APPEAL: London landlords – help support your local community!

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If you’re a private landlord and would like to join Camden Council’s fight against homelessness, please get in touch.

Landlords in Camden and neighbouring boroughs are particularly being urged to come forward if they have studio flats or one or two-bedroom properties on the ground or first floor, or in a property with a lift.

Landlords will be offered cash incentives and extensive support for them and their tenants in exchange for letting to residents who we are helping to avoid homelessness or who are ready to move on from homelessness services and live independently. 

“A good home can change a life for the better, but it is something that can remain out of reach for some of the most vulnerable in our society, says Councillor Meric Apak, Cabinet Member for Better Homes.

“In Camden – like the rest of London – the demand for affordable, safe homes outweighs supply.

“However, by bringing together and supporting landlords who can provide these homes for families at risk of homelessness, we hope to show once again the remarkable difference the community spirit in Camden can make.”

In exchange, the Council is offering landlords a cash incentive of up to £2,000 to let a one bed property and up to £4,500 for a two-bed property as well as an extensive package of support that includes: 

• Support from our Move on Team and Floating Support Service – Dedicated services that are ready to assist residents as they move on from homelessness. The teams provide tenants with guidance on finances, credit checks, utilities and managing housing benefit and other claims.
• Pre-tenancy training from the Piece-by-Piece Programme or Good Tenant Session – these services help residents to prepare for their tenancy by ensuring that they understand, and know how to meet, their tenancy and financial responsibilities.
• Advisers that will remain available throughout the lifetime of the tenancy. 

What we need

Studio flats or one or two bed properties including ground floor or a property in a block with access to a lift at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

What we offer

• A generous cash incentive
• Rent guarantee insurance
• Extensive support and advice to landlords and tenants throughout the life of the tenancy
• Reliable, long-term tenants for at least 12 months
• A free London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS) voucher worth £100

Interested in letting your property?

Get in touch with our Camden Lettings team on 020 7974 4158 or at camdenlettings@camden.gov.uk

View Full Article: APPEAL: London landlords – help support your local community!

New model for Student HMOs post Renters Reform Bill?

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For mitigation against the worst implications of the (expected) Renters’ Reform Bill for my Student HMOs, I am mulling a business model change to…. Leasing individual rooms on a fixed-term basis to the PARENTS rather than the occupying students….Will this work?

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Short term rentals trade body welcomes registration scheme

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Plans by the Government to introduce a registration scheme for short-term holiday lets have been welcomed by the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA).

The trade association represents thousands of owners and businesses in the UK operating short term lets and they have been pushing for a national registration scheme.

The post Short term rentals trade body welcomes registration scheme appeared first on Property118.

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‘Abolishing Section 21 notices will make evicting anti-social tenants much harder’

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The Government must not proceed with its plans to abolish Section 21 evictions until the problem of anti-social behavior by tenants is tackled, it has been claimed.

To prove the point, some 3,500 landlords were quizzed this Autumn and, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has revealed, half of them who had served a repossession order did so due to anti-social behaviour.

Also, 84% of the landlords who experienced anti-social behaviour did not get any help from their local council and 75% were refused help from the police.

Evidence

They also faced difficulty gathering evidence, particularly when it concerned an HMO property because “tenants fear to speak up about other tenants acting aggressively or drinking or on drugs, for fear of safety”, one landlord reported.

Consequently, the NRLA claims banning Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will make evicting violent or abusive people even more difficult because in the future proving such behaviour will be difficult given a broader public reluctance to give evidence to a judge or help police.

The NRLA is calling for the Government to sort this out by prioritising the needs of anti-social behavior sufferers as set out in the Victims Commissioner’s 2019 report; make it a legal requirement of police and councils to tell landlords when tenants are behaving badly; and prioritise possession hearings that involve anti-social behavior.

Misery

Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the NRLA, says: “The vast majority of tenants and landlords have a good relationship.

“However, the minority of renters committing anti-social behaviour cause misery for their fellow tenants and communities more widely.

“The police and councils are failing to provide the support landlords desperately need to take swift and effective action against nightmare tenants.

“This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency before Section 21 repossessions are ended.”

Read more: the nightmare of anti-social behavior among tenants.

View Full Article: ‘Abolishing Section 21 notices will make evicting anti-social tenants much harder’

NEW: Report says 87% of landlords will face full cost of EPC upgrades

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Just 0.2% of private landlords would qualify for full state support to help upgrade their properties under a proposed scheme to get the UK’s walls insulated, while 87% would be liable for the full costs.

The Economy 2030 Inquiry says simply basing hand-outs on means-tested benefits misses out too many poorer households, while using council tax bands includes too many richer ones. Instead, it suggests basing a model on the social care financial assessment to means tests assets and income which would share costs equitably between households and the state.

In its report – Hitting a brick wall – the think-tank says the PRS in England has the worst problem of very poor walls, with 25% of all rented properties having rock-bottom-rated walls, and a further 15% having poor walls.

Rental premium

It says that given that properties rated A to C on the EPC scale typically command a rental premium of about 5% on their D-rated counterparts, landlords can eventually recoup their outlay. When they come to sell, they would also be able to cash in on similar premiums seen in sale prices for more efficient properties.

It believes that insisting insulation upgrades are made at or around the point of sale would be a more effective policy approach for private rented stock than for owner occupied homes.

Read advice on energy efficiency laws.

Just one-in-eight (16%) of private rented properties in England with an EPC rating of D or below have not changed hands in the past decade, compared with two-thirds (67%) of low-efficiency properties in the owner-occupied sector.

The government is planning to extend the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards; draft proposals suggest that the minimum EPC requirement for rental properties could be increased to C for new tenancies in 2025 and existing tenancies in 2028.

Read the report in full.

View Full Article: NEW: Report says 87% of landlords will face full cost of EPC upgrades

Why now is the time to buy?

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So this isn’t going to be a subject everyone wants to hear! With the doom and gloom of property world war 3, are we landing our troops, or coming out of the ashes??

In other words, is now the time to buy or are we all going to see our portfolios drop in value?

The post Why now is the time to buy? appeared first on Property118.

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LATEST: Government appears to confirm ‘biggest change to tenancy law in a generation’

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The Government appears to have confirmed that it will get rid of both Assured Periodic Tenancies and fixed-term tenancies in favour of a single, universal ‘periodic tenancy’.

This was originally flagged up in its Fairer Renting white paper published in June as a proposal but now officials want to hear the views of landlords, agents and tenants within a consultation due to finish on 25^th January 2023.

This consultation is part of a technical review of the effects on homelessness following the move to periodic tenancies and the abolition  of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions in favour of a revised list of mandatory of discretionary Section 8 grounds (see full list here).

It is designed to give renters more flexibility, stability and security in within the private and social rented sector, the consultation says.

But it will have one onerous consequence for landlords – all evictions will soon require a court hearing to evict a tenant at which a landlord will have to ‘prove grounds’.

This is different from the current situation, in which a Section 21 notice can be issued and an eviction notice secured (under certain circumstances) without having to give a reason.

Move quickly

“This quick-fire consultation on the impact on homelessness from the proposed Renters Reform Bill just shows that they are looking to move quickly next year and that they are concerned about the impact on local authority resourcing – and also that all references to Section 21, assured shorthold tenancies and fixed term tenancies are due to be removed,” says Tim Frome (pictured) of the Hamilton Fraser Group.

“Whether they have listened to the industry and allow fixed-term tenancies in certain sectors such as the student market remains to be seen.

“2023 is going to see the biggest change in tenancy law in a generation so all landlords and agents need to keep themselves updated with what is going on.”

View Full Article: LATEST: Government appears to confirm ‘biggest change to tenancy law in a generation’

Landlords for homelessness charity to compete with Shelter and Crisis?

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Well, that got your attention didn’t it!

But is it such a crazy idea? What if landlords got together and started a charity that helped the same people that Shelter and Crisis claim to. Fundraise the same way

The post Landlords for homelessness charity to compete with Shelter and Crisis? appeared first on Property118.

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Scots rent and evictions freeze prompts ‘staggering’ landlord exit response

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A staggering 85% of letting agents in Scotland report that landlords want to sell up following the government’s move to ban evictions and rent increases until next April.

Propertymark members in Scotland say that even more worryingly, 68% of agents had already seen an increase in notices to sell due to the emergency Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act – and that the legislation had actually had the reverse effect.

While many landlords had not increased rents in the last year, 83% would now be inclined to do so because of the Act.

They want reassurance that they could cover any rental loss as well as the rising cost of maintenance and repairs, utilities and mortgage interest hikes.

One agent explains: “Many landlords who have not increased rent and had properties below market value for years are now considering this position and feeling they must raise [their property] to market rent from now on and keep up with annual increases, whereby before they had not considered it.”

Timothy Douglas (pictured), Propertymark head of policy and campaigns, says the measures are disproportionate to the scale of the problem and have only driven more landlords out of the sector.

He adds: “Alarmingly, the temporary nature of the legislation means that the impact is not fully realised yet but if the changes are extended then there will be greater consequences.

“The private rented sector is a key solution to resolve the housing crisis but if the Scottish Government continue with policies that disincentive landlords this will only make the situation worse.”

Scottish Ministers must report and review every three months on the need for the provisions to either be continued or end; the first report will be laid before the Scottish Parliament by 14th January.

Read more about the Scots freeze.

View Full Article: Scots rent and evictions freeze prompts ‘staggering’ landlord exit response

Property prices continue falling as buyers watch and wait

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A bigger seasonal dip than usual has seen property prices continue their slide with sellers dropping the price on a new listing by 2.1%, Rightmove reports.

That price fall equates to an average of £7,862 and is a bigger drop than is usually seen at this time of year.

The post Property prices continue falling as buyers watch and wait appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Property prices continue falling as buyers watch and wait