Preventable death of tenant is proof England needs national landlord register, says Shelter

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Shelter has called on the government to reform the private rented sector after a tenant died in his illegally converted, windowless flat.

Shop worker Philip Sheridan, 32, paid £75 a week for the flat in the cellar of a terraced house in Harehills, Leeds, where landlords hadn’t fitted a smoke alarm.

When a fire broke out in June 2019, Philip managed to escape but was delayed as the only one exit door had no handle.

The coroner concluded that the property was unsuitable for human habitation and that the conversion didn’t have planning consent or building regulation approval.

A council inspection would have resulted in an emergency prohibition order, he reported, because of all the hazards.

Police interviewed the landlords on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence, but they were freed without charge.

Shelter says the tragedy highlights existing health and safety laws that are unfit for purpose and allow some landlords to let out dangerously unsafe homes.

National register

Chief executive Polly Neate (pictured) adds: “To prevent future tragedies, we need a national register to hold all landlords properly to account. Councils must have the funds to inspect homes and ensure they are safe.

“Crucially, we must abolish ‘no fault’ evictions, so renters can have the power to challenge poor conditions without the fear of losing their homes.”

Landlords can be fined if they don’t have a working smoke alarm on each storey, but a government survey reveals 11% of privately rented properties have no working alarms.

It is currently proposing to amend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm regulations and wants landlords to ensure that each prescribed alarm is in proper working order on the first day of every new tenancy and to repair or replace alarms if they are reported as faulty during the tenancy.

Read our latest stories about smoke and C02 alarms.

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LATEST: Councils call for evictions ban to be extended ‘until the summer’

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Councils around England are joining calls for the government to impose yet another extension to the evictions ban.

Greater Manchester, the Isle of Wight, Brighton & Hove and Oxford are among those warning of a potential wave of homelessness; under current rules, bailiffs can enforce section 21 notices again on 22nd February while evictions are expected to take place from 8th March.

Greater Manchester leaders want the government to ban evictions until the summer and to provide direct financial support for tenants and landlords.

They point to an estimated 16,800 households in the city-region already affected by Covid-related arrears and mayor Andy Burnham (main pic) says the homelessness system can’t take much more.

He adds: “A sudden surge in evictions will create a huge amount of pressure and I urge government to reimpose the eviction ban to protect people who are in these circumstances through no fault of their own.”

Seaside support

Brighton & Hove Council also believes new grants for Covid-related debt will help the city’s struggling residents.

It’s urging the government to remove an exemption allowing landlords to evict tenants who had fallen behind with their rent over the past six months.

Councillor Gill Williams (pictured) says if the ban ends in two weeks’ time, the homeless prevention team will be overwhelmed.

Adds Williams: “Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau reports that the ending of private rental sector tenancies is the leading cause of homelessness in this sector and rent arrears have become one of the highest debt issues.”

Oxford Council saw a 55% fall in the number of homeless households it needed to help from April to September 2020, largely thanks to the eviction ban, says Mike Rowley, cabinet member for affordable housing and housing the homeless.

He adds: “The eviction ban has helped prevent homelessness throughout the pandemic, and it needs to be extended again – and not just until lockdown ends.”

Read more about evictions ban extension calls.

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Councils criticised for dabbling in investment property speculation

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Councils’ priority needs to fund local services in times of austerity after the great recession, in the case of some councils, prompted them to over-ride the inherent risks involved in taking out 100% taxpayer funded loans in order to generate income from commercial rents.

That money came from a section of the government’s Debt Management Office known as the Public Works Loan Board, originally set-up in 1793 to fund councils when building local amenities such as parks, leisure centres, and roads.

What the investing councils could not perhaps have foreseen when they became landlords was the double whammy of a rent drought brought on by a year of Covid, added to an already declining retail sector.

Online shopping and lock-downs have devastated many retail businesses with two of the latest high profile examples, both leading high street brands, Debenhams and Arcadia, folding completely. They are now selling off their brand names, but not their retail shop leases, to online retailers Bohoo and Asos.

With an avalanche of CVAs, liquidations and shop closures, many of the councils that went down the road of borrowing taxpayer’s money at ultra-low interest rates, expecting handsome returns by arbitraging their loan payments against the usually lucrative commercial rental income, on long-term leases, have been bitterly disappointed.

When their premises become vacant, not only does the council lose the rental income, they lose the business rate income as well, and they are then obliged to insure the empty premises at premium rates because of the increased empty property risk. They may also need to provide security measures, which all comes at considerable cost to local ratepayers and an inevitable reduction in local service provision.

The government’s public accounts committee has estimated that between 2016 and last summer around 179 councils invested over £7.5 billion into commercial property, a figure which the committee has warned that in some cases is exposed to “extreme levels of risk”.

The Treasury has recently moved to rein-in what it sees as some councils’ irresponsible borrowing, using taxpayers money on what may turn out to be failed projects. Initially, the government had no direct control over the way the Public Works Loan Board, as an independent committee, handed out loans, but this has now changed.

The government can now intervene directly to stop lending on speculative property deals whereas before the board was run by an independent board of commissioners. An inquiry started in 2016, when a consultation was launched, running until last February, has resulted in the board being abolished and its powers handed to the Treasury.

So, what may have been seen by some council leaders as a “no-brainer”, as the property gurus might term it, becoming commercial landlords with debt funded 100 per cent by taxpayers is turning out to be a nightmare scenario for some local authorities.

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Free Lockdown Learning – 5 ways the pandemic has changed possession procedures at court

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We had a very successful webinar last month on the new ‘Breathing Space’ regulations.  You can now view the recording here.

This week’s webinar is with specialist housing barrister and Deputy District judge Robert Brown.

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POLL: Extend the stamp duty holiday deadline, say two thirds of landlords

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Nearly two-thirds of landlords want Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend or modify the current stamp duty holiday, a new poll by LandlordZONE has revealed.

We asked our landlord Twitter fans to vote on the issue last week and nearly 800 answered, of which 63% said they want the stamp duty holiday extended.

Landlords are the latest to make their feelings clear as every sector of the housing market urges Sunak to prevent a ‘cliff face’ on March 31^st when the relief is due to end.

Since early July all home buyers have been exempt from paying stamp duty on the value of a home purchase up to £500,000, significantly reducing the level of stamp duty paid for thousands of landlords and other buyers.

Second homes

The holiday does not include the 3% ‘second home’ tax still levied on anyone buying a property that is not their main residence, which is still payable.

Hopes that HM Treasury will be persuaded to amend the holiday in one way or another were raised briefly last week when a parliamentary committee met to debate the issue.

But MP and Treasury spokesperson Jesse Norman said landlords would have to wait until March 3^rd when Sunak is scheduled to reveal his ‘Covid recovery’ budget to find out.

Also, the NRLA has called on the Chancellor to scrap the 3% ‘second homes’ stamp duty where landlords invest in properties that add to the net supply of housing.

This would include new homes, converting large properties into affordable units, changing the use of a property from commercial to residential or bringing empty homes back into use.

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Are old expense receipts still valid?

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Hi, I have found some old maintenance/repair (not improvement) receipts for my BTL property which date back to 2012.

My first question is: can I use them on my next self assessment tax return or have I lost out because I can you only claim for payments made in the same financial year?

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A letter to address UC flaws to private landlords

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Hi to private housing providers, I would like to share a recent letter (via email) I sent to the UC regional partnership manager (sandra.stewart@dwp.gov.uk & elaine.livingston@dwp.gov.uk) to address some of my concerns over the flaws & issues I am encountering with the UC office &

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Rents drop in central London by 13% as Covid, Airbnb glut and student exodus bite

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Renters are capitalising on the lowest rents in the capital in more than a decade to move from Croydon to Chelsea and Kensington as rents sink by 13% in central London.

While headlines have been dominated by the ‘rural exodus’ in the sales market during the pandemic, there’s also been an opposite shift in the lettings market, reports Knight Frank, as growing numbers of canny tenants swap the outer suburbs for zone 1 living.

Its latest data reveals that 35% of new prospective tenants registering in prime central London came from outside the area between June and December 2020, up from 26% in the same period in 2019.

The average distance from the boundary of prime central London more than doubled from 1.5 miles to 3.1 miles as renters moved from areas including Wandsworth and as far away as Croydon, into Chelsea and South Kensington (pictured).

Fundamental reset

This “fundamental reset” of rental values means there’s almost never been a more affordable time to rent in central London, reports David Mumby, head of prime central London lettings, who says tenants are thinking beyond lockdown.

“People working from home like the idea of being close to central London amenities and parks,” adds Mumby (pictured). “They are taking advantage while this window of opportunity stays open; once international travel resumes it will start to close.”

Average rents fell by 13% in prime central London in the year to January – due to a glut of short-let properties alongside falling demand from overseas students and corporate tenants – which took them back to levels last seen at the end of 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Knight Frank adds that asking prices for large central London flats have fallen by more than any other property type, which may tempt investors able to see through the short-term fog of Covid-19.

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Build-to-rent tower stands empty as borough bungles sign-off process

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Tenants expecting to move into a prestigious build-to-rent residential block that was finished last summer are still waiting for Croydon council to sign-off on building regulations.

Ten Degrees, a 44-storey tower at 101 George Street – acclaimed as the world’s tallest modular building – is still empty, despite initial assurances from developer Greystar that it would open by September or October 2020.

Future residents of the 546 sky-high apartments were sent emails explaining: “Unfortunately we have been notified that the necessary sign-off from the council has still not happened due to the council’s backlog from covid-19 and this may cause a delay in the handover. We are entirely at the mercy of the authorities.”

In January, Croydon council’s planning department confirmed it hadn’t issued a completion certificate in respect of the works.

It added: “Until such time as the works are considered complete and satisfactory in respect to Building Regulations, the development cannot be occupied without agreement…Unfortunately, I am unable to advise when this situation is likely to be resolved.”

Improvement panel

Earlier this week, Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick set up an improvement and assurance panel to address serious failures at the council.

It follows a report that highlighted Croydon’s poor track record in managing budgets, poorly managed commercial ventures and low levels of reserves.

Meanwhile, Greystar has been paying out some compensation for the disruption and costs incurred by prospective tenants, such as storage charges, reports Inside Croydon.

However, it reports that some have given up waiting and had their deposits returned. One frustrated prospective tenant tells the website: “Obviously something has gone seriously wrong on the building regulations side of things that they are not willing to go public about, which sort of defeats the entire purpose of modular construction which is meant to be efficient.”

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