LATEST: Government axes ‘shambolic’ Green Homes Grant initiative

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The government’s much-maligned Green Homes Grant has been axed six months after it was launched, business minister Kwasi Kwarteng has announced.

His department’s flagship scheme, which was introduced to help give the nation’s private homes and rented accommodation a green upgrade and to create work for builders, will close to new applications from Thursday this week onwards.

As LandlordZONE reported three months after its September launch, the Green Homes Grant has been dogged by problems including the complicated nature of its approvals system, while its roll-out was described by Greenpeace as ‘shambolic’.

This has included a lack of tradespeople willing to go through the Trustmark approval process to join the scheme, Covid restrictions, confusion over which upgrades and improvements qualify under the scheme and in which order they must be completed, and also a lack of applications.

Only approximately 60,0000 of the 600,000 available vouchers have been taken up by the scheme, a situation not helped by the government’s decision to outsource the management of the grant scheme to a US-based company.

The BBC report that £300m of the unspent cash allocated to the Green Homes Grant scheme will now to redirected to a parallel green upgrade programme administered by councils that targets low-income households, called the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme.

Meera Chindooroy (pictured), Deputy Director, Campaigns, Public Affairs & Policy says: “The government’s decision to scrap the Green Homes Grants, proves that a new, long-term plan for upgrading properties is needed. 

“The NRLA has consistently called for further funding to be made available to help landlords to go above and beyond the legal minimum of energy efficiency measures set out by the Government for the PRS. 

“One way for the government to ensure it avoids the pitfalls which have affected the Green Homes Grant scheme is to consider the Environmental Audit Committee’s (EAC) latest recommendations.  

“In our view the EAC’s report, which features several NRLA recommendations, can provide a useful starting point for a longer-term strategy to energy efficiency.” 

Kwarteng’s official announcement barely mentions the closure of the scheme, in which he says: “This latest announcement takes our total energy efficiency spending to over £1.3 billion in the next financial year, giving installers the certainty they need to plan ahead, create new jobs and train the next generation of builders, plumbers and tradespeople.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Government axes ‘shambolic’ Green Homes Grant initiative | LandlordZONE.

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Green Homes Grant applications canned after 31st March

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The troubled Green Homes Grant Scheme will be closed for new applications after the 31st March this year as announced quietly by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

Following a review, the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme launched last year will close to new applications on 31 March at 5pm.

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Land Transaction Tax – Welsh Holiday Let?

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I’m interested in purchasing a B&B in Wales to turn into a Holiday Let. The process is wrought with complications I would be happy to share whilst I learn if anyone is interested. For now, I am hoping someone can advise me on the matter of Land Tax.

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EXCLUSIVE: Landlords cannot ask tenants to take Covid tests prior to visits

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Landlords can’t ask tenants to take a Covid test before going into a property, says Housing Minister Christopher Pincher.

The Minister was responding to a written question from Labour deputy chief whip Alan Campbell (pictured) who wanted more detail on the subject.

The MP for Tynemouth tells LandlordZONE: “We tabled the question because a constituent who is a landlord got in touch. I didn’t think the guidance was clear so we thought we would get clarification.”

The government’s guidance is clear that landlords should be aware that some tenants, “may still want to exercise caution and should respect this when engaging with their tenants”, however, this evidently doesn’t apply to those more cautious landlords needing to make inspections or carry out work.

Campbell’s landlord constituent wanted to know whether he could require his tenants to have a Covid test before undertaking safety checks in a property.

The Minister replied: “Landlords can take steps to carry out repairs and safety inspections, including routine and essential inspections and repairs, as well as any planned internal works to the property under the national lockdown which is in force in England.

“But only provided these are undertaken in line with guidance for people working in other people’s homes and the relevant coronavirus (COVID-19) legislation.

“This legislation does not allow landlords to require tenants to have a test for COVID-19.”

Although the guidance says current restrictions may mean it’s harder to carry out routine or essential repairs and maintenance, the government insists that landlords should make every effort to meet their responsibilities.

But it adds they shouldn’t be unfairly penalised where COVID-19 restrictions might have prevented them from meeting some routine obligations.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: Landlords cannot ask tenants to take Covid tests prior to visits | LandlordZONE.

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Citizens Advice reports 40% rise in demand for help from private tenants

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Citizens Advice helped one client every minute with problems relating to rented properties during the first two months of this year.

The charity saw a 40% rise in those seeking one-to-one advice on rental issues compared with the same period in 2020, helping 16,530 people during office hours.

Issues included 29% who had repairs or maintenance problems, 9% who were worried about possession action not related to rent arrears, 5% who reported harassment by their landlord and 4% who wanted help with a possible illegal eviction.

Polling by Citizens Advice through its national Tenants’ Voice panel shows one-third of private renters have been worried by the threat of eviction, despite the ban, in the last three months.

Disrepair

The panel – made up of 700 private renters from across England – also found two-thirds of those surveyed had faced problems with maintenance or disrepair in that time. 

Figures from the charity’s website show 69,000 people viewed its advice pages dealing with private tenancies during January and February.

Alistair Cromwell (pictured), acting chief executive, says the eviction ban has simply papered over the cracks.

He adds: “Our research paints a disturbing picture of a private rental market in which tenants pay high rents on badly maintained properties, while living in constant fear that any complaint could result in summary eviction.”

Citizens Advice says the forthcoming Renters’ Reform Bill is an opportunity to lay the foundations of a more equitable private rented sector. The charity wants an end to Section 21 evictions, indefinite tenancies used as standard and a new national housing body and register to set consistent standards, give tenants greater protection, and help responsible landlords.  

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Citizens Advice reports 40% rise in demand for help from private tenants | LandlordZONE.

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Anyone used Ground 1 S8 successfully?

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As I understand it you can gain mandatory possession with Ground 2 S8 if… the landlord wishes to move into the property to use it as their main home, and they were the owner of the property prior to the tenant moving in.

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Purchase of property in Shildon?

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Hi All, I’m in a discussion with a property consultant to purchase a property in Shildon, County Durham (Thomas Street). It is a terraced house freehold.

I’m looking for some review on the area since I’m looking into this for investment purposes only.

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Landlords call for interest-free hardship loans to tenants with rent arrears

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The NRLA has called on Ministers to tackle the UK’s mounting rent arrears debt mountain after Boris Johnson last night revealed his government’s plan to ease Covid restrictions.

These are due to be relaxed in three tranches – 29^th March, 12^th April, 17^th May and 29^th June – but the NRLA says it is worried that there is no plan to shield tenants and landlords from what happens when the estimated 840,000 tenants in rent arrears are no longer protected by the current eviction restrictions.

There is also a huge backlog of evictions cases waiting to ether go through the courts, or waitin for the ban on bailiff evictions to be lifted.

Unlike Scotland and Wales, there is no specific Covid finance package to support the private rental market.

Increasing arrears

Research by the NRLA reveals that although most landlords have been working with struggling tenants to help keep them in their homes as far as possible, 60 per cent have lost rental income as a result of the pandemic. Of these, 39 per cent said the losses were continuing to increase.

The organisations is calling for Government guaranteed, interest free hardship loans to be made available for tenants now in arrears but who do not qualify for benefit support. Grants should be made available for those in receipt of benefits.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, (main pic) says: “While many landlords and tenants have worked well in responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, we are now at a crunch point. As the country follows the roadmap out of lockdown, so too emergency measures in the rental market will need to be eased.

“Ministers need to ensure the tenants have the financial means to pay off rent debts built as a result of the pandemic. Without this they will have to accept the inevitable consequence of rising homelessness and damaged credit scores.”

Read the full roadmap document.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords call for interest-free hardship loans to tenants with rent arrears | LandlordZONE.

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One year on from the first ban on the repossession of rented homes

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One year on from the first ban on the repossession of rented homes, new analysis shows that more tenants are likely to lose their homes in the long term as a result.

Research for the National Residential Landlords Association has shown that there are an estimated 840,000 private tenants who have built rent arrears since lockdown measures began.

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Rent cap zones have not worked, Scots Ministers admit as first housing plan launched

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The Scottish government has admitted that its ‘Rent Pressure Zones’ have been a flop but nevertheless vowed to make rents more affordable in its first ever long-term national housing strategy.

Housing To 2040 lays out its aim to drive improvements in the private rented sector, improving accessibility, affordability and standards.

A Rented Sector Strategy planned for later this year will provide more detail, while it’s also bringing forward a new Housing Bill early in the next parliament to strengthen tenants’ rights, along with details on a Housing Standard which will cover all homes.

The much-criticised Rent Pressure Zones were designed to help local councils give tenants more protection from unreasonable rent increases, but research has shown that none have been able to meet the stringent tests giving them the ability to cap rents.

The government promises to reform this policy, “to allow us to take localised approaches in areas experiencing the impacts of high rents, based on evidence and lived experience, and make sure that we do not unintentionally drive rents up or impact on investment in parts of the country that are not experiencing such pressures”.

Unreasonable rents

To do this, it will start collecting data on the private rented sector, so it can identify areas suffering from unreasonable rents. It adds: “By the end of 2021, we will have undertaken an analysis of what is required and will set out our intentions.”

The new strategy, which is spearheaded by Aileen Campbell, Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government (main pic) will set out its aims to introduce pre-action protocols on a permanent basis, making duties on landlords to work with tenants prior to evictions a legal requirement. Potential reforms to the current grounds for repossession under the Private Residential Tenancy will also be considered.

It explains: “The Rented Sector Strategy and new Housing Bill will give us and our partners the tools we need to deal with unreasonable rent increases and give people genuinely affordable choices.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Rent cap zones have not worked, Scots Ministers admit as first housing plan launched | LandlordZONE.

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