MOULD: Minister vows to speed up ‘Awaab’s Law’ as thousands sign petition

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The government has vowed to expedite a proposed law forcing landlords to respond quickly to complaints about damp and mould.

Housing minister Felicity Buchan (pictured) told MPs that proposals were being worked through, after it announced plans last week to tackle mould within the private and social housing sectors with updated guidance and initiatives.

It has also confirmed that the PRS’s new housing ombudsman would lead the battle against mould.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steve Barclay said an amendment to the Social Housing Regulation Bill, relating to hazards in social homes, would be tabled, capturing the spirit of ‘Awaab’s Law’.

They also promised reform to make information on housing health and safety simpler for tenants and landlords, while addressing other concerns raised by the coroner following the death of toddler Awaab Ishak.

Complaints

In the Commons, Buchan said: “The proposed law aims to make sure that landlords respond to complaints about damp and mould quickly and with the proper regard to risk to health. We are working through the specific recommendations to consider how changes could be made as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, a petition calling on the government to create Awaab’s Law has reached 171,000 signatures. Organised by the Manchester Evening News, it aims to prompt legislation that will prevent any more children dying from damp and mouldy social housing, after Awaab died while living in a mouldy and poorly ventilated flat that led to him suffering heart failure. 

His home was unfit for human habitation, but Rochdale Boroughwide Housing failed to rehome the family, despite their repeated requests.

View Full Article: MOULD: Minister vows to speed up ‘Awaab’s Law’ as thousands sign petition

Free Management Offer – Lettingsupermarket.com

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You might be forgiven for thinking that a 6% fee nationwide for full management would involve cutting corners.

You’d be wrong!

To celebrate 10 years of successful property management Lettingsupermarket.com™ is offering 3 months of free management if you sign up with us by 31st March 2023.

View Full Article: Free Management Offer – Lettingsupermarket.com

RENT RISE: Landlord pushes back against tenant’s public complaint

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A landlord has spoken out to defend a substantial rent increase after its tenant complained about his eviction to the local newspaper.

Richard Symonds told Sussex World that he was “shocked, angry and anxious” to be told of a £275-a-month increase on the property in Ifield Street, Crawley, which he couldn’t pay. He added: “This outrageous demand is causing me distress and adversely affecting my health.”

The property was first rented by Richard’s late mother and he moved in to become her carer after she had a fall. He has now been served an eviction notice and told the newspaper: “I’m shocked by the sheer scale of it.”

Sympathetic

But the landlord said that while it was sympathetic, it had kept the rent at an affordable price for the former elderly tenant, Mr Symond’s mother, for years as a goodwill gesture.

When she died in November 2019, he took over the tenancy at the same rental price – subsidised by Crawley Council until March 2021, which then reduced his monthly housing benefit payment by £250.

“Mr Symonds was worried about falling into debt and potentially having to leave the property,” said the landlord. “As a kindness, we agreed to reduce the rent to £825, allowing him to remain in the property and also to reduce the financial strain.

As it stands, this rental figure is well below market value, with similar properties achieving in excess of £1,200 pcm. Regrettably, this rental figure is not sustainable and even with the proposed increase, the rent would still be below market value.”

Read advice about rent rises.

View Full Article: RENT RISE: Landlord pushes back against tenant’s public complaint

NEW: Shelter says landlords ‘still rejecting tenants based on race’

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The boss of housing charity Shelter has repeated the organisation’s previous assertion that tenants seeking properties in the private rented sector (PRS) too often face racism from both landlords and letting agents.

Polly Neate’s comments have been published by the BBC within a report on its news website which includes several case studies of black house hunters looking for rooms or properties to rent in the UK.

Neate has told the BBC that Shelter’s advice lines have been supporting tenants who have been turned away by landlords due to their race, and is calling on the Government to deliver on proposals to strengthen protections for private renters within the Renters’ Reform Bill.

Regulation

“A lack of regulation means landlords and letting agents are getting away with discriminating against people of colour who feel powerless to challenge them,” she says.

The BBC report also features Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation, who says budget cuts have severely reduced the ability of organisations such as local authorities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to police discrimination within the PRS.

He also points the finger at the Right to Rent scheme, which requires landlords under threat of huge fines to do the vetting work of the Home Office’s Border Force to complete immigration checks on new tenants.

Power

“[This has] created an environment where landlords have much more power about who they choose to rent to,” he says.

“I can’t help but think that discrimination will be part and parcel of that.”

An NRLA report into the Right to Rent scheme a year after it was introduced in 2016 repeated claims by the JCWI that the scheme had  the “potential to cause discrimination”.

Separate NRLA research shows that 44% of landlords reported they are less likely to consider letting to individuals without a British passport.

“This is likely to lock vulnerable individuals out of accessing a home in the private rented sector, especially as at the last census 17% of the population of England and Wales reported they did not have a passport,” it revealed.

Latest on the Right to Rent rules.

View Full Article: NEW: Shelter says landlords ‘still rejecting tenants based on race’

Daily Telegraph wants to talk to landlords who have sold any buy-to-let properties

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If you are a landlord who has sold any buy-to-let properties and invested funds in savings bonds, which now pay higher rates, Alexa Phillips, from the Telegraph would like to speak with you.

Alexa would like to know:

When you sold the property or properties in question?

View Full Article: Daily Telegraph wants to talk to landlords who have sold any buy-to-let properties

House sales fell by 3% in December, HMRC says

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The latest data on the UK’s house sales from HMRC reveals that numbers dipped by 3% month-on-month in December 2022 with signs that rising mortgage rates impacted transactions.

The figures show that 101,920 homes were sold in December 2022 –

View Full Article: House sales fell by 3% in December, HMRC says

Petition against S24 – What are NRLA doing?

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Hello, The petition against S24 is gaining momentum and needs more fuel to engage everyone to sign up.

Please contact your local estate agents to spread the word and ask if they can put a poster in their windows.

View Full Article: Petition against S24 – What are NRLA doing?

Party wall problems?

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Hello, Has anyone had this problem?

We own a bungalow which we rent out, the tenants are very very good. They have told me they have mould on the adjoining wall, they have mentioned before the wall was very cold.

View Full Article: Party wall problems?

Now could be a GREAT time to transfer flats with Cladding Issues into a Limited Company

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Do you own one or more rental flats with cladding issues?

Have your flats with cladding issues become impossible to raise mortgages against since the Grenfell Disaster case?

If so, finally we may have some good news for you

View Full Article: Now could be a GREAT time to transfer flats with Cladding Issues into a Limited Company

Former Tory housing ministers call for radical shake-up of policy

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Four former housing ministers have backed a Tory thinktank policy paper that urges a radical rethink of government housebuilding policies.

The Centre for Policy Studies report, The Case for Housebuilding, explains how the UK’s massive shortfall in homes has played a key role in driving up prices, explains why building solely on brownfield cannot deliver the homes needed, and how housebuilding is not as unpopular as is generally understood.

It believes that it’s a myth that increasing supply would do little to reduce the price of housing to affordable levels.

The report points to a huge drop in building rates since the 1960s, smaller new homes and dramatically increased prices, particularly where supply and demand are most imbalanced.

It says rents are also climbing as a share of income; whereas private renters spent 10% of their income on housing from the 1960s to the 1980s, rising to 15% in London, the share of income spent on rent has risen to 30% in recent years, and almost 40% in London.

Less productive

It adds: “The case for housebuilding is simple – without it, Britain will be a less productive, less equal, less fair and less happy country. Building more homes is the clearest way to boost economic growth and rebuild our economy.”

Former Housing Secretaries (left to right, main picture) Sajid Javid and Simon Clarke and former Housing Ministers Brandon Lewis and Kit Malthouse have backed the report.

Javid says: “For decades, we have simply not built enough homes. This failure risks creating a generation that without any capital of its own, becomes resentful of capitalism and capitalists.

“This important report presents a clear analysis of the core challenges we face, and how elected officials can and must rise to them.”

View Full Article: Former Tory housing ministers call for radical shake-up of policy