NEW: Campaigners persuade SIX London councils to get tougher on landlords

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Campaigning group the London Renters Union has secured promises from six Labour-controlled councils to change the way they run local housing services.

As Labour celebrates taking control of Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet in the local elections, the union credits its campaigning might for getting Brent, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Newham, Hackney and Lewisham to promise greater landlord regulation, expanded landlord licensing and hire 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. 

London Renters Union launched its #SideWithRenters campaign in March and says: “Because of the way we’ve been building power, the main parties across six boroughs have committed to implement our demands.”

It adds: “After a rest, we’ll get on with the hard work of holding politicians to the promises they’ve made.”

Pressure

Other campaigning groups – Generation Rent and the Renters Reform Coalition – are also keeping up the pressure and this week handed a letter into 10 Downing Street urging Boris Johnson to end unfair evictions by announcing the Renters’ Reform Bill as part of next Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech.

It says private landlords are getting away with renting out poor quality homes that can make people ill, and that even when it’s serious enough for the council to get involved, most tenants still don’t get the protection they need.

Generation Rent adds: “Getting rid of Section 21 evictions entirely and requiring landlords to provide legitimate grounds for eviction will give tenants more confidence to demand improvements. Unless the Queen’s Speech contains measures to reform the rental market, the government will fail in its mission to level up housing.”

Read more about Section 21 and the government's plans.

These groups don’t always get their way – as we reported in LandlordZONE last month, tenants’ rights group Acorn was taken to court by a landlord it harrassed in Sheffield and it must now pay £100,000 to her after she won her case.

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EVENT: Gala property networking evening launched, and you’re invited!

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Landlords are invited to attend a new rental sector networking event making its debut next month in St Albans.

Organised by industry expert Julie Ford, The Shire Black Tie Summer Ball will bring together landlords, property professionals, developers and investors for a gala evening of advice, networking and entertainment as well as a three-course dinner.

To be held on 30th June 2022, the event will be hosted by comedian, writer and TV and radio presenter Bennett Arron (main pic) who bills himself as the ‘Welsh Seinfeld’.

He will introduce three high-profile speakers from different sectors of the private rented sector.

These are evictions expert and Channel 5 TV star Paul Shamplina, investment guru and property developer John Howard and HMO specialist, author and MD of New Era Property Rick Gannon.

The event is taking place at the Aubrey Park Hotel in St Albans where attendees will enjoy a private bar and terrace and a pre-dinner drinks reception prior to the main event.

“After the long months of Covid where it was so difficult to meet people face-to-face, I thought it was time that everyone involved in the private rental sector had a chance to network once more,” says Ford (pictured).

She is a seasoned legal expert within the sector who has helped thousands of landlords solve tricky tenancy problems and also runs the Hemel Hempstead-based Land and Property Network.

Tickets for the event, which cost £75 a head, can be bought via Julie’s website. Additional tickets costing £100 secure seats at tables hosted by the celebrity speakers.

To see more details of the event in the coming weeks on social media follow it via the hashtag #SPS22.

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NTSELAT deem Price on Application unlawful

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The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) has released its opinion, with the collaboration of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), on the use by agents of the term price on application (POA) in property listings.

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Build to Rent – A good idea or not?

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I am wondering what subscribers think about the new trend of large build to rent developments. I can see the attraction to young people, with communal hubs, IT suites and on-site coffee shops etc. It means that if their own home is the size of a box they can go and hang out in other parts of the building.

View Full Article: Build to Rent – A good idea or not?

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cut or scrap stamp duty’ say backbench MPs… but not for landlords

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Tory MPs are urging the government to cut or scrap stamp duty in a bid to save homebuyers thousands – although their proposals don’t extend to landlords, LandlordZONE can reveal.

Kevin Hollinrake, a member of the Treasury select committee and founder of Hunters estate agent, says stamp duty is a “disincentive to transact, which is bad for the economy” and suggests the initial £125,000 threshold could be axed, effectively making the pandemic stamp duty holiday for lower-value homes permanent.

However, although he believes the current surcharge is fundamentally wrong, Hollinrake is unsure whether landlords should be included in any potential shake-up by the Treasury, he tells LandlordZONE.

“Landlords do a very good job, providing accommodation for lots of people but this is a tricky area – I’m on the fence,” he says. “It needs to be looked at, but this is not a fully worked out proposal.”

Zero-rated

Rising house prices mean 1.2 million homes that were previously zero-rated now require buyers to pay stamp duty after moving above the £125,000 threshold, meaning they face 2% tax on any purchase funds above that amount.

According to a report in The Telegraph, a further 3.1 million have been dragged into higher stamp duty brackets, paying between 5%-10%.

First-time buyers – who will also have to raise an extra £4,000 for a deposit compared with two years ago and an additional £5,000 in annual household income to secure a mortgage – will be hardest hit, according to analysis by Zoopla.

Meanwhile, the Treasury has collected £18.6 billion in the year to March 2022, an increase of £6.1 billion despite the stamp duty holiday during the pandemic.

Sir John Redwood MP and Greg Smith MP have also called for changes to the current tax system.

Read more: Scrap the 3% stamp duty surchage says NRLA.

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LATEST: Appeal granted for landmark clarification on who pays rent repayment orders

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The Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal in a case to decide whether a Rent Repayment Order (RRO) can be made against a superior landlord, usually the property owner, not just the immediate landlord.

It follows the long-running legal battle of Rakusen v Jepsen, culminating in August last year when the Court of Appeal ruled that RROs only apply to the immediate landlord, which was good news for those who find their property has been sublet unknowingly in rent-to-rent set-ups but not for tenants who struggle to take dodgy companies to task.

It overturned a previous decision by the Upper Tribunal, which ruled that an RRO application could be made against any landlord of the relevant property for the relevant period of the relevant offence.

Martin Rakusen granted a tenancy of his flat within Mandeville Mansion (pictured) on the Finchley Road in London, to Kensington Property Investment Group Ltd (KPIG) in May 2016, introduced by agents Hamptons.

KPIG then entered into separate written agreements with the four tenants.

Licence application

In November 2018, Hamptons told Rakusen that KPIG wanted to apply for a licence but none was granted and Rakusen did not renew KPIG’s tenancy in May 2019.

The tenants then applied for, and won, RROs totalling £26,140. Last year, the Court of Appeal allowed Rakusen’s appeal and struck out the claim against him, ruling that the correct interpretation of the law should relate to only the immediate landlord.

MORE: Read the full July 2021 Court of Appeal judgement

Landmark Chambers, which represents Safer Renting, says the case would be the first time the Supreme Court will consider the ‘rogue landlord’ provisions in the Housing Act 2004 and Housing and Planning Act 2016.

The appeal is expected to be heard towards the end of this year or early 2023.

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Bank Base rate kicking us when we’re down

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The Monetary Policy Committee have voted by a majority of 6-3 to increase Bank Rate by a quarter-point to a full 1% with 12 month CPI inflation rising to 7.0% in March, around 1% higher than expected in the February Report.

View Full Article: Bank Base rate kicking us when we’re down

NEW: Government ‘landlord bashing’ is fuelling rental supply crisis, warns NRLA

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Landlords have warned Ministers that their ongoing attempts to dampen investment within the private rental sector are fuelling a supply crisis, hiking rents and making homeownership more difficult to afford.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) says that since 2015 this has included taxing the supply of new homes to rent through a three per cent stamp duty levy, restricting mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax so that, unlike any other business, landlords are taxed on turnover rather than profits.

The NRLA is warning that these tax measures are fuelling a supply crisis in the sector.

“Ministers have been repeatedly warned of the damage that would be caused if they continued to attack the private rented sector,” says NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle (pictured).

“The supply crisis is completely counterproductive to the Government’s mission to turn renters into homeowners.

“By suppressing supply whilst demand increases, with rents going up as a result, they continue to make it harder for tenants to save for a home of their own.

Wake up

“The Chancellor needs to wake up to a crisis of the Government’s own making, scrap the tax on new homes to rent and review other measures which add to a landlord’s costs.”

According to recent data from research consultancy BVA/BDRC for the NRLA, 62 per cent of private landlords in England and Wales report heightened tenant demand in Q1 2022 – a record high. 

Read a complete guide to tax for landlords.

Over the same quarter more landlords (11 per cent) sold property than purchased new property (eight per cent), making the supply crisis even more acute.

This is having a predictable effect on rents. Official data shows that private rents across the UK increased by 2.4 per cent during the first quarter of 2022, the biggest leap since 2016.

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Government fuelling rental demand and supply crisis

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The NRLA is warning that government efforts to dampen investment in rental housing are fuelling a supply crisis, hiking rents and making homeownership more difficult to afford. All at the same time data shows demand for rental property is at a record high.

View Full Article: Government fuelling rental demand and supply crisis

LATEST: Selective licensing scheme halted over ‘blanket regulation’ fears

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Councillors have welcomed news that a consultation into selective licensing in West Lindsey has been halted amid fears that it would create unfairness among landlords.

The plans, covering Gainsborough South West, Gainsborough North, Hemswell, Market Rasen (pictured) and Wold View, would affect 5,000 properties, and was planned to launch next year.

However, West Lindsey Council admitted that its previous scheme had seen limited success in tackling anti-social behaviour, community safety and crime levels, and the consultation was stopped seven weeks into the 11-week exercise, reports Lincolnshire Live.

Alison Provis, rural surveyor for the Country Land and Business Association, said the group would now seek to ensure that any future proposals fully addressed concerns.

Said Provis: “Introducing a selective licensing scheme that incorporates all landlords in the areas highlighted in this consultation was not the right idea.

Poor quality

“The approach must be to target those landlords who are providing poor quality housing and ensure it is only those properties that face additional charges and requirements.”

A meeting of the council’s prosperous communities committee heard from Councillor Trevor Young who said that forcing all landlords in certain areas to get a licence “creates unfairness” and added: “This is going to take some time and we’re not going to be able to bring in selective licensing for some time if we go through all the right processes.”

Concerns were also raised by Liberal Democrat Councillor Stephen Bunney (pictured), who said that alternatives needed to be considered and that other options for improving property conditions and reducing anti-social behaviour should be presented. Andy Gray, the authority’s housing and environmental enforcement manager, said his team would work to provide a response to the concerns raised.

A progress report is due on 19th July.

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