Expat landlord fails to keep up-to-date and lands £18,000 fine

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A landlord living Down Under who failed to convince a tribunal that she wasn’t to blame for having an unlicensed HMO has been hit with a £17,784 bill.

Renee Daff admitted she had failed to get a licence under Tower Hamlets Council’s selective scheme but tried to argue that she was unaware of the requirement and that when she applied, she was advised the property was exempt because she had stated on the application form that the property was occasionally her residential address.

Statutory obligations

A First Tier Property Tribunal heard that as well as the flat in Tannery House, Deal Street, she owned another property in the same block on a shared ownership basis and another property in Greenwich. Daff argued that she had met all of her other statutory obligations as a landlord and had been a member of the National Landlords Association until 2014; although living in Australia, she still used their website to carry out reference checks for prospective tenants and received their emails about relevant legal changes.

Widely published

The tribunal ruled her ignorance wasn’t excusable and that the exemption argument wasn’t relevant. It added: “The inference to be drawn is that the requirement to obtain a licence would also have been widely published on the website. Therefore, the respondent’s ignorance of this requirement did not provide her with a complete defence.”

While tenants Aris Gyalui and Adriel Aiach-Kohen – represented by Justice for Tenants – had had £2,292 deducted from the tenancy deposit as a result of hanging items on the walls, the tribunal made a rent repayment order representing approximately 80% of the total rent paid by them.

View Full Article: Expat landlord fails to keep up-to-date and lands £18,000 fine

Expat landlord fails to keep up-to-date and lands hefty fine

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A landlord living Down Under who failed to convince a tribunal that she wasn’t to blame for having an unlicensed HMO has been hit with a £17,784 bill.

Renee Daff admitted she had failed to get a licence under Tower Hamlets Council’s selective scheme but tried to argue that she was unaware of the requirement and that when she applied, she was advised the property was exempt because she had stated on the application form that the property was occasionally her residential address.

Statutory obligations

A First Tier Property Tribunal heard that as well as the flat in Tannery House, Deal Street, she owned another property in the same block on a shared ownership basis and another property in Greenwich. Daff argued that she had met all of her other statutory obligations as a landlord and had been a member of the National Landlords Association until 2014; although living in Australia, she still used their website to carry out reference checks for prospective tenants and received their emails about relevant legal changes.

Widely published

The tribunal ruled her ignorance wasn’t excusable and that the exemption argument wasn’t relevant. It added: “The inference to be drawn is that the requirement to obtain a licence would also have been widely published on the website. Therefore, the respondent’s ignorance of this requirement did not provide her with a complete defence.”

While tenants Aris Gyalui and Adriel Aiach-Kohen – represented by Justice for Tenants – had had £2,292 deducted from the tenancy deposit as a result of hanging items on the walls, the tribunal made a rent repayment order representing approximately 80% of the total rent paid by them.

View Full Article: Expat landlord fails to keep up-to-date and lands hefty fine

Tenant Track and Trace – GDPR?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi All, I have a tenant who is subletting (I don’t know any details of their agreement except that the person is living in the room and causing a lot of issues with the other flatmates) and now has stopped paying rent in response to me serving a S21 on him.

View Full Article: Tenant Track and Trace – GDPR?

This Friday: Update your property knowledge

admin    Uncategorized     agents

If you want to be a successful property investor, it’s really important to keep up to date with changes in the property industry such as finance, legislation and market trends etc.

There is a lot happening right now

View Full Article: This Friday: Update your property knowledge

Rent cap on social housing – is the PRS next?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The government has unveiled a consultation to impose a rent cap on social housing next year – at below the rate of inflation.

The move is aimed at helping tenants with the cost-of-living crisis.

However, with PRS rents rising quickly and tenants’

View Full Article: Rent cap on social housing – is the PRS next?

Is this HMO persecution from the council?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello everyone, I have just renewed my HMO licence with no conditions.

However, the council still demands trivial and unnecessary work which the Inspector ‘discovered’ during his visit, ie removing door draught strips so smoke would set off alarms

View Full Article: Is this HMO persecution from the council?

‘Punitive tax regime’ forces investors to leave BTL

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Institutional and individual investors are moving away from buy to let and into multi-use buildings and because of the punitive tax regime against landlords, according to one firm of estate agents. 

That’s the verdict of Winkworth who say that investors are rejecting the buy-to-let residential model.

View Full Article: ‘Punitive tax regime’ forces investors to leave BTL