Will political turmoil derail housing reform?

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The Conservative Government had set-out its agenda on housing reform, but that’s now under threat or delay because of a political vacuum in Westminster.

The housing minister Stuart Andrew MP, a landlord himself, was only appointed in February this year after Chris Pincher’s departure after just two years in the job. Now Andrew has left having resigned alongside 60 MPs, all members of Boris Johnson’s government – the housing minister’s exit went past most of us almost unnoticed.

A sign of the disarray that threatens housing and planning policy in England & Wales, two other housing department ministers have also left, followed closely by the sacking by Boris Johnson of their overall boss, and architect of a possible solution to the cladding scandal – Michael Gove.

Greg Clark was quickly appointment as Gove’s successor, making him the fifth housing secretary in 5 years, and the latest housing minister, Marcus Jones, represents housing minister number 12 in thirteen years.

What does all this say about the priority being given to housing?

A housing sector in crisis according to many, and indeed with that falls the Government’s flagship levelling up initiative? How can we expect any sort of continuity for the myriad of policy changes, many crucial ongoing issues facing housing, landlords and tenants, leaseholders and builders, when so many have such short tenures or jump ship?

There’s much legislation under preparation including the Building Safety Act, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, the Renters Reform Bill, a Social Housing Regulation Bill and promised leasehold reforms, all of which are likely to receive scant attention while the Government navigates the summer without a fill-time leader.

It’s unlikely any important decisions will be made until a new leader in the Conservative party, a new PM, gets his or her feet under the Downing Street table. It’s even more likely that last minute changes of emphasis will come about as the government deals with more pressing short-term affordability issues.

A matter of priorities

With a Government now faced with post Brexit economic challenges, a wall of debt following Covid borrowing, NHS, illegal immigration, education and defence issues, how far down the list of priorities will some of the thorny problems affecting housing come?

How much does the Government really care about housing policy: landlords, tenants, first-time buyers, and those long suffering tower block leaseholders with massive service charge debts round their neck as a result of faulty cladding and building defects?

Under its new labyrinthine title, “The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,” designed to covey and bolster the Government’s flagship election policy, of which housing must be a key element, the many years of short staff tenures in the department does not bode well, the pattern appears to be embedded.

Apparently, there’s only one junior minister remained in DLUHC following the spate of resignations, resulting in the Government recently having to postpone a key debate in the Common on the levelling-up bill.

Until the department is re-staffed and back up to full speed, and that looks like being well after the new Prime Minister is in post after September, further delays to these planned and important legislative changes are inevitable.

Bills could be lost

The result could even be that some of the bills will be lost altogether, though it’s unlikely the Government under a new leader would want too many U-turns. More likely that there could be changes, or aspects of the legislation that are quietly dropped, something that no doubt many landlords would be happy to see. But it brings painful uncertainty for many leaseholders.

It is thought that the Renters Reform Bill, currently just a white paper, is unlikely to get knocked back given the political high profile it engenders, particularly the proposed abolition of the section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions process, though without more determined direction in the department, bringing it to fruition could be a torturous path.

Once the party leadership is decided, there will likely be a major reshuffle, which could set things in motion again pretty quickly, but reform of the private rented sector (PRS) is not something the private landlord is looking forward to with relish.

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WARNING: 20% of tenant applications include false or fraudulent info – claim

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A leading letting platform has claimed that up to 20% of tenant applicants in the UK housing market use false data to gain tenancies.

Goodlord, which is largely used by letting agents to process applicants on behalf of landlords, says this involves most often false or doctored identification documents, right to rent check information, income proof, or landlord or employer references.

Although not widespread, such criminal or dishonest activity could have cost landlords a combined £1 million if it wasn’t for the increasing use of anti-fraud tech during the referencing process.

Goodlord is one of the leading providers of this, but is not the only one – several other platforms are able to use digital technology including Open Banking and Artificial Intelligence to verify tenants real digital footprints against their application details.

Risk of fraud

“Agents and landlords have long been alert to the risk of fraud and, unfortunately, a small number of criminals and dishonest tenants now have access to tools that mean fraud is getting harder and harder to detect,” says Blake Richmond (pictured), Managing Director of Referencing at Goodlord.

There are three key areas that landlords and agents should focus on when checking tenants applying for tenancies, including ID checks, credit checks, income verification and former tenancy references, all of which – when tech is employed – spot dodgy renters.

As LandlordZONE has reported on many occasions recently, landlords face huge costs and protracted eviction battles when fraudulent tenants gain access to properties and then refuse to budge when their deceit is uncovered, including one shocking case in July last year involving landlord Prafula Copp, who is campaigning to prompt the government to legislate on the issue.

View Full Article: WARNING: 20% of tenant applications include false or fraudulent info – claim

Landlords warned over ‘inventory ignorance’

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The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) claims that the topic of inventories in the property industry requires more attention.

They say that landlords and agents who do not put the right processes in place could end up accruing unnecessary costs.

View Full Article: Landlords warned over ‘inventory ignorance’

Return of deposit with Blu Tack marks on walls

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Hello, I value everybody’s opinion here. I had a long term tenant in a flat which has been quite low maintenance. He asked for new carpet which I provided and 4 days later he gave notice, a month after renewing

View Full Article: Return of deposit with Blu Tack marks on walls

PICTURES: Landlord to pay £40,000 after multiple breaches of HMO licence

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A landlord in London must now pay £40,000 after losing his appeal against his fine for breaching Mandatory HMO licensing conditions at a bedsit property above a pub.

Earlier this year Islington council brought a prosecution against Mohammed Shahid for failing to comply with licensing regulations in at least 15 instances at the address, which has nine bedrooms, all with self-contained bathrooms and kitchens.

This included failing to supply cooking facilities for one of the bedsits on the Holloway Road in North London, forcing one tenant to cook in his living room using a small electric hob on a desk (pictured, below) for months on end.

He was sentenced in January before Highbury Magistrates’ Court, which he appealed but subsequently lost.

He must now pay a fine of £31,250, costs of £8,657 and a victim surcharge of £190.

Councillor Una O’Halloran (pictured) says: “Islington Council is determined to ensure that everyone in our community has a decent, safe and genuinely affordable place to call home.

“Landlords who consistently fail to uphold their responsibilities to their tenants, will not be tolerated in Islington. People should feel safe in their own homes, and they should be provided with everything they need to have a good quality of life.

“We hope that this prosecution will send a clear message to landlords that if they fail to comply with the rules, we will take legal action.”

Islington Council records seen by LandlordZONE show that Shahid, who resides in Southfield, South London, holds a five-year licence for a property at 563 Holloway Road (pictured) above a pub that was due to expire next year under the authority’s Mandatory HMO licensing scheme for houses or flats.

These are properties where there are five or more unrelated people, forming two or more households and who share amenities such as a kitchen, bathroom or WC.

Pix: Google Streetview/Islington Coucil.

View Full Article: PICTURES: Landlord to pay £40,000 after multiple breaches of HMO licence

Landlord leader: Charities are ‘scaremongering’ over £400 bills support scheme

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NRLA boss Ben Beadle has slammed recent claims that half a million renters could miss out on the Government’s £400 energy bill support scheme because their landlord will pocket the cash.

The ‘scaremongering claims’ have been made by several housing groups including Shelter, Generation Rent and Citizens Advice, all of whom are worried that landlords who offer ‘all inclusive’ deals usually within HMOs, will keep the payments rather than pass them on.

But the NRLA has responded furiously, saying that, given that the scheme is not even due to start until October, it is “irresponsible scaremongering on the part of some to be making baseless suggestions that landlords will not do the right thing by their tenants”.

Beadle’s comments are likely to be in response to Dan Wilson Craw, deputy director of campaign group Generation Rent, who has said: “A lot of landlords have already raised the rent to take account of higher energy bills and there’s no easy way for tenants to ask them to pass on the £400 grant if they don’t want to – threatening to move out is one approach but that is difficult when rent on a new property could be much higher.”

Tenant or landlord

But Beadle adds: “The support payments should help whoever is shouldering the costs of increased energy bills. That could be either a tenant or the landlord.

“Where rents include the cost of utilities, if they have been set to reflect recent and likely future energy price rises landlords should be passing the savings from the Government’s scheme onto their tenants.

“However, where all-inclusive rents do not reflect the higher costs of energy, or where rents have been frozen to support tenants, then it is the landlord who will be shouldering costs of higher energy bills.

“In cases such as this the system should recognise that it is the landlord that needs the support.

“One off pots of money like this cannot disguise the need for fundamental reform of the benefits system to support vulnerable tenants and landlords alike.

“This needs to include unfreezing housing benefit rates and giving tenants the choice, if they so wish, to have housing cost support paid directly to their landlord.”

Read more: Smart Meters - why landlords need to support them. 

View Full Article: Landlord leader: Charities are ‘scaremongering’ over £400 bills support scheme

Housing delivery is massively out of kilter with homes required

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Research by GetAgent has revealed just how out of kilter the nation’s housing delivery is when it comes to the level of homes required in each area versus the reality of those actually delivered.

The estate agent comparison site analysed government data from the Housing Delivery Test 2021

View Full Article: Housing delivery is massively out of kilter with homes required