LATEST: Northern Ireland evictions ban extension starts after three-week wait

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The Northern Ireland Assembly has passed its new eviction ban legislation – three weeks after first announcing its intention to bring in the six-month extension.

Landlords will have to give tenants a 12-week notice to quit before seeking a court order to begin proceedings, until 31st March 2021.

This applies to all tenancies, irrespective of the duration; for tenancies of less than five years the period has been increased by eight weeks, for those between five and 10 years it’s been increased by four weeks and for tenancies of more than 10 years, the notice to quit period remains the same.

ARLA Propertymark’s Daryl McIntosh, strategic development manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland, says: “Extending the ‘notice to quit’ periods to help prevent or reduce significant numbers of households becoming homeless at a time of national crisis, while keeping a fair balance for landlords being able to get return of their property, is a welcome and pragmatic approach by the Department for Communities.”

The emergency period, put in place back in April, had been due to end on 30th September but the Assembly announced the change on 19^th August, in line with England and Scotland. It plans to review the new date in January.

Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín says landlords shouldn’t start or continue possession proceedings without a very good reason to do so. “It is essential that we work together during these uncertain times to keep each other safe.”

She adds that both landlords and tenants can get specialist help and advice from the department-funded Housing Rights which can work together with them to resolve disputes.

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Radical UK planning reforms could benefit property investors and landlords

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Prime minister Boris Johnson who has described the existing planning system as a “relic” that’s “outdated and ineffective” says the new proposals are “unlike anything we have seen since the second world war”.

In a report published today titled Planning for the Future, the government details plans for upcoming changes to the planning system in England.

The Planning for the Future report and a consultation process which closes on the 1^st of October proposes major reforms of the English planning system to “streamline and modernise the planning process, bring a new focus to design and sustainability, improve the system of developer contributions to infrastructure, and ensure more land is available for development where it is needed.”

The changes will be of concern to anyone involved in converting, building and developing properties in England and promise to remove some of the existing planning process bureaucracy to speed up the process in the future.

Plans were already in train to expand permitted development rights announced recently by Housing minister Robert Jenrick, but the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is less than impressed with this branding these proposals “a disgrace”.

Doubtless the government puts forward these proposals in its report with the best of intentions for the planning system in England, when Johnson says, “The whole thing is beginning to crumble and the time has come to do what too many have for too long lacked the courage to do – tear it down and start again.” However there is likely to be strong opposition from many stakeholders, politicians and the general public before any changes can be agreed and set into firm legislation.

Briefly, the proposals include automatic approval for designated areas and the following points to be incorporated:

• The redrawing local plans produced by the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to categorise land into only one of these three categories: growth, renewal or protected.
• Planning to be “automatically secured” for areas categorised for growth. Some developments would be allowed in renewal areas but restricted in protected zones.
• Local authorities to be bound by a new national requirement for the number of new homes to be built in their areas.
• The planning approval process to be overhauled and sped-up so that projects get through in under 30 months or be sanctioned.
• A “fast-track for beauty” process to grant automatic permits for “proposals for high-quality developments where they reflect local character and preferences”.
• The “Building Better, Building Beautiful” developments that comply with local design codes to be guaranteed faster planning permission.
• “Pattern books” and style guides for “popular and replicable designs” to be used for permitted developments and schemes in land designated for renewal.
• Section 106 payments (obligations on developers to contribute to local amenities and improvements as part of planning approval agreements) to be replaced by an infrastructure levy.
• There would be discounts for developers building affordable homes.
• Local authorities would be allowed to borrow money against their infrastructure levy revenue to fund their projects.

A major thrust of the report calls for greater use to be made of data and digital technology by local authorities were local residents can view and respond to maps and visualisations of upcoming development proposals online. From there, decision-making should be faster and more certain, within firm deadlines, says the report.

The RIBA has highlighted its concerns about the proposed changes, calling for “urgent reconsideration” of proposals to deregulate planning. “Deregulation is not the way to bring about new homes,” said RIBA president Alan Jones.

Want to know more about these planning proposals and the likely outcomes for property investors? See details of the upcoming Planning Masterclass Webinar here Property Investor News – https://property-investor-news.com – by experts Richard Bower (Editor) and David Kemp (planning specialist)

Open consultation – Planning for the Future

Changes to the current planning system

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Mortgage lender returns to holiday lets after ‘tsunami’ of landlord applications forced it to withdraw

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Another major mortgage lender has re-joined the holiday let market after it was swamped by demand earlier this summer.

Ipswich Building Society (IBS) says it received so many applications from landlords looking to capitalise on the staycation boom in July that it was forced it to withdraw products.

It’s now decided the time is right to introduce its holiday let range again, along with its standard residential and buy to let ranges, which includes residential deals at 85% LTV, as well as reinstating lending on properties worth more than £1m.

CEO Richard Norrington says: “We’ve been keeping a keen eye on the market and taken careful consideration over the appropriate time to re-enter.

Service standards

“It is important we introduce and maintain a suitable range of products which enable us to uphold our service standards.”

IBS holiday let mortgages are available at 80% LTV, with a minimum loan of £75,000, a maximum loan of £500,000, an application fee of £199 and a completion fee of £950.

Its two-year fixed rate at 3.25 % is fixed until 31stDecember 2022, while its two-year discount rate at SVR (currently 5.24%) minus 2.25%, gives a current pay rate of 2.99% for two years from date of completion.

The five-year fixed rate at 3.75% is fixed for five years from date of completion.

The number of holiday lets mortgage products continues to rise, according to Moneyfacts, which counted 74 in August from 14 providers – up from 60 products on offer in July.

Read more about the staycation buy-to-let boom.

Visit IBS.

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YouGov polling indicates 22% of landlords have lost rental income during pandemic

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22% of private landlords with properties in England surveyed have lost rental income as a result of COVID-19 according to new polling.

The research, conducted online by YouGov for the National Residential Landlords Association, found that whilst 19% of those questioned had lost up to half of their usual rental income as a result of COVID-19

The post YouGov polling indicates 22% of landlords have lost rental income during pandemic appeared first on Property118.

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£437 million – the Covid cost so far for England’s landlords, reveals YouGov poll

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An online poll of over 1,000 landlords with properties in England has found that 22% have lost rental income as a result of Covid, revealing the mounting costs for them of banning evictions and the economic turmoil created by the pandemic.

The poll, conducted on behalf of the NRLA, also found that 19% of landlords had lost up to half of their income, while three percent had lost more than half – losing on average between £751 and £1,000 in rent.

This suggests that across the sector total losses are running at between £328 million and £437 million. As a consequence of this, 7% of the landlords polled said they would sell off their properties over the next 12 months and 9% were planning to exit the buy-to-let market altogether.

Living memory

The research also reveals the likely consequences of the current six-month evictions ban, which is the longest in living memory.

The NRLA says this includes reducing supply to the market and also leaving many smaller landlords in significant financial peril; the survey revealed that 61% of those polled had just one property and 34% relied on their property investment for an income.

Ahead of the courts beginning to hear possession cases again on 20^th September, the NRLA is calling for an urgent financial package from the Government to pay off COVID related rent arrears and sustain tenancies, as the Welsh and Scottish governments have done.

“Where COVID-19 has caused difficulties for tenants, the vast majority of landlords have reached agreements with them to avoid problems,” says Ben Beadle, Chief Executie of the NRLA (right).

“That said, most landlords are not property tycoons and cannot be expected to go indefinitely without any or only part of the rent they are owed.”

The YouGov/NRLA estimate is likely to be accurate – an estimate by ARLA Propertmark in July put the costs for landlords across the UK at £530 million.

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LATEST: Tenants use Facebook to gather evidence against criminal landlord after council ‘fails to act’

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Former tenants of notorious rogue landlord Mark Fortune have started a Facebook campaign to gather evidence and build a solid case against him.

Fortune was barred from renting out houses by Edinburgh Council in 2013 after issuing a shooting threat to tenants who confronted him over a £160 repair bill, but the Mark Fortune Investigation Facebook page claims he’s back in business.

By asking former tenants to fill in an online survey, it hopes to present their stories of mistreatment of tenants, poor conditions in properties and deposit fraud to the police.

At the time of his prosecution, Fortune admitted offences including making threats of violence and also pleaded guilty to a number of frauds where prospective tenants responded to his Gumtree adverts for properties to rent, paying him deposits for accommodation which never materialised.

In February this year, prosecutors announced they were hoping to seize assets which could total millions of pounds under the Proceeds of Crime Act, after years of legal wrangling.

Former tenants behind the Facebook group claim he continues to operate using legal loopholes and that he’s acquiring properties at an unprecedented rate, currently estimated at up to 200.

The group says: “The council and other local authorities have failed to take drastic action. The investigation is only in its preliminary stages yet it is becoming increasingly clear exactly which system he uses and the tools he deploys while doing so.”

It adds: “We are gathering qualitative information via a questionnaire that can be found attached in English, it is also in Spanish and French, Italian and Polish too. Mark Fortune loves newly arrived immigrants, especially those with rudimentary English and lack of legal awareness.”

Visit the Facebook website.

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