Landlord leader: Charities are ‘scaremongering’ over £400 bills support scheme

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NRLA boss Ben Beadle has slammed recent claims that half a million renters could miss out on the Government’s £400 energy bill support scheme because their landlord will pocket the cash.

The ‘scaremongering claims’ have been made by several housing groups including Shelter, Generation Rent and Citizens Advice, all of whom are worried that landlords who offer ‘all inclusive’ deals usually within HMOs, will keep the payments rather than pass them on.

But the NRLA has responded furiously, saying that, given that the scheme is not even due to start until October, it is “irresponsible scaremongering on the part of some to be making baseless suggestions that landlords will not do the right thing by their tenants”.

Beadle’s comments are likely to be in response to Dan Wilson Craw, deputy director of campaign group Generation Rent, who has said: “A lot of landlords have already raised the rent to take account of higher energy bills and there’s no easy way for tenants to ask them to pass on the £400 grant if they don’t want to – threatening to move out is one approach but that is difficult when rent on a new property could be much higher.”

Tenant or landlord

But Beadle adds: “The support payments should help whoever is shouldering the costs of increased energy bills. That could be either a tenant or the landlord.

“Where rents include the cost of utilities, if they have been set to reflect recent and likely future energy price rises landlords should be passing the savings from the Government’s scheme onto their tenants.

“However, where all-inclusive rents do not reflect the higher costs of energy, or where rents have been frozen to support tenants, then it is the landlord who will be shouldering costs of higher energy bills.

“In cases such as this the system should recognise that it is the landlord that needs the support.

“One off pots of money like this cannot disguise the need for fundamental reform of the benefits system to support vulnerable tenants and landlords alike.

“This needs to include unfreezing housing benefit rates and giving tenants the choice, if they so wish, to have housing cost support paid directly to their landlord.”

Read more: Smart Meters - why landlords need to support them. 

View Full Article: Landlord leader: Charities are ‘scaremongering’ over £400 bills support scheme

Housing delivery is massively out of kilter with homes required

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Research by GetAgent has revealed just how out of kilter the nation’s housing delivery is when it comes to the level of homes required in each area versus the reality of those actually delivered.

The estate agent comparison site analysed government data from the Housing Delivery Test 2021

View Full Article: Housing delivery is massively out of kilter with homes required

Anyone housed an Afghan or a Ukrainian family via an AST?

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Hello everyone, Isn’t the language barrier the biggest issue at the end of the day?

I’ve taken a single Ukrainian lady on in a one bed flat who was fleeing from the war (via reference from Council and charity sponsor).

View Full Article: Anyone housed an Afghan or a Ukrainian family via an AST?

Landlord and agent fines rocket by 23% to £8m in London

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Fines for landlords and letting agents in London have increased by more than £1.5m in the last year to more than £8 million.

The figure comes from technology firm Kamma who are tracking the Mayor of London’s Rogue London and Agent Checker.

View Full Article: Landlord and agent fines rocket by 23% to £8m in London

Loft Flat Is Uninhabitable at 38 Degrees

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Hello everyone, My London (Clapham) Loft flat has become “uninhabitable” and/or “uncomfortable to live in” says my Tenant.

She further says it is consistently 4 or 5 degrees higher than the outdoors temperature during our present heatwave. She finds an indoor fan ineffective.

View Full Article: Loft Flat Is Uninhabitable at 38 Degrees

Landlords face ‘major post-pandemic rise in enforcement by London councils’

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London’s councils have been clamping down harder on errant landlords over the past 12 months, it has been claimed.

Licensing platform Kamma says landlords and letting agents have paid fines totalling £8 million since it began tracking the market in 2018, including £2 million levied over the past 12 months and £238,000 over the past month.

Therefore approximately 20% of all fines have been recorded in the last 12 months, suggesting a major post-pandemic increase in enforcement from London’s Local Authorities.

This has been driven by greater tenant awareness of rent repayment orders and 13 new licensing schemes launching in the Greater London area so far this year, and 30 in the UK.

Bigger fines

Fines are also getting bigger, says Kamma. Last August the average fine for letting agents was £4,380, but now that figure has increased by 7%, taking the average agent fine to £4,690.

Landlords, in contrast, are fined more frequently but smaller amounts, with an average of £4,304.

Enforcement levels differ across the capital. Camden council tops the league table by number of fines, followed closely by Newham and Southwark.

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is the London borough with the highest average fines of £19,800 per offense, followed by Hillingdon with an average of £13,500, and Hackney with £11,250.

“Local councils are sending a strong message to landlords and agents across the country with fines increasing so agents should see this as an opportunity to take control of their compliance and take action to protect their clients, and themselves against further enforcement efforts and fines,” says Kamma CEO, Orla Shields.

Read more: Do I need a licence for my property?

View Full Article: Landlords face ‘major post-pandemic rise in enforcement by London councils’

Suspended jail sentence for landlord following shocking illegal eviction

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A landlord and former haulage company owner in Warrington has been given a suspended 24-week prison sentence after illegally evicting a tenant.

Adil Lahmer, 38, of no fixed abode was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after Warrington council’s Private Sector Housing team and Legal Services team conducted a lengthy investigation.

This was initiated after his tenant at his property on Watkin Street in Warrington, Bin Amani, came to its Homelessness and Housing Advice Service when he was illegally evicted.

The shocking facts of the case are that Lahmer returned from Germany and, claiming he needed to self-isolate due to Covid, ‘booted out’ out his former friend and tenant from the property.

During the trial, the court heard that because of the eviction Amani lost his job, his studies were affected and the company which he had recently set up was subsequently dissolved. 

Personal possessions

There was also an impact upon his relationship with his children. He also lost most of his personal possessions.
Lahmer initially claimed the tenancy was fraudulent but the council’s investigation found this not to be true.

Recorder Richard Leiper QC (RLQC) said that the illegal eviction was a “deliberate act, planned in advance and committed in breach of a written agreement and the day after a rent payment for December had been made by Mr Amani”.

Following the hearing Lahmer was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail suspended for 18 months; 150 hours of unpaid community work; must pay Mr Amani £541; and contribute £1,000 to the council’s prosecution costs.

Cllr Hitesh Patel, cabinet member for environment, housing and public protection, said: “This is a fantastic outcome after the hard work that has been put in by our housing and legal teams. This should also serve as a warning for other unscrupulous landlords that this behaviour is not acceptable.”

It has also transpired that Lahmer is now homeless, because, ‘due to the stress of the court case’ he reduced the number of hours he worked and consequently had been unable to keep up with mortgage payments and the property had now been repossessed.

View Full Article: Suspended jail sentence for landlord following shocking illegal eviction

HMRC rakes in a record amount of CGT

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HMRC has revealed that it collected a ‘staggering’ £14.3 billion in capital gains tax (CGT) from 323,000 taxpayers in the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

The liability was realised on £80 billion of gains.

According to the latest data

View Full Article: HMRC rakes in a record amount of CGT

Short-term rentals account for 7% of total housing in some areas

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Holiday-lets now account for as much as 7% of total homes across 15 of the nation’s most popular staycation destinations, with just one seeing a decline in holiday-let property market prominence, research reveals.

The findings come from the estate agent comparison site

View Full Article: Short-term rentals account for 7% of total housing in some areas

LATEST: Rogue landlord banned from letting properties in England for 15 months

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A landlord in Coventry has been given a national ban from letting property in England after being convicted of multiple and serious contraventions of housing legislation.

Carmelo Borsellino, of Cheveral Avenue, Coventry, has a long history of poor property management and the local council has been chasing him down for several years in a bid to rein in his activities.

His most recent conviction was on 14 July 2021, at Coventry Magistrates’ Court, where he was found guilty of offences relating to the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 at 12-14 Lower Ford Street, Coventry CV1 5QJ (pictured).

Borsellino pleaded guilty and was fined £1,350 for this offence and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £135.

But, due to the seriousness of these offences, Coventry City Council took the decision to apply to the First Tier Property Tribunal for a banning order, which was heard in June.

The Tribunal has now issued a banning order on Borsellino preventing him letting property in England for a period of 15 months, saying that they were “unimpressed with Mr Borsellino’s attempts to avoid or diminish the seriousness of having been convicted in relation to fire safety breaches”.

Prison sentence

Should he breach the banning order, the landlord could receive a prison sentence of up to 51 weeks or a fine of up to £30,000. His name has been added to the national rogue landlord database.

Read: the complete guide to HMO management.

“Offences of this nature are very serious and have the potential to undermine Coventry City Council’s work to ensure that rented housing within its locality is safe and suitable for tenants,” says Adrian Chowns (pictured), Property Licensing and Housing Enforcement Manager for the city.

“The use of banning orders is just one of the many tools the Council is adopting to tackle rogue landlords and deter them from flouting their responsibilities.”

Read more about Coventry HMOs.

View Full Article: LATEST: Rogue landlord banned from letting properties in England for 15 months