‘Huge competition is the key problem for families in PRS, not landlords’ says Shamplina

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Paul Shamplina says the key reason why tenants with children are struggling to find rented accommodation is the ongoing supply crisis created by Government intervention in the sector, and the huge competition for properties that it is creating.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live last night Shamplina – who is Director of Partnerships for Total Landlord insurance – said intense competition for properties means parents are finding it increasingly hard to find accommodation, as are most other types of tenants.

“Many landlords have children and at a recent industry show I spoke at most of the people in the audience said they’d be happy to rent to families,” he said.

Vilification

But Shamplina said increased taxation, more regulation via the looming Renters (Reform) Bill and the vilification of landlords are cumulatively persuading a greater number of them to quit the sector than normal, and this means many good tenants with children are being asked to leave as the properties are put up for sale.

“In my 30 years working with landlords and agents, I’ve never seen so many landlords exiting the market,” he said.

Speaking about the recent BBC research that showed almost three quarters of property listings on Open Rent stipulating ‘no children’, Shamplina tells LandlordZONE that a significant percentage of properties within the PRS are not suitable for children – in the same way not every home is ideal for dogs or cats.

‘no children’

“For instance, a one-bedroom or studio flat is not suitable for a family and neither is shared accommodation, student houses and HMOs, so landlords can fairly stipulate ‘no children’ in these circumstances,” he says.

“The Renters (Reform) Bill, when it goes live in 18 months’ time, will formalise what already exists out there in terms of landlords accepting tenants by setting out when a landlords can or cannot refuse a family with children, and this will stamp out unscrupulous landlords who say ‘no children’ for unfair reasons.”

Read more about the Renters (Reform) Bill.

View Full Article: ‘Huge competition is the key problem for families in PRS, not landlords’ says Shamplina

UK landlords with Airbnb properties in EU to pay 20% VAT on rental income

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British landlords who use rental platforms to let holiday homes in the European Union will soon have to pay VAT on their rental income.

Under the EU’s VAT in the Digital Age scheme, from 2025, these landlords will need to pay an average of 20% VAT, regardless of whether they live in the same country or outside the EU.

According to Tax Assist Accountants, the charge will be applied to platform operators such as Booking.com and Airbnb, requiring landlords to factor this cost into their rental fees to maintain profit margins. 

The EU predicts that almost three-quarters (70%) of accommodation providers using on-demand platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com aren’t VAT registered.

This will cause administrative headaches for operators, who will need to notify each applicable member state which providers are VAT-registered and those who don’t yet have VAT numbers. 

Agents

This also includes firms that act as local agents for landlords owning holiday villas, apartments and cottages across Europe. 

The programme is designed to make the EU’s tax rules in the travel and hospitality sector fairer; due to the complexities surrounding VAT registration, hotels and conventional taxi services currently pay VAT on all the sales they disclose, unlike independent landlords and taxi services. 

The firm says that it’s possible Chancellor Jeremy Hunt could monitor the success of the programme and consider taking a similar path to improve tax parity. 

View Full Article: UK landlords with Airbnb properties in EU to pay 20% VAT on rental income

Has anyone used a Zero Deposit scheme?

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Hello, has anyone used a Zero Deposit (ZD) scheme? I’m coming into the ZD scheme from fresh having always taken traditional deposits up front so I’m wary of the scheme at the moment. I have been advised it might be a way of getting tenants to come forward.

View Full Article: Has anyone used a Zero Deposit scheme?

Sell now before rates cause buyers to scatter and prices to plummet

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The NRLA recently reported that 1 in 3 landlords are going to trim down their portfolios. A whopping 33% of landlords currently selling throughout the UK. Of that 33%, most landlords agreed that they would be willing to take 80% of the value just to get rid of them because mortgage payments are out of control.

So we’ll get straight to the point. At Landlord Sales Agency, we get landlords higher than 80% value, faster. In fact in many cases we’ll even get you higher than the current market value. We’ll also sell your entire portfolio, or however many properties you need to shift, in less than a month. Our average sale time is just 21 days, for the best prices.

How? We sell to other landlords coming into the market. This means that tenants can stay – new landlords starting from a financially “fresh” position don’t mind taking your portfolio on no matter what condition, and they’re prepared to pay high prices for a ready-made deal they can fix.

Problem tenants? No problem for us, we mediate to ensure all your tenants are happy whilst you sell, or if they want to stay we’ll come up with a deal for you, and negotiate on your behalf. No one else is giving tenants this much security to ensure both you and your tenants walk away winning.

Need a refurb? We’ve got an entire team of builders to assist. Need to be compliant to regulations? We can help you with all your certificates.

Worried about what price you’ll get compared to an auction or estate agent? We’ll do you one better: nothing beats the bidding wars from our powerful database of over 30,000 private buyers who get alerts straight to their phones every time we list a new property.

Put simply, no one can beat us. We’re here to get landlords the best prices, and get them out of the market while they still can.

We’re the problem solver for landlords when they’re at the end of their tether.

So if you’re a landlord who needs to sell, come to us. You’ll want to act fast – with the eviction ban looming in just 12 months time, on top of already rising interest rates in a falling market, there’s no time like the present to ensure you exit the landlord sector unscathed and ready to invest elsewhere.

We don’t have to convince you to come to us, if you’ve seen our recent news before, you’ll know there’s a reason we’ve got the best relationships with landlord associations throughout the country. We’re fast, honest, and we do exactly what we say we’ll do.

Last week statistics showed that 3,000 landlords had tuned in to hear our podcast, The Landlord Show, giving advice on landlords wanting to sell. In the last two weeks alone, we had over 150 landlords approach us to sell. Our team of experts jumped in, ready to help every single one of them.

So get in touch today, let’s get you sorted. No matter how many properties you have, no matter what condition, we’ll get them sold and get you money in the bank so you can move on and avoid the financial crisis once and for all.

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View Full Article: Sell now before rates cause buyers to scatter and prices to plummet

New court service for tenants risks more landlords facing huge eviction costs

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The new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service could result in more landlords fighting – and potentially losing – expensive court battles.

There are fears that the threat of a £15,000 legal bill if they lose their possession claim hearing could be enough to dissuade some from taking legal action.

From 1st August, tenants facing eviction or repossession can get free early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits issues before appearing in court, as well as continuing to get advice and representation on the day of their hearing. It replaces the Housing Possession Court Duty Service which only offers ‘on the day’ emergency advice and advocacy.

Unintended consequence

Paul Sowerbutts (pictured), head of legal action at Landlord Action, tells LandlordZONE that while it will mean more tenants get advice earlier, the likely – unintended – consequence will be more tenants also getting full legal aid, so that landlords end up fighting more lengthy and costly court battles.

He says costs of at least £15,000 for a one-day trial are not uncommon. “This scheme makes it more likely for a case to go to a full day trial – tenants can cause more mischief and are at a significant advantage,” says Sowerbutts. “If they lose the case, they don’t have to pay costs.”

More difficult

He adds that the upcoming reforms and this new scheme will make it more difficult to be a small landlord, although it should encourage a better relationship with tenants as landlords try to pre-empt problems.

One worried landlord tells LandlordZONE: “It seems very unfair as tenants don’t need to be means-tested to get help while we have to pay for representation, which is a lot for someone who only has one or two properties. The system is really weighted against landlords.”

Read more about the Housing Loss Prevention Services.

View Full Article: New court service for tenants risks more landlords facing huge eviction costs

BTL landlords should share capital gains profit with tenants – call

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Since tenants pay for their landlord’s buy to let mortgage repayments, they should get a share of the profits, one leading commentator says.

John Bird is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, a social enterprise and street newspaper

View Full Article: BTL landlords should share capital gains profit with tenants – call

PRS reform legislation to cost landlords just £10 a year, claim campaigners

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Pro-tenant campaigners have claimed that the Government’s looming overhaul of the private rented sector will cost landlords a ‘meagre’ £10 each per annum.

The Renters’ Reform Coalition, a group that lists 20 organisations including several tenant unions, Shelter, Age UK, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Crisis and the Nationwide Foundation, has not revealed why it believes the huge changes will cost such a small amount.

Its statement published last night claims landlords can easily afford the money given the ‘median total wealth of buy-to-let landlords is £942,00’.

The coalition says it has made the claim in a bid to persuade the Government to accelerate its Renters (Reform) Bill which, although it was introduced nearly two months ago, has yet to receive a second reading.

Also, the Renters’ Reform Coalition accuses landlords – namely the NRLA – of conducting a “years-long lobbying campaign…to water down and delay the proposals, by claiming the additional regulation will drive landlords to sell their properties, and to push for favourable tax changes to compensate for any increased regulation”.

Negligible

Tom Darling, Campaign Manager of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, says: “The Government’s own Impact Assessment shows that the costs to landlords of the basic protections for tenants in the Renters (Reform) Bill are negligible, especially compared to the significant wealth of a typical buy-to-let landlord.”

“There is a crisis facing renters and the lack of progress on this important legislation is very concerning.”

“The Impact Assessment ought to give the Government confidence to ignore the hot air from landlord groups about the burdens of regulation, bring forward the Bill, and heed the Renters’ Reform Coalition’s demands to improve the protections for tenants in the legislation, such as through longer notice periods and extended protection from eviction.”

View Full Article: PRS reform legislation to cost landlords just £10 a year, claim campaigners

Big council looks at selective licencing to clamp down on bad landlords

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A major Midlands council is considering a selective licencing when its additional licencing scheme for HMOs finishes in 2025 as it seeks to answer critics who believe this type of property is damaging social cohesion in many areas.

The Cabinet committee of West Northamptonshire Council, which covers large swathes of the East Midlands, has asked its Head of Private Sector Housing Chris Stopford to gather evidence about the implementation of a selective licensing regime and make recommendations about its design and implementation.

While additional licencing only covers HMOs, selectively licencing usually covers all kinds of rented homes within an area and, in some cases, whole boroughs.

West Northamptonshire’s decision has been prompted by a review of the council’s approach to HMOs by a special working group that has finished its work after a year of investigation.

Criticism

The working group was established following recent public criticism of the detrimental effects of HMOs on local communities within West Northamptonshire and specifically its largest town, Northampton, and further condemnation over the increasing number of HMOs locally.

Members on the working group found that there are 1,164 licenced HMOs within the Northampton locality with three or more people from two or more households, of which 246 generated complaints from tenants about properties or landlord behaviour.

“Through the cross party Member Working Group we have had an opportunity to hear from a wide range of people and organisations to gain an understanding of the issues surrounding HMOs and the choices available to us,” says Councillor Adam Brown, Deputy Leader of the council and Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture and Leisure.

“These proposals aim to further equip the Council to protect tenants, support landlords and make our neighbourhoods more pleasant for everyone.”

Other recommendations within the report include more staff to clamp down on rogue landlords and unlicenced properties, tackle rubbish generated by HMOs, and improve access to the council’s register of licenced properties.

The council’s Cabinet is due to vote on the working group‘s recommendations next Tuesday 11^th July at its Towcester HQ (main picture).

Read LandlordZONE editor's opinion piece on HMOs and 'nimbysm'. 

View Full Article: Big council looks at selective licencing to clamp down on bad landlords

Government housing policies ‘not working’ for landlords or tenants, MPs are told

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Tax increases on private landlords are reducing supply but not increasing owner occupation, making it difficult for the PRS to be commercially viable, according to a housing sector academic.

Giving evidence to the Pensions and Work Committee on benefit levels, Professor Kemp (main picture), professor of public policy at Blavatnik School of Government, said these tax increases were meant to help first-time buyers better compete with landlords but that home ownership had not risen by that much.

Supply had also dropped due to the fact landlords could get tenants to leave after six months, some were switching to Airbnbs, and the impact of rising interest rates, said Kemp.

Rents rising

“Where they can, some are increasing rent,” he explained. “It’s possible to do that as demand is going up because of the post-pandemic return to city, and also as undergraduates are returning to Britain and some domestic students are also coming back, and we now have a delayed entry into owner occupation.”

With Local Housing Allowance set in September 2019, if rents went up then the number of people able to afford private rented housing on benefit would drop, said Kemp.

“If, is as happening now, rents are rising rapidly – with Zoopla reporting that rents have risen for new lettings by 10% – then that puts the squeeze on people on housing benefit on what they can afford and as a result they then have to use part of the rest of their Universal Credit to cover the shortfall.”

Automatically uprating LHA would help the relationship between landlords and tenants, he added, while NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle (pictured) told MPs that landlords would welcome better access to the Universal Credit system and a reasonable dialogue to resolve issues.

“We shouldn’t look at landlords as being a problematic customer which is how a lot of landlords feel at the moment. They want to help their tenants.”

View Full Article: Government housing policies ‘not working’ for landlords or tenants, MPs are told

Another UK city wants powers to impose rent controls

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In a bid to combat its growing housing crisis, one UK city has launched an appeal for the government to hand over powers to impose rent controls.

The initiative is part of a broader strategy to help private tenants

View Full Article: Another UK city wants powers to impose rent controls