Latest changes to Part L of the Building Regulations

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Landlords are required to conform to the safety and environmental rules set-out in these regulations so it’s important you understand the law regarding the building regulations. The rules are in place to ensure that buildings meet a certain standard of safety to protect residents and members of the public and to comply with environmental controls.

Do you know about the latest changes to the Building Regulations 2010, Part L?

Landlords who fail to comply with the building regulations are not only putting tenants’ lives at risk, they face prosecution and significant fines. Before letting a property and completing renovations or new building works you should familiarise yourself with the building regulations and consult your local authority.

Failure to conform could result in your local authority prosecuting both you the landlord and the installer (builder, contractor etc.) in the Magistrates’ Court. The penalty is an unlimited fine under sections 35 and 35A of the Building Act 1984.

What are building Regulations?

Most building work being carried out in England must comply with the Building Regulations of 2010 made under powers in the Building Act 1984. These Building Regulations are designed to protect the health and safety of people in and around buildings, they also provide for energy and water conservation and access to and use of buildings.

The Manual to the Building Regulations gives an overview of the building regulatory system in England. You can access the most recent version of the manual at: www.gov.uk/guidance/building-regulations-and-approved-documents-index

Building regulation approvals – Full Plans

Your local authority will check and approve plans before the work starts. This will avoid costly errors and corrective work. An application deposited under the Full Plans procedure must contain detailed plans and other information showing all construction details and materials, preferably well in advance of when work is planned to start.

If the plans are approved a notice stating that they comply will be issued and work can proceed, followed by regular inspections at various stages either by the local authority building control inspectors, or an approved private firm. Once the work is completed a Completion Certificate must be obtained. This is a vital document needed when the property is sold.

Building regulation approvals – Building Notice

If the work is not over complicated and your building contractor is competent with a good knowledge of the regulations, then a Building Notice form can be adopted. The advantage of this method is speed and low cost as detailed drawings will not be required, though some basic details such as materials and structural calculations may be needed.

Retrospective regularisation applications

If work has already been carried out without proper consent, then a retrospective application can be made using a Building Regulations Regularisation form. This may be necessary even when the work was carried out by a previous owner.

Before starting any building work involving substantial alterations to a property it is always best to consult your local authority building control team to discuss your intentions before submitting an application.

What are the pending changes in Part L?

The latest changes follow on from the The Future Homes Standard 2019 Consultation on necessary changes and are part of the Government’s progress towards their target to deliver Zero Carbon Ready Homes by 2025.

From 15th June 2022, all new homes must produce 31% less CO2 emissions than what is currently acceptable in the present Part L regulations. Therefore, the construction of new dwellings must comply with the increased energy performance standards as set in the new regulations.

Building inspectors will require an on-site audit to confirm that the design details have been constructed, and photographs must be taken at stages of construction as evidence to form the BREL report. The Building Regulation England Part L (BREL) report is produced from approved SAP software to demonstrate compliance against the requirements. However, a significant change is the addition of photographic evidence provided to the energy assessor and building control.

Under the new rules, all newly constructed buildings and building work in existing buildings must be energy efficient. This includes a significantly higher standard for extensions work. The government wants to reduce carbon emissions in new homes by 31% in comparison with current standards and by a further 75-80% by 2025.

Low-carbon heating systems will need to be installed in new homes. Existing properties will be expected to upgrade to new technologies such as heat pumps and cooling schemes to tackle the problem of overheating without the use of air conditioning in order to drive down costly bills and meet its climate change goals.

A consultation on higher performance targets for non-domestic buildings, to ensure they are zero carbon-ready by 2025, has also been announced following the original consultation.

Transitional arrangements

If a building notice or full plans for building work are submitted to a local authority before 15 June 2022, then provided the building work commences by 15 June 2023, work on that building is permitted to continue under the previous standards.

The Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume 1: Dwellings is for use in England. Compliance may be different to the standards required in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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All selective licensing should be borough-wide, says leading Labour figure

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According to Labour’s deputy mayor of Tower Hamlets, councils should have the power to automatically introduce selective licensing borough-wide.

Indicating the party’s policy direction, leading party figure Rachel Blake (main picture) says the current law governing where authorities can introduce licensing needs updating to reflect the growth in the private rented sector.

She attacked the announcement of a Renters Reform Bill in the Queen’s Speech for not going far enough to protect renters.

“The bill does not address the erosion of available homes that has been caused by the growth of short-term letting platforms,” says Blake.

“When I knock on doors across London, I find homes that are being let out on a short-term basis. These platforms are under-regulated, and this is another missed opportunity with this bill.”

She adds that it doesn’t include details of any extra money or set out what enforcement powers or institutions will be in place to back it up.

Local councils

“As is so often the case with this government, this bill passes the buck to local councils but doesn’t give them the funding or tools to make it a reality.”

Blake says the government has also ‘shamelessly stolen’ the name ‘Decent Homes’ which it used to drive up standards in social housing but, unlike Labour’s costed proposals, is just spin with no financial backing.

“Of course, one of the biggest issues people are facing with rocketing inflation and a cost-of-living crisis is spiralling rents, which this bill will do nothing to address.”

Tower Hamlets is one of six London boroughs which, working with London Renters Union, has promised greater landlord regulation, expanded landlord licensing and hiring more enforcement officers.

They have also all vowed to campaign for rent controls, reduce attempts to move people out of the borough and to reduce their use of ‘intentional homelessness’ decisions. 

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SELFIE CULTURE: 40% of tenants want an ‘Instagram’ rental home, claims BTL firm

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Landlords should give their rental properties ‘Insta’ appeal if they want to find the right sort of tenants, advises an interior design firm.

Hatch Interiors, which specialises in fitting out build-to-rent (BTR) developments, points to its research that found 40% of private tenants want to live in a build-to-rent development, often prompted by the Insta-grammable appeal of their smarter interiors.

Jodie Wardell (pictured), head of BTR, reckons landlords should up their game in order to attract these discerning renters.

“Build-to-rent has raised the bar and landlords need to keep up if they want to compete,” she says. “Modern renters want more than mismatched furniture and a landlord who takes weeks to get things fixed. They want, and expect, beautiful homes and great service.”  

Something better?

Its survey of 1,000 renters revealed that 82% currently rent from a private landlord, but 40% of those want to move into a build-to-rent development. Wardell adds: “It seems that these renters may be looking to jump ship if something better comes along.”

It also revealed that of those who are keen to move into build-to-rent, 32% want it to be ‘move-in ready’ and 37% want somewhere that is professionally designed, with these numbers increasing to 41% and 39% respectively for renters living in cities.

Those who fancy making the jump are looking for a sense of community, with 42% after a gym or yoga studio, 31% wanting a communal working space, 31% looking for space to socialise, and 33% saying that having facilities to spend time with neighbours appeals.

Some are even more demanding, as 50% want kitchenware included and 54% expect cleaning equipment.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – SELFIE CULTURE: 40% of tenants want an ‘Instagram’ rental home, claims BTL firm | LandlordZONE.

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Student Lodgers or HMO?

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Hi everyone. I am lending my daughter the money to purchase a 3-bed house while she’s away studying at university.

She will/intends to rent 2 of the rooms and 1 rented in a self-contained annexe.

The question is does this make it a lodgers agreement or an HMO that requires licencing?

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Section 21 valid date confusion?

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Can someone please help me to clarify a valid date to end a tenancy in section 21?

I have a standard AST tenancy which was created in 2013 for initial 12 months and then becomes a periodic tenancy.

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Generation Rent slammed over its claim that landlords ‘fake’ eviction grounds

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Propertymark has dismissed analysis by Generation Rent that suggests landlords are simply re-letting properties after evicting tenants by claiming they want to sell up.

Generation Rent studied 125 cases in Scotland between 2018 and 2021 where the landlord was seeking possession on ground 1 (an intention to sell) and checked whether each property had been sold and was still on the landlord register.

The tenants’ protest group claims that nearly one-third of those who evicted tenants in order to sell the property had failed to sell it more than a year later, while 9% of cases of tenants being evicted on grounds of sale saw the home sold to another landlord who had re-let the property.

Another 14% were still on the landlord register, suggesting they had been re-let.

Misleading

Daryl McIntosh, Propertymark’s policy manager for the UK devolved nations (main picture), says this is a misleading analysis of a very small sample of tribunal cases to feed the group’s narrative of an abused possession system.

“It is pure speculation to suggest any properties within this analysis that are either yet to be sold or still on the landlord register have been re-let,” says McIntosh.

“As Generation Rent acknowledges itself, the register is unlikely to be up-to-date because there’s no legal requirement for a landlord to do so once a property has been sold. Property sales can also be delayed for legitimate reasons including a protracted possession.”

He adds: “To pre-empt the intentions of a prospective purchaser is unreasonable, so a landlord cannot be expected to pursue a sale without first ensuring vacant possession.”

Generation Rent wants extra protections for tenants who face eviction for reasons beyond their control, including a requirement for landlords who wish to sell to advertise the property with a sitting tenant before seeking eviction.

The English government is currently considering how to introduce a similar ‘register’ for landlords and their properties.

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