MY STORY: Landlord reveals reality of applying for Green Homes Grant vouchers

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A LandlordZONE reader has spoken of his frustration at the protracted application process for a Green Homes Grant voucher which resulted in him missing the deadline to get work done.

If follows criticism of the government’s handling of the scheme by spending watchdog the National Audit Office, which says it was delivered to an over-ambitious timetable and was not executed to an acceptable standard.

The scheme handed out grants to use approved tradespeople to make energy efficient improvements but has now closed.

Max, who does not want to give his full name, is a landlord with 20 properties in Cornwall. He was eager to use the scheme as he hoped to fit an air source heat pump in a three-bedroom semi-detached house in a village without gas where it has to use electric storage heaters.

While Max has already forked out for solar panels and cavity wall insulation, the house is still only in EPC band D.

After getting quotations last November, he put in an application for the £5,000 grant before the 31^st March deadline.

Problematic

But the process was immediately problematic, he tells LandlordZONE.

“They asked for proof of ID but then couldn’t verify it, they wouldn’t use a credit card bill to check my address, and then lost the information I sent. I repeatedly had to appeal to reopen the application.”

The scheme then asked him for a detailed breakdown of costs and wanted the contractor to provide more information who, by this time, had told Max that he couldn’t meet the November installation deadline.

“It left me no time to find another contractor,” he says. “If the scheme had looked at the whole application and listed all the information they wanted, it could have resolved the issues before running out of time. I must have spent days trying to sort it out.”

Max is now unsure whether he will bother applying to any replacement scheme and is considering offloading a number of other properties that won’t reach EPC band C.

Read more: Handling of Green Homes Grant voucher scheme slammed by watchdog

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MY STORY: Landlord reveals reality of applying for Green Homes Grant vouchers | LandlordZONE.

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Property Tax Pains For Landlords!

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It’s a painful time for Property Landlords, as many Landlords face a massive, painful property tax bill. Are you one of these Landlords?

Well, here’s what you can do about it by incorporating your portfolio.

Today I’m joined by Mark Alexander from Property 118 as we discuss all things painful with property tax.

The post Property Tax Pains For Landlords! appeared first on Property118.

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Tenant demand accelerating and outstripping falling landlord supply

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Tenant demand for homes to rent accelerated in August, with a net balance of +66% reporting a pick-up in enquires (up from the +58% in the previous month). However, a continuing decline in landlord instructions fuelled expectations among survey respondents (net balance of +64%) that rents will go up over the next three months given this imbalance between supply and demand

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Using the previous landlord’s escrow account?

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I purchased a property with a sitting tenant. The vendor (previous landlord) set up an escrow account as insurance against rent arrears. For various reasons I decided to give the tenant the benefit of the doubt as I was aware of some issues that were in the process of being resolved.

The post Using the previous landlord’s escrow account? appeared first on Property118.

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LATEST: Landlords’ rental income dodges PM’s tax raise

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Landlords won’t lose out under the new health and social care levy announced by Boris Johnson unless they have incorporated their business and pay themselves dividends.

Employees, employers and the self-employed will pay 1.25% more tax in the form of National Insurance from April 2022, while dividend tax will also increase by 1.25% to pay for the rising cost of social care.

Tim Stovold, head of tax at accountant Moore Kingston Smith, says that by limiting the National Insurance increases to earned income and the equivalent on dividends, rental income has escaped unscathed. 

He told FT Advisor: “Although there are already limitations for landlords on deductions for mortgage interest and the additional 3% stamp duty land tax charge for second properties, there is no additional attack on their rental profits.”

However, landlords who chose to incorporate their portfolios into a company will be caught out, Stovold adds, because their rental income becomes a dividend.

Other tax advisors warn that the proposal will hit directors of limited companies who didn’t get any financial support during the pandemic and face seeing their income hit again just as the recovery is starting to take effect.

In the Commons debate on the new levy, Keir Starmer (pictured) criticised the government’s plans – singling out large landlords as particular beneficiaries.

He said: “It is a tax rise on young people, supermarket workers and nurses; a tax rise that means that a landlord renting out dozens of properties will not pay a penny more, but the tenants working in full-time jobs will.”

The Labour leader added: “We do need to ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay more, and that includes asking much more of wealthier people, including in respect of income from stocks, shares, dividends and property.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Landlords’ rental income dodges PM’s tax raise | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Eviction notice periods returning to normal on 1st October, ministry confirms

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The government has confirmed that notice periods for evictions in England will return to normal on October 1^st, as planned, but has warned that they could be curtailed again if the pandemic were to worsen once more.

This means landlords giving notice of their intention to evict via either a Section 21 or Section 8 notice will need to give two months’ notice, down from six months prior to October 1st.

It has now been 18 months since the government introduced emergency measures as part of the Coronavirus Act 2020 that protect renters by requiring landlords to provide longer notice periods when seeking possession of residential property in the social and private rental sectors.

These were modified several times during the long months of the pandemic depending on the reasons for the eviction.
A statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says: “While these measures were appropriate at the height of the pandemic, these restrictions could only ever be temporary. Returning notice periods to their pre-COVID lengths from 1 October will allow landlords to repossess their property where necessary.

Situation worsens

“However, we intend to retain the power to implement these measures again in the case that the public health situation worsens and these measures are required again.”

The government has layed a statutory instrument in parliament to return notice periods to their pre-Covid terms, but has inserted a clause that will allow them to be reinstated up until 25^th March 2022 ‘should the future public health situation warrant a further extension ’.

Isobel Thomson (pictured), Chief Executive of property industry organisation safeagent, says: “We welcome the clarity from Government regarding notice periods and the return to a reasonable and fair timescale for landlords to be able to obtain possession of their property where appropriate.

“We feel that recognition should be given to the proven ability of landlords, tenants and agents who during the pandemic have worked together to maintain tenancies.

“When notice periods return to pre-COVID levels we don’t believe there will be any less appetite to sustain those tenancies or that we’ll see a sudden spike in evictions.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Eviction notice periods returning to normal on 1st October, ministry confirms | LandlordZONE.

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