongly that this ban should not be extended further.

From the 24th August, landlords should again be able to start or resume evictions. This will mean courts can begin to hear repossession cases once again for landlords. However, unfortunately, even if the lifting goes ahead as planned there is likely to be a backlog of cases from pre-lockdown, as well as a number of new cases and there are some strict condition to be complied with – see below.

The NRLA says:

This period has caused considerable challenges both for tenants and landlords. 94% of landlords rent property as an individual and have unlimited liability should their businesses fail. Many rely on their rental income for their livelihood, 44% entered the market to contribute to their pension and 39% report a gross non-rental income of less than £20,000 a year.

It is vital that as the ban on repossessions is lifted, unnecessary scaremongering is avoided, and policy makers and others focus on the facts It is wrong to assume that every tenant that has built rent arrears because of COVID-19 will automatically be at risk of eviction.

Independent polling for the National Residential Landlords Association by the research firm Dynata has found that just over 95 per cent of private tenants are paying their rent or have made an arrangement with their landlord to pay a lower rent or defer payment during the pandemic. Less than a third of all those with arrears (two per cent of the entire survey sample) have been served with a possession notice.

Information for landlords from the NRLA:

Protections for Tenants Affected by COVID-19

When the courts start hearing claims for repossession again, a landlord with a claim already in progress will have to provide a ‘re-activation notice’ informing the court (and the tenant) in writing. If they don’t, the case will remain dormant.

Where these, or a new claim, include non-payment of rent, the landlord has to set out what knowledge they have about the tenant’s circumstances including the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on them and their dependants.

If this information is not forthcoming or is deemed inadequate by the courts, the judges will have powers to adjourn the case. Such a delay would mean that the landlord may continue to receive no rent from the tenant and so this will hit them in the pocket. This will encourage landlords to engage with their tenants prior to court action including seeking ways to sustain tenancies using the NRLA’s rent arrears management guidance.

The courts will prioritise cases involving extreme arrears built before the lockdown, anti-social behaviour and domestic violence. Those that are not a priority case will take longer, offering further time for alternative accommodation to be sought and providing further incentive for landlords to seek agreement outside of the courts.

Until 30th September, landlords renting property in England have to give tenants a minimum of three months’ notice of their intention to seek possession giving more time for payment arrangements to be agreed. In Wales it is six months for all cases except those related to anti-social behaviour.

The NRLA believes that to support the above the Government should develop a financial package, as has happened in Wales, to support tenants to pay off rent arrears built as a result of COVID-19.

Why Does the Repossessions Ban Need to be Lifted?

• The repossessions ban has not been without consequence. Landlords have been unable to:
• Take action against anti-social tenants who blight the lives of fellow tenants and neighbours.
• End tenancies where it might help victims of domestic violence leave the perpetrator.
• Address situation where they have faced months of rent arrears building before the pandemic (and hence have nothing to do with COVID-19).

There will be a backlog of cases when the repossessions ban ends. Between January and March, just before the ban was put in place, there were 24,320 claims made by private and social landlords to repossess property; 8,093 claims led to a repossession order being made and 1, 336 led to a warrant being issued for repossession in England and Wales.

Quotes from the NRLA

Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association, said:

“Extending the ban on repossessions is not necessary. Our research clearly shows that the vast majority of landlords and tenants are working together constructively to sustain tenancies wherever possible.

“We need the courts to deal with cases where tenants are committing anti-social behaviour or where there are long-standing rent arrears that have nothing to do with the pandemic. Over the last five months landlords have been powerless to take any action against those who cause misery for fellow tenants and neighbours.”

Case Studies

Mrs R

Mrs R is a single parent who finds herself potentially unemployed as a new job she was about to start fell through due to the pandemic. She does not make any money on the property as it is in negative equity and has kept rent levels the same for a decade.

She submitted court papers to repossess a property because a tenant had not paid rent since around November last year and has convictions for harassing the neighbours. The repossessions ban means that the tenant continues to stay in the property, living without paying any rent despite him receiving furlough money.

Ben

Twickenham based landlord Ben Khosa has a few rental properties which he and his wife rent out.

At the start of the pandemic Ben got in touch with all his tenants to check they were ok and to ask that they get in touch if they need support.

Some tenants did get in touch about additional help. For some Ben was able to defer the rent, or signpost them to support in applying for universal credit. He even did the shopping for a time for one of his vulnerable tenants.

When it comes to the end of the repossessions ban, Ben says he does have one tenant who is not paying the rent and has been ignoring all his attempts to reach out and offer support.

Ben says the arrears are building up, and that: “The tenant was in arrears prior to the Covid-19 outbreak but was paying instalments. He however stopped paying all rent in March altogether with no explanation despite our repeated requests to work together during this time.”

Sarah (Not her real name)

Sarah is a nurse in Accident and Emergency.

A change in her personal circumstances last year meant she needed to move back into the rental property she owns in South Wales which is currently let. Living with her parents is out of the question –they are shielding due to the coronavirus.

She currently finds herself sofa surfing, facing a nervous wait for the three month notice she served on her tenants in May to expire. She’s unsure if the tenants will comply with the notice as communication broke down when they stopped paying rent or answering Sarah’s calls to help them several months ago.

When Sarah let the tenants know about her intention to move back into the property herself and her reasons for doing so, she also offered to help them find somewhere else to live. “The tenants requested I serve a Section 21, so they could access social housing more easily”, she says.

In March and April, despite receiving Universal Credit payments, the tenants stopped paying rent altogether, and ignored Sarah’s attempts to get in touch and come to an arrangement with the rent.

After several attempts of trying to get in touch, Sarah served Section 21 and Section 8 notice on her tenants. Sarah had never served notice before-and due to a slight error in the dates written on the Section 21 notice, it proved to be invalid. She says: “If the tenants don’t move out this month when the notice expires, or there’s an issue with the notice for whatever reason, I fear I will be waiting months to get my property back, especially if I have to re-serve notice and comply with the new six month rules.”

·         Details of who landlords are can be found in the Government’s Survey of Private Landlords in England published last year. It can be accessed at:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/775002/EPLS_main_report.pdf.

·         The NRLA commissioned the marketing research firm, Dynata, to understand the impact that coronavirus has had on tenants in the private rented sector.  The fieldwork was carried out between 20th July and 4th August.  It is based on the responses of 2,243 tenants in England and Wales.

·         The NRLA’s guidance on managing rent arrears as a result of COVID-19 can be accessed at: https://www.nrla.org.uk/resources/managing-your-tenancy/managing-arrears-effectively.

·         The Ministry of Justice figures on the number of orders and warrants issued in Q1 2020 for landlords to repossession properties can be access in table 5 at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884729/Mortgage_and_Landlord_Possession_Statistics_Tables_Jan-Mar_20.ods.

Suspension of Evictions

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