Daily Telegraph wants to speak to landlords selling because of EPC regulations

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The Telegraph personal finance reporter, Alexa Phillips, would like to speak to landlords who are selling properties now because of concerns about the costs of higher EPC ratings and future tightening of the regulations to a minimum C rating.

How is the sale price going and have buyers used your EPC ratings to negotiate?

View Full Article: Daily Telegraph wants to speak to landlords selling because of EPC regulations

HOW is he still operating? ‘Intolerable’ landlord fined for second time

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A rogue landlord has been handed a hefty fine for renting out a dangerous and mouldy property – his second in two years.

Hazmar Fauz, of The Avenue in Welwyn, admitted several serious defects at the house in London Road, Luton, when he appeared before magistrates and was fined £10,800 with £4,888 costs.

Fauz was previously prosecuted for HMO offences in 2021 when he was fined more than £20,000, making a mockery of the Government’s attempts to clamp down on rogue landlords who give legitimate BTL investors a bad name.

Although the property in London Road, Luton (pictured) was licensed, it had a litany of dangerous features including rotting and unsecured flooring obstructing fire pathway escapes, missing and covered heat detectors, disconnected door self-closing devices, an ill-fitting fire door and a general lack of fire detection apparatus.

Gross neglect

The court heard that along with the presence of damp and mould and a failure to display the correct certificates and contact details at the property, these failings amounted to a gross neglect of Fauz’s responsibilities to the tenants and a breach of his licence.

Councillor Tom Shaw (pictured), Luton council’s portfolio for housing, says it’s another good result for Luton Council’s Rogue Landlord Project – and for tenants throughout the town. “It is a reminder to all landlords that with their position comes legal responsibility,” he explains.

“In this case it was especially worrying that the inactivity of the landlord placed the tenants at risk of significant harm. This is intolerable.”

He adds: “It is simply not enough to make legally binding commitments on paper and then fail to stick by them. Being a landlord means regularly inspecting the premises and then ensuring issues are dealt with immediately and standards are maintained.”

View Full Article: HOW is he still operating? ‘Intolerable’ landlord fined for second time

LATEST: Gove moves to reassure landlords ahead of reform bill changes

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Housing secretary Michael Gove has moved to reassure private landlords that the Government backs them, describing their work as ‘vital’ to a functioning rented sector.

His column for the NRLA members magazine appears to be an attempt to quell criticism of his Renters (Reform) Bill launched in parliament during May.

Awaiting its second reading in parliament, the bill will bring in huge changes to the way landlords and letting agents let and manage properties including a wholesale overhaul of regulation, rental contracts and eviction law.

From his comments, it’s obvious that Gove is acutely aware that landlords are getting fed up with being painted as the ‘bad actors’ in the private rented sector, emphasising that they offer tenants “with flexibility and choice, and the value for money options that go with them”.

Shelter

He also points out that a rented home can be “at the same time a home and an investment, a valued asset and precious security, a shelter and haven” and that he wants to “strike a balance” between landlord and tenant needs.

Turning to evictions, Gove says he wants the looming abolishment of Section 21 evictions, and the introduction of beefed up Section 8 notices, to ensure the law is there to protect victims whether that’s the landlord or tenant.

He also pledged to provide “more comprehensive grounds for landlords to recover properties” and to make it “easier to repossess them where tenants are at fault” and to use digital platforms to speed up the process of getting repossession claims through the legal process.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, says: “We welcome the housing secretary’s commitments, and his recognition of the importance of individual landlords.

“As he rightly notes, the Renters (Reform) Bill needs to work for responsible landlords every bit as much as tenants. Without this it will serve only to exacerbate the rental housing shortage many tenants are now facing.”

View Full Article: LATEST: Gove moves to reassure landlords ahead of reform bill changes

Michael Gove says landlords are ‘vital’ for a fair rental market

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Housing Secretary Michael Gove has praised independent landlords for their ‘vital’ role in the private rented sector (PRS).

He has written for the member magazine of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), and argues that landlords offer tenants more options

View Full Article: Michael Gove says landlords are ‘vital’ for a fair rental market

Landlord fined £44,000 over unsafe HMO during bizarre court proceedings

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Strange proceedings have been reported at Bristol Magistrate’s Court after a landlord was fined £44,000 over serious fire safety issues at an HMO he operates.

Joe Sutera attended the court hearing but refused to identify himself saying he was ‘a man’ and that Joe Sutera had been ‘lost at sea’. He was therefore fine ‘in his absence’ despite being in court.

The court, after hearing how Sutera had breached an Emergency Prohibition Order served by South Gloucestershire Council by continuing to let out a property on Eagle Drive in Patchway (main picture) where there were serious fire safety issues and where tenants’ lives were being put at risk, imposed the huge fine.

The judge heard how Sutera had also failed to respond to a notice served by the team requiring him to provide his address and details of the property he rents and had consistently refused to provide his home address.

South Gloucestershire Council says his uncooperative attitude at court served to highlight the way he has hampered the investigations of its Private Sector Housing Team.

Tenant tip-off

The case follows a visit by council inspectors at the property in 2022 after a tip-off from its tenants, where a high category 1 hazard for fire was established as there was the potential for serious injury or death to the occupants due to there being no safe escape route in the event of a fire.

The shared kitchen was in the middle of the main escape route of the property; there were no fire doors to any of the bedrooms and there were no working smoke alarms in the property.

“Our Private Sector Housing team always try to work with landlords to bring their properties up to standard, but where this informal approach fails, we will look to take enforcement action,” says Councillor Leigh Ingham (pitured), cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health at South Gloucestershire Council.

“The level of the fine in this case serves as a serious warning to all landlords that they have a legal responsibility to protect their tenants and provide a safe and decent property for them to live in, and if they fail to do this, the council will take action.”

Read more about HMO regulation.

View Full Article: Landlord fined £44,000 over unsafe HMO during bizarre court proceedings

Calls grow louder to raise Local Housing Allowance for benefits tenants

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Letting agents are urging the government to boost Local Housing Allowance (LHA) each year to keep pace with market rents.

Giving evidence to the DWP Commons Committee hearing on UK benefit levels, Timothy Douglas, Propertymark’s head of policy and campaigns, said it must increase housing options for the most vulnerable by setting LHA at the 30th percentile, if not the 50th.

LHA rates are based on private market rents being paid by tenants in the area within which a person might reasonably be expected to live, and the local allowance is based on the 30th percentile on a list of rents in the area.

Capped

This is because housing benefits or universal credit payments are capped by LHA rates which were last updated in March 2020 to cover the rent for the cheapest 30% of properties in each local authority – in effect freezing them.

Benefits are not keeping up with rising rents, he told MPs, and further pressure has been put on the PRS because of low social housing stock, leading to vulnerable tenants being priced out of the market.

“The decision to phase out Mortgage Interest Relief and other unfavourable taxation policies is resulting in landlords facing unprecedented financial challenges,” said Douglas.

“If a decision not to implement a pro-growth taxation agenda for the private rented sector is not brought forward, it will be the most vulnerable tenants who are negatively impacted, many of whom are in receipt of benefits.”

Shortfall

Research by the Chartered Institute of Housing and Shelter found that fewer than one in five private rental properties in England were within LHA rates last year and that the average renter now faces a £151 monthly shortfall because it fails to cover their costs.

Earlier this year, the NRLA also criticised the government for its complacent attitude to the LHA freeze and its effect on both tenants and landlords.

Douglas also called for a change in rhetoric, and for policymakers to view private landlords and letting agents as part of the solution to resolve the housing crisis.

View Full Article: Calls grow louder to raise Local Housing Allowance for benefits tenants

Call for LHA to track local rents as landlords struggle with ‘unprecedented financial challenges’

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Propertymark has called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to reconsider its current Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme and communicate with landlords more.

Speaking at a recent Commons Committee hearing, the organisation’s Timothy Douglas detailed how the existing level of LHA is affecting the private rented sector (PRS).

View Full Article: Call for LHA to track local rents as landlords struggle with ‘unprecedented financial challenges’

Low-income tenants are being priced out of renting

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Rising rents and frozen Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates mean that more and more tenants on low incomes can’t find an affordable place to live.

What’s more, for those lucky enough to find a rental that they can afford, invariably they will cost more to run. That’s because those properties at the bottom end of the housing market tend to be poorly insulated with inefficient heating systems, and they are costing around 20 per cent more in energy bills.

What is Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are used to calculate Housing Benefit for those tenants renting from private landlords. LHA rates are area specific called broad rental market areas (BRMA). LHA rates are based on private market rents being paid in the BRMA which can differ from advertised rents. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Rent Officers set the rates based on collected rental information from letting agents, landlords and tenants.

Rent Officers maintain rental information for each category of LHA rates and mathematical calculations are applied to the list of rents to determine the LHA rate which is set as the lower of:

the 30th percentile on a list of rents in the broad rental market area, or the existing LHA.

Recent research findings

Of the rental properties currently listed on Zoopla, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, only 5 per cent are affordable to those on the lowest incomes, and those eligible for Housing Benefit payments. That’s compared to as high as nearly two-thirds of properties available to them in April 2020 when LHA was frozen.

Millions of private renters on low incomes are now being almost totally priced out of the rental housing market according to new research by the charity Crisis and Zoopla. This situation varies across the country but in the extreme there are some parts of the country where there are no affordable rentals at all.

Tenants receiving Housing Benefit

There are around 1.9 million private renters in England who receive housing benefit which goes some way or in some cases all the way to paying their rent. That represents well over one-third of all private renting in the country.

In recent years private landlords have taken up the mantle, the slack in the housing market as social housing has collapsed (local authority and housing association provision). In the meantime support for private landlords has dwindled.

Increasing costs for landlords

Adverse tax rules, and more recently increasing mortgage rates, as well as increasing costs through inflation, mean that landlords are increasing rents to help them pay their mortgages. Include the fact that landlords have been leaving the market, and a shortage of decent rental homes has led to rents skyrocketing, and you have the makings of further housing crisis.

With the freeze on Local Housing Allowance rates, and rents are rising well above what low income tenants can afford, the gap between what tenants can be afforded is getting wider and wider – a gap that’s nearly doubled in 12 months, according to this research.

Rent increases

London properties have received particularly high rent increases over the past year, as perhaps can be expected in the capital, but the research shows that average rents in other key cities have also seen significant increases. Rent prices in Manchester are up 14.4 per cent, Nottingham and Birmingham are around 11 per cent up, with Bristol and Sheffield up 10.5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

The letting agents trade body, Propertymark, along with other experts who represent landlords, tenants, policymakers, and the homeless, have been looking across the board at where the levels of LHA has impacted those at the lower end of the housing sector.

Propertymark has come to the conclusion that the DWP should “engage more with landlords and recognise they are stakeholders in the housing allowance scheme.”

Demand for rented property continues to outstrip supply in what has become a highly competitive rental market in the UK. One recent survey conducted by Propertymark shows their members reporting an increase in demand up 24 per cent in April 2023, compared to same period in the previous year.

Timothy Douglas, Propertymark’s Head of Policy and Campaigns has given evidence to the Department for Work and Pensions Commons Committee hearing on the current benefit levels in the UK in June 23, when he emphasised the struggles in the private rented sector.

Propertymark and other experts representing landlords, tenants, policymakers, and the homeless looked at areas where LHA has impacted those on Housing benefit across the housing sector. The upshot was that Propertymark stressed that the DWP needs to engage more with landlords and recognise they are stakeholders too in the housing allowance scheme.

Timothy Douglas stressed that tenant benefits are simply not keeping pace up with rising rents, and further pressure has been placed on the private rented sector because of a shortage of social housing – council and housing association provision – leading to vulnerable tenants being priced out.

Propertymark is calling for LHA rates to be set to at least the 30th percentile, if not the 50th percentile, and increased annually to keep up with market rents.

Current LHA rates were frozen in April 2020. Based on the findings of research by the Bevan Foundation in Wales and Centrepoint in England, Propertymark, in its evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee inquiry, has highlighted the glaring price gap created for low income tenants on Housing benefit.

Matt Downie, CEO of homelessness charity Crisis, is calling for an injection of funding into the housing benefits system which is experiencing a rise in homelessness.

A recent ITV News investigation found that even people in full time work are becoming homeless because they are unable to find anywhere that’s affordable to live. During 2022, they found, 25 per cent of all households seeking support were in full or part-time employment.

A spokesperson for the Government has said:

“We’re helping ease the pressure of rising rents by maintaining 2020’s £1 billion boost to Local Housing Allowance rates, giving more than a million people an extra £600 a year on average.

“We are set to spend over £30 billion on housing support this year, on top of significant cost of living support worth an average £3,300 per household.

“Building more affordable homes is key, which is why we’re investing £11.5 billion to deliver more social and affordable rented homes across the country.”

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council has said:

“These issues are not just present in Coventry but are national issues regarding housing supply nationally, there are a number of factors contributing to this housing crisis including Local Housing Allowance being frozen nationally since 2020 putting an incredible pressure on families seeking private sector accommodation, the continuation of ‘no fault’ S21 evictions despite the government giving a commitment to address this area, as well as a general underinvestment in housing stock over many years.”

Will the LHA be going up in 2023?

Unfortunately not, in January, the Government confirmed that local housing allowance rates would again be frozen for 2023/24 which means support from Government will continue to fall short of meeting the cost of housing at a time when incomes are being stretched by the cost of living crisis.

View Full Article: Low-income tenants are being priced out of renting

£17,000: Council issues highest ever penalty against non-compliant landlord

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A landlord in Mansfield has been ordered to pay a £17,000 penalty after renting out a sub-standard and unlicensed HMO.

The landlord, who was investigated by Mansfield District Council officers after a complaint about alleged overcrowding, was found not to have a licence for their six-bedroom property. 

The Nottinghamshire authority decided to pursue a civil penalty rather than a criminal prosecution in order to use the cash to help support its private sector housing team. The landlord can’t be identified as an agreed condition of them accepting the penalty.

This was the third civil penalty issued by the council against private landlords in the past three years. The others resulted in penalties of £4,787 and £12,900.

Vigilant

Councillor Anne Callaghan (main picture), portfolio holder for housing, says the case shows why the authority needs to be vigilant about standards in the private rental sector – especially when the need for housing is so high.

She adds that the cost of obtaining a five-year HMO licence – £724 – is a good deal less than any penalty they might have to pay for trying to circumvent the law. 

“A strong market for rented accommodation can lead to landlords cutting corners on standards and fulfilling their legal obligations,” says Callaghan.

“I hope this case sends a message out to other private landlords in this district that if we find them acting unlawfully, we will not hesitate to take action against them.”

Read more about landlord fines.

View Full Article: £17,000: Council issues highest ever penalty against non-compliant landlord

NEW: It’s time to phase out traditional gas boilers says lobby group

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The Heat Pump Association (HPA) wants the government to firm up a date for phasing out traditional gas boilers as UK heat pump installations continue to trail the rest of Europe.

The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy states that it wants to phase out new natural gas boilers after 2035. However, an independent review earlier this year pressed for the date to be brought forward to 2033.

HPA chief executive Charlotte Lee (main picture) says while heat pump sales have grown year-on-year in the UK, total sales when compared with the rest of Europe are low.

“We believe the UK government’s projected deployment target of 600,000 heat pumps installations per year by 2028 remains achievable provided it moves swiftly and decisively to introduce the Future Homes Standard, provides early clarity of a date for the full phase out of 100% fossil fuel boilers, and takes steps to reduce the price of electricity,” she says.

Take-up

Lee adds that greater take-up of heat pumps in the rest of Europe is proving to mitigate emissions and grow economies. “We believe the UK can afford to be equally ambitious provided the government takes swift and decisive action to support the market.”

The latest European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) report shows a direct link between a fall in the ratio of gas to electricity prices and an increase in heat pump sales. In 2022, the ratio of electricity to gas prices in the Netherlands fell significantly, resulting in the heat pump market almost doubling.

“Our members are clear that the price of electricity relative to gas is a critical factor, and we support the EHPA’s view that electricity prices should be no more than twice those of gas,” says Lee.

View Full Article: NEW: It’s time to phase out traditional gas boilers says lobby group