Luton licensing problems rumble on: ‘How did the borough council get into this mess?’

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A row over Luton Council’s failure to launch its selective licensing plans rumbles on, with opposition councillors labelling it “a mess”.

The authority was thwarted in its attempt to introduce a scheme after landlords and letting agents launched a legal challenge in July against decisions made by its executive committee.

It has also admitted that mistakes made in its implementation and decision-making have held up plans that were first introduced back in April 2018.

“Some landlords are complaining that, as it includes more than 20% of the private rented homes in the town, the council needs Government consent to introduce it,” Barnfield councillor David Franks (pictured) tells Luton Today.

“If local landlords know the way it’s being organised doesn’t comply with the regulations, why did it come as a surprise to the local authority?” he asks. “How did the borough council get into this mess?”

In the summer, a leading member of the private rental market community spoke to LandlordZONE about a range of failings including the council’s poor communication and consultation, how it exaggerated problems and its reluctance to fully explain the reasons behind the scheme.

He also revealed the council didn’t have the authority to make a designation and bring in the scheme at all.

A council spokesman says the authority is committed to getting its licensing plans approved.

He says: “Work continues to provide a strong updated evidence base for any project we bring forward to ensure we’ve a strong and vibrant rented sector, which offers security, stability and decent homes.

“The decision not to go ahead in August was because of a technical error which the council has acknowledged already. To have progressed when we were aware of this would have been even worse,” he adds.

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Fenland Landlord fined for serious HMO safety breaches

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Following the landlord’s appeal to the Eastern Residential Property First-tier Tribunal, the original penality imposed by Fenland District Council was upheld.

Using new powers granted under 2017 legislation, allowing Councils to issue penalties up to a maximum of £30,000 for certain housing offences, as an alternative to prosecution, the council successfully defended its position at the tribunal.

The landlord, not named by the council, was fined for various housing offences which included: having a non-working fire alarm system; defective fire doors to his flats; building defects including damp; severely worn carpets on the stairs; insufficient heating, inadequate security and defective, warped and rotting windows.

The council served five civil penalty notices in total on the landlord earlier this year for failing to rectify the numerous safety hazards found at his block of flats.

The landlord had appealed one of the penalty notices relating to defective windows, which was heard in September by the Eastern Residential Property First-tier Tribunal.

The tribunal dismissed the appeal. Upholding the council’s action, the tribunal said the evidence was clear and the penalty imposed by the council was confirmed.

The defects in the property first came to light in early 2018 when Fenland District Council’s private sector housing team inspected the block of three flats in Wisbech. At the time a number of serious defects were found and the landlord was issued with improvement notices requiring remedial works to be carried out. However, the work was not completed within the specified time scale or not to the standard required.

Subsequently Fenland District Council issued five civil penalty notices for failing to comply with the improvement notices and breaching houses in multiple occupation (HMO) regulations. This included failing to licence a licensable HMO. The penalties imposed totalled £8,852.

Fenland District Council reports that it has served 29 civil penalties on landlords, ranging from fines of £500 to £30,000 and more recently tenants have also been fined for illegally sub-letting to others. The income received from these fines goes to improving the management and condition of housing in the Fenland district.

Cllr Samantha Hoy, Fenland District Council’s portfolio holder for housing, is reported as saying:

“Fenland District Council is committed to protecting residents from substandard and dangerous living conditions, supporting good and improving landlords and taking a robust stance against criminal landlords.

“We will not hesitate to use legal powers to improve standards in the private rented sector and landlords who place the health and safety of tenants at risk can expect enforcement action to be taken against them.

“It’s also a warning to tenants that if they sublet, we can and will serve penalties on them as they are in effect the landlord.”

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Westminster Council launches HMO licensing consultation

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The proposed Additional Licensing Scheme for HMOs will focus on the 9000+ properties in the City of Westminster where private renters live in multi-occupant homes including flat shares, bedsits, and buildings converted into flats.

The scheme billed as part of the council’s wider ‘private rented sector strategy’

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Leading letting agency claims build-to-rent has only 1% rent arrears during Covid

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Build-to-rent (BTR) specialist lettings agency Ascend has collected an impressive 99% of its rent during the coronavirus crisis on behalf of its landlords.

The Manchester-based company beat the industry average of 95% between January and September by offering its 8,000 tenants flexible repayment plans.

Its claim echoes recent comments by build-to-rent pioneer Gatehouse Bank, whose Chief Commercial Officer Paul Stockwell recently said that its BTR arrears peaked at 8% in April but had reduced to 2% in July.

“Careful management and helping tenants through payment plans has brought arrears in line with long run averages, with only a fraction written-off as bad debt,” he said.

Ascend says it worked closely with them to ease their concerns and offer flexible terms if needed. These, the company says, have been mainly small, short-term deferred rental payments with payment plans to bring rent back up to date quickly while the team also directed some tenants towards funding sources such as self-employed grants.

Up to 15% of its residents had problems paying rent at the peak of the crisis, so the company agreed payment plans with those worst affected and then helped them get their payments back up to date.

MD Ged McPartlin (pictured) says he knows how tough this year has been for many people, without adding housing worries into the mix.

“We understand just how vital it is to provide high quality rental homes in the areas where they’re most needed – and to protect those renters who might require extra support from time to time,” says McPartlin.

“By putting our residents’ individual circumstances first and being flexible in our approach, we’ve worked hard to collect almost all invoiced rent.

“This is testament to our track record as a leading build to rent specialist, our knowledge of the sector and what people need from an agent, especially at difficult times.”

Ascend rents two to four-bedroom apartments and houses in developments ranging from 50–100 properties and has offices in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Wolverhampton and London.

Read more: How to deal with rent arrears during Covid.

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Sadiq Khan launches Property Licence Checker for tenants

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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has launched a new online tool to search if a landlord has licensed a rental property and announcing tenants could be owed thousands of pounds in rent repayments if their landlord has failed to obtain the correct licence.

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Top 8 most common new build snagging issues

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Snag solving expert, HouseScan has revealed which are the top eight most common snags found when it comes to new build homes in the UK. They’ve revealed just which are the most common defects being found across new build inspections and the potential cost of rectifying these issues.

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BREAKING: Prime Minster gives landlords 12 months more to complete Green Homes Grant work

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Boris Johnson has extended his government’s Green Homes Grant scheme for a further 12 months after complaints in recent weeks that a lack of Trustmark qualified builders meant completing projects by the original deadline of March next year would be difficult.

In some areas of the UK, landlords seeking Trustmark-registered builders have faced long waits to start work as qualified tradespeople have become booked up far in advance.

Instead, the Prime Minister has said today that home owners and landlords will have until March 2022 to get their projects completed through the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme, which was originally announced in September.

But although landlords now have more time to get the builders in, the original budget has not been extended, remaining at £1.5 billion with a cap of 600,000 properties.

The scheme funds up to two-thirds of the cost of property improvements with a cap of £5,000.

Work covered by the scheme includes insulation of walls, floors and roofs, upgrading single window glazing to triple, and installing low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps.

The announcement was made by Johnson today during his ‘Ten point plan for a green industry revolution’ presentation.

“The Green Homes Grant scheme gives homeowners and landlords right across the country a cheaper way to make their homes more energy efficient and cut their bills – all while making their contribution to tackling climate change,” says climate change minister Lord Callanan.

“Today’s announcement means an extra year to take advantage of this new scheme, helping households and tradespeople who can plan their workload and create new jobs in their communities.”

Landlord can apply for a Green Homes Grant here.

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Even Martin Lewis money saving champion of the UK is having a go at landlords!

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I realise there might be the occasional rogue Landlord caught with this, but I would imagine there will be plenty of decent Landlords about to be clobbered because they have fallen foul of some minor licensing detail.

More ammunition for the rogue tenants of this world as the council has their back and our taxes to fund their court cases.

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When does a tenancy start?

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A tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant is just like any other contract, it is legally binding on both parties.

And like all contracts under Eglish law, an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement, for example, becomes legally binding when the parties – the landlord, tenant and guarantor (if there is one) sign the contract document. If either party fails to perform their obligations: supplying the accommodation as agreed, paying the rent and sticking to the terms of the agreement, then it is enforceable at law – through the court system.

Generally, and advisably, the parties sign an agreement – though it is possible to have a binding tenancy agreement when there is no written document, then determined by the action of the parties, i.e., landlord offers the property up and hands over the keys, the tenant takes up residence and pays the rent – bingo, all the elements now exists for a legally binding contract.

It’s important that both parties understand their obligations under the agreement and therefore landlords / agents should always allow tenants and guarantors time to read and query any items in the contract before signing it. There is usually a clause in the contract to the effect that “I have read and understood this agreement before signing”.

The simplest arrangement is for the parties to sign the agreement as the tenancy commences, at the property and while the inventory is checked off and agreed. In the case of a AST there are now several other important documents which should accompany the agreement and these should be signed and attached to the agreement document itself: gas and electric certificates, deposit protection details, the EPC, the How-to-Rent guide etc.

However, sometimes it’s not possible to meet together at the property, or the tenancy is to commence at a later date. Signing the contract in advance provides surety for both landlord and tenant in this situation, but having signed it will be very difficult for either party to withdraw.

It’s important that the agreement states clearly the date the tenancy will commence, which is the date the keys will be handed over so that occupation can begin. Usually, the landlord will collect the deposit (which must be protected in a government approved scheme within 28 days) and one month’s rent in advance.

One example of where the date of commencement of a tenancy was very important was in the case of Lynch v Kirby. An appeal court ruling against a judgement made September 2009 regarding an order for possession reversed the original judge’s decision.

The landlord had agreed to let a room in his premises to the tenant if he could obtain housing benefit. The tenant had entered into occupation on the 20^th February 1997, but did not obtained housing benefit until six weeks later, backdated to the start of the tenancy.

The landlord had contended that the tenancy did not actually start until housing benefit was obtained and paid. The tenant argued that the tenancy had commenced upon occupation.

This was important at the time due to the fact that prior to the 28 of February 1997, granting a AST depended on the landlord serving on the tenant a notice under section 20(2) of the Housing Act 1988 – the Section 20 notice as it was then known. This had to be done before the tenancy was entered into, otherwise the tenancy became a fully Assured Tenancy with security of tenure.

For all AST’s entered into after the 28 February 1997 the section 20 notice was no longer required, hence the importance to both parties of establishing the date when the tenancy legally commenced.

The first judge had awarded a possession order to the landlord.

The appeal court judge found for the tenant, agreeing that the tenancy had commenced on the day occupation commences, the 20^th February 1997, giving him a fully assured tenancy. Under this tenancy the landlord would only be able to gain possession if the tenant was in breach of his contract of on some other limited grounds, pretty much the situation that will pertain when Section 21 is abolished, as promised.

Can important documents like tenancy contracts be signed electronically?

Legal Issues – signing an agreement as a deed

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Tenant referencing revolution is now ‘very close’, says leading tech CEO

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Tenant referencing is on the brink of a major breakthrough that will significantly alter the way landlords and letting agents vet tenants, it has been claimed.

It’s been brewing for over two years since the EU’s Open Banking regulations went live, but 2021 is likely to be the year when the tech, and tenants’ acceptance of its principles, breaks through, says Freddy Kelly (pictured, above), founder of Credit Kudos.

“More and more data is becoming available about people that enables platforms like ours to understand people’s debt, rent, pensions and other payment commitments,” he says.

Also, lockdown, and people’s greater use of online banking as traditional banking and referencing have become more difficult, means millions of tenants are now getting to grips with the concept of Open Banking.

Rental payments

This is tech that enables tenants to let platforms like Credit Kudos to anonymously read their bank accounts and record their rental payments, among other things.

Live since January 2018, anyone who has an account with the leading high street banks can choose to share their personal finance track record with a tech provider.

Landlords, who in the past have had to rely on references from credit ratings agencies, banks, employers and previous landlords, can now see if a prospective tenant has paid their rent on time and in full in the past.

Kelly, whose firm recently signed a major deal with lettings platform Goodlord, says his tech means Credit Kudos can gauge both a tenant’s ability to pay the rent for a property, but also their likelihood of paying it in the future.

Visit Credit Kudos.
Advice: What are the ten key referencing checks?

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