Bill bundling tech platform for landlord portfolios raises £1.6m

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The appetite for investing in property start-ups among tech investors has not dimmed if the latest round of funding for PRS bills platform One Utility Bill is anything to go by.

It has announced a further £1.6 million raised from existing and new investors to help fund its expansion, taking the total ploughed into the company to nearly £4 million.

Launched by CEO Chris Dawson and CTO Dale Knight (pictured) in 2014, One Utility Bill unifies households bills into a single monthly payment for tenants but also offers landlords and letting agents referral fees if they recommend its services, as well as an ‘all inclusive’ rent and bills payments platform.

The company has some 4,200 customers, 30 staff based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and claims to have processed bills worth £15 million so far for thousands of households.

This latest round of investment has been led by existing investor and venture capital firm DSW Ventures alongside the North East Innovation Fund and Northstar Ventures.

Previous rounds included a £650,000 seed investment in 2018, £1.7 million in April last year. Dawson and Knight started up the platform when still students at Newcastle University via its incubator programme.

“We’re delighted to raise this follow-on round from our investors, our second investment in a challenging but very rewarding 12-month period,” says Dawson.

“This is a huge vote of confidence in our business and reflects the incredible progress that the One Utility Bill team has achieved over the last 12 months. We’ll be using the funds to further accelerate our customer growth and invest in our technology.”

Read more about the North East.

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Stop bashing landlords or rents will rocket this summer, referencing boss warns Ministers

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Rents will rocket this summer without a change in government policy, the boss of tenant referencing firm HomeLet has warned.

CEO Andy Halstead says the government risks continuing to alienate landlords with its prolonged assault through policies that disincentivise property investment and drive up rental prices.

HomeLet’s Rental Index for March reveals the UK’s average rent is now at a record high of £992 – after the fourth increase in as many months. When London is excluded, average rent is £847, an increase of 1% on last month.

Halstead says that with almost one in five people living in the private rented sector, it’s fitting that the government should focus on it, with an informed policy that strives to achieve a balance between letting agents, landlords and their tenants. “Unfortunately, that isn’t the case at the moment,” he adds.

“The continued increase in rents above the rate of inflation is a symptom of current policy.”

Halstead (pictured) believes the narrative that landlords and letting agents are driving up rental costs simply isn’t true. “Professional letting agents and landlords welcome initiatives that improve standards in the sector,” he says Halstead.

“As demand increases, the UK needs more rental stock for tenants, not less. Without policy informed fully by property professionals, rents will rocket to record levels this summer.”

Nine of the 12 regions monitored by HomeLet showed a monthly increase in rental values between February and March, with Northern Ireland seeing the most significant rise of 2.9%.

However, London’s rents continue to fall year-on-year, showing a 5% drop between March 2020 and March 2021 – the tenth fall in annual variance over the year.

Read more about the government’s landlord bashing.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Stop bashing landlords or rents will rocket this summer, referencing boss warns Ministers | LandlordZONE.

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How much will it cost to solve my tax problem?

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My answer to this question is that a solution should save you money, not cost you money!

Do you agree?

Let’s look at this by way of an example.

Just suppose that Mr &

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Plans to outlaw landlords who refuse to rent to tenants with children

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Jersey has launched a consultation over plans to outlaw landlords who refuse to rent to tenants with children.

Social security minister deputy Judy Martin hopes to amend the Discrimination Law 2013 to protect families looking for homes on the island, which currently doesn’t protect people on the basis of age in relation to renting or buying property. Unlike the rest of the UK, a prospective or existing tenant can be discriminated against by a landlord based on whether they have a child or children under 18 living with them.

Says Martin: “I want to hear from everybody who may have been affected in the last few years. We do have a shortage of homes, so obviously if you then put conditions on those homes it will be worse for families and we don’t want anybody, hard-working Jersey families to not be able to get good, decent accommodation.”

Jersey Landlords Association (JLA) tells LandlordZONE that it’s in the process of putting together a response. The issue previously gained backbench support from members of the States Assembly when the law change was suggested three years ago, banning landlords from refusing to let to families unless they had proof the property was unsuitable. At the time, the JLA said the move was simply more legislation for a problem that barely existed, as only a very small minority of property owners didn’t let to tenants with children.

The new proposal would exclude some types of property such as accommodation reserved for people of a certain age, those in residential care homes, or registered providers of holiday accommodation. Landlords would also be able to take account of health and safety issues when considering new tenants.

The consultation is open until 30th April.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Plans to outlaw landlords who refuse to rent to tenants with children | LandlordZONE.

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39 rogue landlords and agents have been handed banning orders

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Only 39 rogue landlords and agents have been handed banning orders since local councils gained powers to report the worst offenders – 14 of these in the last year.

Offenders are added to the government’s rogue database and prevented from renting out properties, engaging in property management or letting agency work. However, despite declaring that there were 10,500 rogue landlords operating in the property market and that it expected more than 600 to make it to the database when the scheme launched back in April 2018, its target has fallen far short.

Many rogue landlords avoid banning orders despite having terrible track records. Earlier this year, Stanley Rodgers, 78, of Market Road Place in Great Yarmouth – who served a prison sentence during the early noughties over the deaths of two tenants – was in court again for a string of housing offences that put tenants at risk. Despite this, he was fined just £20,000.

Unlike London’s Landlord and Agent checker, which allows Londoners renting in the private sector to avoid firms and individuals, the national database is only a local council enforcement tool. To date, 25 local authorities have issued the orders and tenants’ groups say the low number of entries proves how ineffective it is. Advice service Tenants Voice adds that local authorities are too under-resourced to prosecute landlords who have issued unlawful evictions and that the police are usually reluctant to take action.

Shelter has called on the government to create an accessible national register of all landlords to help hold the sector to account and wants it to use the upcoming Renters Reform Bill to tackle problems. The government has promised to widen access to the database when the worst of the pandemic has passed.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – 39 rogue landlords and agents have been handed banning orders | LandlordZONE.

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MP Andrew Rosindell has vowed to carry on his fight for tenants to keep their pets in rental properties

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MP Andrew Rosindell has vowed to carry on his fight for tenants to keep their pets in rental properties, even if his Bill doesn’t get time in Parliament.

Rosindell’s Dogs and Domestic Animals (Accommodation and Protection) Bill aims to give renters the right to live with their pet – provided they can prove they are responsible and caring. However, there may not be enough time to pass the law because the pandemic has led to a reduction in the number of parliamentary sittings; although it had its first reading in the Commons with cross-party support last year, no date has been set for a second reading.

The Romford MP says his Bill gives tenants and their pets the justice they deserve: an end to cruel and unnecessary separation, while protecting landlords from irresponsible owners. Rosindell vows he won’t give up on the issue if his proposals fail to become law and adds: “I will continue the fight for all the pets unnecessarily separated from their owners by ‘no-pets’ clauses.”

In January, the government updated its model tenancy agreement, aiming to end blanket bans on pets in rental properties. However, the agreement is voluntary and last month it hardened its position on the hurdles that tenants will have to clear before a landlord needs to allow pets into their property. Housing Minister Christopher Pincher explained: “A good reason for a landlord to decline a pet ownership request would be where a pet is demonstrably poorly behaved or unsuited for the premises in question, for example, a large dog in a small flat, or where other tenants have allergies to animals.”

The National Residential Landlords Association has called for the government to enable the level at which deposits are set to be more flexible to reflect greater risk.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MP Andrew Rosindell has vowed to carry on his fight for tenants to keep their pets in rental properties | LandlordZONE.

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Staycations drive Holiday BTL choice

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The impact of the lockdown and lack of opportunity for international travel may well have incited consumers to consider staycations and, for those who are able to invest, a holiday let could seem appealing. The latest analysis by Moneyfacts.co.uk reveals a notable rise in the number of buy-to-let options for holiday let over the past six months

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Returning expat CGT liability on selling main residence?

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Having lived in our main residence for three years my family relocated and moved abroad for my husband’s work.

We are now back living in the UK and have been living in the previous main residence for the last twelve months.

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NEW Commercial to Resi Permitted Development Changes Use Class E

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A simple to understand video guide to the new PD for commercial to residential Prior Approval process exposing NEW opportunities and changes to existing processes – https://youtu.be/YVq3r_o9S7k

Robert Jenrick MP announced a package of measures to revitalise England’s cherished high streets and town centres.

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A rogue landlord whose HMO was dangerous and uninhabitable has been handed a £48,000 fine

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Tariq Javed, from Aylesbury, failed to comply with HMO regulations for his property on St Johns Road in the town, following regular inspections by Buckinghamshire Council officers from October 2019 to February 2020.

Javed was given multiple warnings that the house did not meet minimum standards. Officers found a long list of problems including a non-working fire detection unit, obstructed fire escape routes, trip hazards and a lack of lighting on staircase and other escape routes. The landlord failed to comply with notices to provide legal documents such as tenancy agreements and gas safety certificates. He also failed to comply with an improvement notice to bring the property up to an acceptable standard.

Javed did not appear before Buckinghamshire Magistrates Court to explain his actions and was fined £48,000 in his absence, which included more than £6,000 in costs. The magistrate said: “We believe Mr Javed exercises control and manages the property. Within the property hygiene was woefully lacking, it was uninhabitable. The kitchen was unfit for use, the gas supply was a risk and there was danger of electrocution.”

He added: “Importantly the escape routes were cluttered and dangerous due to trip hazards and a child could fall through the gaps in the staircase bannister.”

Nigel Dicker, service director for housing and regulatory services for Buckinghamshire Council, says: “Mr Javed failed in his duty as a landlord to provide decent, safe and clean accommodation for his tenants. He did not comply with legal requests from council officers to carry out the works needed to improve the property. We hope this substantial fine sends the loud and clear message to any landlord who puts profits ahead of people that we will always take action to protect our residents.”

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