Artificial Intelligence for Christmas

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We asked the Artificial Intelligence program we are using to write a Christmas poem. The brief we provided was as follows: –

“Create a Christmas poem from Mark Alexander, Neil Patterson, and our Team of Tax Planning Consultants and Barristers

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UK’s first citywide selective scheme launch ‘a success’ claims council

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Oxford City Council is hailing its UK-first whole-city selective licensing scheme a likely success after it received more than 10,000 early applications – thousands more than expected.

The only scheme in the UK covering all privately rented homes launched on 1st September, offering an early bird discounted rate of £400 until 30^th November for a five-year licence.

Landlords and agents made 5,893 applications during the first three months while the city’s largest letting agents also submitted details of a further 4,200 homes. This added up to far more than the 7,500 applications the council had hoped for.

£1,100 fee

A standard fee of £480 has now kicked in and a higher rate fee of £1,100 will apply from 1st September unless a home is newly rented within 12 weeks of the date of application. The council will begin looking for unlicensed homes from 1st January.

Oxford was the first council in England to introduce a citywide scheme that required every HMO to be licensed back in 2011.

In April it received Secretary of State approval for its controversial new scheme which covers half (49.3%) of all Oxford’s homes.

The NRLA voiced its opposition during the authority’s consultation, arguing that HMO licensing had led to rents increasing, and to those on lower incomes in the city being driven out of it, as the council seeks to rehouse people in Birmingham and elsewhere.

Councillor Linda Smith, (pictured) cabinet member for housing, says: “We’re dealing with more than 10,000 licence applications and that’s great news for tenants and the majority of responsible landlords and agents.

“If you’re a landlord or agent who hasn’t applied yet you’ve missed the early bird but don’t miss the boat. Everyone should have a decent home and your tenants deserve the confidence of knowing that theirs is safe, in good condition and well managed.”

Apply for a licence.

View Full Article: UK’s first citywide selective scheme launch ‘a success’ claims council

Tenants left with electric meter broken?

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I had tenants move out with no notice, and no keys returned.  Eventually, I decided they were not coming back as they cancelled the Council Tax and I was told they had been given a council property.

The gas and electric meter are key top-up payment types and the gas is a top-up card.

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Regularisation certificate for a dormer window?

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Hello, I have a regularisation certificate for a dormer window extension to an existing loft. I first applied for planning permission and got it under permittable development.

The building regs surveyor for the council came on a number of occasions to inspect and made me take up a section of flooring to inspect and was happy with the joists.

View Full Article: Regularisation certificate for a dormer window?

Most student landlords are ‘concerned’ over reforms

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Government plans to reform the student rental market will lead to chaos and confusion because students won’t know if there will be any housing available for them.

The warning comes from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) which says that widespread uncertainty will occur at the start of each academic year.

View Full Article: Most student landlords are ‘concerned’ over reforms

RISING panic reported among student landlords over plans for open-ended tenancies

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The NRLA has backed the growing number of student landlords ‘panicked’ by the Government’s plans to bring in periodic or ‘open ended’ tenancies across the private rental sector.

Concern is widespread within the student community, new research reveals, with 84% saying they are worried about about the Government’s plans.

While Ministers claim that blanket periodic tenancies will deliver greater certainty for both landlords and tenants in the general private rented sector, the NRLA says this will cause ‘widespread uncertainty’ for students as to whether housing will be available at the start of each academic year.

The looming Renters Reform Bill, which is due to be introduced in parliament in the New Year, will mean all housing, except purpose-built student blocks, will be subject to open-ended tenancies.

Landlords of traditional student properties therefore will be unable to offer guaranteed tenancies for the start of each academic year unless sitting tenants have handed in their notice to leave.

Students looking for housing will be unable to plan where they want to live and with whom they want to live, the NRLA says.

Exemption

The Government has made it clear that private purpose-built student accommodation will be exempt from plans to make every tenancy open ended, but the NRLA has told Ministers at a recent meeting that this must include the whole market.

The trade association has proposed that student landlords should be able to repossess a property with two months’ notice where it is required for new students each year. To provide protections, the earliest such notice could be served to sitting tenants would be in the last two months of a tenancy agreement, or at the 10th month of a 12-month fixed term.

“The student housing market works unlike any other, operating from one academic year to the next,” says Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA (pictured).

“It is common sense that landlords should have certainty that accommodation can be made available for new students each year, as has already been reflected for the Purpose-Built Student Accommodation sector.

“Without changes the Government risk causing chaos, confusion and anxiety for students unable to plan where they live for the start of each academic year.”

In June this year LandlordZONE interviewed four leading student landlords over their attempts to persuade the Government that its period tenancy plans are misguided.

Read more: Plans to abolish fixed-term tenancies will 'ruin student market'. 

View Full Article: RISING panic reported among student landlords over plans for open-ended tenancies