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We are currently giving away FREE Member Profile upgrades to all new and existing Property118 Members.

If you wish, you can now add a Bio to tell other Members a bit more about yourself. If you want to self-promote we have no problem with that either.

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Licensing and EPCs top reasons why landlords are quitting, says leading group

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The introduction of another selective licensing scheme in Nottingham will create an exodus of landlords, the local landlord group warns.

East Midlands Property Owners Group (EMPO) believes many tenants could fall into arrears when the cost of living crisis forces them to face a decision whether to pay even higher utility bills in October or the rent.

It warns landlords will be forced to pass costs onto renters or might decide to call it quits. 

“This is not the time for a sensible council to be considering another costly scheme,” Giles Inman (pictured), EMPO’s business development manager tells LandlordZONE.

“Very little has been achieved in the last five years, anti-social behaviour hasn’t been reduced and inspections have only found a small percentage of hazards.”

Licence costs

Nottingham Council is consulting on a new scheme which would take effect in August 2023, after approving plans last month. A licence is expected to cost £820 for five years with a proposed fee of £630 for accredited landlords.

Under the previous scheme – which is currently being audited – just 666 improvements were made to a total of 446 properties. Inman says it issued 30,000 licences at £890 and landlords are questioning if they’re getting value for money.

Every landlord selling rental properties cites licensing as one of the reasons, he adds. “Selling up is the number one conversation topic, followed by EPCs. They’re very angry about selective licensing – the mood is a lot more hostile this time than it was five years ago.”

Read: the complete guide to letting an HMO property.

EMPO is currently considering whether to draw up a formal response which would involve going to the government with a submission.

Councillor Toby Neal (pictured), new portfolio holder for housing and human resources, told Nottinghamshire Live: “The first scheme has helped improve property conditions, management standards and helped to make homes safer through the removal of dangerous hazards such as electrical and gas safety, damp and mould, as well as slip, trip and fall hazards.”

Read more about HMOs.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Licensing and EPCs top reasons why landlords are quitting, says leading group | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Licensing and EPCs top reasons why landlords are quitting, says leading group

Zurich’s intelligent commercial buildings concept – is this the future?

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Based on its own experience of converting its world-wide headquarters of 120 years, the Zurich’s Quai Zurich Campus (QZC) global headquarter at Mythenquai, Zurich is now promoting the smart building concept through its insurance proposition for all commercial buildings.

Building and re-furbishing for energy efficiency, adaptation to flexible ways of working, and constant 24/7 intelligence gathering with digital monitoring, brings total security as well.

Zurich UK says its smart building proposition aims to “…help businesses cut property losses while boosting sustainability.”

Refurbishing Zurich’s 120 years-old headquarters

Zurich’s own head-quarter’s redevelopment formed the template and brings together its existing heritage properties and state-of-the-art new building features. They’ve managed to totally maintain the company building’s heritage while at the same time incorporating many new features, demonstrating – as the video shows – the company’s commitment to innovation and sustainability.

Together with IoT (Internet of Things) specialists, akenza, Zurich has managed to incorporate an ecosystem of sensors and smart solutions into its “new” headquarters building to optimize and offer the ideal human-centric building usage experience.

Taking the opportunity of a major renovation, the company implemented building monitoring and facility management functionalities. These include for example, occupancy tracking, facility monitoring, people flow counting, and critical asset monitoring.

Implementing multiple Internet of Things solutions, the QZC is equipped with state of the art smart building technology. The the company admits that, “adaptation and digitization can be daunting to many, as the growing options, from hardware producers over to connectivity technologies can be overwhelming and cost countless resources if not planned and executed correctly.”

Zurich’s new insurance proposition

Nevertheless, the insurance company is pushing for the self-installed devices and the so-called “Zurich insight” technology, to be incorporated into the buildings it insures. The new proposition, the company claims, allows for real-time monitoring of a commercial building’s ‘health’.

The sensors – which can be used in all kinds of commercial premises, in manufacturing and warehousing facilities, schools, hotels, offices, retail buildings, etc. – collect operational and environmental information which, the company says, “is then analysed against the insurer’s risk grading factors and best practice on sustainability.”

“The goal is to provide actionable insights not only to improve efficiency but also identify issues before they would normally be detected. A live dashboard allows customers to set notification alerts when specific data points hit certain thresholds, while a 60-day health check report offers risk reduction suggestions, among other things.”

Zurich Resilience Solutions property and energy head Louise Kerrigan says:

“Not only do smart sensors improve a building’s efficiency, they also reduce risks, insights from the sensors can help detect dangers in real time, alerting building managers and helping them take action to mitigate or remove threats before they become loss events. This saves costs, improves business resilience, and keeps people safe.”

The company claims its proof of concept being: it has already saved an estimated £7,500 per building after installing the sensors in several Zurich UK offices.

Zurich’s UK innovation head Mark Budd says:

“Unlocking the power of data is the key to achieving safer, smarter, and more sustainable buildings. By providing more effective controls over energy usage, this technology can help businesses to enhance their efficiency, reduce utility costs, and promote a greener workplace. This is even more critical as firms adapt to changing occupancy levels brought on by agile working.”

Useful Zurich webinars here

Smart Buildings, the future?

In 2020, 75% of real estate executives polled by Deloitte anticipated that smart buildings would become the norm within five years. Despite an increasing number of smart building lighthouse projects, this expectation has not yet been fulfilled. Market participants are still facing a lot of uncertainty around this topic.

There are obviously barriers as well as drivers for the future of smart buildings, based on a set of interviews with different market participants from both the owner/developer and the user side.

In 2016, the Deloitte office in Amsterdam (“The Edge”) opened. At the time, it was the “smartest building in the world. Since then Deloitte has observed an increasing interest in various smart building projects in the market. However, market participants are still struggling to incorporate smart buildings into their corporate strategy in order to implement and operate them on a large scale.

As owners now anticipate the changes needed to bring their buildings up to the new environmental and energy efficiency standards, incorporating smart technology might just be the way to go?

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Zurich’s intelligent commercial buildings concept – is this the future? | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Zurich’s intelligent commercial buildings concept – is this the future?

OPINION: Has the Prime Minister’s landlord bashing gone too far this time?

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It may have gone unnoticed by many landlords that Boris Johnson made one of the most extraordinary attacks on the sector in living memory last week.

And it is fair to say, one of the most unfair. Most landlords have become accustomed to the government’s frosty rhetoric over the past decade or so, but this week’s comments take the biscuit.

To remind readers, Johnson in his speech last week said: “When ownership remains beyond the reach of a great many hard-working people, it’s neither right nor fair to put ever-vaster sums of taxpayer’s money straight into the pockets of landlords.

“The total bill for Housing Support stands at about £30 billion each year, and the Office for Budget responsibility has warned that if we don’t take action, it could reach £50 billion by 2050.

“That is cash, taxpayer’s cash that is being simply swallowed to pay the mortgages of private sector landlords or by housing associations.”

Among those who follow the twists and turns of government policy, it’s clear that the Prime Minister is slamming landlords for a situation largely if not entirely of his own government’s making.

As successive administrations including his own have stalled on building more public-sector rented homes and council waiting lists have lengthened, so it has been private landlords who have stepped up to fill the gap.

Yes, there is clear evidence from the courts that too many of these landlords are terrible accommodation providers and everyone including the NRLA agrees that adequate funding needs to be provided to councils to drive them out of the market.

But to suggest, as Johnson has done, that the ‘pockets’ of landlords are being lined at the expense of the tax payer are unfair.

No picnic

As LandlordZONE has documented on many occasions, being a landlord with tenants in receipt of Universal Credit or housing benefit is no picnic.

The ideologically-driven decision to give tenants the rental element of their UC direct rather than pay it to their landlord has caused tens of thousands of landlords major headaches.

And the system of enabling a tenant to have that cash paid direct can be cumbersome.

Also, the freeze in Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates means there is an increasingly large gap between benefits and the rent tenants pay.

This kind of commentary by Johnson is, unsurprisingly, populist in tone. There are some 1.75 million landlords in the UK but approximately 20 million PRS tenants, so the No.10 calculation is an easy one. Landlords are sitting ducks politically, despite the NRLA’s best efforts.

But this approach is beginning to come home to roost – landlords are leaving the sector and supply is narrowing. The only losers will be the people Johnson hopes to appeal to politically, the tenants, who will pay higher and higher rent.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – OPINION: Has the Prime Minister’s landlord bashing gone too far this time? | LandlordZONE.

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£27 million of deposits held in rental disputes

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The latest figures from mydeposits show that while tenancy deposit disputes did see a year-on-year decline in volume during 2021, there was still an estimated £27 million worth of deposits held in rental disputes between landlords and tenants.

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Capital Account Restructuring – Capital Vs Equity?

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I’m doing my research and coming around to the idea that transferring our BTL properties into a LTD company would be very sensible.

I can see that Capital Account Restructuring using a bridging loan potentially means we may never have to pay high rate income tax again …

View Full Article: Capital Account Restructuring – Capital Vs Equity?

GET IN: Entries for first-ever awards for HMO landlords close in two weeks

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HMO landlords and suppliers have two weeks to get their entries in for the sector’s inaugural awards to be held at the Stowe House historic country pile in Buckinghamshire.

Designed to change the reputation of the HMO sector whose operators are often forgotten or even ignored by the rest of the property sector, it will highlight its best operators and suppliers.

“If you asked the average person on the street what an HMO investor is like, what would they describe? For most people, it is the person who bought a three-bed house which is now inhabited by six couples,” says Vann Vogstad, founder and CEO of COHO, which is organising the event.

“It is the image that gets a lot of people up in arms when a planning application goes up for an HMO on their street.

“But that isn’t what I see. I have spoken to many, many incredible HMO managers, investors, and service providers.

“It is a difficult space in which to succeed you really must recognise the importance of consistent processes, and customer service…and in a quickly professionalising space, these people are really on the ball. But they aren’t who most people will picture.”

To underline this message, the HMO Awards offers 18 categories (see list at bottom) each judged by a corresponding expert figure.

Judging line-up

Judges include Ben Beadle from the NRLA, Sky TV property investment expert Helen Chorley, tech expert Gary Barker, Landlord Action founder Paul Shamplina, property educator star Ranjan Bhattacharya and rent-to-rent mentor Stephanie Taylor.

“For too many years awards events have been a ‘cookie-cutting’’ exercise,” says event organise Helen Turner.

“So many people have asked me if you have to ‘pay to win’ or if they can ‘book a table of ten’.

“Our ambition for this event is to show the property industry that it’s time to break from the norm, with the sole aim that more people can get more value out of industry events.”

Taking place on 30^th September and with some 400 delegates already signed up, the awards will be proceeded by an exhibition and conference on the day.

Find out more.

Categories

• Best Master Lease Operator
• Best HMO Content or Media
• Best HMO Service Supplier
• Best HMO Financial Service Supplier
• Best Student HMO Manager
• Lifetime Achievement
• Best HMO Technology Supplier
• Best Progressive Social Housing HMO Investor
• Best Commercial to HMO Conversion
• Best Professional HMO Landlord
• Creating a Sustainable Future
• Best HMO Training or Mentorship Program
• Best HMO Investor
• Best Community Experience
• Best HMO Agency
• Best Residential to HMO Conversion
• HMO Manager of the Year – Tenants Choice
• Best Shared Living Design

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – GET IN: Entries for first-ever awards for HMO landlords close in two weeks | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: GET IN: Entries for first-ever awards for HMO landlords close in two weeks

Landlord wins legal battle over £3,300 gas safety paperwork fine

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A professional landlord has scored a partial win against his council fines for charges relating to gas safety inspections.

Mahendra Maharaj, who owns 78 properties in Liverpool, had been fined £9,000 by the city council – a decision confirmed by a First Tier Property Tribunal in June 2021 – concerning his property at 68 Fazakerley Road (pictured).

However, while an Upper Tribunal confirmed the £5,625 penalty for not providing evidence of regular inspections, it has quashed his £3,375 fine for not supplying a gas safety certificate by the given deadline.

The council had written to Maharaj asking him to produce a copy of a valid gas safety certificate for the property within seven days, but on 13th June 2019 this had not been provided.

It had also written to him on 5th June 2019 asking him to produce a copy of his records of inspection for the property within 28 days but by 4th July 2019 this had not been provided. It issued notices of intent on 8^th November that year.

Landlord claims

Maharajhad told the original First Tier Tribunal that on 6th June 2019 he had posted three gas safety certificates for the property, dated 8th February 2017, 29th March 2018, and 17th February 2019, along with blank, but signed, inspection records, but that the tenant had not given him access to the property.

However, both tribunals found that he had not provided any evidence of making attempts to do the inspection or having done this.

At the Upper Tribunal, his lawyer argued that the failure to provide a gas safety certificate by 13th June 2019 could not constitute an offence since it was not one of the conditions of his licence.

Read: The ultimate guide to gas safety certificates.

“The six months’ period for giving notice of intent had expired on 4th January 2019, so that any proceedings for that offence were effectively time-barred, because no notice of intent had been given until on or about 8th November 2019,” the Upper Tribunal ruled.

“The Tribunal does not regard this point as a mere technicality because it gives rise to the risk that a landlord might be found guilty of a non-existent offence, or of one that has not been properly identified to the landlord.”

Read the judgement in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlord wins legal battle over £3,300 gas safety paperwork fine | LandlordZONE.

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Property118 Members Poll

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As we continue to build the Property118 Editorial Team, to continue to deliver even increasingly more valuable content content to our Members, we would really value your feedback by completing the Poll below.

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LATEST: New guidance to make EPCs more accurate after 10-year wait

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The government has finally updated the guidance it provides to property assessors on how to calculate EPCs for new homes and, in six months’ time, for existing homes too.

This is the first time the ‘methodologies of calculation’ have been updated for almost ten years for the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) used by assessors issuing EPCs to homeowners and landlords.

Currently in their 10^th edition, the new methodologies update assessors on how to calculate a property’s carbon emissions and heat consumption.

Changes

One of the key changes is the CO2 emissions factor for electricity which is being reduced, halving the emission factor.

This means that the carbon footprint of electric heating (rather than gas) will be more favourable in helping a landlord hit the emissions numbers as assessors in SAP 10 will find it easier to achieve compliance with electric heating. 

Stuart Fairlie, MD of leading assessor firm Elmhurst Energy, which accredits some 9,500 assessors across the UK, says the long-awaited update means EPC for new homes will, after June 15^th, be much more accurate.

“We expect the updated methodologies to be issued for existing properties to be released before the end of the year, which will make EPCs for many landlords’ properties more accurate too,” he says.

“The two government departments involves – BEIS and DLUHC – have decided to focus on new homes first, get them nailed down, and then turn to existing properties including rental homes.”

Elmurst Energy is the largest of the EPC accreditation organisations, alongside Stroma Certification, Quids, RUSFA and Bryter Digital.

The announcement by the housing ministry follows many years during which landlords and house builders have complained that EPCs can vary significantly from one property to another even though they are similar.

This has prompted some landlords to allege that that the whole EPC certificate system is misleading, as LandlordZONE reported last July and Tom Entwistle set out later on that year.

It has also led to some landlords complaining that they have faced additional costs to upgrade properties when they may have not needed to.

“A further update to the SAP is expected at some point before 2025 as the government ratchets up its ‘net zero’ targets for the housing sector, but for now at least we can now say that EPCs are as close to the truth as is possible,” says Fairlie.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: New guidance to make EPCs more accurate after 10-year wait | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: LATEST: New guidance to make EPCs more accurate after 10-year wait