LANDLORDS – How to survive: By the team with over 200 years of experience in Property and Buy To Let

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Do you want to survive the current market challenges? With the turmoil and the uncertainty in the market for landlords, Property118 has teamed up with Paul Shamplina to put on an event for the 19th of October in Central London

View Full Article: LANDLORDS – How to survive: By the team with over 200 years of experience in Property and Buy To Let

‘HMRC figures show landlord exodus began TWO years ago’, says Savills

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New data analysis confirms a rise in buy-to-let landlords selling properties during the past two years and the potential for more properties to leave the sector.

Savills has number-crunched HMRC figures to reveal that last year’s (2021-22) disposal figures have been revised by 8.5% from 141,000 to 153,000, suggesting that landlords could have been selling up earlier than was previously thought.

There were 151,000 residential disposals in 2022-23, making it the second biggest year on record compared to 2021-22.

Forecasts

The number of homes sold by landlords rose to 25,000 between April and May from 22,000 in February and March, according to forecasts based on an analysis of capital gains tax receipts. In contrast, over the past decade there have been an average of 61,000 disposals each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14.

The past two years have seen a 26.5% increase in the number of residential disposals compared to between 2014-15 and 2019-20.

Sales in the 2022-23 financial year generated £1.83 billion in CGT, as did sales in the 2021-22 financial year which also generated £1.83 billion. This is a significant increase over sales in 2020-21 which generated £1.14 billion.

Disposals

Savills says the revisions to the 2021-22 figures create the possibility that the 2022-23 figures will be revised up next year, making the disposals even higher and the outlined trends stronger.

It adds: “All this points to an increase in buy-to-let landlords selling properties in the past two years and the potential for properties to be leaving the sector.

“It also suggests this trend may have started earlier than previously thought. However, it is not clear if those properties are being bought by other landlords or being taken out of the private rental sector.”

Read more about CGT.

View Full Article: ‘HMRC figures show landlord exodus began TWO years ago’, says Savills

OFFICIAL: Rental property shortage raises rents at fastest rate in seven years

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UK private rental prices increased by 5.3% over the past year – up from 5.2% in the 12 months to June – recording their highest annual rate since 2016.

Rents for new tenancies were up by 5.2% in England, 6.5% in Wales, and 5.7% in Scotland in the year to July, according to the latest ONS data, which shows the highest annual percentage change was in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London, at 5.5%, while the North East saw the lowest at 4.6%.

Prices in London (which account for almost a third of UK rental expenditure) experienced the highest annual percentage change since 2006, while private rental prices in Northern Ireland increased by 9.2% in the 12 months to May 2023.

The ONS explains that growth in the region has slowed since the peak of 10% in the 12 months to March, but that it remains higher than for other UK countries. 

Pressure

Nathan Emerson, Propertymark CEO (pictured), says the huge disparity in the number of properties available to rent compared to the continuously growing number of renters looking for a home, continues to put pressure on rent prices.

He adds: “UK governments need to urgently address the problem and look to adequately incentivise the provision of desperately needed homes rather than forcing landlords out of the private rented sector with unfair regulatory and financial hurdles.”

Extreme

Price increases in the lettings market are less extreme than last year, believes Gareth Atkins, lettings MD at Institutional PRS and Build to Rent, who says: “We’ve seen expected growth and are now into a more consistent busy market we normally see at this time of year.

“As such, the market will remain highly competitive through the summer. This July, as the seasonal rush began, there was an average of 21 renters registering per each new instruction in London.”

Read more about why there's a shortage of stock.

View Full Article: OFFICIAL: Rental property shortage raises rents at fastest rate in seven years

Slum London landlord banned for five years and fined £30,000 by court

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A rogue landlord who packed 40 tenants in a four-bedroom property has been handed Brent Council’s first banning order.

Jaydipkumar Rameshchandra Valand (main picture, inset), 48, of Swinderby Road, Wembley, has been banned from letting out houses in England and engaging in any sort of property management work in the country for the next five years.

Valand was one of four landlords found guilty of raking in £360,000 by housing tenants in the semi-detached house in Napier Road, Wembley (main picture), in 2018.

Enforcement officers discovered one tenant living in a lean-to shack made from pallets and tarpaulin with no lighting or heating.

Although he was handed a £5,000 confiscation order, Valand went on to exploit more vulnerable tenants. In January 2022 he was found guilty of breaching housing regulations at a licensed HMO property in Wembley Hill Road.

Enforcement officers discovered fire safety issues, accumulating waste, disrepairs and unhygienic conditions, while he pocketed £1,400 a month from tenants without tenancy agreements.

Lie revealed

Valand was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £3,347 in costs by Willesden Magistrates Court and, although he declared that he didn’t own a business in the UK, Brent officers were able to demonstrate in court last year that this was a lie.

Council leader Muhammed Butt (pictured) says: “Brent Council takes a zero-tolerance policy against rogue landlords such as this, and we will use everything in our powers to hold them to account to safeguard our vulnerable residents.”

The borough introduced a selective licensing scheme at the beginning of August, covering all landlords who rent out properties in Dollis Hill, Harlesden & Kensal Green and Willesden Green.

Pictures: London Borough of Brent

Read more about landlord licencing.

View Full Article: Slum London landlord banned for five years and fined £30,000 by court

Help! The managing agents are blanking me

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Hi, I have tenants that haven’t paid rent for over a year. The managing agents won’t reply to my emails or phone calls.

We haven’t fallen out and I haven’t been rude, but they are just blanking me totally

View Full Article: Help! The managing agents are blanking me

Adverts for rented homes must be more accurate says Trading Standards

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Descriptions used by letting agents to advertise landlords’ properties to potential tenants must be more accurate, guidance from Trading Standards outlines today.

As many landlords will know, agents use a plethora of different terms to market properties both online, in branch windows and on boards, but the National Trading Standards team monitoring the industry believes many are used inaccurately or not updated quick enough.

This can lead to “frustration and delay in the home buying and renting process” for example when a home hunter phones up an agent to enquire, only to find it’s already been rented out.

Agents who both let and sell properties are being reminded that it is their legal responsibility to update the details of properties offered and National Trading Standards has issued a new list of preferred terms which are:

New on the market – A property that has not been advertised since the last sale or let of that home.

New Instruction – A property where an agent has recently been instructed to market (and which may have been offered for sale by another agent without being sold or let).

New and Exclusive – A property that is either a new instruction or new on the market which is exclusive to that agent or portal (depending on the context).

New Method of Let – for example when a landlord or agent decides to only accept sealed bids having previously not done so.

These changes may seem technical, but they are designed to stop agents marketing rented properties as ‘available’ or ‘just launched’ when they are not, boosting their stock and making them look more successful locally than they are, although Trading Standards are too polite to spell this out. Some agents also keep marketing properties that have been rented in order to attract potential tenants for other homes.

Clarity

Emma Cooke, Policy & Information Manager, National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team, says: “Agents commonly use terms like ‘new on the market’, ‘new instruction’, ‘under offer’, ‘sale/let agreed’, ‘sold/let subject to contract’ in advertisements, marketing boards and on property portal listings.

“This updated guidance is intended to provide consistency and clarity and – by providing a working definition – we hope this helps reduce unnecessary confusion for property agents, consumers, and other organisations in the property industry.”

Fair and accurate

Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the PRS, (pictured) adds: “This guidance will help estate agents and their customers have a clear understanding of what are fair and accurate descriptions to use in advertising and to avoid complaints about misleading or unfair terms.

“It will also help agents avoid complaints with us and awards going against them for misdescription or worse prosecution by Trading Standards und consumer protection regulations.”

View Full Article: Adverts for rented homes must be more accurate says Trading Standards

Tax incentives required for EPC improvements

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An industry body is urging the chancellor to introduce tax incentives for energy improvements for PRS homes.

Propertymark has written a letter to Jeremy Hunt suggesting changes to the tax system that will incentivise landlords to improve energy efficiency ratings.

View Full Article: Tax incentives required for EPC improvements

Tenant jailed after conning kind-hearted landlord out of £212,000

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A kind-hearted landlord has been left destitute and suicidal after being tricked out of £212,000 by one of his tenants.

Cruel conman Derek Conway (main pic, inset) preyed on Eugene Schofield’s good nature by pretending he was terminally ill but that he had a £100,000 windfall waiting to be paid, Lancashire Live reports.

Schofield owned five buy-to-let properties in Blackpool which he rented out to people who were struggling. Preston Crown Court heard that he did not take deposits or check references as he “took people as he found them”.

Conway had told his landlord that his medical treatment would cost £103,000 and asked Schofield to lend him the difference.

Gambled

He later claimed he had paid the money to a clinic, but the doctor had disappeared with his payment and the clinic would no longer treat him. However, Conway had gambled the money away.

Between 2013 and 2019, Conway left his landlord unable to afford to feed himself or pay his bills and owing £20,000 to HMRC. He sold all his properties and re-mortgaged his own home to help his tenant out, losing £1,000 a week rental income.

In a victim impact statement, the landlord told the court: “I never took a bond or references as my opinion was that if people are renting, they need some kind of financial assistance.

“If my tenants were ever struggling with rent, I would always try to help out. I would give them a loan for as long as they needed it.”

Schofield said he became so depressed he attempted to take his own life and was no longer sleeping or able to support himself.

Conway, of no fixed address, was jailed for six years and nine months in a case the judge labelled, “A long term, cruel deception of a vulnerable man.”

Pics: Getty and Lancashire Police

Read more about people who con landlords.

View Full Article: Tenant jailed after conning kind-hearted landlord out of £212,000

Landlords worried over plans to bring in compulsory ombudsman membership

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Nearly 60% of landlords are either against or not convinced by the Government’s plans to bring in mandatory membership of an ombudsman for all landlords in England, it has been revealed.

The proposals, which are within the Renters (Reform) Bill passing through parliament, aim to ensure disputes between private renters and landlords are settled impartially, quickly, at a low cost and without going to court.

Mortgage broker Landbay canvassed 1,100 landlords and found that while almost half of them were unsure whether the ombudsman was a good idea and would like more information about it, 10% were against it and 42% agreed the proposal was a good idea.

Impartial

Those landlords who were supportive of an ombudsman were keen to point out that it must be impartial and offer timely resolution of disputes rather than lengthy court cases.

But those against the service said they thought it would ‘always side with the tenant and it was just a money-making scheme’ and that if it were run by Government would just be ‘another layer of bureaucracy’.

Indications are that, like the ombudsman schemes that help letting agents and their customers resolve disputes, it would be run by a third party outside Whitehall.

Paul Brett (pictured), MD of intermediaries at Landbay commented: “Our survey found uncertainty around the idea of a Private Rented Sector ombudsman.

“On the positive side, it would be good if disputes could be quickly resolved without having to go to court, but there is some scepticism as to how quick this would be. It appears that more information is needed before such as scheme is created.”

View Full Article: Landlords worried over plans to bring in compulsory ombudsman membership

Strategies for Maintaining a Steady Property Income Stream

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Property investment is an attractive avenue for building wealth and generating passive income. However, success in property requires more than just purchasing properties; it necessitates effective cash flow management. Maintaining a steady income stream is crucial to ensure your property investment endeavors remain profitable and sustainable.

View Full Article: Strategies for Maintaining a Steady Property Income Stream