Beware stamp duty holiday ‘postcode lottery’, landlords warned

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords should think carefully about the location of their next purchase to avoid the rush of residential buyers trying to beat the stamp duty deadline.

Despite the tax holiday having been extended until the end of June, buy-to-let broker Mortgages for Business reports that many lenders are currently struggling to get mortgages approved where local authorities – often hit by pandemic-related staff shortages – are dragging their feet, with some taking more than 100 days to conduct property searches.

Hacked Hackney Borough Council’s is the worst offender (180 working days), along with Bedfordshire Council (65 working days), Caerphilly County Borough Council (60), Cambridge City Council (50), and North Warwickshire (50).

Mortgages for Business director Jeni Browne suggests that thinking about the effect a local authority could have on a purchase might ease landlords’ headaches. 

Turn of century!

“One search we ordered recently took 145 days to complete,” she says. “If you are considering purchasing a property in Hackney before the turn of the next century, you may want to rethink.”

The broker also advises investors to be prepared to rethink the type of property they’re targeting as well as considering using a portal to reduce waiting time.

It adds that it takes less time to process applications if they’re done via portals, with average deadlines cut from 73 working days to 53 – reducing the time it takes to process a transaction by 27%.

Its research has also found that transactions can take 11% longer if the property in question is a flat, rather than a semi-detached house.

Browne says: “Even if you’re not trying to hit the stamp duty deadline, you may well find that your deal gets caught in the crossfire. Picking a semi-detached house, rather than a flat will help smooth the way.”

Find out more about mortgages.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Beware stamp duty holiday ‘postcode lottery’, landlords warned | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Beware stamp duty holiday ‘postcode lottery’, landlords warned

Britain’s ‘worst rogue landlord’ banned until 2025

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A rogue landlord who rented out an HMO where children slept in cupboards has been banned from letting houses for four years.

As we reported last March, Deepak Singh Sachdeva, of Moresby Avenue in Surbiton, was found guilty of renting out poor quality living accommodation that posed a serious risk to life, and was fined £87,000 after inspectors found some of the worst living conditions they had ever seen.

The conditions at the Bristol property are in stark contrast to the smart suburban property in South London where Sachdeva’s various past businesses have been registered, and his luxury 4×4 vehicle.

When council officers investigated his Premier shop premises on Avonmouth Road in Avonmouth, they discovered nine people in two separate living spaces above the shop’s rear storage area, with three of them, including two young children, sleeping in cupboards in the eaves of the roof.

The property was in such poor structural condition and design that it posed a serious risk to life; there was barely any fire-resistant separation between the shop store and the flat above, with the floorboards of the living accommodation clearly visible from the storage area immediately below.

Banning order

Bristol City Council has now successfully applied for a banning order, which will also prevent Sachdeva from carrying out any property management work.

Council officers visited the property again in January 2021 to check on conditions and found someone sleeping in one room of the property, in contravention of a prohibition order.

He told them he was in the process of selling the lease, but the Property Tribunal heard that to date, he has failed to provide any proof that this is the case.

Sachdeva did not attend the hearing and has also not provided information about any other properties he might be renting out or letting agencies he is involved in. He will be added to the government’s Rogue Landlord Database and could face prison if he breaches the banning order.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Britain’s ‘worst rogue landlord’ banned until 2025 | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Britain’s ‘worst rogue landlord’ banned until 2025

Budget 2021 – What It Means For UK Property Investors

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces his 2021 Budget. This is a budget aimed at recovery and rebuilding the economy as we come out of the Covid-19 crisis.

In this video below, I look specifically at what this budget means for property investors.

The post Budget 2021 – What It Means For UK Property Investors appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Budget 2021 – What It Means For UK Property Investors

BUDGET: Chancellor drops feared CGT hike but raises taxes for Ltd landlords in 2023

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The Chancellor went fairly easy on landlords in today’s budget, announcing an extended stamp duty holiday, but no immediate change to Corporation Tax or Capital Gains Tax.

To ease the stampede to complete purchases before the current stamp duty holiday comes to an end, as expected, Rishi Sunak announced that the £500,000 nil rate band would now end on 30^th June instead of the end of March.

To smooth the transition back to normal, the nil rate will be £250,000 until the end of September and will only return to the normal rate from October.

Corporation Tax will increase to 25% – higher than the expected 24% – although not until April 2023, while small businesses with profits of less than £50,000 will remain at the current rate of 19%.

No CGT change

Sunak didn’t change Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rates, as many had feared. Instead he promised to maintain the current level until April 2026; it will remain at £12,300 for individuals, personal representatives and some types of trusts and £6,150 for most trusts.

For those with commercial tenants, he announced a new restart grant for retailers due to open in April, who will then be eligible for grants of up to £6,000 per premises.

Those that have to wait longer to open, such as gyms and pubs, can get grants of up to £18,000. Eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses also won’t pay business rates for three months, with up to 66% relief for the rest of the year.

Universal Credit

Sunak also extended the Universal Credit uplift of £20 a week for another six months,as well as extending the furlough scheme to the end of September. “We’re going long,” he said, “and extending our support well beyond the end of the roadmap.”

However, Ryan Jones, business rates partner at Cluttons, says business rate reliefs granted during the last 12 months almost exclusively afford relief to occupiers and that those who have been forced to close have been worst affected during the pandemic.

He adds: “For owners and leaseholders of vacant commercial property there has been little support and their rate liability is still payable and there is not expectation that this will change.” 

Industry reaction

Ben Beadle (pictured), chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, also wasn’t impressed at the lack of support for tenants and landlords in the budget.

He says: “He has failed to provide the sector with the financial support needed to pay off rent debts built as a consequence of the virus.

“Without help to get arrears cleared, many tenants face the prospect of losing their homes and having damaged credit scores, which will undermine the government’s efforts to help generation rent become generation buy.”

Timothy Douglas, Policy & Campaigns Manager for Propertymark (pictured), says: “Extending the increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance and the furlough scheme until September will help tenants plan ahead but much more is required to avoid a mounting crisis in the private rented sector.

“As the impact of Covid continues to bite and unemployment rates rise, we are increasingly concerned about how tenants will avoid future rent arrears and landlords will remain incentivised to stay in the rental market. There is a real need for the UK Government to ensure a wider package of measures to help tenants and landlords keep the rent flowing.”

Isobel Thomson, Safeagent Chief Executive (left), says: “It has been an incredibly tough 12 months for many in the private rented sector, and while it is positive to see additional support such as the extension of  furlough and the Universal Credit uplift, this Budget leaves a gaping hole in financial support for the PRS.

“We first raised the proposal of grants for landlords in August 2020 – in line with grants for other self-employed people. It is a real concern that this Budget failed to offer any support for private landlords who are crucial to providing homes in the PRS.

“Over the last year they have been asked to shoulder an unsustainable burden of risk without Government help and today’s announcement offered no change to this. The Government’s commitment to turn Generation Rent into Generation Buy is laudable in the longer term but what happens in the meantime?”.

Harry Downes, MD of BTR operator Fizzy Living, adds: “Today’s mortgage guarantee and stamp duty extension shows that the government is still focused on home buyers rather than making the rental experience better. Housebuilding has flourished since measures such as Help to Buy were introduced with buyers given increasing incentive and support.

Read Sunak’s budget details in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BUDGET: Chancellor drops feared CGT hike but raises taxes for Ltd landlords in 2023 | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: BUDGET: Chancellor drops feared CGT hike but raises taxes for Ltd landlords in 2023

Pledge to do whatever it takes hollow for landlords and tenants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

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

“The Chancellor’s pledge to do whatever it takes to support those affected by the pandemic will ring hollow for thousands of tenants and landlords across the country.

The post Pledge to do whatever it takes hollow for landlords and tenants appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Pledge to do whatever it takes hollow for landlords and tenants

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kick in the teeth’ for landlords as No.10 stalls on waiving eviction renewal fees

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Bailiff evictions are facing delays and extra expense as thousands of already sanctioned warrants tick over the 12 months mark following the multiple ‘ban extensions’ announced by the government since the pandemic started.

This is because bailiff warrants granted to evict tenants a year ago will now have to be reissued.

This will require bailiffs to fill in the paperwork again (an N325 Warrant Possession Request form and an EX97A Bailiff Risk Assessment form) and also pay a fee of £121, adding more time and expense to rentals arrears and other types of eviction exempted from the ban.

One message to a bailiff from the Department of Justice recently suggests civil servants are aware of the frustrations this additional red tape will cause.

“As the expiry of the warrants is not the fault of yourselves, we are producing a submission to ministers to ask that they use the Lord Chancellors exceptional powers to exempt the fee and it may be possible to get a refund depending on the answer from number 10,” it says.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.”

So far, LandlordZONE is not aware of any decision being made by the Cabinet Office at Downing Street.

Tim Frome (pictured), legal director at eviction specialist Landlord Action, says: “For landlords who expected to gain possession of their property over a year ago it is another kick in the teeth to be told they have to pay a further court fee to re-engage the bailiff.

“We are having to break the bad news to landlords on cases where the bailiff warrant is over 12 months old.

“An application can be made to extend a soon to expire warrant but that requires time to draft and also incurs court fees so the landlord is no better off.

“This is another example of unintended consequences of the current court processes impacting landlords.”

This problem does not affect evictions that have been passed on to High Court enforcement companies like those featured in Channel 5 programme Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away! (pictured).

More information from Landlord Action.

Picture credit: DBLG Ltd/Channel 5

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kick in the teeth’ for landlords as No.10 stalls on waiving eviction renewal fees | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kick in the teeth’ for landlords as No.10 stalls on waiving eviction renewal fees

HMO – single private dwellinghouse covenant refusal?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

I’m selling a house set up as an HMO, that hasn’t been rented out to anyone. It has a ‘single private dwelling house’ restrictive covenant. We are/were ready to exchange & complete.

The buyer has had the HMO licence guaranteed by the council 14 days post-completion

The post HMO – single private dwellinghouse covenant refusal? appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: HMO – single private dwellinghouse covenant refusal?

SPOTLIGHT: Church of England gives its blessing to tougher landlord regulation

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The Church of England has said that parish churches should get more involved in local housing issues across England and has given landlord licensing its blessing.

Its Commission on Housing, Church and Community argues that as a significant landowner, it has to lead by example, particularly after listening to parish clergy who are reporting that pastoral problems are often linked to housing.

It highlights one Ealing parish that’s leading the way by backing the local council’s efforts to introduce selective licensing in the borough.

St Barnabas’s and Christ the Saviour churches started a campaign about affordable housing and lobbied candidates at the local elections, with a demand that Ealing should extend selective landlord licensing across the whole borough.

All of them agreed to back the idea, although the council has yet to implement this.

The Church of England is also on a mission to bring private landlords to task as part of its proposals to address the housing crisis, and recently created a ‘rental market bishop’.

Its new Coming Home report calls on the government to provide greater protection for private sector tenants through longer-term security of tenure and by placing a duty of care on all landlords.

Thorough review

It wants a thorough review of tenancy agreements in the private rented sector and for the removal of Section 21 evictions.

The report says: “We urge the government to deliver on its manifesto commitment and to ensure predictable rents and long-term security of tenure, with a clear, limited set of exceptions.”

It adds: “Landlords, particularly in the social rented sector, should ensure that the voices of tenants are heard, considered and acted on in designing services for tenants.”

The commission also urges ministers to review the social security system and its failure to provide adequate housing support for low-income household. It recommends the restoration of Local Housing Allowances to median rents in each local area.

Read more about the report.

PIC credit: www.churchofengland.org

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – SPOTLIGHT: Church of England gives its blessing to tougher landlord regulation | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: SPOTLIGHT: Church of England gives its blessing to tougher landlord regulation