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

LATEST: Huge spike in number of young landlords entering buy-to-let market

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The Renters Reform Bill won’t lead to a mass landlord exodus as an army of youngsters are already starting to take older investors’ place.

The Property Sourcing Company’s poll of its 3,000-strong investors and landlords community bfound that while there had been a 74% drop in the number of older, more established buy-to-let landlords during the past year, it was more than compensated by a 181% increase in younger buyers.

The firm also found that the number of professional builders and investors who owned BTL properties remained steady at 27% between June 2022 and June 2023.

It believes that while the end of Section 21 notices has spooked many in the PRS, the Bill will address some of the stress that tenants and landlords feel when dealing with each other.

Huge spike

CEO Jonathan Christie dsays there’s been a huge spike in buy-to-let landlords looking to sell their tenanted properties because of fears they will not be able to evict troublesome tenants.

“However, this is not the case; in fact, the Renters Reform Bill looks to bolster landlord confidence by introducing a structured framework around the eviction process and even introduce new eviction grounds for if a tenant is persistently unable to meet their rent,” he explains.

Landlords will still be able to evict using Section 8 grounds for anti-social behaviour, rent arrears, selling the property or moving into their property. Although there are fears more court work required around Section 8s could end up making evictions take longer and become more expensive, Christie tells LandlordZONE he doesn’t believe this would make much difference to new landlords who had not experienced using Section 21s.

“If Section 8 is set to be law under the Renters Reform Bill, then this is what they will learn and abide by,” he adds.

View Full Article: LATEST: Huge spike in number of young landlords entering buy-to-let market

House prices fall 3.5% and rising interest rates will hit buyer confidence

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House prices in June saw a modest rise of just 0.1% – but year-on-year prices are down 3.5%, Nationwide says.

The current average home price stands at £262,239.

First-time buyers are struggling as they need to put down 55% of their gross annual income as a deposit –

View Full Article: House prices fall 3.5% and rising interest rates will hit buyer confidence

Labour U-turns on tenant protections in just 24 hours

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The potential rise in evictions means the government must immediately introduce the Labour Party’s Private Renters’ Charter to help protect tenants.

Labour’s call follows Shadow housing secretary, Lisa Nandy, announcing that Labour would not introduce a rent freeze –

View Full Article: Labour U-turns on tenant protections in just 24 hours

Landlords and university jointly launch unusual student week initiative

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Landlords and student groups have teamed up to tidy Leeds’s streets during student changeover week.

The city hosts about 37,000 students, the vast majority of whom will move house each year at the same time, leaving behind large amounts of rubbish, overflowing bins, furniture and personal items, initiating a huge clear up operation.

The Leeds Property Association (LPA), along with the University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds City Council and student housing charity Unipol aim to reduce the impact of this year’s changeover on local residents by promoting recycling and waste disposal options.

Landlords will take part in the Blue Bag Collection Scheme, providing thousands of blue bags for students to donate clothing, bedding, books and electrical items that they don’t need.

Bags are being delivered through students’ letterboxes and given out by student letting agents DEU Estates, Pickard Properties and Sugarhouse Properties.

Vulnerable

Donations will be distributed to the British Heart Foundation or given directly to vulnerable community members through other local charities.

LPA chairman Andrew Parascandolo (pictured) says it’s important that responsible landlords and letting agents in Headingley and Hyde Park recognise their responsibilities to the community by helping the council keep the streets clean and tidy. 

“To assist the council workers, the Leeds Property Association has once again sponsored two caged wagons to collect some of the waste,” he explains. “Last year over 7,000kg of waste was removed from the streets.”

Richard Napier from Sugarhouse Properties adds “We already run a pop-up foodbank in our office so it’s great to be part of a wider coordinated initiative to promote re-using and responsible recycling.”

Landlords that want to take part can find more information at https://lpa.org.uk/

View Full Article: Landlords and university jointly launch unusual student week initiative

Labour’s Lisa Nandy rejects rent control pleas

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Lisa Nandy, Labour Party’s shadow housing secretary, has rejected calls for rent controls – despite saying at the Labour Party conference last autumn that she supported them.

Now, she believes that rent controls are a ‘sticking plaster on our deep-seated problems’.

View Full Article: Labour’s Lisa Nandy rejects rent control pleas

Exclusion of landlords from mortgage help scheme ‘a mistake’ says Labour

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Omitting BTL landlords from the government’s mortgage charter will only hurt supply and push up rents as landlords are forced to pass on their costs, says Labour.

The new agreement revealed by the Chancellor this week between the UK’s largest mortgage lenders and the Financial Conduct Authority aims to provide a set of universal standards to help and reassure borrowers worried by high interest rates.

Borrowers won’t be forced to leave their home without their consent, unless in exceptional circumstances, in less than a year from their first missed payment, while those approaching the end of a fixed rate deal have the chance to lock in a deal up to six months ahead, starting from 10^th July.

Ignorant

However, during a debate on mortgage and rental costs, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) asked ministers if they had considered the consequences of not including BTL mortgages.

“Treasury Ministers remain ignorant or indifferent to the plight of renters,” she told the Commons.

“The Tory mortgage bombshell is experienced whether people have a mortgage or not. Renters are seeing huge increases in their rents – on average 10% in the last year. Renters right now are exposed to their landlords passing the higher costs of their mortgages on to their tenants.” 

Many of her Labour colleagues echoed Reeves’ concern, including Derek Twigg MP who said he had been contacted by an increasing number of constituents whose landlords were being forced to sell up as they couldn’t afford their own mortgages.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen (pictured), replied that the agreement included a growing number of lenders. “I hope that more and more lenders will be added to those 85% of providers. The details will be known in the next few weeks.”

View Full Article: Exclusion of landlords from mortgage help scheme ‘a mistake’ says Labour

INTERVIEW: The young duo shaking up the ‘guaranteed rent’ sector

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A twenty-something entrepreneurial pair aim to shake up the HMO sector by building on their upmarket guaranteed rent model.

Liverpool-based Cosi Living founders Joe Duggan, 24 and Olivia Maher, 25, (main picture) only rented their first property as a lockdown project in May 2020, but already manage 256 rooms and tenants across 60 properties in the city.

“We take on a house that’s run down and where the landlord is getting voids and might be thinking of selling,” Maher tells LandlordZONE. “We improve its value by spending between £10,000-£15,000 putting in a new kitchen and decorating and then manage it for the landlord in a guaranteed rent package.”

The company commits to properties for five or seven years and makes a profit by turning a £300 room into one that can command £500.

Any old stuff

“A lot of people have the mindset of putting any old stuff into HMOs, but we make sure ours are furnished to a high standard – that way, tenants look after them,” she explains.

“We also care about our tenants and are hands on. For example, if we find there’s a blocked drain during an inspection, we’ll ask the tenants to sort it out, so it doesn’t get left and becomes a bigger problem for the landlord.”

Cosi Living typically rents to groups of students and single tenants, who it is careful to house sympathetically in its HMOs, so that young girls wouldn’t be housed with an older man, for example. This has resulted in some tenants staying on since the beginning.

Growing demand

And with growing demand in the sector, the firm has plans to expand and is hiring a finance and admin assistant, portfolio manager and an operations assistant/general manager, taking the number of full-time staff to six.

“We have a passion for property and plan to become one of the leading HMO agents in Liverpool before expanding to other UK cities,” she adds.

View Full Article: INTERVIEW: The young duo shaking up the ‘guaranteed rent’ sector

The Midlands shines as a rental hotspot amid dip in renter interest

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Despite a slight nationwide drop in rental interest, the Midlands is emerging as an exception to the trend, a rental demand index reveals.

The latest findings from Barrows and Forrester highlight that Dorset is the current epicentre of the rental market

View Full Article: The Midlands shines as a rental hotspot amid dip in renter interest

Landlords – can you continue to let your buildings?

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Are you confident your buildings will meet the coming changes to energy performance rules?

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) legislation has been in statute since 2008. Since then there has been a progression of increasingly stringent regulations to cajole property owners to do their bit for the Government’s net zero 2050 pledge.

Since April 2018, the UK regulations on EPCs stated that commercial and residential properties had to meet a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard rating of “E” before they could be let. Since 2020 buildings with existing tenancies had to meet the minimum standard and there are now plans to increase EPC ratings still further.

The MEES regulations make it unlawful to currently let a property with an EPC rating below E, subject to various exemptions, which must be registered online. The Government intends to raise this minimum and is currently consulting on how to implement this, so there is still uncertainty there.

There was a change with effect from 1 April 2023 for let commercial premises, such that the current prohibition on new lettings of sub-standard, non-domestic properties is now extended to the continuation of existing tenancies of a sub-standard, non-domestic (commercial) property.

Some confusion about the rules

The complexity of the rules and some changes in Government policy have led to a somewhat confusing situation where landlords don’t always know where they are going on this. Many are worried about the costs involved and how they are to deal with upgrades with tenants in situ.

Robinson & Hall, Land and Property Professionals since 1882, a commercial practice, offer a whole range of residential and commercial property services including renewable energy, architecture and building surveying consultancies. They are attempting to bring some clarity to this situation.

The practice is concerned that landlords / property owners are not all fully aware of their buildings’ requirements for energy efficiency (EPC rating) in the near future. The firm is busy spreading the word and preparing their clients for the coming enhancements to the regulations that might limit the ability of property owners to let their buildings.

The practice, in doing so, has produced a useful summary of the current and expected future legislation detailed in the chart below below. The items highlighted in yellow are not yet set and are pending Government announcements.

[Source: Robinson & Hall]

In March 2023, Grant Shapps MP announced that the residential enhancement of EPC for new leases would be pushed back to 2028.

This is in-line with the target date for implementing enhanced EPC of Grade “C” for continuing leases, which gives property owners five years to consider how they could improve the energy efficiency of their properties.

This announcement will give some respite for residential property owners. But it is proposed that all commercial properties, even those not triggering the need for an EPC, will be required to have a lodged EPC by April 2025.

This move may have big implications as the requirement for a minimum energy efficiency of Grade “C” for all new and continuing leases is expected in April 2027.

There are exemptions that may be applicable. If you are unsure whether you comply, or if you need assistance in checking an exemption or are carrying out works to improve the performance, then firms like Robinson and Hall will be pleased to assist.

The requirements for EPCs and the MEES legislation is now influencing the quality of properties and many landlords are making the most of any void periods to get ahead of the game to start moving towards more efficient buildings. They need to comply with the new rules and also meet modern occupancy requirements post-Covid so that they will let easily in the current economic climate.

Robinson & Hall have recently been involved in a number of schemes to make improvements to energy efficiency in buildings:

• A former vaulted roof chapel building was insulated and a new heating system installed to achieve a B rating for a commercial office.

• A 1960s factory and office in Bedford was re-roofed to incorporate insulation, efficient heating was installed and insulation injected into the cavity walls – predicted to achieve a Grade B.

• Twin skin roof system with spacer bars and fireproof insulation to a factory roof in Bedford.
• An office barn conversion received upgrades to heating and service provision to achieve a Grade A.

• A private dwelling was upgraded from a Grade E to an anticipated Grade B by installing a ground source heat pump, underfloor heating and additional insulation. The client obtained a £6,000 grant under the boiler upgrade scheme from the Government.

• A ground source heat pump and plant room installed for private residential property.

Robinson & Hall says: “be careful not to rely on old EPC information as the calculation methods have changed and the accuracy has significantly shifted.”

It is important that the correct upgrades and installations are used in order to effectively reach the desired EPC rating, and to make the property more desirable and far easier to let.

If you have a poorly performing property that’s difficult to let, has long void periods, then a detailed assessment is probably needed by property experts to asses the building’s future viability.

Perhaps now is an ideal time to look at upgrades that would improve energy efficiency and have the building reach modern occupancy standards.

robinsonandhall.co.uk

View Full Article: Landlords – can you continue to let your buildings?