Free webinar to see industry duo take questions on renting reform White Paper

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords and agents will get some expert views on this week’s big story, namely the government’s renting reform White Paper, when Sean Hooker (main pic) will take questions during a dedicated and free webinar on Monday at 10am.

Hosted by lettings platform Goodlord it will feature both Hooker, who is Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme and Oli Sherlock.

He is Head of Insurance at Goodlord and both men will cover a raft of topics, now that crucial details have been provided on the upcoming reforms, which follow years of speculation.

Topics to discuss will include:

• The proposal to move all renters onto a single system of periodic tenancies;
• How the scrapping of Section 21 is likely to work in practice;
• New rules around pets and how they will be enforced;
• The launch of a tech-powered property portal for landlords;
• The creation of a new Private Renters’ Ombudsman to arbitrate disputes;
• New rules around when and why rent increases can be introduced.

 Long wait

“After a long wait, all of a sudden the industry has an avalanche of new detail and fresh proposals to contend with,” says Hooker

“It’s a lot to take in and this webinar will help agents start to make sense of this seminal document and begin the process of getting organised for the changes it will bring.”

Oli Sherlock (main pic), Director of Insurance at Goodlord, adds: This webinar will provide the first step in bringing some clarity to proceedings amongst the noise.”

Full details

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Add rented homes to national flood reinsurance scheme, says leading council

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Westminster Council is calling on the government to expand its flood reinsurance scheme to cover private renters.

Flood Re, which steps in when normal insurance firms won’t insure a property at the greatest risk of flooding, is unavailable to properties in blocks of more than four flats, or for private renters, according to newspaper reports

After suffering 253 flooding-related incidents last year, 70 more than any other London borough, the local authority believes the scheme is insufficient due to its restrictive criteria. Last July, amajor incident was declared when a month’s worth of rain fell in one day, causing severe damage to hundreds of homes and businesses in the borough.

Personal toll

Geoff Barraclough (pictured), member for planning and economic development, says the damage caused by the floods destroyed many residents’ homes, ruined their life-long possessions and took a personal toll on many people.

He adds: “The government should urgently review Flood Re’s needlessly restrictive eligibility criteria so that the scheme can protect all of our residents.”

The Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), says renters and landlords can obtain contents insurance through Flood Re when full home insurance policies are not available.

But landlords are unable to make use of it since landlord insurance is classified as a commercial business insurance, which is not available through the scheme.

A Defra spokesperson told The Standard: “Tenants and leaseholders can obtain contents insurance supported by this scheme. Landlord insurance is often covered by bespoke policies, and we’ve worked with the industry to set up a new flood insurance directory to signpost customers to when they cannot offer flood cover.”

In 2021/22, 256,634 properties across the country were covered by the scheme.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Add rented homes to national flood reinsurance scheme, says leading council | LandlordZONE.

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REVEALED: Why ‘deposit passports’ were dropped from renting reform White Paper

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The government has parked proposals for rental deposit passports or ‘lifetime deposits’ after a lack of enthusiasm from landlords, tenants and letting agents, despite it being a ‘government priority’ three years ago.

Its call for evidence on tenancy deposit reform asked whether the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) should continue to explore ‘passporting’ part of renters’ deposits before the end of their old tenancy.

Of those surveyed, 53% said it shouldn’t, mainly because they believed damage could be hidden until the tenant had left and deductions couldn’t be calculated before leaving, or they thought it would increase risk for landlords, and take too long.

Those in favour believed passports would speed the process up, remove the need for a second deposit and make the moving process easier for tenants.

However, while most (70%) agreed that passporting would lead to a change in landlord and tenant behaviour, when asked what measures could be put in place to tackle or prevent negative behaviour, the largest response (42%) suggested not putting passporting in place altogether.

Too slow

Perhaps not surprisingly, most tenants (90%) agreed that the process for returning a deposit is too slow whereas the majority of individual landlords disagreed (54%) or neither agreed nor disagreed (26%).

Other proposals included paying in instalments, financial education for tenants, and the creation of an insurance deposit product and deposit replacement products.

Read more about deposits.

In its report, the DLUHC said: “The market has evolved since the call for evidence and has begun to develop innovative solutions to affordability issues, for example, loan and insurance products to bridge the period a tenant has a period where deposit requirements overlap. Private solutions have the potential to offer innovative and flexible solutions for different groups.”

Instead, it plans to monitor these solutions, including their affordability and accessibility, and to explore the findings with the Tenancy Deposit Protection Working Group, made up of deposit protection experts and tenant, landlord, and student industry bodies.

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Selling a small portfolio?

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Dear 118 members, I’m looking for some feedback/advice on selling a small property portfolio and would like to know how members have found the process.

We have 6 flats, 1 house and a shop as well as the freeholds

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