CMA free thousands more from doubling ground rents

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Fifteen businesses that had bought freeh­olds from housing developer Countryside have now given formal commitments, known as undertakings, to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to remove terms that cause ground rents to double in price. These terms, which kick in every 10 or 15 years

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Clampdown on landlords exploiting vulnerable tenants in supported housing sector

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Unscrupulous landlords who provide poor quality supported accommodation are set to be kicked out of the sector.

Housing Minister Eddie Hughes has announced new minimum standards to prevent landlords from exploiting some of the most vulnerable tenants and to help them live independently. Local authorities in England will also get new powers to better manage their local supported housing market so rogue landlords can’t exploit the system, while there will be changes to Housing Benefit regulations to define care, support and supervision and improve quality and value for money.

Unregulated housing

Exempt accommodation is non-commissioned and unregulated supported housing where tenants include ex-prisoners, addicts, rough sleepers and fleeing survivors of domestic abuse. Landlords can apply for provider status, exempting them from local licensing regulations and housing benefit caps, meaning that councils have few powers to act over the quality and safety of homes or how tenants are treated.

Hughes has pledged to provide £20 million for a three-year Supported Housing Improvement Programme and said: “We have no intention of penalising those providers who operate responsibly. We are clear that measures must be as targeted and proportionate as possible to protect supply of housing across the board.”

Successful campaign

Birmingham has campaigned for stronger measures in the city for years, pointing to a lack of regulatory powers that has led to soaring numbers of properties, prompting complaints about anti-social behaviour, drug use and safeguarding issues. Councillor Sharon Thompson, cabinet member for vulnerable children and families, says: “I am absolutely delighted, that after years of campaigning, the government has finally listened. I would like to thank our local communities that have been working with us on this campaign and have suffered on a daily basis, for many years, at the hands of rogue landlords and poorly managed properties.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Clampdown on landlords exploiting vulnerable tenants in supported housing sector | LandlordZONE.

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Landlords urged to help improve the property tax system  

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The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has invited landlords to share their views on how to simplify property income taxation.

It has published an online survey and call for evidence and wants to hear directly from individual landlords and small businesses about which aspects are particularly complex and hard to get right, and welcomes any suggestions for improvements. It is looking into the current regimes for taxing residential property held by individuals, partnerships and micro companies, and will come up with recommendations and ways to address distortions.

Call for evidence

The call for evidence wants detailed comments on the technical and practical operation of the tax system while the OTS will also meet interested parties online. Questions in the survey include: what prompts landlords to incorporate their property rental businesses and to what extent such decisions are motivated by tax or non-tax reasons, and what factors influence the choice between using the cash basis and accruals basis accounting, where rental income is less than £150,000 a year.

HMRC statistics suggest that there were about 2.9m individuals and 32,000 partnerships with property businesses filing tax returns in the 2018-19 tax year. Companies are subject to corporation tax on their profits from renting property and have no restrictions on the amount of mortgage interest they can deduct.

International landlords

In 2020, a record number of UK and international landlords registered as a limited company to take advantage of tax benefits; investment specialist Thirlmere Deacon reported a total of 41,700 buy-to-let incorporations, an increase of 23% on 2019, taking the total number of buy-to-let firms to 228,743.

Landlords can respond to the survey here – https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/0WQWWF/ – and email responses to the call for evidence to ots@ots.gov.uk before 5th June.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords urged to help improve the property tax system   | LandlordZONE.

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Homes for Ukraine scheme: FAQs

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This has been a very widely commented on topic with Mick Roberts’s article, Can I really house the Ukrainian People? I want to, however….., so the latest government FAQs have been included below: Click here

For sponsors:

Anyone registering online on Homes for Ukraine will be kept updated.

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Isn’t it the same for Private Landlords?

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Interesting article stating that social housing providers are having to divert money put aside for essential property maintenance to adhere to safety reforms: Click here

Have they forgotten about private landlords here too? This is going to cripple the private sector without adding in the fear of heavy fines and prosecution (for which SHP’s seem immune).

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NRLA mourns loss of John Stewart

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The National Residential Landlords Association is sad to confirm that its Deputy Director for Policy and Research, John Stewart, passed away over the weekend after being diagnosed with cancer.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA said: “We are desperately sad to learn of John’s passing.

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