Record year for landlord and agent fines

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Rogue landlords and letting agents have been hit with fines that averaged £90,000 per month in 2022 in a sign that council enforcement is on the rise.

The findings from tech firm Kamma reveal that more than 12% of all fines in Greater London were handed out in the last 12 months –

View Full Article: Record year for landlord and agent fines

Artificial Intelligence for Christmas

admin    Uncategorized     agents

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

View Full Article: Artificial Intelligence for Christmas

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.

View Full Article: Tenants left with electric meter broken?

Regularisation certificate for a dormer window?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

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

Petition to reinstate mortgage interest tax relief?

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Since I reposted the petition link this morning, only 500 or so people have signed it!

I appreciate not everyone would have read the post, but why are Property 118 not sending this out daily to all their subscribers?

View Full Article: Petition to reinstate mortgage interest tax relief?

Certificate of lawful use as a HMO period required query?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi Everyone, I hope you all are looking forward to as good a Christmas as you can.

I was curious of the definite answer, if possible, of getting a certificate of lawful use (for planning) for a HMO’s use immunity period and thus the application evidence period that is required for this?

View Full Article: Certificate of lawful use as a HMO period required query?

Is yours one of them? 64% of PRS properties ‘will not reach minimum EPC in time’

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Nearly two-thirds of private rental properties won’t reach proposed minimum EPC levels, according to new research.

Data compiled for property data platform LandTech shows that 64% of private rental properties would fail to reach an EPC rating of C or above in advance of government rules covering new contracts likely to come in by the end of 2025.

Wales takes the dubious honour of having the highest number of non-compliant D-G rated properties (70%), followed by the West Midlands (69%) and Yorkshire Humber (68%) and East Midlands (68%).

Properties in London came out top with 60%. Overall, the number of private rented properties with the lowest G rating was 45,378 – probably because rental stock is typically older.

LandTech co-founder Jonny Britton (pictured,below) is hopeful that landlords will upgrade their properties to comply with new legislation, particularly in the current economic climate where house prices are forecast to fall over the next year and with demand for rental properties set to increase as potential buyers hold off buying a property until interest rates and house prices settle.

He tells LandlordZONE: “Some upgrades may not be that expensive, for example, upgrading from a D to a C and there’s also the argument that a better rated property could command a higher rent, therefore offsetting the cost of the EPC upgrade to the landlord over time.”

Earlier this month, research from Shawbrook Bank found that while 78% of landlords have now heard about government proposals, many confess to not knowing much about them and 31% cite the lack of information as a barrier to improving their properties’ EPC rating.

More information about MEES and EPC regulations.

View Full Article: Is yours one of them? 64% of PRS properties ‘will not reach minimum EPC in time’