Phew! Minister says ‘substantial rent arrears’ evictions rule will stay at nine months

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Housing minister Christopher Pincher has confirmed that the government won’t amend the definition of ‘substantial arrears’ back to six months.

Landlords in England had been allowed to enforce possession orders with the county court bailiffs against tenants with more than nine months’ rent arrears, as long as these had been accumulated before the first lockdown on 23rd March.

However, the government made amendments to its Covid laws earlier this month, changing the definition of ‘substantial arrears’ so that rent accrued since the start of the pandemic would no longer be excluded – a move that the the NRLA heralded as as a reasonable balance as many landlords struggle with non-paying tenants.

The changes meant that tenants who were up to date with rent payments, but lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic and have been unable to pay rent, could now be evicted – a move which housing charities and Labour MPs including Jeremy Corbyn have labelled, “cruel and disgraceful”.

In response to Green MP (pictured) Caroline Lucas’s written question asking Pincher to restore the definition to nine months, he said there were no plans to do this but that the measures were being kept under review.

He added: “The government believes that it is proportionate to widen the rent arrears exemption to the ban on the enforcement of residential evictions to cases where a court is satisfied that a possession order was granted on the grounds of rent arrears and where more than six months of rent is outstanding.

“This change is intended to balance the effect of the ongoing restrictions on landlords with the need to continue to protect tenants.”

Read the latest government guidance to landlords.

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NW council re-starts selective licencing consultation year after Covid scuppered plans

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Oldham Council is pushing ahead with its consultation on a new selective licensing scheme nearly a year after its plans were scuppered due to the pandemic.

The council has confessed that it hasn’t managed to speak to as many residents and groups as it wanted to, and is focusing on gathering views online; it’s launched online focus groups for up to 10 landlords or agents throughout March as well as a survey.

The consultation was hit by Covid just weeks into it started and although it’s been open since then, has now been extended until 18^th April, while any surveys completed since February 2020 will still be taken into account, says the council.

In the meantime, any previously awarded selective licences are no longer valid or required. 

Original scheme  

The town’s original scheme, which covers eight areas, started in 2015 and ended last year. Landlords could be faced with a £160 price hike as the proposed fee for a new scheme is £650 per property, up from the previous £490.

Councillor Hannah Roberts, cabinet member for housing (pictured), says: “It’s nearly a year since we launched the selective licensing consultation so it’s only right that we look at it again.”

She adds: “There are still a small number of landlords who fail to provide decent housing. That’s why we originally introduced the selective licensing scheme.

“Last time we asked people for their views, four out of five of the people who responded believed selective licensing would help improve the areas covered. Thankfully they were right as we’ve been able to help out tenants and drive up standards.”

The council believes the introduction of a new licensing scheme is needed in certain areas where rents and house prices are low compared to the rest of Oldham and there’s a higher rate of tenant changes.

Read more about Oldham’s licensing activities.

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Legal case: the question of quiet enjoyment and nuisance

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In every tenancy there is an implied right if not an express covenant that promises that the tenant is able to possess the premises, not just without noise, “quiet enjoyment” as the term implies, but in peace and without “without disturbance by hostile claimants”, including from the landlord.

In the case of Jafari v Tareem Ltd (2019), Jafari had a lease of a dental practice located in a building in which the landlord was in the process of redeveloping for other tenancies. As could be expected, this involved noisy works and the erection of scaffolding outside the dental practice, which Jafari claimed affected the dental practice business and operations.

Exactly what constitutes a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment is open to conjecture, a matter of degree and of how permanent the disturbance is likely to be.

Residential tenants also expect and should understand that their leases contain obligations that their landlord owes to them in terms of quiet enjoyment. One of the principal covenants that exists in just about every residential lease is one of “quiet enjoyment”.

Does “quiet enjoyment” mean I am entitled to a quiet property?

A popular misconception by some residential tenants is that quiet enjoyment means that they should enjoy a literally and totally quiet property. Therefore, tenants who experience noise nuisance will often cite their covenant of quiet enjoyment, but unfortunately for them it’s a misinterpretation of what the covenant means.

One cannot take the term ‘quiet enjoyment’ too literally. Lord Denning explained this in McCall v Abelesz: the question is not about noise, but whether the offending object, “substantially interferes with the tenant’s freedom of action in exercising his rights as a tenant”.

Examples of undue interference might be where a landlord:

• constantly visits the property without prior notice, unless there is an emergency such as a gas leak etc,
• demands to do inspections without a proper appointment
• sends in workmen without giving notice to or agreeing with the tenant in advance
• interferes with the property in some way, for example building work or demolition, or interfering with utilities supplies: telephone, internet, gas, electricity, water etc
• physically threatens or otherwise harasses the tenant, either verbally or in writing, with the aim of forcing or coercing a tenant out.

Noise nuisance could amount to a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, but it’s not the only interference that breaches the covenant. It must be so significant that it prevents a tenant from using the property as intended. Mere inconvenience is not what would meet the criteria.

Also, it depends on who is causing the noise problem. If it’s caused by a third party and outside of the landlord’s control, then it would be difficult to come up with a credible argument that the landlord was in breach of the covenant.

It is also difficult to blame the landlord for a nuisance resulting from a pre-existing condition, one in existence before the start of the tenancy, or one which the tenant could easily have been aware of, such as loud traffic noise. For example, bad sound insulation in a block of flats has been held not to be a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.

Going back to Jafari v Tareem, the landlord had waived the rent for the period of the works as a goodwill gesture in compensation for the disturbance. Jafari, however, claimed that the works irreparably damaged his business’s profitability and withheld further rent payments.

The High Court on appeal examined whether in the case the offer of compensation was relevant to the question of whether a landlord was in breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment. It concluded that it was and held that the landlord had taken all reasonable steps to minimise disturbance to Jafari.

The rent waiver, the court held, was reasonable compensation for the disturbance in what might have otherwise been an unreasonable situation.

The lessons from this case:

Landlords should be aware that noise nuisance or any other interference with a tenant’s “quiet enjoyment” of a property can have consequences if this is not kept to a minimum. Where appropriate it may require some form of compensation, like a rent holiday or rent reduction.

Landlords often fail to grasp a basic fact of tenancy law: that in effect, and during the course of the tenancy, the tenant is “the owner of the land and property” is entitled to treat it as such, and can exclude everyone, including the landlord.

Landlords when granting a lease, especially in the case of commercial premises, where works are often required in the premises, or those adjoining, should include a “right to build” or “right to refurbish” clause that expressly qualifies the covenant of quiet enjoyment.

Even so, the degree of interference will be open to a court’s determination in each and every individual case, but if an offer of compensation is considered appropriate, and substantial enough, there may well be no valid claim for further damages.

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New 2025 green targets for homes

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All homes and businesses will have to meet rigorous new energy efficiency standards to lower energy consumption and bills, helping to protect the environment, the Housing Minister Chris Pincher has announced.

Responding to a consultation on the Future Homes Standard

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Reality bites: One landlord’s real-life experiences of tenants with pets

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A landlady who’s hosted a veritable menagerie of animals in rental properties over the years says she’s so fed up with the resulting mess and damage that she won’t take any more tenants with pets.

She’s had problems with virtually every pet she’s agreed to home: one tenant kept a cat locked in the bedroom that caused extensive damage to a carpet and wallpaper, while another family kept a dog in the conservatory leaving a big clean-up job and bill when they moved out: the window sill was chewed, poo was ingrained in the door, while the floor was warped and soaked with urine.

The landlady, who is reluctant to reveal her identity for fear of reprisals, reports that cockatiels have pecked wallpaper off a bedroom and even fish have created huge bills, she explains: “The tenant managed to break a large fish tank, smashing water and fish all over the laminate flooring, wrecking the floor.

“I’ve also had problems with a tortoise that chewed the woodwork and skirting boards!”

Her comments follow the news that Adur & Worthing Councils have launched a new dog training scheme for homeless people to prove they can make responsible tenants.

“I’m a pet-lover and have dogs and cats,” she tells LandlordZONE. “But while I feel very sorry for any homeless person with a dog or other pet, I’m sick of the damage caused and filth left by tenants with pets who say they’ll look after properties.

“I’ve probably spent thousands of pounds over the years paying for repairs that pets have caused to carpets and walls.”

She adds: “If they introduce a bill to force landlords to take tenants with pets, I’ll have to put the rent up, maybe by £25 a month per pet to cover additional wear and tear.”

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BREAKING: EPC upgrade proposals for rented homes are ‘unrealistic’ says trade body

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The government has been warned that its plans to improve energy efficiency within English and Welsh privately rented homes are unrealistic as it seeks to enforce a ‘one size fits all’ policy.

It plans to force all landlords to ensure their rented homes reach an EPC ‘C’ grade or above by 2028 regardless of their age, condition or size.

The government also wants to set a £10,000 per property price cap; set a requirement for landlords to install ‘fabric first’ measures; as well as requirements on letting agents and online property platforms to only advertise and let properties compliant with the rules.

“Forcing tighter restrictions on landlords, without sustained financial support, is too ambitious and will not be achieved,” says ARLA Propertymark.

“A key concern from members is that the target is unrealistic, and it is impractical to improve many properties based on the construction type and age.

“For instance, Wales has the oldest private rented dwelling stock in the UK, with 43 per cent built before 1919. Furthermore, too large a proportion of existing privately rented stock requires significant improvements to meet the C rating, which would reduce the amount of housing stock available to rent.”

One size fits all?

The trade body is, instead, calling on the government to implement changes incrementally.

Ministers have said the recently-extended Green Homes Grant that pays for two thirds of a property’s upgrade costs to a maximum of £5,000 will help but ARLA says it ends too early (31^st March 2022), particularly given the financial strain many landlords have been under during Covid.

ARLA also says listed buildings and those within conservation areas within the PRS present unique challenges that should be tackled separately, rather than being included in the current ‘one size fits all approach’

The government is now analysing the feedback after the consultation closed last week.

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54-year-old landlord reported to rogue database for flat in Barclays bank vault

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A rogue landlord who let out a former bank vault as an illegal and dangerous flat has been fined and banned for failing to apply for a license and breaking a council prohibition order.

Anthony Roy Roe, 54, of Lower Armour Road in Tilehurst, Reading, has now been convicted at Croydon Crown Court and added to the Mayor of London’s rogue landlord database.

Croydon Council also hopes to add him to the national rogue landlord database.

The court heard that Roe’s tenant first contacted council officers about unsafe outdoor stairs with missing steps in February 2019.

When they visited the basement flat – a converted vault in a former Barclays bank branch – inspectors found there was no fire escape route except through the kitchen, a lack of natural light because there were no windows in the living room or bedroom, and no natural ventilation.

Unfit to live in

The flat, in Station Parade, Sanderstead (pictured), was classed as unfit to live in and the council issued a prohibition order.

But officers found it was still being rented out after Roe’s appeal was dismissed in August that year. He was convicted in his absence of breaking the order and failing to license the property through the landlord licensing scheme, ordered to pay a £2,640 fine for breaking the prohibition order, the council’s full costs of £6,624, and a £170 victim surcharge.

Councillor Jane Avis (pictured), cabinet member for homes and gateway services, says: “This flat wasn’t just an unsuitable place to live, it was an illegal and potentially lethal firetrap, so I’m glad the tenant flagged her concerns to us.”

Croydon’s scheme, set up in 2015 to raise housing standards in the private rented sector, expired last autumn and the council has applied to MHCLG for permission to renew it.

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Are you a Mortgage Prisoner?

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A Mortgage Prisoner is someone who cannot switch to another product or to a new lender for their residential mortgage, despite being up to date with their payments. They could be stuck with a lender exploiting them with a high interest rate and not allowing them to take up more advantageous rates.

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Are you a Mortgage Prisoner?

admin    Uncategorized    

A Mortgage Prisoner is someone who cannot switch to another product or to a new lender for their residential mortgage, despite being up to date with their payments. They could be stuck with a lender exploiting them with a high interest rate and not allowing them to take up more advantageous rates.

The post Are you a Mortgage Prisoner? appeared first on Property118.

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Death of a separated joint tenant during pandemic?

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Hello All, The rented property was originally let around five years ago to a married couple – great tenants and never had any issues with them.

During mid-2020, their relationship broke down and the husband left the matrimonial home.

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