LATEST: Jersey landlords fighting off ‘licensing by back door’ plans

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Jersey’s Reform Party proposals for open-ended tenancies and rent controls will only increase and accelerate the problem of tenants getting notice to vacate, says the Jersey Landlords Association (JLA).

Landlords’ real fears about rising red tape and the increasing costs of renting property are already biting, according to the group, which believes the introduction of the Health & Safety (Rented Dwellings) (Jersey) Law and its poor implementation over the last three years has caused landlords to sell their rental properties.

It now hopes to quash fresh plans to introduce compulsory licensing; despite it being voted against twice by the States, Senator Kristina Moore wants to make the current voluntary Rent Safe scheme compulsory, which the JLA has labelled, “licensing by the back door”.  

The Jersey government has also announced a shake-up of the rental market to give private renters recourse against unfair or unjustified rent increases.

Rent controls

Its Fair Rents Plan includes moves to reinstate the Rent Control Tribunal this year, giving private renters the opportunity to appeal to an independent body if they believe their rent is excessive.

The JLA says it was not consulted about the plan. Scotland has recently published similar proposals that include a controversial system of rent controls while the English government is due to strengthen renters’ rights in the upcoming Renters Reform Bill.

JLA member Emma Paul (pictured) says: “Jersey’s public health and safety legislation already provides mechanisms for rented properties which are in poor condition and present a health and safety issue to be served with improvement or prohibition notices coupled with the ability to fine landlords.

“The argument that the environmental health department does not know where these properties are, should be being addressed in that the States have passed a proposal for all property to be registered – so they will know which properties are rented.”

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Build to rent investment hit record £4.1 billion in 2021, says CBRE

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Investors ploughed £4.1 billion into build-to-rent (BTR) last year, betting that purpose-built flats would provide more reliable returns than other sectors, according to global real estate advisor CBRE.

The firm says activity was evenly split between London and the regions with notable deals that completed in Q4 2021 including Greystar’s acquisition of a minority stake in the Fizzy Living platform, Patrizia’s £100m forward commitment of Oliver’s Place, Huntley Wharf in Reading, Cortland’s forward funding of Colliers Yard, Manchester for £158m, as well as Legal & General’s £500m investment into schemes in London, Glasgow and Southampton.

Lloyds is also aiming to expand aggressively into the sector while last year retailer John Lewis announced plans to build a residential property portfolio to offset weakness in its high street stores.

£2 billion

CBRE reports that last year’s figure is £500m higher than 2020’s previous record, while almost £2 billion worth of deals are already in the pipeline for this year, fuelling growth that looks set to continue due to a chronic lack of homes in the UK.

“The build-to-rent investment market had a stellar performance in Q4 with more than £2 billion of capital committed,” says Jason Hardman (pictured), executive director, residential valuation & advisory services.

“This underlines the growing maturity of the UK build-to-rent market and reflects the phenomenal bounce back we have seen in the occupational market over the second half of the year. 2021 represents an undeniable record for the sector and with almost £2 billion of assets under offer, we expect this momentum to continue into 2022 as the sector continues to go from strength to strength.”

Read more about BTR.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Build to rent investment hit record £4.1 billion in 2021, says CBRE | LandlordZONE.

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London borough scales back selective licensing after success so will others follow?

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Hammersmith and Fulham Council has scaled back its renewed selective licensing scheme from 128 to just 24 streets after declaring that anti-social behaviour has improved in parts of the borough’s private rented sector.

A council report says it believed that focusing on specific streets was a more targeted approach than applying the scheme to the whole borough or to whole wards.

It added that a recent consultation and its research had both shown that a number of streets in the previous scheme no longer met the threshold of need for inclusion so would not be included, but would now include eight new streets which did meet the threshold.

It added that anti-social behaviour including noise nuisance, poor waste management and public health nuisance in the 24 selected streets was above average.

Councillor Lisa Homan (pictured), cabinet member for housing, says: “Things have improved in the last five years but when we set out with our selective licensing scheme we selected 20% of our properties where we thought the biggest problems were – but 16 of those streets were in the original scheme and eight new ones are coming in, following hard work with anti-social behaviour.

“Officers have walked those streets to make sure we get the right 20% in the scheme.”

Councillors approved plans to renew its borough-wide additional licensing scheme that will include all shared accommodation and bedsit-HMOs occupied by three or more people comprising two or more households, outside the scope of its mandatory HMO licensing. Both current schemes end on 4th June.

According to Geospatial technology firm Kamma, Hammersmith and Fulham is the London borough with the highest average fines of £19,800. Watch the cabinet meeting in full.

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Possession claims could double this year

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I believe Possession claims will double this year, and if anyone needs assistance with evicting a tenant or debt recovery you can email me personally on paul@landlordaction.co.uk

We ended 2021 after twenty-one months since the first Covid lockdown with the new variant

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New Switch and Further advance product for incorporated and individual landlords

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Paragon has launched a range of switch and further advance products for portfolio and non-portfolio landlords for the New Year.

Across both portfolio and non-portfolio ranges, rates start at 2.95% for landlords who are looking to switch to a new product

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37sqm Flats Too Small?

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The Guardian reports that 37sqm flats are too small for property development, but this is simply not the case, exploring this with me is Andrew Roberts in this episode of Property Breaking News.

Please click on the video below:

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Deposit recovery after vexatious bullying claim and no address?

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A tenant of mine left my flat with about £7,000 rent arrears: £6,300 during the tenancy and another £750 or so after refusing to vacate, and only leaving after a possession order hearing date had been given.

I have a £5,000 CCJ

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