Angry landlord slams police force after it fails to tackle nightmare tenant

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A landlord has slammed her local police force for failing to deal with a nightmare tenant who she feared would hurt her or destroy the house.

Despite complaints from neighbours that they were living in constant fear of the man’s actions – who smashed and burnt items day and night – police told Kathy Miller that it didn’t have enough evidence for a criminal conviction.

One neighbour said the tenant had put glass and a used toilet brush through her letterbox and drawn a swastika on her front door, while the Wiltshire-based landlord was also intimidated by the tenant who brandished a hammer when she visited the property in Eastbourne Road, Trowbridge (pictured).

Miller told The Salisbury Journal that during her 30 years in the sector, the tenant was the worst she’d ever dealt with, but the incident was only classified as a civil complaint. She felt helpless and felt the police totally failed her, adding: “The system that should be there for protection is non-existent.”

The landlord didn’t receive rent from the tenant for months, but fears that the tenant might completely destroy the house affected her mental health.

He didn’t pay rent for months and was finally evicted after she served a Section 21 notice. Miller has since had to pay for £30,000 of repairs to clean up the devastation he left behind. “It’s very stressful dealing with a tenant like this,” she adds.

Property damage

Damage to the property included a completely trashed kitchen, ripped-out electrics, smashed windows, graffiti on many walls and a burned garden.

When she filed a complaint to the police and crime commissioner expressing her frustration with Wiltshire Police, the service decided to take no further action.

Wiltshire Police said it had carried out extensive enquiries, including taking a statement from the reporting person and interviewing the suspect. A spokesman adds: “If anyone is unhappy with the service they have received then they are able to pursue a complaint via the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.”

View Full Article: Angry landlord slams police force after it fails to tackle nightmare tenant

‘War on landlords’ latest – 46,000 rental properties to disappear this year

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An estate agency has claimed that the government’s ‘war on landlords’ will cost the private rented market some 46,000 this year, or some 3,800 every month.

Hamptons, which has branches all over the UK, says its research confirms that, as LandlordZONE has reported on numerous occasions, at the moment there are more landlords selling properties than there are those buying new ones.

Its figures, shared with us by the company’s head of research Aneisha Beveridge, are based on projections taken from the 1.25 million property transactions due to take place this year.

She says the ‘net loss’ of rental properties could be lower as Hamptons data doesn’t include all the newly-built properties bought by landlords in the UK each year.

But the report includes some other interesting figures on how landlords as a whole are behaving at the moment.

Falling

This includes that the number of landlords selling up had been falling until this year, when the government’s rhetoric on ‘rogue landlords’ ramped up, and that the number of landlords using limited companies to own their properties, a route which reduces their tax burden, is expected to hit at least 27,000 this year, up from 3,710 in 2012.

Also, the number of properties being bought by landlords has been rising during the pandemic, from 123,145 in 2019 to 171,000 last year, but so has the number being sold.

In response to Hamptons’ research, a spokesperson from Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, says: “Good landlords have nothing to fear from our rental reforms, which will give tenants greater security to challenge unreasonable rent rises and poor practice.”

View Full Article: ‘War on landlords’ latest – 46,000 rental properties to disappear this year

The cost of living crisis affects landlords as well as tenants

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With the cost of living crisis being the political issue of the day, and a political leadership contest underway, there’s something of a hiatus in the way it’s being dealt with. But the situation is now quite urgent.

Financial distress is now higher than during the pandemic. Rising inflation, energy and food prices in particular mean that landlords are concerned about the impact this will have on their tenants and on their rent payments.

Almost 4.5 Million UK Families find themselves in serious financial difficulties, that’s according to an influential new report just out.

How will the cost of living crisis affect you?

The UK’s cost of living is set to increase considerably during 2022. This will pose a real threat to many families, including landlords, and in particular it will make it more difficult for low-income households to make rent payments. That’s because, as a share of a low earner’s budget, travel costs, fuel and food – the commodities that are increasing in price the most – represent a bigger proportion of the low earner’s income.

The abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, along side researchers at the University of Bristol, have estimated that 16% of households (4.4 million), are now in “serious financial difficulties” and another 20% are struggling to pay their way.

Many families renting homes in the private rented sector (PRS) will find it a struggle and will likely face difficulties as a result of the rise in living costs. Landlord’s costs are also rising, while at the same time – some would argue because of Government policies – there’s a scarcity of rental accommodation, so rent levels along with other prices will only go one way, and that’s up.

Housing prices will keep on rising

After a couple of years of declining affordability, arising because of the Covid pandemic, 2022 is set to bring even greater challenges to the rental market. Forecasts show that house prices, mortgage rates and rents will keep on rising in the year ahead. This will continue to fuel competitive markets for house sales and the rental market.

Rise in households facing acute financial strain

The number of UK households facing acute financial strain has risen by almost 60% since last October, the abrdn study shows. The study’s findings show the growing pressure that people are facing in the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, and this will only intensify come October next when another increase in energy bills will hit, and with inflation expected top 11%.

In May, before the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his Government announced an extra £15 billion in cost of living support, but calls are now growing for even more Government aid ahead of the conclusion of the election process to choose a successor for Johnson.

Mubin Haq, chief executive officer of The abrdn Financial Fairness Trust has said;

“Times are tough for everyone, but it’s those on the lowest incomes who are particularly feeling the effects of rising prices. Wages have largely stagnated and are no longer keeping pace with inflation; and social security is lower in real terms than it was over a decade ago. A more comprehensive and longer-term plan is urgently needed to ensure living standards do not sink even further.”

The abrdn Financial Fairness Trust publishes a regular financial impact tracker initially to monitor the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and support offered from the Government, on people’s finances.

Researchers from YouGov questioned 6,500 people across the UK on how their personal and household finances have been affected by the pandemic, and how the cost of living crisis is likely to impact them over the next few months. They were asked about their income, payment of bills, borrowing, debt, savings and other financial changes, including their ability to pay for essentials such as food.

More than half of those polled for the Coronavirus Financial Impact Tracker considered their financial circumstances to be worse than during the early pandemic. When the same question was asked last October, only a third thought their situation had deteriorated.

How are people coping?

The latest report shows how people are trying to save money: of those who said they are in serious financial difficulty, 71% said they have reduced the quality of food they eat, 36% said they have sold or pawned possessions and 27% have cancelled or not renewed insurance.

The steps people are taking to save on energy bills include bathing and cooking less, and more than 20 per cent of casual workers have stopped or reduced their pension contributions. Single parents, social housing tenants and households with children are being hit the hardest, the report says.

Sharon Collard, a professor at the University of Bristol has said:

“It’s particularly worrying that people are potentially storing up future financial problems for themselves.”

There are five groups highlighted that are facing the toughest financial difficulties:

1 – Those with annual household incomes below £10,000 (41% are in serious difficulties)

2 – Social housing tenants (39%)

3 – Single parents (37%)

4 – Working-age households with no earners (31%)

5 – Households were someone lives with a disability (29%).

Perhaps not surprisingly, higher income households, older households (the fastest growing sector who are renting), and homeowners, appear to be less seriously hit by the cost of living crisis.

Single parent households have been the hardest hit, rising by 14 percentage points from 23% to 37% over the previous year’s index. This group is followed by social housing tenants, private tenants and households with two children – all of these with 11 percentage point increases. The only group seeing a reduction in financial difficulty was households earning over £100,000 per year, a group that saw a 2 percentage point decrease.

We are nearly all suffering

Nearly every UK household is feeling the pinch to a greater or lessor extent. Energy bills are affecting 80% of households, transport costs 68% and grocery bills 62%. Around 80% of households have cut back their spending one way or another.

What are people doing to mitigate the impact?

The Report says that households have been taking a range of steps to mitigate the rising cost in living since the start of January 2022. Four-in-five (81%) according to the report said they have tried to cut back their overall spending, with 25% saying they have cut back by ‘a lot’ and 56% by ‘a little’.

Looking at specific types of expenditure, a large proportion of households say they are cutting back, yet still spending more. For example,

– Two-thirds (68%) of households have cut back on energy use but have still seen their spending on energy increase.

– For the cut back on transport and food, these figures are 44% and 42% respectively

– The most common step the report identifies as bing taken by households to ‘make ends meet’ since the start of 2022 was to save less money than usual – with this affecting half (51%) of households
– One third (33%) had actively dipped into their savings to pay for daily living expenses

– Less common, for households in serious difficulties, half (51%) of had borrowed money on a credit card, overdraft or from other formal lenders to pay for daily living expenses

– 46% were depending on financial help from family or friends

– Nearly 40% were attempting to access (additional) benefits or support funds.

– Around 36% of those in difficulty had sold or pawned possessions that they would have preferred to keep

– Around one-quarter had cancelled or not renewed at least one type of insurance product.

– One-in-six (17%) of those in serious difficulties – equivalent to nearly 750,000 households – had accessed a foodbank since the start of the year, but this being the first time the Tracker had collected data on foodbank use, it was not possible to compare with previous results since October 2021, but the Trussell Trust data is showing a 14% increase in the number of food parcels distributed in the financial year 2021-2022, compared with 2019-20.3

– Unlicensed money lenders are recorded as being used by around five-per-cent of those in serious difficulty

– In 9% of cases of hardship at least one earner had stopped or reduced their pension contributions, with 21% of ‘gig economy’ workers doing this.

All in all the findings of the report paint a pretty bleak picture for the UK economy; for tenants, and a considerable number of landlords will be affected.

One report by NatWest says that many tenants believe they’ll only be able to get on the housing ladder in their forties, or even fifties due to this cost-of-living crisis. 13% have said they could even be on their way to collecting their pension before leaving renting.

The biggest question for many landlords over the coming months is going to be, can my tenants still afford to pay their rent?

View Full Article: The cost of living crisis affects landlords as well as tenants

iHowz Publish their Response to White Paper

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iHowz landlord association have published their response to the Government’s White Paper “A Fairer Private Rented Sector”

They have sent their response to the new Minister, Greg Clarke, and have also sent it to other landlord associations, in an effort to identify any additional issues and present a united front when MPs return to the Commons in the Autumn.

View Full Article: iHowz Publish their Response to White Paper

Next incumbent of No.10 needs to address the PRS supply crisis

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The next Prime Minister must address the supply crisis in the private rented sector if homeownership ambitions are to become a reality. That is the warning from the NRLA as new survey data shows that the supply of homes to rent is likely to keep falling over the next year.

View Full Article: Next incumbent of No.10 needs to address the PRS supply crisis

‘End Tory hostility to private landlords’, NRLA tells next Prime Minister

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The next prime minister must end hostility towards landlords and encourage investment to meet rising demand, warns the NRLA.

It says the supply crisis in the PRS needs to be urgently addressed if the government is to achieve its homeownership ambitions, as the association’s latest poll reveals that nearly a quarter (23%) of landlords in England and Wales plan to cut the number of properties they let in the next 12 months – up from 20% a year ago.

Read one landlord's heartfelt complaint that she's been chased out of the sector.

Only 14% want to buy more properties, according to the poll of 708 landlords by BVA-BDRC, which also found 60% had seen increased demand for rental housing in the second quarter of the year, a big jump on the 39% of landlords who reported this a year ago.

250k drop

The NRLA says since the government began to restrict mortgage interest relief for landlords, the number of private rented homes in England has fallen by more than a quarter of a million.

In stark contrast, those providing holiday lets continue to enjoy full mortgage interest relief, creating a distortion in favour of short-term housing over longer-term rentals.

It expects the supply of homes to rent to keep falling over the coming year and points to research by Capital Economics that suggests removing the stamp duty levy on additional properties would see almost 900,000 new private rented homes made available across the UK during the next ten years.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “Driving rents up just leaves tenants with less cash to save for a deposit.

“We need a strong and vibrant private rental market that meets the needs of those who rely on the flexibility it provides, those who need somewhere to live before becoming homeowners and those for whom the promise of social housing tomorrow provides cold comfort today.”

View Full Article: ‘End Tory hostility to private landlords’, NRLA tells next Prime Minister