LATEST: Scots landlords must now clear ‘pre-action hurdles’ before rent arrears evictions can begin

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Scottish landlords now need to prove they’ve followed Rent Arrears Pre-Action Requirements if they want to evict tenants.

New regulations announced by the Scottish government cover applications made to the First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland from 6th October for an eviction order on the grounds of rent arrears during the COVID-19 period. These changes apply to any tenancy where a notice to quit or leave was served after 6^th April.

The government wants landlords to be flexible with any tenants facing financial hardship and aims to make sure they make reasonable efforts to work with tenants before seeking repossession.

Landlords need to show that they’ve given tenants information on the terms of the tenancy agreement, as well as the amount of rent arrears, the tenant’s rights in relation to possession proceedings and how they can find information and advice on financial support and debt management.

Reasonable efforts

They’ll also need to have made “reasonable efforts to agree on a reasonable plan with the tenant” to make future payments of rent.

The rules also mean that landlords will have to consider any steps being taken by their tenant which might affect their ability to pay on time, the extent to which they have complied with the terms of any plan agreed and any changes to their circumstances which are likely to impact on a payment plan.

“We know that many landlords are already being flexible and accommodating to their tenants who have suffered financial hardship during this pandemic,” says Daryl McIntosh, ARLA Propertymark’s strategic development manager for Scotland (pictured, top).

“The introduction of these regulations will go a long way to in helping to sustain tenancies with agents, landlords and tenants working together and utilising the available financial support to create affordable and reasonable payment plans to prevent homelessness.”

Pre-action requirements for the UK were mooted over the summer but are yet to be fully clarified.

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LATEST: Landlords to face £30,000 fines in radical shake-up for energy efficiency regulations

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Radical new proposals for energy efficiency in the private rented sector could see landlords fined up to £30,000 for not improving their properties and tenants given the ability to claim compensation.

The Government’s consultation on its energy efficiency regulations sets out its aim to upgrade as many private rented homes as possible to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C by 2030.

It says the sector has some of the coldest homes – about 67% are rated at less than EPC band C – posing a risk to tenant health and leading to higher bills.

Ministers hope to introduce the changes for new tenancies from 2025 and all tenancies from 2028, and to increase the maximum investment amount, resulting in an average per-property spend of £4,700 under a £10,000 cap.

This ultimately aims to benefit landlords, tenants and the environment by creating lower energy bills, warmer homes, potential property value gains and greater carbon emission savings.

Dual targets

But an alternative proposal in its consultation would see landlords required to reach a dual metric target of both Energy Efficiency Rating (cost) band C and an Environmental Impact Rating (carbon emissions) band C, with an increased cost cap of £15,000.

The Government is also considering requiring letting agents and online property platforms to only advertise and let properties that comply with the regulations, as well as requiring them to provide an EPC before advertising a property, increasing the fixed civil penalty fine for offences to £30,000 – per property and per breach – and introducing a property compliance and exemptions database.

It suggests that local authorities could inspect properties and use EPC open data for enforcement, and to give tenants power to request that energy performance improvements are carried out when a landlord is non-compliant. It’s also proposing that tenants should be able to request redress from the landlord if they fail to comply.

Read the consultation document in full. Landlords and other interested groups have until 30th December 2020 to respond.

Read more latest news about EPCs.

Read a guide to keeping EPC compliant.

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Agency request ICO registration for copy of tenancy?

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I have several properties although only one is managed by an agency. The existing tenant has requested to renew their tenancy for a further 12 months, no problem with that.

The agency has informed me that they have now signed

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Allow Landlords to evict tenants where there are 14 days rent arrears

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All Landlords, please SIGN this petition and share with as many landlords as possible.

You can’t go into a supermarket and steal your weeks’ groceries. There are laws in place to protect shopkeepers large and small. Not paying rent is also theft with the Landlord being the victim.

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Zero to Hero: Jonathan Schuman, Magnet Properties

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Magnet Properties owner Jonathan Schuman (right) reckons the property business is really a people business.

“There’s no magic formula – it’s about finding properties that are under-valued and that comes down to contacts,” he explains.

With 30 years in the industry, Jonathan has steadily built up a substantial contacts book and an equally substantial portfolio of 250 residential and 100 commercial properties around Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Greater London.

He’s particularly proud of the fact that he’s done this from scratch, starting from nothing – with nothing – as a residential estate agent in Wembley in his late teens.

Although he and his dad bought a property in the late ‘80s and made a small amount of profit, Jonathan spent the next six years concentrating on gaining his chartered surveyor qualification.

After a stint in commercial agencies in the capital, he worked for a one-man band negotiating with dealers and developers, soon realizing that he wanted to work for himself. “I wanted to drive around in the nice cars like them!”

Determination

Proving his determination, Jonathan moved back home with his parents for a couple of years to build up some capital, before buying and selling some small residential properties around Harrow.

His timing – the early ‘90s – was good although he admits to being “naïve and green”, making up for his failings with enthusiasm. “The market moved with me so that stuff I had bought was going up,” he remembers. “Even though I made mistakes I was let off by a rising market.”

After a decade of making contacts and building up a portfolio he realized in 2007 that there had never been a better time to buy property, and focused his attention on Luton where he started buying in earnest: residential properties, as well as industrial units and blocks of sheltered housing.

“My timing was right and I picked the right area,” he says. But he’s not finished yet. Adds Jonathan: “I really enjoy my work and I’m buying more at the moment than I ever have.”

Visit Magnet Properties.

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Government consultation to increase minimum EPC rating to band C for PRS

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The Government has just released a new consultation proposing to amend the energy efficiency regulations for the PRS in England and Whales and raise the minimum EPC rating for rented property to band C.

To download the consultation document click here

The consultation proposal would also allow Councils to impose a fine on landlords of up to £30,000 for non-compliance.

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‘Time to name and shame dodgy letting agents’ says Shamplina ahead of evictions TV show

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More shocking and unusual evictions cases will be included in tonight’s episode of Extreme Nightmare Tenants on Channel 5 at 10pm.

The programme is the fourth episode of the new series, which kicked off on September 10^th and stars Paul Shamplina of evictions specialist Landlord Action.

Tonight’s episode investigates a new a new breed of dodgy letting agents targeting small landlords and tenants alike, which have become a regular part of Shamplina’s job.

The programme looks at three sets of landlords who have fallen victim to unscrupulous and sometimes criminal agents. This includes:

Susan and Gary Bailey

The couple bought a buy-to-let and were approached by a letting agent with a too-good-to-be-true promise of hassle free, guaranteed rent.

Having agreed to let through him, the Baileys very quickly began having serious doubts when they discovered his website was a copycat of a legitimate agency.

But before they were able to back out, the dodgy letting agent broke into their house and changed the locks. Now Susan and Gary can only look on powerless, as their home is carved into bedrooms and new tenants are moved in.

Monwara and Mohammed

These two hired a letting agency who to their shock have been pocketing their tenant’s rent. Getting nowhere they decide to confront the agents face to face. But with a new company name above the door, the employees claiming ignorance and a violent confrontation, the landlords are left out in the cold.

Daniel Chira

The publishing professional thought his property in Romford was in safe hands with a local managing agent, but the agency stopped paying rent, despite having guaranteed it in the contract. Daniel has instructed Shamplina to try and recover his property and missing rent. Forced to confront them face to face, Daniel is determined to get some answers and his house back. 

“Agents who get up to these kind of criminal activities need to be named and shamed and hopefully this episode will help raise awareness among landlords about the kinds of scams they can fall victim to if they’re not careful,” says Shamplina.

Series Six of the main TV series, Slum Landlords, Nightmare Tenants is due to start soon.

Visit the Extreme Nightmare Tenants website on Channel 5

Read more about Landlord Action.

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Housing Rip Offs – Extreme Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords Tonight

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Tonight at 10pm Channel 5 on  Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords we have 3 stories.

Out of the shadows of our overstretched housing market a new breed of dodgy letting agents has emerged who target small landlords and tenants alike.

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About time! Airbnb agrees to pay £1.8m more tax in the UK after HMRC investigation

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HMRC hit Airbnb UK with an extra £1.8 million tax bill last year to add to the £1m it had already paid.

The home-sharing platform settled up after a request from HMRC following two years of contact with the tax office, according to the firm’s accounts.

These showed that Airbnb paid £1.1 million in tax in the year to December 2019, compared to £146,000 in 2018, while profits also rose sharply over the year to £5.6 million from £455,000.

The company has faced pressure worldwide to ensure that its hosts pay the appropriate taxes, and has now promised to partner with HMRC and share data on hosts’ earnings for 2017/18 and 2018/19.

HMRC is expected to address any issues over their payments in 2021/2022.

Tax owed

“We have taken steps in HMRC to consider sectors, such as short-term property letting, where we may not be collecting the full amount of tax owed,” HMRC told Reuters.

“We appreciate this is a rapidly evolving sector and we are working in partnership with companies, such as Airbnb, to address the tax consequences of these changes with a commitment to creating a level playing field for all.”

Earlier this month Airbnb launched its new City Portal to respond to data-sharing requests from cities around the globe by giving them more efficient access to data about listings – including whether or not they’re complying with laws.

And it has finally filed its IPO paperwork with the securities and exchange commission in readiness for a much-anticipated initial public offering.

Airbnb had planned to prepare to go public in March but halted plans when coronavirus hit. The company was valued at $18 billion at its last funding round in April, down on the previous 2017 valuation of $31 billion.

Airbnb also goes to great lengths online to ensure landlords pay their tax.

Read more Airbnb stories.

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BREAKING: Government launches MOT-style service for property EPCs

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The government has today announced a significant shake-up of the Environment Performance Certificate (EPC) system in England and Wales.

Housing minister Christopher Pincher has launch an online service to improve the energy efficiency of people’s homes as the government bids to achieve its ‘net zero emissions’ target by 2050.

This is in effect a ‘green MOT’ for homes and will make it much easier for sales and letting agents and homeowners to find out if a property has a valid certificate, and create one if it does not.

Like other government services including MOT certificates and Road Tax, the energy certificates will now exist as a web page making it easier for EPC assessors to share a certificate with estate agents simply by emailing a web page instead of a file.

“This makes it far easier for citizens and property professionals to store, view and share this vital information,” says Pincher (left).

Timothy Douglas, Policy and Campaigns Manager: “On the face of it these proposals simply do not take into account the state of the UK’s housing stock.

“We all want to see more energy efficient homes, but the new rules and requirements must be realistic and achievable.

“Landlords and their letting agents are already taking the brunt of tax changes and many are providing support to tenants with Covid related arrears.

“A simplified exemptions regime and additional financial support must be made available otherwise the measures in their current form, will not be achievable and that would mean further reductions in the supply of rented accommodation available.”

Visit the new government EPC site.

Read our guide to EPCs.

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