Influential Labour group says tougher eviction rules needed to tackle poverty

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Landlords should be prevented from serving an eviction notice for at least the first year of a tenancy, in the case of repossession for selling or occupying the property, according to a new report from the Fabian Society.

The independent left-leaning think-tank believes the notice period for evictions should be increased to four months, and a permanent ban on winter evictions introduced.

Relocation payments

Landlords should also have to make a ‘relocation payment’ for tenants forced to move if they want to sell the property, move themselves or close family into the property, or if they want to increase rents above a certain percentage and tenants decide not to pay the new rate.

In its report of the Commission on Poverty and Regional Inequality, the group says these payments should be worth at least two months’ rent.

It explains: “Relocation payments will shift power to tenants, protecting them from landlords seeking to exploit unaffordable rent increases to circumvent security for tenants.”

The Fabian Society wants the government to substantially increase PRS regulation to deliver stronger renter protections and greater security of tenure.

Register

Other suggestions include a national landlords register that covers the PRS (as well as holiday lets and AirBnBs), to include past rent levels. Charges from the register would be returned to local authorities to fund stronger enforcement in the local area.

The government should introduce a locally led scheme to purchase private rented homes from landlords who no longer wish to keep them, and turn them into social rented homes, says the report, as well as roll out a private rented leasing scheme, with funding provided to enable the lease of residential properties from private landlords to local authorities for five years.

Read the report in full.

View Full Article: Influential Labour group says tougher eviction rules needed to tackle poverty

Influential Labour group calls for tougher eviction rules including 16-week notice periods

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Landlords should be prevented from serving an eviction notice for at least the first year of a tenancy, in the case of repossession for selling or occupying the property, according to a new report from the Fabian Society.

The independent left-leaning think-tank believes the notice period for evictions should be increased to four months, and a permanent ban on winter evictions introduced.

Relocation payments

Landlords should also have to make a ‘relocation payment’ for tenants forced to move if they want to sell the property, move themselves or close family into the property, or if they want to increase rents above a certain percentage and tenants decide not to pay the new rate.

In its report of the Commission on Poverty and Regional Inequality, the group says these payments should be worth at least two months’ rent.

It explains: “Relocation payments will shift power to tenants, protecting them from landlords seeking to exploit unaffordable rent increases to circumvent security for tenants.”

The Fabian Society wants the government to substantially increase PRS regulation to deliver stronger renter protections and greater security of tenure.

Register

Other suggestions include a national landlords register that covers the PRS (as well as holiday lets and AirBnBs), to include past rent levels. Charges from the register would be returned to local authorities to fund stronger enforcement in the local area.

The government should introduce a locally led scheme to purchase private rented homes from landlords who no longer wish to keep them, and turn them into social rented homes, says the report, as well as roll out a private rented leasing scheme, with funding provided to enable the lease of residential properties from private landlords to local authorities for five years.

Read the report in full.

View Full Article: Influential Labour group calls for tougher eviction rules including 16-week notice periods

Landlords who demand guarantors on the increase, even for high-earning tenants

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Landlords hit by mortgage rate hikes are demanding guarantors from increasing numbers of high earning tenants.

Many tenants are seeing a greater proportion of their take-home pay go towards rent so are having to provide the additional security of a guarantor when signing new agreements.

It’s a trend which Goodlord expects to continue throughout the rest of 2023, as rental prices are predicted to peak over the summer months.

Goodlord’s analysis of more than 220,000 tenancies reveals a steady increase in requests for renters who earn between £25,000 and £74,999 to provide a guarantor, up from 3.7% in 2020, to an average of 5.8%, an increase of 58%.

Surprisingly

Perhaps more surprisingly, there has also been a big jump in those earning between £50,000 and £74,999 being asked to provide guarantors, despite salaries in this range being far higher than the national average. In 2020, this was true of just 1.3% of earners in this bracket and is now 2.5%, a 92% increase.

Oli Sherlock, director of insurance at Goodlord, says the supply and demand problem means rents are rising at a time when tenants have less disposable income thanks to the cost-of-living crisis.

Obligations

He adds: “This means more tenants are being asked to show they have the support in place to meet their rental obligations, should they need it. As well as a rise in the number of tenants who find themselves needing to provide a guarantor, we’ve also seen a big increase in landlords taking out rental insurance.

“It’s a far from ideal situation for either tenants or landlords. The government should see this as an additional sign that more support for the rental market is urgently needed.”

View Full Article: Landlords who demand guarantors on the increase, even for high-earning tenants

What is a “mixed” partnership?

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In simple terms, a “Mixed Partnership” is a business whose owners comprise both individuals (people) and companies. Sometimes they are marketed as Hybrid structures.

The two commonly found versions of mixed Partnerships are LLP and ordinary mixed Partnerships.

View Full Article: What is a “mixed” partnership?

Likely cost of EPC upgrades for rental properties revealed by Government

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Energy efficiency improvement costs for most private rental homes work out at between £5,000 and £9,999 (46%), while almost a third (30%) could be improved for under £5,000, according to the latest government analysis.

At the other end of the scale, 19% of homes would cost between £10,000 and £14,999 to improve to at least an Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) band C, and a further 5% of homes would require £15,000 or more.

The English Housing Survey reveals that in 2021, most private renters lived in homes with a band A to C (44%) followed closely by band D (42%) while the remaining 14% lived in homes with an EER band of E to G. 

Decent

It reports that 23% are estimated to fail the Decent Homes Standard and 14% are estimated to be unsafe according to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Private rented homes were also more likely to have damp than all other tenures; almost 11% compared with 4% of social rented homes and 2% of owner-occupied homes,

Private renters have been in their current home for an average of 4.4 years, according to the survey. 

Moving

The most common reason for leaving was because they wanted to move (77%) with the least common reasons given as, the end of a fixed period tenancy (11%), mutual agreement with the landlord (10%), they were evicted or asked to leave by their landlord/agent (4%), a poor relationship with the landlord (3%) or the tenancy was part of a job that ended (2%).

One in four (25%) private rented households reported received housing support in 2021-22, while 3% were either currently in arrears or had been in arrears in the last year (4%); 10% had been refused a tenancy in the past 12 months because they received benefits.

Read the English Housing Survey.

View Full Article: Likely cost of EPC upgrades for rental properties revealed by Government

Why Labour’s Renters Charter is a charter for disaster

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Labour appears to be flirting with the idea of rent controls or capping rent rises and tightening up on the Decent Homes Standard under its Renters’ Charter. The issue has raised its head again recently but for me this charter is a charter for disaster.

View Full Article: Why Labour’s Renters Charter is a charter for disaster

Tenants warned over capital’s ‘competitive market’

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Renters are being warned that if they start looking for somewhere to rent this summer in London, they should be prepared for a busy and competitive season.

That’s according to the latest data from estate agency Chestertons, which says that June saw a surge in rental activity.

View Full Article: Tenants warned over capital’s ‘competitive market’