NRLA publishes “golden rules” guide for landlords

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The new “golden rules” devised by the National Residential Landlords Association, are designed to sustain tenancies in the rental housing market prior to the court’s resumption of possession case hearings from the 21st September.

The rules will form a central part of measures announced by the Government to ensure courts can start to process possession cases following the six month ban.

The document published today by the NRLA provides practical advice and support to sustain tenancies where tenants are facing financial difficulties. It includes ensuring that tenants and landlords properly communicate with each other as soon as a problem arises, that the landlord understands the tenant’s needs and circumstances.

It ensures that suitable arrangements can be agreed where possible to address rent arrears that might be building. This might include supporting tenants to access financial support that could be available, making use of guarantors or developing suitable rent repayment schedules.

The rules also include advice about access to mediation services where it might help, and warns landlords to keep written copies of all communication with tenants to prove the efforts made to sustain tenancies should the case need to come to court. Judges have made clear that they will make use of powers to adjourn cases where they feel proper processes have not been followed.

The NRLA argues that these rules, together with changes announced to the way courts operate means that possessions cases can be heard again, starting with the most urgent related to anti-social behaviour, tenants committing domestic violence and cases of extreme rent arrears.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said:

“Despite the courts opening up again, it does not mean that repossessions are an inevitable consequence where tenants and landlords have struggled due to COVID-19. The golden rules published today provide all the advice needed to sustain tenancies – but it is incumbent on both parties to speak to each other.

“We welcome the framework developed by the Government to ensure courts can begin to hear possession cases again. In such challenging times they broadly strike the right balance between protecting tenants affected by COVID and the need for landlords to tackle the most severe cases including anti-social tenants and cases of extreme rent arrears.

“That said we remain concerned that the expectation for landlords, the majority of whom are not property tycoons, is to go without rent for anything up to a year before such cases are deemed a priority. Such a position is not sustainable, especially as there is almost no chance of the rent arrears being recouped. We will continue to raise the difficulties that this will cause.”

The NRLA “golden rules” can be accessed here

The Master of the Rolls (as Head of Civil Justice) established a Working Group on Possession Proceedings that has produced guidance on the overall arraganements

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Bank Base Rate remains at 0.1%

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The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the Bank Base Rate at 0.1% and for the quantitative easing stock to remain unchanged.

Economic outlook is particularly uncertain, but the bank’s central growth projections still assume the direct impact of Covid-19 on the economy will dissipate gradually and assume an immediate

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Only a handful of campaigners gather outside parliament to call for another evictions extension

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Protesters have gathered outside Parliament in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Government to protect renters after the eviction ban ends on Sunday.

The final push – “a socially-distanced, but spirited and angry protest” according to organiser the Homes For All group – failed to generate large crowds; in fact, according to its Facebook page, only 28 people turned up to the No Evictions protest in Parliament Square.

The group says that while the Government has made vague comments about protecting tenants from eviction, there’s nothing in writing.

Homes for All, a non-party alliance of tenants, trade unionists and local housing activists, argues that the action doesn’t honour the pledge made at the start of the Covid-19 crisis when ministers vowed that no-one would lose their home during a pandemic.

“In London today, an 83-year-old woman is being threatened with eviction by her private landlord, from a home she’s lived in for 50 years. The current eviction ban is all she has to protect her,” says Glyn Robbins of Homes for All, a housing worker.

“Our question for the Prime Minister is: where’s the promised action – or will tenants lose their homes due to the pandemic?”

Alicia Kennedy, Generation Rent director (left), adds: “When the eviction ban is lifted, renters who’ve already had notice from their landlord will have no idea what protections they’ll have left. We’re calling for emergency legislation to end coronavirus evictions and funding to end the rent debt crisis.”

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SPOTLIGHT: Why it’s time to regulate the UK’s unlicensed evictions specialists

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In the UK anyone offering a specialist eviction service can operate as as a solicitor or firm licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Or it can operate without that stamp approval, albeit without the legal authority to complete many parts of the process.

This has created a grey area into which many unlicensed firms, many calling themselves ‘lawyers’, have leapt offering cut-price services that often fail to deliver the same level of service or competencies as a licenced operation.

This grey area exists because the SRA’s remit means it can only deal with the actions of those solicitors or the firms they run under the Solicitors Act 1974.

And even if an unlicensed firm employs an in-house solicitor – which many do – they still cannot provide ‘reserved’ (see definition below) activity through organisations that the SRA does not regulate.

What does reserved mean?

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The SRA told LandlordZONE: “Our regulation is about protecting the users of legal services who have engaged a solicitor firm. We have no remit with landlords or their agents if those agents are not solicitors.”

There are dozens and possibly hundreds of companies who offer an unlicenced eviction service in the UK, often including the word ‘lawyer’ in their company names or websites who continue unchecked or policed.

“They are easy to spot because they are usually much cheaper than licenced eviction specialists,” says Paul Shamplina, star of Channel 5 TV show Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords.

“But all too often we pick up cases from landlords who have gone for the cheap option but who then find out that the paperwork has not been prepared properly and their cases are thrown out by the judge.”

Test case

This situation has been continuing for years, despite a test case in 2018 concerning a possession case in Birmingham (Kassam vs Singh) during which the judge made it clear that he considered the way in which unlicensed companies operate to be unlawful under the Legal Services Act 2007.

As that case also highlighted, procedural mistakes made by unregulated eviction companies can be both costly and waste a lot of time for landlords.

And without the indemnity insurance afforded by an SRA licence, landlords have little recourse other than to take the company to court to recoup their losses.

Think carefully

“We advise landlords to think carefully before instructing any firm to carry out possession services to ensure they are working with a reputable company,” a spokesperson from the NRLA told LandlordZONE.

“This should include seeking recommendations through word of mouth and searching for reviews on reliable websites. It is important also to ensure that before agreeing to use such services, landlords understand clearly the costs and what will be provided.”

Little progress has been made towards regulating or licensing the entire sector (rather than just parts of it) since the Kassam vs Singh case.

MoJ register

But official action could be forthcoming. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week told an industry conference that it is considering whether to create a register of unregulated providers of legal services and give their clients access to redress if things go wrong.

Peter Rowlinson, head of UK legal services policy at the MoJ said that it doesn’t make sense that while the client of a lawyer advising on a will, for example, had the protection of both regulation, indemnity insurance and access to the Legal Ombudsman, the client of an unregulated provider did not.

In the private rental market, this issue of parallel ‘legal services’ provision is particularly pressing because many more landlords will soon be seeking help as they attempt to remove tenants who have defaulted on their rent before, during or after Covid.

Tim Frome (right), Head of Legal at Landlord Action, also says some of the cases he deals with involve letting agents who claim to have the in-house expertise to complete evictions but which in reality do not, or who use an unregulated specialist, in both cases in the hope of making extra revenue.

LandlordZONE put this to ARLA Propertymark, but it declined to comment.

“We are seeing clients come to us after using an unlicenced evictions specialist which has ended up making their situation worse after they have made basic procedural legal mistakes or, in some worse-case scenarios, blatantly lied to a landlord about their capabilities and the progress of the eviction,” says Frome.

“It is then left to licenced companies like ours to unpick the mess after the landlord has realised often too late they may have to go back to square one after months of unnecessary waiting and expense.”

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EVICTIONS: Tory faithful turn against government’s ‘anti-landlord policies’

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The Tory party faithful have begun speaking out against the Government’s private rented sector policies and its disregard for landlords.

Historically acknowledged as the party of the landlord, Conservative party member Chris Town – himself a landlord – says that by executing a U-turn on the evictions ban, the Government has lost the trust of a large number of natural Conservative supporters.

Says Town: “It’s completely unacceptable to expect landlords to undertake the responsibility of the state to subsidise those who are struggling to pay their rent.

“I might expect Labour to have no sympathy for landlords, but I would hope that a Conservative Government would show some understanding that most landlords are not wealthy and cannot afford to forgo rent for long periods of time.”

He believes interest-free tenant loans paid to landlords are the best way to cover Covid-related arrears.

“Similar schemes have already been developed in Scotland and Wales meaning once again that the UK Government is on the back foot, rather than taking the initiative to support renters and landlords,” adds Town.

Writing in The Telegraph, Baroness Altmann also supports the call for tenants’ loans, as well as loans or direct relief for landlords to tide them over their loss of income. The peer says the further evictions suspension is “not what one would expect from a Conservative government”.

She believes that many landlords, especially pensioners, are deeply disappointed that it hasn’t recognised the problems they face when tenants stop paying their rent, and urges the Government to redress the balance that has tipped so far against landlords.

“It’s time to recognise that most landlords are not heartless corporations, but decent citizens who have worked hard to invest in a property to supplement their income,” says Altmann.

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80% of landlords we polled want the option to reject DSS tenants

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The ‘No DSS’ debate is raging hard within the PRS but landlord sentiment is clear on whether they should be prevented from refusing tenants in receipt of Universal Credit, a new poll by LanldordZONE has revealed.

Nearly 80% of those we polled said landlords should not be stopped from refusing those on benefits.

This is despite a strong campaign by Shelter to persuade landlords and lettings agencies that the practice is immoral and, under some circumstances, illegal.

In July the charity won a landmark ruling at York’s County Court that a letting agent unfairly discriminated against a single mum-of-two with a disability, on the grounds of sex and disability under the Equality Act, after telling her it operated a blanket ‘No DSS’ policy. And earlier this month it won a second, similar case in Birmingham.

But our poll shows many landlords are not aligned with the NRLA, which to an extent supported Shelter’s position.

Discriminate

The landlord trade association said after the York case that “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.”

The many comments on Twitter in response to our poll revealed exasperation among landlords about attempts to stamp out blanket rejection of DSS tenants by agents and landlords.

Victoria Clegg said: “I’d be happy to accept DSS if I knew the rent would be paid. As it stands councils are unwilling to pay the landlord direct. “This leads to non-payment and no rights for the landlord. The answer to the question is a resounding NO!”

John Doyle added: “I have no problem with DSS claimants if they meet the affordability requirements, but at some properties DSS claimants can’t meet these requirements.

“It’s very frustrating when you have to waste time explaining to them how they won’t be able to afford to pay their bills.”

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Property118 is Recruiting

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Property118 are looking to appoint self-employed Marketeers throughout England.

• Unlimited income potential
• No fixed hours
• No setup costs
• Training and support provided

The opportunity involves appointing Estate Agents and Mortgage Brokers as Introducers of new business to the Property118 Tax Team.

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Stick to a realistic asking price

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The latest market research from Rightmove may suggest that if you want to sell a property quickly you should set a realistic asking price and stick to it.

Rightmove reported on over 300,000 properties listed for sale between 13th May and 31st July looking to see if the price was reduced or if they were under contract to sell at the asking price before the 1oth September.

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The National Landlord Investment Show launches online shows for September and October 2020.

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PRESS RELEASE

The National Landlord Investment Show launches online shows for September and October 2020.

As a live event, 2020 has presented us with exceptional challenges. Our response is to lead the market by delivering the first ever online show dedicated solely to the UK buy-to-let market.

Partnering with an established digital events platform, the National Landlord Investment Show will be delivering 3 virtual events throughout September and October, finishing the year with a return to Olympia London on November 3^rd for our only live event of 2020.

Visitors will still be able to connect with their favourite brands and discuss their needs in person, easily browse the superb products and services on offer, watch seminars by leading industry experts, network and benefit from the depth of knowledge and experience the National Landlord Investment Show has to offer, but from the comfort of their home or office.

To keep it simple, the 2020 show dates will remain unchanged, and we’ll continue to service our audiences by region, with individual shows for Birmingham (Sept 28), Manchester (Oct 8) and Cardiff (Oct 22).

We have Thousands of landlords, investors and property professionals hungry to hear about services or products and listen to seminars. We’ve already seen 100’s of landlords register for our live events and have no doubt they will be equally eager to engage online.

Show Founder Tracey Hanbury shared her view: ‘It’s been a challenging year for the events industry, but this a hugely exciting opportunity for us at the Landlord Investment Show. We have exhibitors galore with superb products and services, and an audience hungry to engage post the Covid-19 vacuum. With the property market remaining buoyant, and government incentives to buy, there’s no time like now to get involved’.

As always, entry is free, all you have to do is register. Learn more about the Online Landlord Investment Show by visiting our website www.landlordinvestmentshow.co.uk/all-2020-shows

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