Call of the week – Bailiff wait times

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Serving notice and the correct processes and procedures are among the most common topics dealt with by the RLA advice team. It may surprise some that even when you obtain the possession order, there is still another step to complete before you can regain possession of your property. This final step is to apply for […]

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Nationwide, Crisis, and Generation Rent support scrapping Section 21

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The Nationwide Building Society has reported on an event held by players in the rental and housing sector, with the main outcome being that organisations must work more closely together in order to effect meaningful change.

The industry roundtable was attended by representatives from across the private rented sector including Nationwide Building Society

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Landlord Law Training Bundles – Black Friday Deals

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Landlord Law are offering special online training discounts before Midnight on 29 November 2019 with savings up to 50% off the full price.

Click Here to see the offers available and download the courses

I have been taking Tessa Shepperson’s thoroughly well put together Landlord Law courses myself this month and I can confirm they are excellent.

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Cut through the noise to landlord issues

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On 12th December the British people will once again vote for who should lead our country and break the Brexit deadlock, which has dominated the headlines for the best part of three years. However, as one of the most unpredictable elections in recent history

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Deposits to be made transferable between landlords

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Tenancy Deposits:

In a move that would
help tenants who struggle finding deposits when moving to new
rentals, The Conservatives have announced they will bring in
legislation to enable deposits to be transferred, termed Deposit
Passporting.

It is estimated
there are around 4.7million tenants who have to find on average
around £1,000 to put down as a deposit each time they move and enter
a new tenancy. This money is required up-front, and often, because
of delays and getting an existing deposit paid back, they have to
find new money.

For those who
struggle to raise these large sums, and to pay for the first month’s
rent as well as the security deposit, sometimes running into
thousands in the capital, this news will provide them with a boost
and a relief.

The Tories are
anxious to do all they can and help renters, knowing they now
represent a growing cohort of young voters, so moves like this, they
think, will prove very popular.

The idea is that
tenants would be able to transfer their deposit from an existing
landlord direct to a new landlord, without having to find a new lump
sum themselves, apart from topping up any increase.

The Tories think the
main beneficiaries will be those on low incomes, students and
retirees who traditionally would find it hard to find these large
sums of money at the start of a new tenancy.

Landlord groups and
representatives have welcomed the move, but are concerned about the
mechanics of the scheme and how this would work out in practice. For
example, what if there’s a dispute over damage claims?

But landlords
acknowledge that anything that makes it easier for tenants to obtain
a new tenancy with sufficient and readily accessible funds, can only
be a good thing.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) opened a consultation on the necessary reforms to tenancy deposits that will help tenants move more easily which closed on 5 September 2019. The consultation exercise will be evaluating the feasibility of passporting deposits when tenants are changing tenancies.

The National
Landlords Association (NLA) has emphasised that deposit passporting
needs to be carefully designed to ensure that landlords are not
disadvantaged from making valid claims against their tenants’
security deposits.

Chris Norris,
director of policy and practice at the NLA, said:

“We must make sure
that adequate thought is given to the needs of both tenants and
landlords. Everyone agrees that moving between tenancies should be
made easier and cheaper, but we also need to recognise why landlords
take deposits. A deposit protects against damage or default, so
landlords must be confident their costs are covered before releasing
the tenants’ money.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Deposits to be made transferable between landlords | LandlordZONE.

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HMRC guidance on avoiding self-assessment tax scams

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As millions across the country will be completing their self-assessment tax returns soon in the run up to the 31 January deadline, HMRC has published guidance on how to avoid being scammed. Over the last twelve months, HMRC received nearly 900,000 reports from members of the public about suspicious HMRC contact, including phone calls, texts […]

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Wales: Holding deposit information regulations should be withdrawn and amended-RLA

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The RLA is warning that regulations that have been laid relating to the information landlords and letting agents must present to prospective tenants before taking a holding deposit are flawed. Last week, the Welsh Government laid regulations on holding deposits information. The Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Specified Information) (Wales) Regulations 2019 ask for the “name, […]

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My campaign against Labour’s housing policies

admin    Uncategorized     agents

I have set up a Facebook campaign defending property rights and attacking Corbyn’s housing policy. I am worried that:

– Colossal borrowing will push up interest rates, making mortgages unaffordable for ordinary people
– Rent caps will destroy the private rented market
–

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FCA to ban promotion of mini-bonds to retail consumers

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today announced it will ban the mass marketing of speculative mini-bonds to retail customers.

This affects property developers who will longer be able to directly raise finance by issuing/promoting mini-bonds to Retail Consumers (the general public).

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Tories promote home ownership, whilst Labour clamp down on renting rules…

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Election manifestos:

Tories pledge to
“re-balance “ the property market towards home ownership, helping
more starters onto the housing market, while Labour plan a crack-down
on private landlords.

No real surprises in
the Conservative manifesto, very much a continuation of present
policies, with few concessions for private landlords. The emphasis is
on helping tenants feel more secure in their tenancies with the
abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – a process that
is already under way – and help-to-buy.

“We will encourage
a new market in long-term fixed rate mortgages which slash the cost
of deposits, opening up a secure path to home ownership for
first-time buyers in all parts of the United Kingdom,” says the
Conservative manifesto.

More homes will be
offered to local families, “enabling councils to use developers’
contributions via the planning process to discount homes in
perpetuity by a third for local people who cannot otherwise afford to
buy in their area. Councils could use this to prioritise key workers
in their area, like police, nurses and teachers.”

The Right to Buy
will continue for all council tenants. “We will also maintain the
voluntary Right to Buy scheme agreed with housing associations… And
we have extended the Help to Buy scheme from 2021 to 2023 and will
review new ways to support home ownership following its completion.”

Shared ownership
will be reformed and simplified “setting a single standard for all
housing associations, thereby ending the confusion and disparity
between different schemes.

Leasehold reforms
will be continued while “A Better Deal for Renters”, including
abolishing ‘no fault’ evictions and only requiring one ‘lifetime’
deposit which moves with the tenant will be continued, to “create a
fairer rental market: if you’re a tenant, you will be protected
from revenge evictions and rogue landlords, and if you’re one of
the many good landlords, we will strengthen your rights of
possession.,” say the Conservatives.

Meanwhile Labour have pledged to “put bad landlords out of business”, to introduce open-ended (indefinite) tenancies, abolish no-fault evictions and cap rent rises for private tenants, to “put bad landlords out of business” and bring back rent controls in England for the first time in over 30 years. Council house building will be boosted under Labour, funding 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024.

Labour’s “private
renters’ charter” would oblige all landlords to carry out an
annual “property MOT”, similar to the vehicle safety checks
of that name, with fines of up to £100,000 or rent clawbacks if
their let properties are found to be unsafe and below standard.

Renters unions
funded by the state would be encouraged, so as to balance
tenant-landlord power in the market, and in areas of high rental
demand where rents are high, councils would be given additional
powers to control rent levels.

The Labour party
claims that one-in-four private rented homes in England are classed
as “non-decent”, with dampness, cold, forms of disrepair or
are otherwise unsafe for occupation.

John Healey Labour’s
Housing spokesman told the BBC, “these are standards that cannot
be allowed to go on for longer, While most landlords provided decent
and secure accommodation, he said successive governments had allowed
‘rogue landlords to flourish’, while tenants had fewer rights and
protections than if they were hiring a car or household goods.”

“This is about
making all properties and all landlords operate to the sort of
standards that the better ones already do. When one in four kids are
growing up in private rented accommodation, this is the type of home
which must be better, more secure and more affordable,” Mr
Healey said.

According to Norman Smith, The BBC’s assistant political editor, Labour’s policy reflected a view within Labour that the private sector “could not be trusted in many areas and the state had to step in”, a major dividing line with the Conservatives.

Richard Lambert, CEO of the National Landlords Association comments:

On the Labour
manifesto:

“While the NLA
supports any policies that crack down on criminals operating in the
private rented sector (PRS), the Labour manifesto is too extreme, as
well as unrealistic and will be hugely damaging to housing supply in
the UK.

“It begs so many
questions: from rent-caps to open ended tenancies, how does Labour
intend to make these policies work? How will Labour ensure landlords
who are already compliant don’t take the full brunt of these
changes? Will they give housing enforcement the priority and the
resources it desperately needs? Does Labour intend to reform the
courts so that if a landlord needs to end a tenancy, it can be done
quickly and efficiently to?

“Currently, what
Labour proposes will force landlords to be more selective about the
tenants they take on and will drive many from the market altogether.
We cannot stress enough that punishing law-abiding landlords who live
and work in the PRS will be something the Labour party will come to
regret.”

On the
Conservative manifesto:

“The Conservatives
claim that the changes announced in the manifesto will ‘create a
fairer rental market’, but fairer for whom? To say that we are
disappointed that the Conservatives have pledged to continue with
their plan to abolish Section 21 is an understatement. Despite a
robust lobbying campaign on behalf of the two million landlords in
the UK, the Conservatives seem hell-bent on continuing to punish hard
working and law-abiding landlords.

“We will reserve
judgment on the so-called “lifetime deposit”. The Conservatives
has yet to confirm what this will look like or how this will work in
practice.

“The NLA cannot
get behind a manifesto that so badly cripples landlords’ ability to
run a functioning letting business.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tories promote home ownership, whilst Labour clamp down on renting rules… | LandlordZONE.

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