New Shelter video attacking letting agents and rental conditions

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Shelter claims Landlords and letting agents have got away with cutting corners for far too long and have released a satirical video with an agent played by comedian Rory Marshall.

In the latest press release, Shelter’s ‘research’ also indicates one in six private renters in England (equivalent to two million people) are forced to accept poor conditions to find somewhere they could rent.

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CGT return – Have I got this right and can I use paper?

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My net income for the tax year ending April 2021 will be £20,000 and I expect it to be the same next tax year ending April 2022. However, I now have a vacant property and am considering selling it.

I have roughly worked out that after initial purchase costs

View Full Article: CGT return – Have I got this right and can I use paper?

LATEST: What could tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech hold for landlords?

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Tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech is set to contain a raft of property-related legislation including at least a reference to the highly anticipated Renters’ Reform Bill.

Empty properties

Landlords will be forced to rent out empty shops and retail units under a new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, giving local authorities powers to take control of empty buildings through tougher compulsory purchase orders.

It could also allow councils to double council tax for owners of second homes if they don’t rent them out for at least 70 days. Other homes simply left empty could see the standard council tax rate doubled after 12 months – as opposed to the current two years.

Planning

Following comments by Housing Secretary Michael Gove, a new Planning Bill could include policies aimed at ‘gentle densification’, giving residents a say on drawing up local design codes for housing developments using ‘street votes’. Gove has also expressed his support for streamlining building procedures for brownfield land.

Rogue landlords

Almost two years after the government’s social housing white paper was published, the Queen’s Speech is expected to include a Social Housing Reform Bill aimed at driving up safety standards, data collection and increasing accountability for rogue landlords by naming and shaming those who perform poorly.

Leasehold reform

A Leasehold/Commonhold Reform Bill is also expected to be included, as the Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Lord Greenhalgh, announced last summer that a “second tranche of reforms” following the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill would come in the third session of Parliament.

Renting reform

While the Renters’ Reform Bill falls under the category of ‘bills announced but not yet introduced’ and was announced last year but was not taken forward, it’s expected that it will at least be referenced in tomorrow’s speech as the white paper is due to be released in spring 2022.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: What could tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech hold for landlords? | LandlordZONE.

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LETTER: Sadiq Khan begs Boris to freeze rents in London for two years

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has repeated calls to be handed rent control powers in the capital to prevent a potential homelessness crisis.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, he says tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech is an opportunity to commit to the strategy, adding: “I have repeatedly asked for the powers to design and implement a system of rent control for London which would help to reduce the financial pressure on renters, without choking off supply.”

Although currently in the US on a tourism boosting trip and promising “major announcements”, Khan cites the Homelet rental index for March 2022 which shows that renters in London now spend 34% of their income on rent.

Freeze

He wants the government to implement an immediate two-year rent freeze to relieve the pressure on already-stretched renters, in a bid to save Londoners an average of almost £3,000.

Khan also reiterates his plea for more powers to push property licensing and pledges his support for the government’s commitment to ending section 21, as well as introducing open-ended tenancies and creating a public national landlord register.

“However, affordability is clearly the most urgent issue facing the majority of renters, and currently the government remains silent on this issue,” he adds.

“I am asking you to take the action necessary to prevent a major crisis now and to work with me to build a better London for everyone.”

The NRLA has previously labelled rent controls a potential disaster for London as they would mean tenants actually paying higher rents than leaving them to market forces. Rent controls were recently scrapped in the Catalan region of Spain after they failed to make housing more affordable.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LETTER: Sadiq Khan begs Boris to freeze rents in London for two years | LandlordZONE.

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INTERVIEW: We’re not here to displace private landlords, says BTR boss

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The CEO of a large US build-to-rent (BTR) company with nine sites underway in the UK says private landlords should not fear the sector being ‘professionalised’ and that a key aim of BTR firms like hers is to stop renting being considered ‘second-class’ accommodation.

Victorian Quinlan (main pic), who heads up the UK operation of Atlanta-based Cortland, has been tasked with growing its business here which, so far, includes nine developments as far south as Reading and London but as far north as Durham, Liverpool and Manchester.

Many private landlords suspect that BTR, including companies like Cortland, are another tool of the Government to reduce the dominance of the small private landlord within the private rented sector, along with additional taxation and extra regulation.

But Quinlan is adamant that this is not the case, when LandordZONE put this point to her.

“I think that BTR offers another ‘product’ to the market and therefore more choice for renters,” she says.

“Until companies like ours began building developments in the UK, renters had limited access to the kind of amenities that ours offer such as 24-7 concierge, gyms, cinema rooms and so on – something that some tenants want and are prepared to pay extra for, although the price differential isn’t as wide as many believe.

“BTR enables the consumer to decide where they want to put their rent and that can only be a good thing, rather than people not having a choice and being considered second class citizens if they rent.”

Crisis

Quinlan also believes companies like hers will help alleviate the housing crisis that seems to be almost continually looming over the UK.

“Part of the problem here is that the UK has limited land available and a difficult planning process – this means that, when the sales market slows down, builders cut back on building homes to restrict supply and keep prices stable, but they don’t build more rental homes at the same time – and BTR is now doing that job.”

But the sector often slides into what can appear as ‘landlord bashing’ when it tries to separate its homes from the general private rented sector.

For example, Quinlan says she wants to see the PRS made ‘more professional’, while her counterpart at Grainger, Helen Gordon, recently slammed landlords for putting tenants in fear of eviction.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – INTERVIEW: We’re not here to displace private landlords, says BTR boss | LandlordZONE.

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MARKET: Property giant reveals move into build to rent with 1,200 homes

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Build-to-rent (BTR) competition with landlords is to be ratcheted up soon after the Harworth Group revealed it is looking for developer partners to build 1,200 rental homes at 10 of its development sites across the UK.

The land and property regeneration firm wants to create a build-to-rent portfolio of single family, two- and three-bedroom houses in Yorkshire, the Midlands and the North West, which would all be ready to rent in the next three years.

The move reflects the steady growth of BTR, with more than 140,000 homes under construction or in planning at the start of the year, while investors ploughed £4.1 billion into the sector in 2021, according to global real estate advisor CBRE.

Harworth Group’s sites are in popular locations near major conurbations with good local amenities and transport connections.

The new rental properties will be set in extensive green space offering recreational facilities and will sit alongside the firm’s build-to-sell (BTS) products already developed by housebuilders at its residential sites.

The company says these sites lend themselves to the BTR market, and that by offering both BTR and BTS, it can speed up delivery; with BTS, sales have to be phased over a number of years to take account of local absorption rates of housing stock.

Read more: What does BTR mean for buy-to-let?

As both styles are aimed at different markets, they can be delivered simultaneously.

It also supports the company’s ambition to double its residential plot sales to around 2,000 plots a year, according to Lynda Shillaw (pictured), chief executive of Harworth.

She says: “Project Spur is part of our strategy to accelerate the development of our residential sites, providing a range of homes for local people and enabling diverse communities. We look forward to working with partners aligned to our purpose and ambitions, to continue delivering places where people want to live and work.”

Pic credit: Harwarth Group, showing its Rotherham development.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MARKET: Property giant reveals move into build to rent with 1,200 homes | LandlordZONE.

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Don’t fall foul of the disclosure laws when selling or letting a property

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Traditionally, contracts for buying and selling property always relied on the old English common law principle of ‘caveat emptor’, or let the ‘buyer beware’. In other words, the seller did not need to reveal material facts (defects) about the property for sale so long as the buyer, with reasonable due diligence, could find out about them itself.

And of course, sellers would be reluctant to volunteer any information about a property for sale that could potentially make the property less valuable or difficult to sell.

All of this changed with the introduction of consumer protection legislation. In particular with the Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Descriptions must be accurate

These Regulations (known as the CPRs) are the Regulations that control descriptions used by estate agents and letting agents. They create criminal offences for agents and landlords that breach them. The Regulations prohibit ‘misleading actions’ and ‘misleading omissions’ that cause, or are likely to cause, the average consumer to take a transactional decision they would not have taken otherwise.

Great care needs to be taken when using general descriptions involving the location, environment, planning, photographs, measurements, parking, pricing. General disclaimers in the small print informing buyers and renters not to rely on the details provided will not be enough to prevent offences. This also applies to information provided on websites and in agent’s window displays.

Selling residential property

All this places the onus on the seller of a private residential property to divulge anything and everything that may have an impact on the buyer’s decision to proceed with a purchase. If the seller omits anything of importance (that they are aware of) they could face prosecution – whether the buyer asked about the issue or not – and also a claim for damages if a sale goes through with less than full information.

The Law Society’s Property Information Form (TA6) asks sellers to divulge all details about the property that they are aware of under various categories:

• Occupiers living at the property
• General disputes or complaints made by or about the seller, anti social behaviour, nuisance, crime etc
• Property boundaries and any boundary disputes
• Planning permission on the property, pending, granted or denied
• Flooding issues, current or historic
• Structural defects
• Any changes made to the property such as extensions, alterations with planning permissions and completion certificates
• Areas shared with neighbours, rights of way, licenses, easements, formal and informal agreements or disputes over these
• Guarantees and warranties affecting the property
• Any environmental issues or future plans affecting the area, roads, large scale building etc

It is most important to give honest answers to these questions, otherwise it could come back to bite you in a big way somewhere down the line – you are likely to get sued. It may be uncomfortable to reveal some issues and could cause you anxiety about losing a sale, but a new owner could come back with legal action, even years after the sale.

It’s also best to be open and transparent when answering these questions. Being economical with the truth will likely just arouse suspicion. The buyer’s solicitor is bound to ask for further clarification in the ‘additional enquiries’ phase of the conveyancing process if you do this.

Good evidence is the key when issues are present. If the problem was solved, show the paperwork to confirm this. A structural issue has been dealt with, show reports and invoices. If the house flooded, show what has been done to prevent recurrence. If you resolved disputes with neighbours, show written correspondence to that effect.

Commercial Contracts

Commercial propriety is not exempt from these matters. A recent court case shows just how far reaching the disclosure issue goes. Although in the case of commercial contract the principle of caveat emptor does apply to some extent as a commercial contract between two consenting parties, there are exceptions, one of which is the seller’s duty to disclose latent defects in title.

A commercial property seller is bound by law to disclose any defects in title and encumbrances which it may be aware of. What’s more, written contract clauses and conditions cannot avoid liability for a seller’s failure to disclose material defects – the purchaser may rescind the contract.

SPS Groundworks & Building Ltd v Mahil (2022)

In the recent SPS Groundworks case, the buyer successfully bid on a piece of land at auction that had been described in the auction catalogue as having “excellent scope for development”. The buyer intended the land for the building of a house.

It was discovered later that the land was subject to an overage clause*. Contained in a deed of covenant, it was provided that the Co-operative Limited would receive 50% of any increase in the land’s value as a result of obtaining planning permission to build.

Although a copy of the deed of covenant was included in the legal pack prepared for the auction and available for the buyer to download, the buyer did not do so. Neither did the auctioneer on the sale day refer to the deed, although in both cases it had been suggest that all potential purchasers should read the legal packs for the properties on which they were bidding.

The buyer also discovered after the sale concluded that 80% of the land could not be built on, this being registered by the council as a local green space and protected from development.

When the buyer realised the facts it refused to complete the purchase. Subsequently, the land was sold for considerably less than the original bid, and the seller went on to seek to recover the difference from the original buyer.

Buyer beware, or no?

At trial the judge took the view that having accord to the principle of ‘caveat emptor’, or ‘buyer beware’ the purchaser should have downloaded and studied the legal pack containing the full information. And had it done so it may not have raised a bid, or otherwise went ahead and purchased the property in full knowledge of the defect. Hard luck was the judgement, pay up!

However, on appeal the appeal judge took a different tack, finding that the references in the auction catalogue and the actions of the auctioneer informing bidders to read the legal pack were insufficient to comply with the duty of disclosure.

Full and frank disclosure the judge said, required the overage clause to be specifically brought to a potential purchaser’s attention not only by the description in the particulars, an example being the type of notice produced at the second auction, or by specific reference made orally by the auctioneer.

The buyer had the right to assume that in the absence of specific references to defects, a purchaser could assume that entries on the property register or in the relevant sale documentation would not significantly affect the property’s value.

It was also noted and underlined by the judge that liability for failure to disclose cannot be avoided by including a clause in the contract, deeming that the purchaser had access to the information and therefore full knowledge of the defects.

The lessons from this case:

As with consumer sales, the SPS Groundworks case highlights the importance of ensuring that title defects are disclosed when selling a property. Whilst it is usual to expect buyers to exercise full due diligence, there is still a duty to advise the buyer of any defects in title that materially affect the value of the property. The description must be accurate and transparent, and active in drawing defects to a buyer’s attention.

*Overage clause – sometimes called a “claw-back” or “uplift” clause, it’s an agreement, usually by way of a deed of covenant in the title, that the buyer of a property will pay extra, on top of the original purchase price, in the event that, for example, the buyer increases the value of the purchase in the future by obtaining planning permission.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Don’t fall foul of the disclosure laws when selling or letting a property | LandlordZONE.

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Interest Rates Have Risen To 1% – What does This Mean For UK Property Prices?

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Interest rates have now risen to 1%, and this is not the last time they will be raised, so what does the future hold for property prices and how can property investors battle the inflation in the market?

Stay tuned to find out in the video below:



View Full Article: Interest Rates Have Risen To 1% – What does This Mean For UK Property Prices?

LAUNCH: ‘Incendiary’ book promises to dish dirt on dodgy UK property deals

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A new book promises to explode the myths created around ‘armchair investments’ and off-plan developments and expose corrupt developers and sales agents.

Author Neil Bromage labels the schemes featured in The Great British Property Scam as the buy-to-let scandal of the century.

He says many continue to be sold by unscrupulous individuals who often hide behind legitimate big brand names, offering property deals with a registered title and promising high-level returns.

The book identifies those developers and agents who have been responsible for leading investors astray as well as those solicitors who failed to protect the clients they acted for.

Unwary investors

“Student accommodation, care homes and hotels have all been broken up into small pieces with the rooms being sold to unwary investors in contravention of UK law enacted more than 20 years ago,” he explains.

“Off-plan flats and apartments have also been similarly structured as unlawful unregulated collective investment schemes.”

The Financial Conduct Authority is currently investigating and prosecuting the first culprits, says Bromage, while others will follow in their wake as the Serious Fraud Office has now stepped in.

He says: “There are tens of thousands who have already lost money to these schemes but a great many more will lose their pensions and nest eggs if they are not warned of the dangers of buying these types of investments.”

The book brings together years of research and work with investors who have lost their life savings and the lawyers who are helping to recover them. “Over the last few years I’ve had contact with around 2,000 investors and helped to put two substantial groups together with a view to getting their money back,” adds Bromage.

The Great British Property Scam is published on 1^st July and is available on Amazon to pre-order.

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The Council has no workers?

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My neighbour is a council tenant and is not the best neighbour it is possible to have. Her children have made the fence fall down and that has taken my tenant’s privacy.

The fence belongs to the council and as such declined me from putting it back up as it is considered as council’s land.

View Full Article: The Council has no workers?