LATEST: Oxford reveals crackdown on landlords within plans for first selective licensing scheme

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Landlords in Oxford face tough new rules that could force them to have a licence for every privately rented property.

The city council is determined to shake up the sector – which makes up almost half the housing stock – by proposing to renew its existing HMO additional licensing scheme and introduce a new selective licensing scheme to cover all other rented homes – not just HMOs.

Oxford was the first council in England to introduce a citywide scheme that required every HMO to be licensed, back in 2011, and is not afraid to flex its regulatory muscles; last week it won a lengthy planning battle against a landlord letting out his property for short term lets after he appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

It’s now urging other landlords to apply for proper permission before they let out their homes as short term lets.

Other council proposals include developing a new intelligence-led enforcement model using an algorithm to identify unlicensed properties and taking over powers to fine rogue landlords for not meeting legal minimum energy efficiency standards.

The National Residential Landlords Association believes its current scheme has led to rents increasing, and to those on lower incomes in the city being driven out of it, as the council seeks to rehouse people in Birmingham and elsewhere.

Gavin Dick, local authority policy officer, tells LandlordZONE: “This will be the third incarnation of additional licencing in Oxford. It comes after the council re-introduced the scheme in 2015 as it did not deliver its objectives in the first five years. The NRLA fails to see what the local authority hopes to achieve with the scheme that it has not already done over the past 10 years.”

If approved by the council, a 12-week public consultation on the new licensing schemes will be launched on 10^th September.

Read more about Oxford’s private rental market regulations.

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Tenant eviction ban is bad news for All

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In this video below, I share my view on why the Government’s extension of the tenant eviction ban is bad news for both landlords and tenants.

I also share with you the Australian model for tenancy law and why it’s better.

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Government must U-turn again to help landlords

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The Government’s plans to extend the evictions ban could leave private landlords without any rent for up to two years.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has said that the Government is asking landlords to subsidise struggling renters and rewarding those who are wilfully refusing to pay their rent.

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BREAKING: ‘Stop rewarding renters who are wilfully avoiding rent’, says NRLA letter to Prime Minister

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The NRLA has written to Boris Johnson today to claim that his government’s latest evictions extension means it is asking landlords to subsidise struggling renters and rewarding those who are wilfully avoiding paying rent.

The industry association has also calculated that on average landlords will now be waiting for two years to regain possession of their properties, and an average loss of £20,800.

This follows the ‘chaotic’ U-turn announcement last Friday that the stay on possession hearings is to be extended until September 20^th, with a six-month minimum notice period before eviction notices can be served and the de-prioritisation of rent arrears within the court system for all but the most serious cases.

The letter points out to the Prime Minister that most private landlords are individuals, renting out just one or two properties, and are not ‘property tycoons with deep pockets able to subsidise rents indefinitely’.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA (pictured, above) says that the government’s refusal to help landlords in England and Wales will also have consequences for tenants as landlords turn to money orders to recoup their losses, leaving tenants credit scores ‘in tatters’.

To solve the crisis, Beadle suggests the government must offer the worst affected tenants hardship loans to pay off Covid rent arrears once the pandemic is over, a scheme that the Welsh government recently pioneered.

“The overwhelming majority of landlords have been working constructively with their tenants to sustain tenancies where rent arrears have built as a direct result of the pandemic,” says Beadle.

“The Government’s actions are a kick in the teeth for all these landlords who have done the right thing.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: ‘Stop rewarding renters who are wilfully avoiding rent’, says NRLA letter to Prime Minister | LandlordZONE.

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CELEB ACTIVISM: Maxine Peake speaks at street protests against eviction ban ending

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Actress Maxine Peake took a new supporting role when she joined tenants’ groups in Manchester protesting against evictions.

The film and TV star turned up at the socially distanced event organised by Tenants Union, Acorn and Greater Manchester Law centre which saw trade unionists, housing activists and homelessness groups demonstrate outside the Manchester and Salford Civil Justice Centre.

She told protestors that she was there to lend support. Said Peake: “It’s appalling what’s going on. I’ve realised how bloody lucky I am. We can try to continue to fight for people’s right to live without stress and fear of eviction, or where their next meal is coming from.” She encouraged them: “Get involved as much as you can and keep up the amazing work.”

Salford thespian

A long-time supporter of the law centre, the Salford thespian is known for her sometimes radical views and was recently embroiled in the scandal over Rebecca Long-Bailey’s sacking by leader Keir Starmer, after an interview Peake gave that contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, which the MP re-tweeted. She later said the statement was inaccurate.

Despite the Government’s last-minute extension of the ban on evictions, protests have been held throughout Manchester, including outside courts where cases will be heard.

The Acorn union is calling for a serious reform to renting, to prevent a wave of homelessness and has repeated its intention to resist evictions and defend communities when the COVID eviction freeze comes to an end on 20^th September.

It reckons 20,000 renters across Greater Manchester are at risk of losing their homes.

Union leaders have also written to the Government stating that they fear that homelessness could return to the streets of Greater Manchester on a scale not seen since the 1930s if rapid and decisive action isn’t taken to avert the crisis.

Watch Peake’s speech.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – CELEB ACTIVISM: Maxine Peake speaks at street protests against eviction ban ending | LandlordZONE.

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EXCLUSIVE: FCA to ensure buy-to-let firms look after landlords who have taken ‘mortgage holidays’

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The FCA has revealed that buy-to-let mortgage providers may soon be covered by the same Covid regulatory guidance that consumer mortgage providers are required to follow by the financial regulator.

This means that landlords who have taken a mortgage holiday during Covid would be covered by the same ‘duty of care’ rules that home owners in the same position are currently afforded.

LandlordZONE contacted the FCA after it published new draft guidance for mortgage lenders, which aims to ensure that home owners get the support they need in these extraordinary times, to ask if landlords would get the same protection as other mortgage borrowers.

“The framework we are proposing for the tailored support that we want firms to provide after the expiry of the June Guidance is that set out in our Mortgage: Conduct of Business rules (especially MCOB 13),” the FCA says.

Mortgage holiday

It says this guidance is designed to ensure that mortgage firms provide support to borrowers who have taken a mortgage holiday during the Coronavirus pandemic but who continue to face financial difficulties, as well as those who may be considering a mortgage holiday in the future.

This guidance was published on 20^th March and updated twice during June, enabling borrowers to take-up a first and subsequent ‘payment deferral’. This expires on 31^st October and the FCA is now consulting on its future approach as ‘the wider situation develops’.

But the guidance has not included most buy-to-let mortgages, which are unregulated, unlike those for home purchases,

“However, we do have regard to the unregulated activities of the firms we regulate – and the draft guidance (at para 2.6) explains that we might look at the guidance when assessing if a firm was meeting our Threshold Conditions,” the FCA has told LandlordZONE.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: FCA to ensure buy-to-let firms look after landlords who have taken ‘mortgage holidays’ | LandlordZONE.

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Westminster online tool encouraging HMO tenants to claim Rent Repayment Orders!

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In a move designed to punish as many landlords as possible with crucifying Rent Repayment Orders of up to 12 months rent, the City of Westminster has launched a “Find out if you can screw your Landlord” tool on their website.

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