2021/22 UK Property Market Forecast

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I share my predictions for the UK property market in Autumn 2021 as well as the property market outlook for 2022. There are exciting opportunities ahead for well-informed property investors.

Make sure 2022 is your year!

What’s covered in the video: 0:00 | Intro 1:22 | Property prices in August 2021 2:45 | Market ‘Blips’

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Victory! Landlord’s reasonable bid to engage with difficult tenant pays dividends in court

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A property tribunal judge has struck out a huge rent repayment order claim after hearing how a landlord’s reasonable attempts to engage with a difficult tenant led to accusations of harassment.

The case, which was heard via a video link by Judge Korn, highlights how helpless landlords can be when rogue tenants appear to play the system over rent arrears, in this case during the early months of the pandemic.

The sums involved are significant. Tenant Mrs F Farzad who rented a smart flat in Surbiton (pictured) off landlords Ms D Zhan and Mr H Yang had asked to be repaid £14,287 in rent after alleging harassment.

Gas safety

But the tribunal heard how Ms Zhan had tried to plan a Gas Safety inspection and, after trying to organise an appointment and sending multiple emails warning of the impending visit, had eventually turned up with two engineers to complete the work and let herself into the property.

Ms Zhan also gave evidence of emails sent chasing rent arrears, and how she also turned up with police officers after being refused entry to check on a potentially dangerous water leak within the property.

Zhan also asked for identity documents, as she is required to do under Right to Rent legislation, and at one point tried to shake the hand of a family member in a friendly manner, which the tenant claimed was intimidating during a pandemic.

Harassment

The tenant claimed all these actions constituted harassment, but Judge Korn dismissed the claims, underlining how the evidence was weak and that she had failed to attend the hearing or submit any documents in support of her case.

“Even making generous allowances for the fact that the applicant was not present at the hearing to argue her case orally, it is striking how little substance there is to her allegations,” the judge said.

“It is legitimate to want to discuss rent arrears and we do not accept that the correspondence from Ms Zhang was at all inappropriate either in tone or in substance.”

Read the judgement in full.

Read more about rent repayment orders.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Victory! Landlord’s reasonable bid to engage with difficult tenant pays dividends in court | LandlordZONE.

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LAUNCH: Video chat maintenance app for tenants ‘cuts call-outs by 60%’

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EXCLUSIVE: A new app aims to save landlords money on costly maintenance by helping tenants sort problems remotely with contractors.

Help Me Fix sets up an engineer within minutes to help the tenant try to resolve the issue over a video call.

If a physical visit is needed, they can provide all the information and photos to get quotes from other contractors, however, it says 60% of problems are fixed by a tenant under expert supervision.

“Engineers will take tenants as far through a process as they can, but if tenants are not capable or willing to sort an issue, they will send a report instead,” founder Ettan Bazil (pictured) tells LandlordZONE.

“We find that the average call lasts eight minutes – there’s no unpacking of tools, tea-making or parking to take up time.”

Call-out costs

Since the pandemic, tenants are less likely to grant access to a property except in an emergency, and are more resilient and willing to tackle issues themselves, according to Bazil, who adds that the service immediately cuts out the £50-100 call-out fee.

App users choose which virtual categories tenants can access, such as gas and plumbing, or they can access help with a wider range including appliances, locks and alarms.

Landlords can also specify how many times tenants are able to use the service and the maximum cost of each call – charges vary from £2-£4 a minute, while a countdown clock on screen lets tenants know how long they’ve got left to talk. Landlords also get alerts when the tenant tries to use the service, and can either authorise or decline each call.

Help Me Fix currently just works with property managers and is adding to its 4,000-strong tenant base with 1,200 new tenants each month, but is now looking to sign up private landlords.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LAUNCH: Video chat maintenance app for tenants ‘cuts call-outs by 60%’ | LandlordZONE.

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New Housing Minister Good News For Property Investors?

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Michael Gove has been appointed new Housing Minister.

Will this be good news for property investors.

I think it’s a shrewd move by Boris.

Watch this video below to find out why:

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Section 24 Tax Loopholes

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Section 24 Tax only affects private Buy to Let landlords who are higher rate tax-payers. This is because finance costs are no longer regarded as a legitimate business expense for private landlords. Instead, a tax credit of 20% of finance costs is applied to reduce your tax bill.

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