Planners error lands council in court – Your proposal is whack!

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Planners Error Lands Them in COURT! What steps you can take if you have a planning refusal

Linda and I discuss a bizarre mix-up ‘Your proposal is whack’: Chaos as ‘junior worker’ who thought he was testing a dummy council website rejects and approves REAL planning applications with BONKERS reasons such as an approval with the condition Incy Wincy Spider

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ANALYSIS: Why leasehold rules mean millions of tenants will never be allowed pets

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Pet-loving apartment block tenants are beginning to rail against leasehold rules banning pets in blocks of flats, with at least one case potentially heading for the courts.

LandlordZONE has heard of a pending legal action concerning a leaseholder who bought a pet after moving into a London block; her lease outlined how the management company would usually approve requests, but because she did not officially get permission, the case is now going through mediation. If a solution cannot be found, the leaseholder faces losing her home.

Most leasehold flats, especially those in large blocks, specifically ban pets in the lease and so far, legal battles to overcome this have failed, as have other initiatives and legal attempts to challenge landlords who refuse pets.

David Smith, property solicitor at JMW, says landlords would find it hard to turn down a pet on disability grounds, but that they retain the right to say no for any other reason.

“One recent legal challenge from a tenant who wanted to live with his dog because he said it would benefit his mental health, was thrown out by the court,” Smith tells LandlordZONE.

Communal harmony

Nigel Glen, CEO of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (pictured), suspects the majority of leases forbid pets but says the standard clause aims to try to protect communal harmony.

He tells LandlordZONE: “I don’t believe this is meant to be a killjoy or a way to charge fees for licences – instead I suspect it is a feature of communal living.

“I’m a zoologist by training so animals fascinate me. But not everyone likes pets and people with allergies, phobias or simply easily disturbed have to be taken into consideration.” 

The latest attempt to solve the conundrum of keeping pets is Petscore, a scoring-based platform that lets pet owners build up a profile for their pet to show landlords and letting agents.

It follows Andrew Rosindell’s scuppered private members’ bill to give tenants the right to live with their pets if they proved they were ‘responsible and caring’, while animal charity AdvoCATS is pushing for the Tenant Fees Act to be amended to allow landlords to either take additional deposits off tenants seeking to rent with pets or require tenants to take out extra insurance.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ANALYSIS: Why leasehold rules mean millions of tenants will never be allowed pets | LandlordZONE.

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£58,000 fine for a first-time offence despite ‘naïve mistake’ – judge

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A landlord family have been slapped with a £28,000 rent repayment order (RRO) and combined fines of £30,000 for a first-time offence of neglecting to licence their HMO.

Colin and Jacqueline Cain were ordered to pay £4,000 each to seven former tenants of their house in Wiggington Road (pictured), York, by a First Tier Property Tribunal after property manager Victoria Cain was fined £20,000 by York City Council and Colin Cain was fined £10,000.

But the fine could have been much worse – the couple were given a 30% discount on the RRO after admitting their ‘one-time’ mistake in not applying for a licence, that they had been badly advised, had tried to reach a settlement with the tenants and that they lacked funds to repay the penalty.

The tribunal also heard that there had been no complaints about the accommodation or management from the tenants or council, and that the Cains were the “very opposite of serial offenders” flouting the law.

One-time offence

“This one-time offence occurred by mistake, through naivety as to legal requirements,” it said.

The seven tenants had sought a rent repayment order of £40,350 for rent paid during the 12-month tenancy from 1st July 2018.

It ruled: “The respondents were not professional landlords with a wider property portfolio. The above findings concerning the respondents’ good conduct and clean history justify a discount to the rent to be repaid.

“The tribunal considers a discount in the order of 15% in each of these areas to be appropriate, giving rise to a repayment of 70% of the total rent.”

LandlordZONE has approached York City Council for comment.

Read the full decision.

Read more about HMO management.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – £58,000 fine for a first-time offence despite ‘naïve mistake’ – judge | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Leading property educators gather to launch self-regulation scheme

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An initiative to bring in self-regulation of the property education sector has been launched, recognising that its reputation faces ‘major issues’ as more and more ‘get rich quick’ operators join the fray.

Called the Property Educators Accreditation Scheme or PEAS, it is backed by key members of the educator sector.

This includes John Howard, Mark Lloyd of Property Master Academy; Ranjan Bhattacharya of Succeed in Property and property consultant David Temple, all of whom have been through a rigorous and six-month long vetting process.

It also has the backing of evictions expert Paul Shamplina; Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the PRS; Kirsty Roberts of Asset Academy (pictured), whose husband and Home under the Hammer TV presenter Martin is also a property educator; compliance consultant Julie Ford, David Sandeman of the Essential Information Group and David Smith of JMW Solicitors.

PEAS is operated by the Property Investors Bureau headed up by Cyril Thomas (pictured), who also runs his own property management firm.

Enforcement

Thomas told a launch gathering at the offices of Hamilton Fraser (main pic) that the PEAS scheme is designed to help future students looking for a property educator to discover ‘the good guys’ who have signed up to be ethical and transparent, and that it will strike a balance between cooperation and enforcement.

 “Anyone looking for property education that sees the PEAS badge on training/marketing materials, can feel confident that the educator has been through a thorough and varied accreditation process and that they have a transparent money back guarantee amongst other things,” says Thomas.

Decent honest

John Howards (pictured) says: “In my view the property education industry has been calling out for an organisation that distinguishes between the genuine decent honest property educators and others who will not be accepted into PEAS.”

Lloyds adds: “Our industry has been under scrutiny for a number of years and we believe this will help improve standards and transparency for those looking to invest in their property education.”

Tim Frome of the PRS, says: “We at the Property Redress Scheme are pleased to support PEAS as we share the same objective of increasing standards in the property industry and providing consumers with suitable redress if they have an issue with a provider of a service”.

For more information about PEAS or the Property Investors Bureau, email on info@pibuk.org or call on 01206 700 123.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Leading property educators gather to launch self-regulation scheme | LandlordZONE.

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The Launch of Self-Regulation Within The Property Education Sector

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The Property Investors Bureau is pleased to have hosted its first physical event for the Property Educators Accreditation Scheme’s members and key stakeholders.

It was a launch event held at the prestigious Hamilton Fraser offices on 22nd of September and was attended by influential figureheads from within the property investment industry.

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BREAKING: Welsh landlords must give six-months’ notice to evict until end of year

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Welsh landlords face more eviction bureaucracy after the country’s housing announced that its Covid restrictions on giving notice of eviction are to be extended for another three months.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 includes a range of powers for Welsh Ministers including the ability to extend existing pandemic-specific evictions rules.
Since September last year landlords and agents have been required to give six months’ notice to tenants of an intention to evict.

This was due to run out at the end of June but was extended, with an option to extend beyond September 30^th. This has now been taken up by the Welsh government.

Housing minister Julie James says: “The purpose of this alteration is to ensure that during a time when case numbers and hospitalisations are increasing and the virus remains a serious threat to public health, landlords will continue to give increased notice to tenants before they can issue proceedings for possession.

“The effect will to be to delay evictions meaning that fewer people will face eviction into homelessness at a time when this might exacerbate the spread of the virus and when local authorities are less able to respond to these situations.

In its explanatory memorandum, the Welsh government says the number of people under immediate threat of eviction from their homes must be kept low ‘in order to continue to contribute to the range of measures in place that respond to the continuing effects of the pandemic’.

Industry reaction

Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of National Residential Landlords Association, says: “The further extension of longer notice periods is yet another blow to the Welsh private rented sector and will only worsen the ongoing rent arrears crisis.

“Expecting landlords to carry the burden of extended notice periods is doomed to fail and the Welsh Government’s desire to continue kicking the can down the road is jeopardising the long-term future of many landlords’ businesses and in turn, the security of tenants who rely upon them.

“This announcement indicates that the Welsh Government lacks a coherent strategy to address the many issues affecting the private rented sector.

The little publicised Tenancy Hardship Grant has helped less than half a dozen tenants and without a clear plan to exit emergency measures, the rent debt crisis will worsen, leaving many tenants with damaged credit scores, saddled with debt and local authorities unable to meet demand.

Paul Sowerbutts (pictured), Head of Legal at Landlord Action, adds: “No real surprise here that Wales has done this ahead of the big changes to tenancy types, possibly next year.

“But England is unlikely to follow suit as Wales is deviating more and more from England’s approach to the PRS.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Welsh landlords must give six-months’ notice to evict until end of year | LandlordZONE.

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Welsh government extends 6 months notice to 31st December 2021

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The Minister for Climate Change has confirmed the regulations under paragraphs 1(2) and 14(1) of Schedule 29 to the 2020 Act have been extended until 31 December 2021.

Six months’ notice is required for notices served in respect of all protected tenancies;

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The Energy Price Crisis and what this means for Property Investors

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The Collective, the world’s LARGEST HMO, is going into administration despite a rent roll of £550,000 per month and Energy costs are likely to quadruple!

Join Andrew Roberts and me, as we have some solutions for savvy property investors to help mitigate the increase in energy prices.

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No let-up in relentless rise in property prices

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According to Rightmove, Britain’s leading property portal, house prices and the demand for homes are at the highest level they have ever been with the national average asking price of newly marketed properties rising this month (September) to an all-time high of £338,462.

The latest available figures from ONS show that UK average house prices increased by 8.0% over the year to July 2021, this was down from 13.1% in June 2021.

The average UK house price in July according to ONS was £256,000, which was then £19,000 higher than the same time last year, following the then record high of £265,000 in June 2021.

Average house prices increased over the year in England to £271,000 (7%), in Wales to £188,000 (11.6%), in Scotland to £177,000 (14.6%) and in Northern Ireland to £153,000 (9.0%).

London continued to be the region with the lowest annual growth (2.2%) for the eighth consecutive month.

July figures an underestimate

However, these figures were thought to be an underestimate at the time and all the evidence points to a continuing rise in prices as demand outstrips supply. As the ONS says, “…because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on both the number and supply of housing transactions, we might see larger revisions to the [July] published House Price Index (HPI) estimates than usual. Fewer transactions were available than expected for the July 2021 estimate. “

July’s house price fall coincided with the start of a tapering to the UK government’s Stamp Duty holiday incentive. Read more about the Stamp Duty Land Tax changes

Competition for homes

Industry experts now say that the competition when moving home has more than doubled since before the pandemic with Wales, the East Midlands and the southwest, southeast and east of England experiencing annual asking price increases of more than 8 per cent.

What the experts think

Tim Bannister, the director of property data at Rightmove, has said:

“The high ratio of buyer demand to properties for sale means that the property market remains stock-starved despite the summer lull lessening overall activity. Competition among potential buyers is now more than double what it was this time in 2019.”

Rightmove says the average asking price for a home has increased by 0.3 per cent, or £1,091, month-on-month in September.

Now buyers are being refused viewings unless their house is under offer and eager buyers who are in a position to move are elbowing-out those who still have their house on the market.

Tim Bannister adds:

“To be in pole-position you need to have greater buying power than the rest of the field. That traditionally would mean deeper pockets to outbid other buyers, but today’s ‘power buyers’ also need to have found a buyer for their own property, or to have no need to sell at all.”

There are signs of some stability re­turning to the sector as the stamp duty incentive recedes and growing affordability and sluggish growth in the economy generally.

Overall the board is set for a stable autumn, and there are hopes that more properties will appear on the market The first two weeks of September saw the number of listings rise by 14 per cent when compared with the closing couple of weeks in August.

Peter Woodthorpe, Director at Readings Property Group in Leicester, had said:

“The main issue is lack of stock. We are also seeing some examples of properties being overpriced, distorting the market by reducing the number of saleable properties further.”

Managing director of Birmingham estate agents Barrows and Forrester, James Forrester has said:

“It’s to be expected that the astronomic rates of house price growth seen since the introduction of the stamp duty holiday will now start to subside as we approach the final deadline,”

“But don’t be fooled into thinking the market will now deflate like a cheap birthday balloon. Buyer demand is extremely high and property prices will remain robust, largely driven by second and third rung buyers upgrading to larger, higher-value homes.”

The rental homes market

It is estimated that the number of homes available for rent in Britain could continue to fall as more landlords leave the market thanks to higher taxes and stricter rules.

According to the Nottingham Building Society nearly one-million landlords, which represents over a third of the total, will be reviewing their property portfolios in the coming year, and the number planning to sell rental homes outnumbers those planning to buy new ones.

Up to 20 per cent could sell some or all of their portfolio, the building society says, while 16 per cent plan to buy more.

This change could move the needle on UK property supply, and therefore house prices, as more homes become available to buy. But, while those homes going to first-time buyers or families would help more people climb onto or up the property ladder, it could also lead to a shortage of property to rent. In some popular parts of the country a lack of rental homes to rent has recently led to renting bidding wars.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – No let-up in relentless rise in property prices | LandlordZONE.

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Just 10% of landlords support arrival of Gove as housing secretary

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Most landlords are not convinced that Michael Gove is the right person to lead the newly named Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, but hope he’ll treat them fairly.

A new survey from online lettings company LettingaProperty.com found that just 10% of landlords agree with his appointment as Housing Minister, compared to 23% who disagree with it and 67% who are ambivalent.

There is also scepticism over whether Gove will prove to be landlord-friendly; of those surveyed, just 11% feel he will, while 36% feel he won’t, and the remaining 52% are unsure.

A desire to be treated fairly topped their list of priorities, followed by a desire to see Gove deal with rogue landlords, while bringing back mortgage interest relief and avoiding red tape were also uppermost in many landlords’ minds.

Jonathan Daines, LettingaProperty.com founder and CEO, says the survey highlights the scale of the new minister’s need to win over hearts and minds.

“Landlords will be watching and waiting to see how well Michael Gove rises to the challenge,” he says.

“Many of those providing much-needed rental homes seem to be reserving their judgement, creating both an opportunity and a challenge for him.”

Adds Daines: “The UK continues to be desperately short of homes, while landlords have been on a tumultuous ride in terms of government-induced financial changes over the past few years.

“Given the impact of those changes, it is perhaps unsurprising that so many landlords are on the fence about whether Gove will be prepared to fight their corner.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Just 10% of landlords support arrival of Gove as housing secretary | LandlordZONE.

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