End of an era? Ireland is latest to usher in Airbnb regulation

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Short-term lets in Ireland are to be regulated much more closely as the country moves to stop the exodus of landlords from the traditional rental market to Airbnb and its local imitators.

The country’s housing minister Darragh O’Brien has told the country’s media that his government wants to bring in a national licensing system very similar to the one operated in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

O’Brien (pictured) says under the new scheme, property owners will not be able to advertise a short-term let unless they have received “the requisite planning permission” to do so locally.

His announcement is the latest by governments in Europe to limit the number of properties being removed from the traditional private rental sector by the switch to Airbnb bookings, which in busy city centres and holiday hotspots offer much more lucrative returns for landlords.

Extra regulation

At one point before Covid Airbnb clearly believed it had headed off extra regulation, but the staycation boom during the pandemic had led to a boom in demand for city-centre and coastal resort short-stay accommodation.

Scotland also recently ushered in licencing for short-stay accommodation which, although it initially concerned just Edinburgh, will now include the whole of the country.

After nearly three years of public debate and consultation, a law to bring in ‘control areas’ for short-lets is already ready to go while separate legislation to require landlords and hosts to register for a licence will be ready by November. Landlords will have until April next year to get a licence.

The scheme proposes to enable short-lets to be limited within ‘high pressure’ areas; for properties to meet the same safety standards as other kinds of holiday accommodation; and for landlords and hosts to pay a fair contribution in tax.

The Irish government’s Housing for All policy initiative was due to be published last month but has been delayed until at least next week, in part as it has considered heavy lobbying by both Airbnb, which claims its business brings over €300 million into the Irish economy, but also campaigners who point to Ireland severe housing shortage.

The Lisbon scheme O’Brien refers to is not onerous, requiring landlords to simply register themselves and their properties with each local authority and quote each property’s registration number of Airbnb ads.

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‘Soon millions of tenants will pay their rent via crypto currency’, claims tech CEO

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Recently-launched digital lettings platform Rentible is about to launch an app that will enable tenants to pay their rent in crypto currency to landlords.

And although many LandlordZONE readers may consider the world of crypto best left to speculators and blockchain geeks, Rentible reckons its app is at the vanguard of a digital renting revolution.

The Budapest-based company says this includes revolutionising how rent is paid, deposits are taken, contracts drawn up and references taken, all using its own blockchain-based secure currency platform.

CEO Dror Luup says Rentible can also be used to solve tenant/landlord disputes, help international student rent in the UK more securely, prevent rent fraud and enable landlords with large portfolios or properties with multiple tenants such as HMOs to streamline their businesses.

For example, Action Fraud recently warned that in the four years to March 2018 (its latest data)the organisation received 18,645 reports of rental fraud, with victims losing an average of £1,396 each. This includes where tenants are lured into paying deposits for properties that don’t exist.

Rentible says its tech is not just for geeks and that its app is easy to use regardless tech background, and is already being piloted with the UK version of US firm RoomMates.

“While the essence of the property industry focuses on assets and properties, Rentible focuses on people,” says Lupu (pictured).

“Be it landlords, who rent out rooms in their properties to unknown people and suffer from lack of control over the screening process of their tenants, or be it tenants, who in most cases move into a flat and share it with people they have never met before or know very little about, in a neighborhood or country they never visited.”

Rentible is to launch its payment system, which will use its own ‘renting’ crypto currency called RNB, by the end of Q3 this year.

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Dropped a pole on the neighbour’s roof?

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I am currently carrying out renovations to our property and took on a contractor who in turn subcontracted scaffold to a scaffolder. As the scaffolder was dismantling the scaffold, he accidentally dropped a pole on the neighbour’s roof. The roof being 100 years old

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London investment firm, Shaftsbury PLC, issues positive trading update

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The major retail and leisure real estate investor in London’s West End, Shaftesbury PLC, a Real Estate Investment Trust has this week issued a trading statement for the period 1 April 2021 to 20 August 2021.

The company focuses on central London locations close to a renowned concentration of world-class attractions with unmatched shopping and leisure destinations, but like other retailers, these outlets have suffered throughout the Covid pandemic.

Improving outlook

The company announces that West End footfall and trading is recovering apace, that the operating environment is gradually improving.

The statement records that West End footfall has recovered to 50%-60% of pre-pandemic levels as Londoners, domestic day trippers and staycation visitors are returning in growing numbers.

A return of the West End’s “exceptionally large” office-based working population is anticipated from early autumn, while the company’s hospitality and leisure occupiers continue to enjoy a strong recovery in trading levels. Visitors are focussing their attention on dining, leisure and socialising.

The company’s tenant occupiers are reporting improving trade, particularly at weekends, while the company is seeing continuing recovery in occupier demand for premises across all uses and a significant reduction in vacancies.

Vacancies on a downward trend

The availability of to-let space as of 31 July 2021 is down to 4.6%, with vacant space continuing to go under offer with a further decrease to 4.1% by 13 August 2021, reflecting continuing leasing momentum.

Hospitality and leisure demand has improved over the reporting period, reflecting confidence in the long-term prospects for West End locations, the company says.

There’s been a healthy occupier interest for shops, including online retailers looking for physical space in these locations. It seems there’s a trend to providing an all-round consumer experience, interaction and engagement, to further enhance brand identities.

Demand for premises increasing

Office enquiries, viewings and lettings have also continued at a steady pace, the company reports, as occupiers prepare for the return of their workforces and look to improve the quality of their workspace. “Assemble”, our fully fitted option, is proving particularly popular, especially with smaller businesses, the company says.

There’s also been a “Marked and sustained increase in demand for our apartments from a broad range of occupiers; rents have now stabilised.”

“Letting terms are generally in line with ERVs and our expectations, but there is a greater degree of short-term income uncertainty in those retail leases which have a significant element of turnover-related rent.

“Rent collection is recovering and expected to improve further now pandemic restrictions have been relaxed”, says the report.

Brian Bickell, Chief Executive, commented:

“I’m pleased to report positive momentum in recent months, with footfall and trading recovering, an improving operating environment and significantly reduced vacancy across our villages. West End footfall has, to date, recovered to 50-60% of pre-pandemic levels, as Londoners, domestic day trippers and staycation visitors return in growing numbers.

“We expect that early autumn will see a return of the West End’s exceptionally large office-based working population, which has always been an important contributor to our local weekday economy.

“The long-term curation we bring to our central, bustling villages, with its focus on differentiated, mid-market choices targeted primarily at a domestic audience, continues to attract both visitors and new occupiers.

“The progress we have seen towards a return to normal patterns of activity over the period, and improving medium-term prospects, have been catalysts for a strong recovery in confidence and leasing activity, both for commercial and residential accommodation across our locations.

“The momentum of the last four months is providing a sound platform for the continuing revival of the West End in the important months ahead, leading up to Christmas and into the New Year, and the prospects for a return to pre-pandemic patterns of life and activity.”

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Boiler certificate held up but looking to sell?

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Hi Everyone, I recently had a new boiler fitted in a one-bed flat currently let on a rolling periodic AST. The job was done on 20th July and I am still waiting for the benchmark certificate from the plumber.

He has blamed Glow Worm for messing things up?

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LATEST: Scotland to radically overhaul renting and also keep Covid eviction laws

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Landlords in Scotland face a new and radical set of changes to the private rented sector that will make England’s much-anticipated Renting Reform Bill look tame, including a national system of rent controls.

Following a policy cooperation agreement between the Green Party in Scotland – which many property watchers consider to be ‘anti-landlord’ – and the SNP, a ‘new deal’ for renters has now been revealed.

This includes a housing regulator for the PRS and enhanced rights for tenants including eviction protection during the winter months and the right to decorate homes and keep pets.

There are also plans to introduce greater penalties for landlords who evict tenants illegally, along with compensation for the tenants involved.

New bill

Called the Rented Sector Strategy it will now be considered by MPs and other interested parties before a new bill is launched next year.

But perhaps most worrying for Scottish landlords are plans to implement ‘an effective national system of rent controls, with an appropriate mechanism to allow local authorities to introduce local measures’.

“We will consult on the options, deliver legislation and implement rent controls by the end of 2025,” a statement says.

This is despite rent controls in Scotland largely being a failure. As LandlordZONE reported in March, SNP ministers have admitted that ‘Rent Pressure Zones’, where rent controls can be introduced, have not proved popular with councils or feasible.

Other proposals in the pipeline include giving local authorities more powers over short-term lets and second homes and introducing a new heating and energy efficiency standards for all tenures including rented homes.

Eviction powers extension

But while the Rented Sector Strategy looks to the future, many property sector watchers are concerned by the Scottish government’s plans to retain many of the eviction restrictions introduced during the worst months of the Covid pandemic.

Next week it plans to extend Covid eviction laws until the end of September including grounds for possession remaining discretionary, secondary Section 33 ‘notices to quit’ also remaining discretionary, continuing pre-action protocols for rent arrears, and a continuing ban on bailiff enforcement in areas where Covid infection are Level 3 or 4.

“Agents and landlords have worked tirelessly with tenants throughout the pandemic to sustain tenancies and many would see these as unnecessary measures,” says Daryl McIntosh (pictured), trade association Propertymark’s Strategic Development Manager in Scotland and NI.

“The introduction of new regulations and continued meddling with the PRS will see many leave the sector.”

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New Covid restructuring rules save property bridging loan firm from liquidation

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The first restructuring plan for a mid-sized company under the government debt relief measures introduced during Covid have saved a well-known property investment finance company that specialises in bridging loans.

Amicus Finance, formerly known as Capital Bridging, entered administration in January 2019 appointing Begbies Traynor to act as agent for the company.

Amicus, which is a PLC with a plush central London office (pictrured), was heavily impacted by Covid-19 and Brexit, which had a substantial impact on its clients’ ability to sell property and therefore pay off loans as liquidity in the property market dried up. The joint administrators therefore concluded that it could no longer continue in administration.

Amicus has a loan book of £437 million provided by Hartford Growth, which had provided funding during the administration, and crowd funding platform Crowdstacker.

A competitor, Mint Bridging Finance, at one point offered to buy its loan book but was rebuffed.

Nevertheless, Amicus now has a brighter future after agreeing a restructuring plan, a new tool introduced into Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 in June 2020 by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020.

Rushed through

This legislation, which was rushed through parliament at the height of the pandemic, made the most significant changes to UK insolvency law in a generation, giving struggling companies more time and space to organise their debt and other financial liabilities.

Amicus Finance is the first mid-market sized business to have such a restricting plan agreed by the High Court, and without this it would have entered liquidation, says legal firm Pinsent Masons, which acted for one of its joint administrators.

Instead, the restructuring plan, which compromised the claims of creditors and permitted an exit from the administration, has restored the company as a going concern.

The bridging loan sector can trace its birth back to the 2008 global financial crisis when many traditional high street lenders exited the property investment market leaving many developers and landlords high and dry – and so the the short-term lending or bridging sector was born.

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New Class M Prior Approval Planning Permission Changes

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Yes on 31st July 2021 Class M EXPIRED for the conversion of 150 sqm of certain commercial properties.

The Government in their infinite wisdom launched a NEW Permitted Development Right, actually a prior approval, and decided to call it class M too!

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TPO dealt with 2,737 complaints relating to lettings in 2020

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Despite understandably lower enquiry levels in the first half of the year due to the pandemic, The Property Ombudsman’s (TPO) 2020 annual report reveals a significant uplift in the last two quarters as everyone seemingly settled into a ‘new normal’.

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