Scotland to introduce EPC Min Band D

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The Energy Efficiency (PRS) Regulations which were to be enacted this year are now to be introduced next year with the Min EPC rating being Band D w.e.f. 01 Apr 2022 on new leases and by 31 Mar 2025 for existing leases.

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Tenants using evictions ban as ‘green light’ to stop paying rent

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Some tenants are using both the evictions and bailiff ban as a ‘green light’ to stop paying their rent even when they are able to afford the payments, it has been claimed.

ARLA Propertymark has made the comments within its submission to the ministry of housing’s investigation into the impact of Covid on the private rental market.

“This means that many landlords face extended non-rent payments with no reasonable certainty of how to recover costs,” it says.

“A second wave could make these cases much worse and lead to the landlords who are experiencing problems selling their properties and leaving the sector altogether, reducing the number of homes people can rent.”

ARLA has also published shocking figures that reveal the huge impact on landlords since the evictions ban was introduced including that, despite the courts re-opening, many landlords – except in the most extreme cases – face a nine-month wait to gain possession of their properties.

A survey of ARLA’s lettings agency members revealed that half said their landlord clients had issued a Section 21 notice to at least one of their tenants in September, a figure which increased to 55% in October.

Rent arrears

“The two main reasons for serving these notices were rent arrears and landlords wanting to sell their property,” says ARLA.

“Our Private Rented Sector Report from September shows an increase in the number of landlords selling their buy-to-let properties and the figures are the highest we have on record for the month of September.”

Like the National Residential Landlords Association, ARLA is calling for the government in England to copy its Welsh counterpart and introduce a government-backed interest-free loan to help tenants clear their rent arrears.

Find out more about how to evict.

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Mixed messages coming from the housing market…

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House prices have risen at the fastest rate in six years according to figures produced by the Nationwide Building Society, but experts are predicting a sharp decline in 2021.

Defying chancellor Rishi Sunak’s rather gloomy forecast that we are only at the start of a huge “hit” to the economy, house prices rose by 6% year-on-year in November.

The market has been buoyed by the stamp duty holiday due to end in March next year, and the short term rush to get sale completions though by then. Will the stamp duty holiday been extended next year, many agents are asking?

Given that there there is a huge back-log of property searches going though at the moment, and solicitors’ work is overloaded, it could result in lots of disappointed buyers missing the deadline.

Chief economist at the Nationwide, Robert Gardner, has stated that the outlook is “highly uncertain” and that housing market activity could slow, “perhaps sharply, if the labour market weakens as most analysts expect, once the stamp duty holiday expires”.

Andrew Wishart of Capital Economics is predicting a 5 per cent fall in house prices next year as the furlough scheme ends in March, along with the stamp duty concession. “We aren’t expecting a house price crash… With a vaccine likely to be rolled out in the first half of 2021, we think that the economy and employment will recover quickly, preventing a prolonged fall in prices”

Signs of Recovery in Construction

Recent research on the construction sector carried out by Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect, specialist ironmongery suppliers, paints a relatively optimistic picture for house building in 2021.

“2020 has been a year like no other, with every area of life facing incredible challenges and disruption. The construction industry is certainly no exception to that and has had to deal with unprecedented levels of cuts and job losses. However, it is ending the year strongly, so there is certainly hope for a full recovery in 2021,” says Verdonkschot.

“The pandemic has hit the industry hard, with the lockdown causing construction output to plummet. In April, it fell by a staggering 40.2% – the highest monthly fall since such records began in 2010. However, since that drastic fall, output has increased every month. Between May and June, it grew by 23.5%, which was also a record.

“While output remains down year-on-year, in September, it was only 1.8% below that in March, when restrictions were first put in place. In fact, output in certain sectors, such as Repair and Maintenance, Private Housing and Infrastructure, have already recovered to March levels, which is great to see.

“As the situation has improved, the average number of hours worked has risen, which is a really healthy sign. Between July and September, the typical construction employee worked 30.7 hours a week. Since the start of lockdown, when this figure dropped as low as 26.6, it has risen continuously. This has led to rises in weekly earnings, from a low of £577 in April, to £642 in September.

“With increases in the amount of new work, it’s not surprising that construction firms are starting to hire again. Between August and October, there were 27,000 job vacancies across the UK, which is nearly 240% more than between April and June, when there were just 8,000 spots available.

“During the more difficult months, lots of construction companies took advantage of the government’s Job Retention Scheme. The latest data shows that £3.5 billion of claims have been made so far. With the Chancellor extending the scheme until March 2021, many will continue to rely on it, but the number has been falling rapidly since April, when over 720,000 construction workers were furloughed. In August, there were just over 185,000 people being supported by the government, which is 74% less than when it peaked.

“One interesting result of the pandemic is a slight increase in the number of self-employed workers in the industry. Many people decided to set up on their own after being made redundant or realising they wanted a fresh start. The number of individuals registered as self-employed in both the construction of buildings sector and specialised construction activities rose between March and June this year, by 1,000 and 6,000 respectively.

“The vast majority of these new self-employed workers are women, with an increase of 10,000 across these two areas. In contrast, there were 2,000 fewer men registered as self-employed in these sectors in June than in March, so it is definitely female construction workers leading the charge in this space.

“Overall, after a really difficult year, there are definite signs of recovery, with output and job vacancies increasing, and the number of furloughed workers dropping considerably. While the rate of recovery will inevitably slow after record growth, hopefully it won’t be long before we are back at pre-lockdown levels.”

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/constructionindustry/bulletins/constructionoutputingreatbritain/latest

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment/datasets/vacanciesbyindustryvacs02

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-october-2020/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-october-2020

[4] https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/selfemploymentjobsbyindustryjobs04

[5] https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averagehoursworkedbyindustryhour03

[6] https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsbyindustryearn03

IronmongeryDirect.co.uk has been supplying architectural ironmongery to tradespeople for over 50 years and now has the UK’s biggest range with over 18,000 products, including top trade brands.

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Government must respond to Extend the Stamp Duty Holiday petition

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A petition to extend the Stamp Duty Holiday for an additional 6 months after 31st March 2021 has now reached the 10,000 signature threshold where the government must officially respond. This response is expected in the next 3 days.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been under pressures from all sides of the Housing Market to extend the holiday and avoid a cliff-edge that is pinching completions into a compressed deadline with an estimated 325,000 existing agreed purchases that may not happen before this date.

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How to insure with no company let tenancy agreement?

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I am reaching out for some advice from the wise members of this forum. A property I own is a residential property let to a company. The tenancy agreement is up for renewal imminently, but the tenant won’t sign another one until AFTER the imminent renewal date.

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Inventory clerks to step in and sort out ‘retrospective Right to Rent’ checks mess

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Independent inventory clerks can help solve the problem of carrying out retrospective Right to Rent checks, according to a leading inventory industry figure.

No Letting Go says clerks can conduct in-person Right to Rent checks when doing an inventory check-in. These must be done after a tenant’s Right to Rent runs out, or 12 months after the initial check.

It follows ARLA Propertymark’s warning that the ‘adjusted checks’ system – where agents have been completing status checks without meeting tenants in person, but which will have to be re-checked within eight weeks of the pandemic ending – could cause the scheme to collapse.

ARLA reckons most letting agents and landlords won’t comply with the requirement as tenants might object to being checked twice, while it will cause them a huge digital compliance storage problem.

It also comes as the Right to Rent scheme expands to include EU citizens who haven’t yet applied for Settled Status.

Spring lockdown

Nick Lyons (pictured), founder and CEO of No Letting Go, says its clerks have experience of carrying out Right to Rent checks as many conducted them on behalf of agents and landlords when doing inventory check-ins during the spring lockdown.

They can make sure a tenant’s ID matches the landlord or agent’s records and take photographic evidence of both the ID and the tenant. No Letting Go then stores records of the completed checks on its systems, so agents and landlords can provide an audit trail.

“There are a range of changes to the Right to Rent scheme in the pipeline which, alongside the introduction of retrospective checks, could put significant pressure on letting agents and landlords over the coming months,” says Lyons.

“Property professionals will also be managing the overall impact of the pandemic and continually growing workloads, so any help they can get from partners such as inventory clerks to ensure they meet their compliance obligations could be invaluable.”

Read the official adjusted checks system guidance.
End of tenancy cleaning and inventory checklist

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Time to create a Renting Minister, leading build-to-rent figure tells Boris

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Leading build-to-rent portal LovetoRent says a new ‘minister for renting’ would improve tenants’ conditions and raise landlords’ game.

Founder and CEO Anne-Marie Brown (pictured, above) believes that it’s currently overseen by the same housing minister – with a focus on increasing rates of home-ownership – this can be to the detriment of the rented market.

In a letter to Boris Johnson, she and other build-to-rent players including Arcadis, Folio and Hera, explain that the formal appointment would oversee and raise standards for millions of people currently in rental accommodation, much of which is not fit for purpose.

“It would enforce standards on landlords who do not comply and encourage and play a part in the growing build-to-rent sector which has the ability to improve lives for the future,” says Brown.

Rental dominance

They point out that build-to-rent is soon expected to be worth £550 billion, while the percentage of the population living in private rented accommodation is projected to rise to just under 40% by 2025, overtaking owner-occupiers for the first time.

“As the number of people renting rises and the profile of renters changes, with more families and older people choosing to rent, we need to refocus the agenda, placing more emphasis on improving conditions for renters, including holding landlords to account for poor performance, and promoting longer more secure tenancies,” says Brown.

Richard Jones, head of residential and regeneration at planning and design giant Arcadis, adds: “The Government should recognise that providing appropriate places to live should be their focus with the growing rental market being a key element, not just home ownership.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Time to create a Renting Minister, leading build-to-rent figure tells Boris | LandlordZONE.

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Covid Stories: How the pandemic has changed everything for 1,400 eastern landlords

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Members of the Norwich-based Eastern Landlords Association (ELA) have ended up doing repairs and even building work themselves after struggling to get materials and qualified tradespeople during the pandemic.

Chairman Charles Clarke (pictured) has had to do some of his own property maintenance this year while another director has ended up working on a planned extension himself because there was no one available.

“We need more skilled people,” he tells LandlordZONE. “Covid has made a bad situation much worse, while there’s also the problem of tenants isolating because landlords still need to get repairs done or send gas repair people into properties.”

Rent difficulties

He reckons up to 40% of the ELA’s 1,400 members have been affected by tenants in difficulty paying rent, and while many have come to an agreement about payment terms, others are frustrated about the evictions ban.

Its helpline currently gets three or four members a week contacting it for help and advice, often about arrears or evictions. “One member is dealing with a tenant who hasn’t paid rent for nearly two years,” says Clarke.

“You do hear some plausible excuses but there’s definitely a climate of young people living today and paying tomorrow which makes the situation worse. It’s a very difficult time as you don’t know which of your tenants will get into financial difficulty.”

Student caution

Another Covid-related change he’s seen is that landlords are more cautious when it comes to student lets and now ask for a guarantor when they might not have bothered before.

He admits that this year has left some members feeling despondent, while there’s a general mood of resignation.

Adds Clarke: “The Government has done nothing to help landlords, on the back of ending mortgage tax relief and absorbing extra costs from safety checks it feels like they’re trying to get money out of us in any way possible, despite the fact we’re fulfilling a social need. Some members are now selling up because of all the hassle.”

The ELA includes landlords with properties in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Anglia.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Covid Stories: How the pandemic has changed everything for 1,400 eastern landlords | LandlordZONE.

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Latest tier restrictions are a pretty blatant attack on less wealthy areas of the country

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Research by estate agent, Barrows and Forrester, has revealed the average cost of buying a home across the current Covid tier rankings.  The government revealed which tiers each part of England would be placed in at the back end of last week

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LATEST: Landlords call for national conciliation service for evictions

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Landlords have called on the Ministers to introduce a new ‘conciliation service’ as the government prepares to legislate banning Section 21 notice evictions within its Renters’ Reform Bill.

This major change to the way landlords can move to evict tenants will see ‘no fault’ evictions removed from the statute and instead a modified Section 8 notice process introduced.

“The plans outline clear and comprehensive grounds upon which landlords should be able to regain possession of their properties,” the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) says. “This includes cases of tenant rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and situations where landlords want to sell a property.”

But the NRLA is urging the government to consider, where possession notices are challenged, a publicly-funded conciliation service, similar to the employment dispute body, ACAS.

Disagreements

This would seek to resolve disagreements between landlords and tenants without the stress and costs associated with going to court.

“Whilst more serious cases, such as those related to criminal activity by a tenant, would need to go straight to court, most could be considered by the conciliation service,” the NRLA proposes.

“This would help the tenant and landlord to reach an agreement to keep the tenancy going or bring it to an end in a way that works for both parties.

“Where landlords fail to abide by the terms of the agreement, they would be banned from being able to re-possess the property using the same ground for six months. Where renters did so, the case would be fast tracked through the courts.”

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, “We hope that ministers will accept our proposals and act on them soon.”

Several mediation services already exist, including most recently one set up by the Property Redress Scheme.

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