Student rent strikes spread to 31 campuses as student ire rises over Covid compensation

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Students at 31 universities are threatening to hold social-media organised rent strikes in a bid to win rent reductions.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that they won’t be able to return to campuses until mid-February, at least 3,000 angry students have signed up to protest at having to pay for their empty accommodation.

Rent strike groups have been appearing on Instagram and inspiring students to sign up at campuses including Brighton, Manchester, Nottingham and Lancaster.

Even before the latest lockdown, a number of protests were being held around the country by young people upset at the lack of face-to-face teaching; in Manchester it resulted in a 30% rent cut at university accommodation.

Activism

Student website The Tab is encouraging more students to get involved and start their own rent strike group, using resources from the Rent Strike network on Instagram, featuring Zoom training from experienced rent strikers and lawyers.

Its handbook on organising strikes during the pandemic is aimed at students in university halls, but also has practical information for those in private accommodation. 

The Rent Strike network says: “No uni wants to get bad press after evicting struggling students. We know it’s a risky tactic, and it’s worth knowing the possible consequences of such a campaign. You want to be ready for the worst. But we have incredibly strong political arguments and the potential to build a huge movement that goes with it.”

The NUS is calling for rent rebates and the opportunity to leave tenancies early. Vice president higher education, Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, says: “The government’s inability to deal with the pandemic has once again led us to a sadly necessary national lockdown. Ongoing disruption means students are struggling to make ends meet – students need substantial support.”

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Mould is a landlord problem claim tenants and councils agree by issuing massive fines

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New research has revealed that almost two thirds (62%) of people claim to have had an issue with mould in their home at least once, with conditions in the home the most common reason for the spread of mould, says a new research study commissioned by Uswitch.

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Case Law: planning law and the right to light

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In Beaumont Business Centres Ltd v Florala Properties Ltd (2020) the High Court considered the legal position regarding a serviced office provider’s right to light following an adjoining apathotel development.

Beaumont Business Centres Limited took out an injunction against Florala Properties Limited the owner of an adjoining aparthotel for an infringement of rights of light.

What is rights to light?

It’s a question that arises frequently in regard to adjoining developments in a country where buildings are often built cheek by jowl. A “right to light” is a civil matter in law and is a separate issue to light from daylight and sunlight, as considered by the planning laws.

An occupier’s rights of light must therefore always be taken into consideration, even when planning permission has been granted. These rights can affect both residential and commercial properties, even non habitable spaces are capable of enjoying rights of light.

A right to light is usually defined as one that has been enjoyed through defined spaces in a building for an uninterrupted period of 20 years, as governed in England and Wales under the Prescription Act 1832.

Any infringement of the right may give an affected property owner the right to seek an injunction to have a development or proposed development reduced in size. Where the loss of light is minimal a court may decide that monetary compensation is appropriate. Surveyors use mathematical calculations to determine whether or not a development causes an infringement.

The 50/50 rule on light has emerged from surveying practice in what is known as the Waldram method. This is a system used by surveyors and provides that, if half the light in a room is adequate in accordance with the method, then there is no actionable interference and therefore no claim.

Florala Properties Ltd carried out works to its own property to increase the height of the building. Beaumont’s tenanted building, used as high end serviced offices, was already poorly lit and needed artificial lighting, so in its defence Florala argued that it had not caused an actionable nuisance.

The claimant (Beaumont) was the tenant of the office building located in the City of London and sought an injunction, or alternatively damages against the defendant, the freehold owner of the adjacent building. Beaumont’s claim was that the defendant’s extension of its building had interfered with its rights to light and this was affecting the rents it could charge its serviced office tenants.

The court rejected Beaumont’s argument that the poorly lit offices were not more substantially deprived of light than before the development and that it did not affect the rental value or cause the occupier to suffer loss of income.

After a good deal of technical analysis the judge found that the reduction in light did result in a reduction in rents Beaumont could receive for the affected rooms and that however difficult it was to quantify that reduction, he agreed with Beaumont that the reduction caused a substantial interference and amounted to a nuisance.

The judge granted an injunction ordering the defendant to cut back its development, but a complicating factor was that the defendant’s premises were already occupied by a tenant on a long lease, granted after the claimant had first complained about the infringement.

This case was the first decision made since a ruling of the Supreme Court in Coventry v Lawrence which declared that an injunction requiring demolition of an interfering part of a building was an appropriate remedy in a rights of light case.

So, Beaumont was entitled to this remedy, but also the judge ordered that Beaumont would be entitled to damages in lieu of an injunction in the sum of £350,000.

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Enough is enough: calls by rent activists for another evictions ban ‘are pointless’

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Generation Rent director Alicia Kennedy (main pic) has been criticised after she called for a new ban on evictions for the duration of the new lockdown.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, Generation Rent wants to stop landlords issuing mandatory eviction notices where there are no fault grounds or the tenant is in more than two months’ of rent arrears.

It is also calling on it to close courts and suspend bailiff action to keep tenants safe during the public health crisis.

But evictions specialist Paul Shamplina (pictured) of Landlord Action says Generation Rent knows that the current measures already in place since last Autumn mean no tenant can be evicted from their homes until at least April or May this year at the earliest.

“The six months’ notice of possession that landlords must give tenants, coupled with the court restrictions enabling only the most serious and urgent cases to proceed, and the current restrictions on bailiff actions, mean it will be many months before tenants will face eviction,” he says.

But Generation Rent director Alicia Kennedy says that during the first lockdown, renters who had received an eviction notice still felt pressure to move out.

“That’s why we’re calling on the government to do all it can to prevent unnecessary house moves by suspending evictions,” she says. “The government must also stop landlords from issuing eviction notices in the first place. 

Rent debt

“Since the first lockdown there are many more people who are out of work so relying on Universal Credit rather than furlough. That means a lot of people are facing a shortfall on their rent – we need the government to prevent them from falling into rent debt.”

The pressure group wants the government to raise Local Housing Allowance, scrap the benefit cap and provide grants to help tenants pay the rent. Since the last lockdown, unemployment has risen to 4.9%, but its research has found that benefits fail to cover the rent in every region in England.

Further clarity on how to keep tenants safe from the virus during house moves is also needed, it adds, which could be achieved through moving viewings online, and issuing guidance to landlords and estate agents not to enter rented properties except in urgent cases and with express permission. 

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Enough is enough: calls by rent activists for another evictions ban ‘are pointless’ | LandlordZONE.

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Tenant given life jail term for landlord’s murder

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A tenant who murdered his landlord and buried his body parts, hoping they would be eaten by badgers, has been jailed for life.

Graham Snell (pictured, above) was killed by tenant Daniel Walsh last year, but although he admitted to dismembering the pensioner, has always denied killing him at their home in Marsden Street (pictured), Chesterfield, in June 2019.

Derby Crown Court heard how he had bought tools to dismember his landlord’s body and then took a taxi to a badger sett where he dug a number of holes to bury the body parts.

The jury heard how Walsh was jailed for six months in 2009 for stealing £5,000 from Mr Snell and in 2014 was convicted of assaulting him by punching him twice to the head, local media report.

On 19th June 2019, Mr Snell went to Chesterfield police station to complain that Walsh had been stealing from his bank account and asked to see a police officer.

No answer

An officer went to the address where both men lived the following morning but there was no answer and calls to Mr Snell’s mobile phone went straight to answerphone. By that time, 9.30am on 20th June, Graham Snell was dead.

Two days later Walsh caught a train to Birmingham where he tried and failed to obtain an emergency passport. He then made trips to casinos in Sheffield and arcades in Matlock Bath where he spent cash obtained from Mr Snell’s accounts after his death.

Telling him it would be 27 years before he would be eligible to apply for parole, Judge Nirmal Shant QC (pictured) said: “Graham Snell was a quiet unassuming man, well-liked by his neighbours, a private man who led an ordered life.

“Only you know what you did to Mr Snell but after you killed him what you then did over the next few days was to systematically try and get away within the murder of Mr Snell.”

Read more about tenants convicted of murdering their landlords.

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Cavity wall insulation nightmare?

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Hi, I own a ground floor flat as a leaseholder that is part of a large 2-storey block. Before I bought the property 5 years ago the management company had cavity wall insulation installed (around 10 Years ago) I now have two walls that run with condensation and has black mould growing all winter.

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12 Days of Property – Tax Planning 2021

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Mark Alexander​ founder of Property118.com and landlord takes a look at Property Investors tax returns and share his advice on landlord tax planning as part of our 12 days of property.

January is the month of the self-assessment deadlines and tax returns.

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False sense of security for Southwark Landlords as licensing expires for 15,000 properties

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It appears that a London borough council’s two licensing schemes have expired at the turn of the year, with no alternative likely to come into force until the middle of 2021 at least. London Property Licensing reports that additional and selective licensing schemes in Southwark

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