Coventry landlord first to be fined under new electrical safety compliance legislation

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A landlord in Coventry has become the first in England to be fined under the recently-introduced Electrical Safety Standards legislation.

Since July 1^st 2021 all residential landlords in England must ensure that the electrical installations in the property are safe and are inspected and tested at least every five years.

The inspection must be carried out by a “competent person” and an Electrical Safety Certificate issued, a copy of which must be made available to the appropriate authorities if required, and copy given to the tenants within 28 days of being completed.

Should the local authority request a copy of the report it must be provided within seven days.

£1,600 fine

Coventry City Council, which has chosen to save the landlord’s blushes by not naming him, has nevertheless fined him £1,600. After being given seven days to provide a certificate within this statutory time limit, he subsequently failed to provide it.

This was for a property on Stoney Stanton Road near the centre of Coventry (pictured).

The Council will now also be serving a remedial notice requiring further action to be taken.The EICR report should have been completed on or around the 1st April 2020 by a competent and suitably qualified electrician to show that the electrical installation in the property was safe and a copy provided to the tenant.

Adrian Chowns (pictured), Property Licensing and Housing Enforcement Manager for, Coventry City Council says: “We believe this is the first time these powers have been used by a Local Authority in England.

“It highlights how Coventry City Council are taking a proactive approach to enforcement and clamping down on rogue landlords in its city.”

Read more about electrical safety compliance.

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ACORN holds demonstrations in six cities calling for ‘cheap rent’ and more PRS regulation

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Renters Unions around the UK held demonstrations over the weekend during which campaigners called for ‘cheap rent’ and also urged the government to implement its rent reform proposals fully.

Members of tenants union Acorn gathered in Brighton, Leeds, London, Newcastle, Sheffield and Walsall, sharing their experiences of private renting and putting their demands to MPs with key ministerial and governmental housing positions.

The group managed to win approval from one politician over the weekend – Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group looking into reform of the rental market.

He is the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and an energetic housing activist in parliament.

Change needed

An Acorn speaker told those attending the Brighton event that: “Successive governments have failed to reform the private rented sector and give England’s 11 million private renters a decent place to call home — this needs to change.”

Acorn’s activities over the weekend are designed to put pressure on the government not to backtrack over its Rent Reform Bill proposals, which are expected imminently.

As well as abolishing Section 21 evictions and reforming Section 8 notices, the government’s plans include a national landlord register, mandatory redress for landlords and their tenants and a lifetime rental deposit system.

Eviction ignorance

Some of the demonstrators at the events seemed to be unaware of English law governing the PRS – one man told The Morning Star newspaper that renters were fed up living under the threat of being evicted at ‘a moment’s notice’.

As many LandlordZONE readers will be aware to their cost, Shelter estimates that the most commonly-used eviction process, a Section 21, can take between seven and eight months to complete from serving notice to the bailiffs enforcing a court decision.

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Inflation spike drives investors to seek ‘safe haven’ in private rented sector

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Rising inflation is pushing more landlords and investors into high-yield buy-to-let property markets as they seek safe havens for their cash, estate agency Hamptons has reported.

Consequently, the North East which offers investors average gross yields of 9% has seen the proportion of properties bought by landlords in the region jump from 20% to 27% over the past 12 months.

Similar dramatic increases in landlord buying activity has also been seen in the East Midlands, East of England and Wales.

In Middlesborough, a staggering 58% of homes for sale were bought by landlords, including an increasing number from London.

And overall investors bought 14% of all homes sold across the nation during the first three months of 2022, the highest proportion recorded since 2016 when landlords rushed to complete before the new 3% stamp duty charge kicked in.

Hamptons say this investment surge means some of the 300,000 properties lost from the private rented sector since 2017 as landlords, faced with extra costs and red tape have exited the market, are being recouped.

Buying doubles

Overall, investors bought 42,980 homes across Great Britain during the first three months of this year, equating to £8.5bn worth of property – nearly twice the figure recorded pre-Covid during the same period.

Coupled to a slowdown in landlords selling their properties, this means the private rented sector is set to grow again, and there was a net gain of 13,480 rental properties in Great Britain between January and March this year compared to a 7,640 net loss during the same period last year.

“Tax and regulatory changes have weighed heavily on the buy-to-let sector over the last five years causing more landlords to sell up at a time when fewer new entrants were looking to buy,” says Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons (pictured).

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Treasury to recognise Stablecoins and develop Cryptoasset strategy

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The Treasury has announced moves to recognise ‘Stablecoins’ as a valid form of payment and part of wider plans to make Britain a global hub for Cryptoasset technology and investment.

This is part of a package of measures to ensure the UK financial services sector remains at the cutting edge of technology and includes:

• introducing a ‘financial market infrastructure sandbox’ to enable firms to experiment and innovate

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REGULATION: Wales reveals 29 reasons why a property can be ‘unfit’ after July 15th

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Landlords in Wales have been given detailed new guidance to make sure their properties are up to scratch ahead of the new Renting Homes (Wales) Act.

From 15^th July, they will need to ensure homes are fit for human habitation at the start of, and during, the occupation contract, and the new guidance aims to help them understand their responsibilities.

The Act provides 29 examples of ‘matters and circumstances’ where action might be needed to prevent contract-holders (tenants) from potentially living in unfit conditions.

These include damp, mould growth and exposure to the cold, but are so extensive they even cover explosions and the threat from debris created by a blast and the resulting partial or total collapse of a building.

Landlords are advised to, “conduct visual and/or physical inspections to minimise the likelihood wherever possible”.

At the other end of the risk scale, they are warned to conduct visual and physical inspections to minimise the likelihood of “collision or entrapment” occurring in doors or windows.

Smoke alarms

The guidance also sets out landlord requirements which must be complied with, namely ensuring that their properties have both smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in proper working order and ensuring the inspection and testing of the electrical installation.

Read more about England's legislation on Fitness for Human Habitation.

The guidance states: “It is important to understand that where a landlord fails to comply with these requirements, the dwelling is to be treated as if it were unfit for human habitation.”

The requirements relating to installing smoke alarms and electrical safety testing will not apply to existing tenancies that switch to an occupation contract until 15th July 2023, however, from 15th July 2022 all new contracts will need to comply with them. Carbon monoxide detectors must be installed in all relevant properties from 15th July 2022.

Details can be found on the Welsh Government website.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – REGULATION: Wales reveals 29 reasons why a property can be ‘unfit’ after July 15th | LandlordZONE.

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