Landlord pays £40,000 fine after large HMO found ‘shoddy and unsafe’

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A landlord in Norfolk has payed fines totalling £40,000 after he was found to have housed tenants in a shoddy and unsafe property.

Issues were reported at the Watton property (pictured) to Breckland Council last year, which prompted an inspection by officers who found a blocked fire escape, damaged fire doors, dangerous electrics and broken and rotten windows, causing them to flag the property as unsafe.

The landlord of the property, which was home to multiple tenants, was given time to carry out repairs. However, a follow-up inspection found insufficient progress had been made so the council issued a £20,000 fine to the landlord company and £20,000 to the company’s director.

Fines paid

Work to address the issues has now been completed by the landlord who has also paid the fines which will be used to fund further investigations in the Norfolk district. The council has refused to name the landlords after LandlordZONE made enquiries because the person involved has been cooperative and the ‘civil matter has been resolved’.

Councillor Claire Bowes (pictured), executive member for housing and homelessness, says the vast majority of Breckland’s landlords provide well-maintained homes for their tenants and the quality of housing overall is very good.

She adds: “However, this case shows that the council will not tolerate a decline in housing quality or for residents to be put at risk and we will take action to protect our residents’ right to live in a safe home.”

View Full Article: Landlord pays £40,000 fine after large HMO found ‘shoddy and unsafe’

Landlord secures huge victory in £18,000 Rent Repayment Order case

admin    Uncategorized     agents

An Upper Tribunal has slashed a landlord’s Rent Repayment Order by £16,000 after taking pity during an appeal hearing on her “precarious financial position”.

A First Tier Property Tribunal had ordered Renee Daff to pay two tenants £18,000 for failing to licence her flat under Tower Hamlet’s selective licensing scheme, but a judge found the first tribunal had labelled her a professional landlord without taking her financial circumstances into account.

Daff rented out the property in Tannery House after becoming seriously ill and returned to her native Australia. After moving back for a while, she rented it out again in 2018 for six months – unaware of the new licensing scheme – and then moved back in 2019.

When the former tenants applied for an RRO, she tried to get a licence but was told the property was exempt.

Judge Martin Rodger KC said that although Daff was to blame for not finding out about her licensing obligations, there was no evidence that she had deliberately sought to avoid her responsibilities.

Interest payments

The court heard that although she owns two more flats in the UK and one in Australia, the income was no longer sufficient to service the interest on her portfolio.

The judge ruled: “While the appellant’s property portfolio is not insignificant, she has never sought to make a living from it, and to treat her as if she is running a professional letting business would be unjustified.”

He added that the circumstances of the case were exceptional as Daff was of limited means, had no earning power, and was in very poor health which had “contributed to her lack of attentiveness to her licensing obligations”.

Rodger said: “She is in a precarious financial position. In my judgment the achievement of the statutory objectives of punishing defaulters and deterring future offences does not require the imposition of disproportionate penalties.”

View Full Article: Landlord secures huge victory in £18,000 Rent Repayment Order case

Lloyds Bank’s plans to build ‘thousands’ of rental homes prove over optimistic

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Lloyds has grown its rental portfolio to 1,000 properties and has another 700 in the pipeline as it bids to become one of the UK’s biggest landlords, albeit far off its original objectives.

The bank has some way to go if the publicly-owned institution is to meet its target of buying and operating 10,000 homes under its Citra Living brand by the end of 2025.

When it launched in 2021, Lloyds boasted that it intended to acquire 50,000 build-to-rent properties by 2030 which would oust Grainger as the nation’s number one.

Grow and build

A spokesman tells LandlordZONE that Citra Living, “continues to grow and build relationships with significant UK homebuilders under a strategy of helping more people live in the kinds of homes they want in the places they want to live”.

He adds: “Citra has a healthy pipeline of future properties with locations such as Scotland, Wales and the East Midlands, covering more than 700 homes.”

Citra operates 1,000 homes in locations including Chesterfield, Yate, Ashford (main picture) and Brentford, and those under development include Northumberland, Cramlington, and Gaydon. Last week it bought 124 BTR apartments at a regeneration project in Warley.

Shared ownership

Earlier this year, the firm launched a pilot shared ownership scheme – Pathways by Citra Living – in 26 BTR properties at Keepmoat’s Coney Green development in Derbyshire. The scheme aims to help would-be homeowners, who can buy between 25% and 75% of their home and rent is charged on the balance.

It’s not always plain sailing for large financial institutions looking to diversify into property; John Lewis’s rental property boss Chris Harris resigned last week after playing a key role in the retailer’s plans to expand into rental housing, with a target of constructing 10,000 new homes.

View Full Article: Lloyds Bank’s plans to build ‘thousands’ of rental homes prove over optimistic

What remortgaging landlords think about fixed rates

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Fixed-rate remortgages continue to be the preferred choice for buy-to-let property owners – but the gap between choosing a two-year or five-year fixed rate is narrowing, a survey reveals.

Landbay says that 79% of landlords will choose a fixed-rate mortgage when it’s time to remortgage though the preference for a five-year fixed rate has seen a decline.

View Full Article: What remortgaging landlords think about fixed rates