Rubbish idea? Islington latest council to fine landlords for tenants’ recycling mistakes

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A leading London council is set to approve a controversial new scheme that will fine HMO landlords when tenants put non-recyclable materials into communal bins.

If Islington Council gets the green light, landlords will have to fork out £47 each time that refuse collectors find “significant amounts of non-recyclable material” in the bin.

Currently, each time this happens, a separate refuse crew has to go back and empty the bins, with the council absorbing any extra costs.

Islington will first issue a section 46 notice to all landlords and managing agents of properties that use communal recycling bins, explaining which containers to use.

But if their bin is then found to be ‘contaminated’ they’ll have to pay the £47 charge.

If they refuse, the bin won’t be emptied and they’ll be invited to remove the rubbish themselves and the recycling bin will be emptied as normal on the next scheduled collection day. If this doesn’t happen, they’ll be served with a community protection notice.

The council says this plan will offset the additional cost of collection for which there is currently no budget and improve the quality of recycling collected.

Not the first

Islington is not the first council to take this type of action; among those who charge for the service are Cambridge City Council (£30), Wigan Council (£20), and Watford Council which charges up to £90.

In 2017, the government extended HMO licencing and as part of the measures promised to make landlords responsible for bins and the associated dumped rubbish, declaring: “Landlords will be held responsible for making sure the council’s rules on refuse and recycling are followed.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Rubbish idea? Islington latest council to fine landlords for tenants’ recycling mistakes | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Rubbish idea? Islington latest council to fine landlords for tenants’ recycling mistakes

Can I increase the rent?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It’s a sensitive time to be talking about increasing the rent, but the time will come when this question needs to be addressed

Most landlords have done their utmost to help their tenants through the pandemic crisis, when they can afford it, but as the crisis comes to an end, and it must inevitably do so in time, landlords will need to address this difficult question, if they are to keep their businesses viable.

It’s so easy to let this issue slip, to let the rent fall so far behind the true market value that any increase back to the correct level becomes so painful that tenants start looking around for a move.

Responsible landlords want to keep their tenants as long as possible, but this should not be at any cost; it makes sense to instigate a series of small increases to keep rents in-line with the market, than risk a confrontation over a big increase – tenants rarely appreciate the benefit they got from living on a below market rent for an extended period, when the big increase eventually comes.

It we are to believe the economic pundits, there’s a good chance that inflation will take off as we pull out of the crisis and the country gets back to full activity. So operating costs will begin to rise and as any accountant will tell you, income should be kept in-line with costs whenever possible.

How much can a landlord increase rent by?

Under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy there’s no legal constrain, it’s a matter of agreement between the parties but using the market as a guide is the obvious answer.

Ask too much and the tenant will start to look around, so it’s a good idea to start that look around first, yourself. Trying to ascertain comparable rents within the locality and pitch the rent slightly below that level is a good strategy which has stood the test of time. Shop around the agents and letting ads, you can even make a few explorative enquiries as a prospective tenant yourself, to gauge the market values locally.

With house prices at record levels, it’s unlikely that demand for renting will decline any time soon, so you can rest assured that tenants will need to rent regardless, but that’s no excuse for exploitative behaviour.

Ask a fair rent for the type of premises you are letting and you are likely to hang on to your tenants for longer. Remember, void periods and reletting costs – not to mention the risk involved with new unknown tenants – will bring down your average returns dramatically. It makes no sense to maximise rents at the expense of constant turnover.

Most Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs), as the term implies, are quite short, so the issue of a rent increase with an existing tenant does not arise. It then becomes a less contentious process to set a new rent with a new tenancy.

However, some shorthold tenancies last for many years, and Covid may well increase tenancy lengths. There is no legal time limit when the tenancy becomes periodic, or the number of renewals that can be signed, so rent increases do become an issue when a new rent needs to be agreed in a long-term – landlords or their agents then need to become involved in processing a rent increase.

With all ASTs rents can only be increased after the initial fixed term has ended, unless:

1. A rent increase or formulae for increase has been agreed beforehand and stated in the agreement

2. The tenancy agreement contains a rent review clause.

3. The landlord and tenant come to a mutually agreed rent increase.

Most standard AST agreements have a rent increase clause setting out the procedure for rent increases, which by definition is then agreed at the start of the tenancy.

If the tenancy agreement is silent on the matter and the tenant objects to an increase, then, if the landlord still wishes to pursue the matter, he or she has recourse to a procedure laid down in the Housing Act 1988.

This procedure was originally intended for use with tenants on an Assured Tenancy (AT) but it can also be used for ASTs.

Assured Tenancies (ATs) give tenants security of tenure, meaning landlords cannot use the s21 eviction process and must therefore have a means of increasing the rent for tenancies, most of which last for a very long time. Section 13(2) of the Housing Act 1988 makes this possible, after the initial fixed term has ended, by serving on the tenant a Section 13 Notice.

Safeguards

There are appeals safeguards for tenants in the process. The rent tribunal complaints procedure will review the cost of renting similar properties in the area and what the landlord could charge if a new tenant was renting the property. It’s important for landlords to try to negotiate and stay on good terms if you want a long-term arrangement with your tenant and try to avoid this.

Currently, until such time as the Section 21 process is abolished, and taking into account the current extended notice periods, landlords of AST’s with the fixed-term ending have an alternative method of increasing the rent: rather than going through the rather protracted process using s13(2), they can simply offer a new fixed-term tenancy at an increased rent, failing which the tenant gets notice that the landlord will be applying for a possession order.

It may seem harsh to resort to these tactics, but it’s a commercial reality – if your lettings business is to survive long-term, rents must be kept in-line with market rents and running costs.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Can I increase the rent? | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Can I increase the rent?

Continued imbalance of supply and demand is a concern

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Propertymark’s latest Housing Market Report has indicated that a record 32% of properties sold for more than the original asking price. This smashes the previous record back in May 2014 of 19%.

Propertymark Chief Policy Advisor, Mark Hayward

The post Continued imbalance of supply and demand is a concern appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Continued imbalance of supply and demand is a concern

Right to see payslips if tenant in arrears?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

An elderly family member has rented a property to a council tenant for 20 years plus. My relative hasn’t managed it well and is owed £8,000 in missed rent payments. As my relative is ‘slightly’ at fault (in my view)

The post Right to see payslips if tenant in arrears? appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Right to see payslips if tenant in arrears?

Peers savage government’s ‘too timid’ Leasehold Reform Bill

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The government’s Leasehold Reform Bill making its way through parliament was heavily criticised during its second reading in the Lords yesterday by peers unhappy about its weaknesses and unintended consequences, one describing it as ‘lipstick on a pig’.

The bill is designed principally to abolish escalating ground rents and the huge costs that they can create for leaseholders, so much so that a market for long-term residential leasehold investors has sprung up, such are the profits involved.

But the legislation, which will usher in the most significant changes to property tenure in 800 years, will only apply to new leaseholds once it becomes law, which is not expected until 2023, government minister Lord Greenhalgh (pictured) confirmed.

Baroness Pinnock highlighted how this would create a two-tier property market for leaseholder.

“The failure of the bill to deal with past abuses of ground rent and service charges will leave existing leaseholders in a worst position because it will create a housing market when new-builds with zero ground rent will be far more attractive than those with spiralling ground-rents,” she said.

“Who in their right mind is going to purchase a property with those extortionate additional costs?”.

Also, many peers tackled the government for being too timid in its reforms, which will enable the leasehold system to continue albeit reformed.

Others, including Lord Stummel, said its measures should be implemented now and not in 2023.

Many speakers said it was time to abolish leasehold entirely, arguing that freeholders and managing agents would always cook up new ways to get around the restrictions.

“Buildings should be run for the benefit of those living in them and not the freeholder,” said Baroness Andrew (pitured).

Former chancellor Lord Hammond (pictured, below) also picked up on a key problem with the bill – that its definition of ‘rent’ was too vague and would impact the wider market.

He pointed out that the definition of rent will prevent properties being rented out on medium-term or long-term leases including, most crucially, the build-to-rent developers and investors who often lease their properties to management companies.

Watch the debate in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Peers savage government’s ‘too timid’ Leasehold Reform Bill | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Peers savage government’s ‘too timid’ Leasehold Reform Bill

New global guidance for Land Measurement

admin    Uncategorized     agents

New guidance on the measurement of land for development projects such as new housing and commercial development have been published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors 25 May 2021, which defines common measurements used across the built environment and associated metrics such as density.

The post New global guidance for Land Measurement appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: New global guidance for Land Measurement