Put your EICR date in the diary now to avoid a shocking bill

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HMO landlords face paying thousands of pounds for electrical equipment when new regulations kick in later this year.

An amendment to BS7671 (Electrical Regs) means HMOs must have AFDDs (arc fault detection devices) in single phase AC final circuits supplying socket-outlets with rated current not exceeding 32A.

Satisfactory rating

Those landlords with an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) due in the next six to nine months should consider getting it done before the law changes on 28th September, advises former electrician and Portsmouth landlord, Graham Castellano. He explains that after this time, any electrical installation condition reports on HMOs should class the absence of these devices in the consumer unit (CU) as a C2, which means it will need remedial work to get a ‘satisfactory’ rating.

Castellano says the device can sometimes be inserted directly in place of the circuit breaker in an existing unit, but if that isn’t possible, a replacement unit would be needed. Each device costs about £150 – with one needed for each socket circuit – plus the electrician’s costs for the remedial work and retest. With a new consumer unit, this could easily cost £2,000 per property.

More expense

He adds: “The AFDDs contain microprocessors, which are susceptible to damage from mains-borne spikes. This might lead to having to install surge protection devices at the consumer unit as a minimum – more expense.”

Portsmouth & District Private Landlords Association chair, Martin Silman, says it wants to see how fires caused by electrical distribution faults are split between premises with a current/valid EICR versus those without. “Our fear is that those with up-to-date and tested electrical systems are being penalised, by being forced to pay for expensive upgrades within their consumer units, to reduce risks that do not normally occur in well maintained properties,” adds Silman. “Sadly, this ‘regulation creep’ is all too common and continues to push up rents and make life harder for landlords.”

View Full Article: Put your EICR date in the diary now to avoid a shocking bill

Landlord partnership sells 29 residential rental properties for £10.6 million

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Real estate investment manager Europa Capital and joint venture partner Addington Capital have sold their Lancelot portfolio of 29 residential properties to Mountview Estates Plc for £10.6 million.

The properties comprise 17 houses and 12 flats (see photo) mainly in London and the South East, all leased on regulated, assured and life tenancies, providing a gross rent of £261,243 a year.

Project Merlin

The properties were acquired by the joint venture in October 2018 as part of the Project Merlin acquisition – a portfolio of mostly old housing stock in Greater London made up of 202 units (43 houses and 153 flats) for £55 million.

Since then, Addington Capital has been asset managing the properties with its sister property management and leasing company, AddLiving, providing property management.

Matthew Allen, principal at Addington Capital, says since acquisition it has been looking for opportunities to re-package the properties and add value.

He adds: “As a standalone regulated portfolio, Lancelot presented a relatively rare opportunity to acquire these kind of reversionary interests in bulk. The last of these statutory tenancies were created in 1989 and so there’s a dwindling supply. We ran a competitive process and Mountview, as a specialist buyer, is very familiar with the kind of stock and was a reliable counterparty.” 

Operating Partner

Addington Capital was set up in 2010 as an independent asset management and investment business and operates in the office, retail and residential sectors as an operating partner, working closely with its partners to create value through active asset management.

View Full Article: Landlord partnership sells 29 residential rental properties for £10.6 million

Partnership seals multi-million pound acquisition deal

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Real estate investment manager Europa Capital and joint venture partner Addington Capital have sold their Lancelot portfolio of 29 residential properties to Mountview Estates Plc for £10.6 million.

The properties comprise 17 houses and 12 flats (see photo) mainly in London and the South East, all leased on regulated, assured and life tenancies, providing a gross rent of £261,243 a year.

Project Merlin

The properties were acquired by the joint venture in October 2018 as part of the Project Merlin acquisition – a portfolio of mostly old housing stock in Greater London made up of 202 units (43 houses and 153 flats) for £55 million. Since then, Addington Capital has been asset managing the properties with its sister property management and leasing company, AddLiving, providing property management.

Matthew Allen, principal at Addington Capital, says since acquisition it has been looking for opportunities to re-package the properties and add value. He adds: “As a standalone regulated portfolio, Lancelot presented a relatively rare opportunity to acquire these kind of reversionary interests in bulk. The last of these statutory tenancies were created in 1989 and so there’s a dwindling supply. We ran a competitive process and Mountview, as a specialist buyer, is very familiar with the kind of stock and was a reliable counterparty.” 

Operating Partner

Addington Capital was set up in 2010 as an independent asset management and investment business and operates in the office, retail and residential sectors as an operating partner, working closely with its partners to create value through active asset management.

View Full Article: Partnership seals multi-million pound acquisition deal

Landlord ignored order to share horror house with tenants

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A rogue landlord who rented out a ‘death trap’ HMO has been fined £3,660 after he failed to make vital safety improvements.

Paul Ettienne lived with five tenants in a dangerous two-bedroom property in Headstone Drive, London, which had previously been banned from use by Harrow Council. Inspectors discovered that the HMO was unlicensed, had poor electrics, overloaded extension leads and a large window unit secured with tape.

Illegally installed

The disrepair was so bad that one plug in the loft was serving a network of daisy-chained extension leads powering electric fires, TVs, music system, and lamps to the eves in the loft which had been sectioned off as small bedrooms. In order to get to the rooms, tenants would have had to use an illegally installed staircase with no fire protection. The loft itself had had load bearing removed and was not safe for habitation. 

A large window unit on the first floor was held with tape and installed the wrong way around with the handle on the outside.  

Previous prosecution

Ettienne had previously been prosecuted in 2019 for breaching an Emergency Prohibition Order and was found to be still flouting the law despite having been handed a large fine. He had made no attempt to comply with the order and pleaded guilty at Willesden Magistrates Court, blaming his inaction on the pandemic and a loss of income.  

Councillor Anjana Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety, says: “Not only did Etienne ignore the conditions of the protection order, but he thought he was above the law and could get away with housing tenants in his death trap property. Thanks to the work of our officers the law caught up with him and he has a price to pay.”

View Full Article: Landlord ignored order to share horror house with tenants

Former housing minister and evictions ban architect Chris Pincher resigns

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Chris Pincher, a former housing minister and architect of Covid’s painful eviction ban laws for landlords, has resigned from his latest government job at the Conservative whip’s office.

The 52-year-old, who until today had been working as the party’s Deputy Chief Whip since leaving his housing job in February this year after two years at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The Sun reports that Pincher resigned last night after several MPs reported him for drunken behaviour at London’s Carlton Club during which he is alleged to have groped two junior members of staff.

Reports indicate he was barely unable to stand up after drinking “far too much”, his resignation letter released today reveals.

Evictions bans

Pincher was one of the Government’s key housing ministers during the Covid months and fought off criticism of his department’s handling of Covid eviction restrictions announcements, which were often made suddenly and on several occasions late on a Friday afternoon.

His elevation to the whip’s office in February raised eyebrows as he had held a position there previously but resigned in 2017 after being accused of making an unwanted pass at former Olympic rower turned wannabe MP, Alex Story, several years earlier.

An internal investigation cleared him of any misconduct, and Pincher exonerated himself last year after organising an effort to save the PM from a back-bench revolt.

In his resignation letter Pincher says: “Last night I drank far too much.

“I think the right thing to do in the circumstances is for me to resign as deputy chief whip. I owe it to you and the people I’ve caused upset to, to do this.”

He said that Boris Johnson would continue to have his “full support from the back benches”, adding: “It has been the honour of my life to have served in Her Majesty’s Government.”

View Full Article: Former housing minister and evictions ban architect Chris Pincher resigns

Service charges and repairs – Allowable expenses?

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My daughter is living, rent-free, in my last remaining BTL, a leasehold flat. Decided that with all the additional legislation coming to get out of the PRS.

In 2021-22 I did not rent out the 2nd bedroom due to worries re Covid and having eventually managed to remove my daughter’s flatmate from hell.

View Full Article: Service charges and repairs – Allowable expenses?