Appeal court to decide in landmark eviction notice case

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Judges are deliberating whether to allow an appeal in an evictions and rental deposit case that threatens to wipe out many letting agents.

The Northwood Solihull v Fearn & Ors case surfaced when the Solihull branch of letting and estate agency Northwood tried to evict a couple who had stopped paying their rent in 2019, and served a Section 8 eviction notice. Tenants Mr Fearn and Ms Cooke argued during an initial County Court hearing that under section 44 of the Companies Act 2006 their eviction notice had not been signed by two authorised signatories or by a company director in the presence of a witness, and that the section 44 requirements also applied to the confirmatory certificate for their original deposit. High Court judges then ruled that this law did not apply to eviction notices, but they did uphold the couple’s claim that it applied to a confirmatory certificate for a rental deposit.

Court of Appeal

At a Court of Appeal hearing, the tenants’ lawyer said the signature on the notice was not obviously the signature of an individual. He explained: “The tenant who receives the notice is going to look at it and see the squiggle and conclude that it was the signature of the company.”

However, the landlord’s lawyer said there was nothing wrong with the section 8 notice and that it made much more sense for a property manager to deal with it than the property owner. He told the court: “The company can appoint someone to sign. It’s very odd that you can grant a tenancy with a single signature but you need two signatures to serve a notice.”

Second signature

He added that regarding the deposit, a signature could include anyone acting on a landlord’s behalf. “Nothing would have improved the tenants’ position by having a second signature added.”

According to property lawyer David Smith of JMW, as things currently stand, if a corporate agent has signed a proscribed [rental deposit] information certificate on behalf of a landlord, then if it has not been signed by a director and witnessed, the certificate will be defective. He believes this could prompt a raft of claims against agents.

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5 Year Fixed Rate BTL with no Early Repayment Charges

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The new range is available from 17th January on mortgages up to 80% loan-to-value (LTV). These benefits landlords who want increased flexibility when financing property.

The early repayment charge (ERC) free five-year fixed-rate range is available to first-time landlords

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More firms bid to join property educators industry body

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Two more companies are on their way to becoming members of The Property Educators Accreditation Scheme (PEAS).

David Goodfellow from iKonic Training Academy Ltd and Hayley Andrews from Your Freedom Empire have completed the first stage of the process to join the industry group and are now in their six-month probation period. PEAS aims to help property investors identify credible property educators, create greater transparency and increase protection for those accessing property education.

Genuine applicants

All members go through a rigorous six-month long process that is likely to deter less genuine applicants. Verified individuals who have bought products or services from applicant members can now comment on live applications during the probation period. Click here to view all live applications. During their probation period, anyone can submit objections or messages in support of their application and will need to provide conclusive evidence that supports their objection along with verifiable identification.

The three membership levels are: associate – which does not require the applicant to own property or have previously invested in property but they need at least two years of relevant property education experience; member – at least two years of relevant property education experience and two years of property investment experience in the main education area they want to be accredited for; and fellow – at least seven years of relevant property education experience and more than 10 years of property investment experience in the main education area.

Launched last September, its founder members are John Howard, Mark Lloyd of Property Master Academy, Ranjan Bhattacharya of Succeed in Property and property consultant David Temple.

Click here to view fully accredited members of PEAS

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Government to finally tackle standards in social housing

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Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes, confirms Social housing residents will be better protected as part of a review to ensure they are listened to.

The review on qualifications and professional training will drive up standards by making sure social housing staff are better equipped to support tenants

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Gove told neglected landlords need his support in cladding-hit blocks

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The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has urged Michael Gove not to ignore landlords affected by the cladding scandal.

Last week, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities revealed that landlords would not be included in the cladding remediation fund initiative; instead, funding will be targeted initially at owner-occupiers and that ‘negotiations…will explore whether this support should extend to other leaseholders such as landlords’.

Clarification needed

The NRLA has written to demand clarification as it believes that individual leaseholder landlords – particularly those renting out single apartments in blocks of flats – and owner occupiers should be treated equally. Chief executive Ben Beadle says it is concerned as to why the government is so reluctant to commit to landlords, who are leaseholders, receiving the same support as owner-occupiers. “Both groups have faced the same problems, and both should be treated equally,” says Beadle. “We are calling on the government to rectify this problem as a matter of urgency.”

In the letter, he writes that it would be unnecessarily complicated to single out individual landlords as many, if not most, of those affected will be in mixed use buildings and will have had no involvement with the developer, which could slow down remedial action against dangerous cladding. Adds Beadle: “We question also how this situation would be fair to accidental landlords who were forced to rent out their properties because they could not sell due to cladding uncertainties.”

Survey findings

According to yet to be published polling by YouGov for the NRLA, 45% of private landlords rent out just one property while other research has shown that 70% of landlords are basic rate income taxpayers.

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Landlords not included in cladding remuneration?

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This came into my inbox: Housing secretary Michael Gove has revealed that landlords will not be included in the cladding remediation fund initiative for affected residential tower leaseholders announced this week.

A hint of this was given in the original announcement that the £4 billion ‘fund’ to remediate cladding on towers under 18.5m but over 11m tall would be for ‘leaseholders living in their own flat’.

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