Council policing of unsafe rented properties slammed as ‘weak or non-existent’

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Councils fail to serve improvement notices in three-quarters of cases where they find a Category 1 hazard, finds new research from Generation Rent.

The housing pressure group made Freedom of Information requests to 110 councils in England about their enforcement activity in 2019-20.

Of those that responded, 76 recorded 11,570 Category 1 hazards in private rented homes but only served 2,814 improvement notices, representing 24%. There has been no change since 2018-19, although it was up from 20% in 2017-18.

Generation Rent says this inaction leaves renters vulnerable to retaliatory eviction and makes it harder for them to claim back rent if their landlord fails to fix dangerous disrepair.

Dangerous rented homes

It is calling on councils to commit to serving improvement notices every time they find a dangerous private rented home, which it believes will help to drive out criminal landlords and improve standards.

Private renters already have little confidence in their council taking appropriate action, it adds.

In a poll of 1,008 private renters conducted by Survation, 35% said they would contact the council if their landlord had failed to fix something – but 44% would look for somewhere else to live.

Generation Rent wants councils to improve the way they communicate with local renters and raise awareness of their rights as well as widescale licensing schemes.

Director Alicia Kennedy (pictured) says that tenants move out with no council support and, because so many people are desperate for a home, the landlord has no difficulty in finding a replacement.

She adds: “Budgets are tight, and there’s no question the government must provide more funding to drive out criminal landlords. But there are councils already doing the right thing across the country and these local elections are a chance to elect councillors who will champion renters’ interests and adopt good practices to keep their homes safe.”

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EXCLUSIVE: Which landlords and properties make the most money

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Research released exclusive to LandlordZONE reveals which properties make the most money and how the pandemic has hit buy-to-let investors’ finances.

Specialist broker Paragon says its research shows that HMOs produce the greatest yields (7%) followed by flats (6.1%) and bungalows (5.9%), showing that the greater the risk, the higher the return.

Its MD for mortgages, Richard Rowntree, says the results are from his company’s survey of over 800 landlords of all types, which asked them to share their experiences of the differences between single property and smaller scale landlords with those managing larger portfolios.

Also, the larger a landlord’s portfolio, the higher the yield – those with portfolios of 20 properties or more produce an average yield of 6.7% while a single property on average produces 4.2%.

Paragon also asked landlords how Covid has impacted their businesses. Just over a third said they had experienced problems in general following Covid including but not exclusively rent arrears.

Specifically, reduced income has been experienced the most by larger portfolio landlords (see below).

For example, while 36% of one-unit landlords reported significant (17%) or slight (19%) income reductions, 57% of those with 20+ properties reported an income reduction including 24% with ‘significant’ and 33% with ‘slight’.

Away from Covid, the report also reveals that terraced houses are the most popular buy-to-let property across all portfolio sizes, followed by flats, semis and HMOs.

“Although there are various reasons why people operate rental businesses, for many, the primary reason is as a source of income,” says a Paragon spokesperson tells LandlordZONE.

“This means that assessing profitability is one of the most important and obvious ways to gauge how successful a portfolio is.

“Our research shows that larger portfolios enable landlords to invest in a wider range of property types and target those that generate the best yields.”

Pic credit: Nenad Stojkovic | Flickr

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EXCLUSIVE: Landlord and managing agent in ‘right to manage’ battle

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A campaigning landlord and a managing agent are embroiled in an ugly spat over the right to manage their apartment building in Manchester.

Frustrated landlord Philip Crawford, who has been interviewed on national TV about property management issues, claims tenants are at risk after Edge Property Management – also the freeholder – withheld the fire risk assessment on two adjacent properties in Athol Road (pictured), which Edge strongly denies.

He says seven of the 10 flat owners are landlord investors – all of whom have backed a bid to take on the right to manage – and that the firm deliberately split the building into two so that the attempt would be unsuccessful.

Edge MD Phil Green tells LandlordZONE that it is under no obligation to share the fire risk assessment. He says none of the recommendations were ‘category one’ and that it will carry out works identified when the statutory notice period has expired.

Right to manage

Green points out that The Property Ombudsman rejected Crawford’s claim for the right to manage while he also lost his case for management at the First Tier Tribunal.

He adds: “Mr Crawford has an agenda which consists of buying flats and causing disruption and attacking the landlord or managing agents with a view to gaining the management of the site as part of his own income.”

Crawford (pictured) commissioned his own fire risk assessment in April, and says this found that the building wasn’t safe. It discovered combustible back boards, wet basement walls, no RCD protection, and unsafe and out of date fire alarm fuses.

Crawford tells LandlordZONE: “One woman’s flat has been damp for 18 months yet she still pays a very high service charge. It’s now impossible to sell the flats as once a potential buyer finds out about these problems they pull out.”

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DEBATE: Should landlords chase rent arrears when Covid ends?

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Many landlords will soon find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to sue for rent when restrictions end – here’s how to go about it.

How can you recover rent owning when the tenant is refusing to pay? Yes, the government has provided measures to protect tenants during the pandemic, but as we come out of that, rent owning is still due.

If landlords want to forgive outstanding amounts or reduce the amount due as a matter of goodwill, that is up to their own discretion, but as far as the law is concerned, the total contracted amount owing is due in full.

Some landlords will decide to pursue their tenants for the money owned to them, many have mortgages to pay and it is not likely that their mortgage lenders will forgive them their payments.

For small-scale private landlords the rent is often a crucial element of their own income. There is no legal obligation on the private landlord to negotiate any form of rent reduction or early release from the tenancy agreement.

Questions to ask yourself before you sue

The first question is, can your tenant afford to pay? Suing someone who can’t pay or is unlikely to be in a position to pay in the future is futile, a complete waste of your own time and money.

Those on state aid, students, especially those from abroad are likely to be difficult, so think hard and long before pursuing these people.

If the tenant has left you, do you have a postal address where they are settled? You can’t pursue a claim otherwise; if they are on the move, you can’t pursue a moving target through the courts, and if they live abroad, it’s even more difficult, you might as well forget it.

Do they have a reputation to maintain? If tenants want to rent again, they will need a clean credit record, otherwise they will very likely get turned down for tenancies. If they are professional people they will not want a county court judgement on their CV, so you need to remind them of these facts.

Suing someone and successfully getting a county court judgement (CCJ) may give you some satisfaction, and that may be enough for some, but it does take time and money to proceed – sometimes its just best to put the loss down to experience and claim it against you tax liability.

Follow the practice guidelines

If your tenant is still with you, you may decide to go for eviction on the rent arrears ground and attached the amount of rent arrears to the claim (Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988), or simply sue for the arrears, whether the tenant is resident or not.

However, before such drastic action you should consider mediation, which allows an independent third-party to assist those involved in a dispute to try to reach a mutually acceptable agreement to resolve their differences. There are also other sources of financial help that tenants can be alerted to.

The starting point is to read the pre-action protocols  for rent arrears and evictions. The key thing is trying to negotiate with your tenants and giving them ample notice in writing, of your intentions. Write to them and give them time to pay, set up a schedule of re-payments if you can and remind them of the above points.

If that fails, write a letter before action giving them at least 14 days’ notice of your intention to claim and setting out the details of your claim, or serve a section 8 notice.

Should I use Money Claim Online?

The internet portal operated by HM Courts & Tribunal Service known as Money Claim Online is a convenient way to start off and pursue a claim. The Small Claims Court (or County Court) offers a convenient and relatively informal way for the man in the street to pursue debtors.

You can claim up to £100,000, but more commonly claims up to £10,000 are pursued on what is known as the “small claims track”. Legal professional’s costs cannot be recovered, so most people do not use a solicitor for this, but the court fee can be recovered if the claim is successful, plus the judge will usually allow reasonable expenses.

How do I progress my claim?

Keep it simple and concise. State your claim on the forms simply as rent arrears, setting out what and when it is due and answer the other questions of the on-line forms

If the other side puts up a defence, answer that in a simple straightforward manner, stick to the facts, the judge will not be impressed if you try to answer or stray into a load of emotional justification.

At the court hearing, present you case clearly and concisely and with courtesy, whatever the defendant may say.

Read more about mediation.

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