Thermal imaging surveys – a good idea?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, Thermal imaging surveys – are these a good idea? I am considering one for my own home to determine where there might be some obvious heat leak areas. Ideally each room scanned, as well as the building as a whole.

View Full Article: Thermal imaging surveys – a good idea?

Labour MP tells TV show that Section 21 evictions wrong in all circumstances

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Labour MP Diane Abbott has told TV viewers that bad landlords are those who use Section 21 to evict their tenants, whatever the reason.

Despite there being genuine reasons for using the notice, such as non-paying tenants or anti-social behaviour, the London MP appeared on Good Morning Britain to explain that a bad landlord was “somebody who uses the no fault eviction to get you out” and someone who “puts up the rent every three months, every six months”.

Talking about how the rental market was being plagued by “stratospheric rents” which meant younger people were never going to be able to afford to buy because every penny went on rent, she added: “That is what is causing renters so many problems. There’s no certainty because bad landlords just want to exploit the market.”

Abbott said a Labour government would encourage good landlords but bear down on bad landlords and put an end to no fault evictions.

Viewing charges

It would also ban landlords from charging tenants to look round a property. “Some of them are charging a relatively small amount – £30 – but some of them are charging hundreds of pounds.”

Presenter Kate Garraway told her that Good Morning Britain could only find one or two anecdotal cases where tenants had been charged £5 or £10 and reminded her that the practice was already illegal.

Abbott insisted many estate agents had reported the problem and added: “We would bring in a renters’ charter which would say landlords couldn’t charge to view a property – the current law doesn’t seem to be biting.”

View Full Article: Labour MP tells TV show that Section 21 evictions wrong in all circumstances

10 year fixed – consent to let dilemma?

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Hello, I’m thinking to fix my residential mortgage for 10 years with Nationwide which is due for renewal.

My concern is if my situation changes (a bit likely) and have to move out, will Nationwide be difficult with consent to let?

View Full Article: 10 year fixed – consent to let dilemma?

TAX: New rates rules for holiday rental properties go live

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New rules on holiday lets in England and Wales have taken effect which could force many owners to pay council tax instead of business rates.

Self-catering properties in England must now be available for letting commercially for short periods of 140 nights or more in the previous and current year, and actually let commercially for at least 70 nights in the previous 12 months, to continue to be eligible for business rates.

Properties in Wales will only be eligible for business rates if they are available to let commercially for short periods totalling 252 nights or more in the previous and current year, and actually let commercially for at least 182 nights in the previous 12 months.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will look at whether the property was occupied immediately before midnight to establish whether it was let on a certain night.

This means that a property let out from Friday evening to Sunday morning would have been let for two nights for the purposes of meeting the self-catering criteria.

New rules

The new rules apply only to properties classified as self-catering holiday lets by the VOA within the broad use category of short stay accommodation in hotspots like Dartmouth (pictured); they don’t apply to hotels, hostels, and guest houses.

Valuation officers check that properties listed as self-catering meet the eligibility rules by asking owners for details via the Request for Information form, which will be sent out soon. A rolling programme will ask for information at different times during the 2023/24 operating year.

View Full Article: TAX: New rates rules for holiday rental properties go live

LATEST: Ministers to force landlords to rent out empty shops

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Landlords are being asked for their views on plans to forcibly rent out persistently vacant commercial properties to new tenants in a bid to rejuvenate high streets. 

High Street Rental Auctions – a new power for local authorities in England – is part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and the government consultation is looking for ideas on what lease arrangements should look like, possible costs, and the application of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard requirements.

It says prolonged vacancy of shops and buildings is a blight on high streets which significantly impacts economic performance, negatively affects footfall, risks closing businesses and losing jobs, and forces people to move away.

Some of the worst affected areas include Manchester, North-East Lincolnshire, Luton, and East Staffordshire where vacancy rates range from 20% to as high as 28%.

Cooperation

The government also hopes to increase cooperation between landlords and local authorities, and to make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for tenants, including local businesses and community groups.

Auctions would allow councils to auction the rental rights of a commercial high street property that has been vacant for longer than 12 months in a 24-month period.

Read more about empty retail units.

Successful bidders would enter into an agreement for lease with the landlord, and then a lease of between one to five years following completion of any pre-tenancy works. The process would not apply in the case of properties whose landlords are actively seeking to fill their premises or where it is going to be redeveloped.

When a landlord doesn’t cooperate, they would get an eight-week grace period to find a tenant, after which time the local authority could arrange an auction and then enter into a lease agreement with the successful bidder.

The consultation ends on 23rd June.

View Full Article: LATEST: Ministers to force landlords to rent out empty shops

NEW: Huge demand for rental property pushes up average rent to £993 a month

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Demand for rental properties reached ‘exceptional high’ levels last month pushing asking rents for new tenancies to new highs, it has been revealed.

Referencing and rent guarantee firm Homelet, which processes approximately a million tenancy applications every year, says the average rent for a tenancy in the UK is now £993 a month when London is excluded, up 0.8% on February.

Its index reveals that the average London rent is just shy of £2,000 a month and that rents are rising fastest in the North West of England.

“As every region of the country reports a month-on-month rental price rise, it’s fair to say that demand for rental properties remains exceptionally high,” says Andy Halstead (pictured), CEO of HomeLet & Let Alliance.

“It had been interesting to observe a few months of decreased prices in London, but the capital appears to have recovered from a slight dip, in line with rises across the country.

“Given the insufficient housing stock and continued rising rents, rent guarantee becomes ever more essential for landlords and letting agents.

“As a group with rent guarantees protecting £1.5 billion in annual rents, we are acutely aware of how important it is for landlords to be protected should their tenants be unable to pay their rent.

“The lack of available properties means that the market is likely to continue to be very competitive, so landlords must remain vigilant, and tenants should be aware that finding a suitable property is proving to be a tricky task for many.”

Homelet’s index also reveals that the number of suspicious or fraudulent tenancy applications has increased by 10% over the past 12 months to some 50,000 ‘red flag’ references in total.

Read more about landlord insurance.

View Full Article: NEW: Huge demand for rental property pushes up average rent to £993 a month

Sadiq Khan calls again for a rent freeze in London

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has again called for a rent freeze for tenants to be implemented in the capital.

He was responding to a news report that highlighted data from Rightmove that shows the average asking rent in London leapt by 15% over the year to reach £2,480.

View Full Article: Sadiq Khan calls again for a rent freeze in London

‘Sickened’ landlord slams Scots eviction ban after nightmare tenants trash home

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A landlord has warned others to make more regular checks on their rental properties after falling foul of Scotland’s ongoing eviction ban.

Speaking to LandlordZONE, Diane Gilmore is trying to evict nightmare tenants who have trashed her flat in Stranraer but could potentially be forced to wait until the ban ends on 30^th September to get them out.

She served three months’ notice on the tenants last November but hadn’t realised the ban had been extended.

This week, they called to tell her a ceiling had collapsed in the living room but when she went round to check, she was shocked to discover scenes of devastation in her home, with rubbish strewn across every room, and a filthy bathroom and kitchen – in stark contrast to the immaculate property which was rented to them in 2020 (see before and after pix, above).

Courts backlog

Gilmore is now waiting to see if a tribunal will accept her submission for an early eviction on the grounds of needing the property back to sell it, after serving a Section 11 notice.

“Even if it goes to tribunal, no doubt it will be months before a court date because of the backlog,” she says.

While she waits, Gilmore is living in a static caravan on a holiday park until she’s able to reclaim the house, and is legally obliged to fix the damage so the temporarily rehoused tenants can move back in.

“This is a warning to every landlord,” Gilmore tells LandlordZONE. “I hadn’t been round to check on the place since I rented it out as these people are acquaintances and I didn’t want to be intrusive – I should have done it more regularly.

“Instead, it’s going to cost a fair bit of money to decorate, the carpets will need to be burnt and they’ve damaged the new kitchen. I am so sick.”

View Full Article: ‘Sickened’ landlord slams Scots eviction ban after nightmare tenants trash home

Comment: will landlords really evict anti-social tenants in two weeks?

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“Renters at risk under plans to let landlords evict tenants with two weeks notice,” says one headline.

Yes, it kind of implies that tenants will be summarily evicted, I thought so when I first read it. As the recent press reports would have us believe, but this is not going to be possible, given the way the system works at the moment…

The Government has announced a Plan to get tough on unruly tenants, to increase landlords’ rights to make it easier and quicker to evict anti-social tenants. Some press reports have even included damage to the property and rent arrears as part of the Plan.

But is this just a “sweetener” for landlords in view of the pending Renter’s Reform Bill, legislation that will hand out considerably more powers to tenants, and the big question is, how will it actually work out in practice?

The Plan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan unveiled last week has the laudable aim of cracking down on antisocial behaviour generally. It aims to “make sure anti-social behaviour is treated with the urgency it deserves,” and to roll out new “immediate justice” so that perpetrators can be made to “swiftly clean up their own mess, … giving communities more of a say over, and more visibility of, reparation.”

For landlords there are plans to introduce a new property ombudsman, reduce the notice period for all anti-social behaviour-related evictions to two weeks and presumably make it much easier to navigate the eviction process for troublesome tenants.

Repair the damage

The plan says that perpetrators will be made to repair the damage they inflicted on victims and communities, with the ambition of reparative work starting within 48 hours of them being given a disposal by the police. They will have to clean up graffiti and pick litter, even wash police cars, while wearing jumpsuits or high-vis vests, and under supervision of course.

Well, I’ll believe that when I see it!

With the increased incidence of self-reported acts of anti-social behaviour (as opposed a decline in police reported incidents), landlords and law-abiding tenants would clearly benefit from such stronger action by the police. And a change in the law, with real punitive systems to make sure that perpetrators are dealt with swiftly and effectively, would clearly be welcomed by everyone.

Yes, these changes would clearly be welcomed but forgive the cynicism; just how effective will these changes be? I want to be positive and I would like to think they will be very effective. But we all know, we’ve all heard the stories, and many of us have experienced it for ourselves, police action, police effectiveness, is not what was!

Landlord-tenant issues, even those bordering on the criminal, are invariably treated as civil matters, something the police are not generally interested in. As the police will tell you, they have a strict hierarchy of priorities: terrorism, knife and gun crime, sexual offending, domestic abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people from predatory behaviour.

I’m afraid that things like house breaking, vehicle theft and landlord-tenant issues (unless they involve violence) come way down on this list, and as the police constantly tell us themselves, as they claim, they just don’t have the resources.

Speed up the court system

“We will seek to halve the delay between a private landlords serving notice for anti-social behaviour and eviction and broaden the disruptive and harmful activities that can lead to eviction. We will also provide a clear expectation previous anti-social behaviour offenders are de-prioritised for social housing,” says the Plan.

But we all know, again, our slimed down county court system is overwhelmed, still recovering from the Covid pandemic backlog, generally it can take more than six months to evict a tenant, and that’s using Section 21, which is to be abolished.

Even a Parliament committee says that, “The Government risks undermining its own proposed tenancy reforms, include the banning of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, unless it fixes delays in the court system.”

This really does have the potential for the Government’s plans on rental reform to collapse into chaos!

A central pillar of Housing Secretary Michael Gove’s Renter’s Reform Bill is a plan to prevent unfair evictions. Without the Section 21 process this implies a test of fairness which involves a court hearing – a test of fairness in front of a county court judge, somewhat juxtaposing the Plan for speedy or summary evictions?

Who says its anti-social behaviour?

The Plan aims to speed up eviction times for perpetrators of anti-social behaviour but just how is this to be defined, surely this is open to wide wide interpretation. Will warnings be given first, if so how many, will the police really have the power to both enforce the law as well as meat out punishment?

A difficult process

Securing an eviction for anti-social behaviour has always been, up to now at least, a difficult process. The courts want good evidence and that’s often hard to gather. Police crime reports are helpful, as are witness statements from neighbours. But neighbours are often reluctant to help, even when it is happening to them, because of the fear of reprisals. They expect the landlord to intervene.

Success usually lies at the end of a long protracted process of keeping diary entries of incidents, collecting police reports and any witness reports you are lucky enough to get, going to court and convincing a judge – it can take months or even years!

The courts will always be careful about depriving tenants of a roof over their heads, they will err on the side of caution and resist evictions wherever possible, often simply giving warnings and a second chance.

Where would you draw the line?

Noisy tenants – and that’s probably the biggest cause of complaints – can drive neighbours and landlords to distraction. Having parties, playing loud music at in appropriate times as well as running washing machines overnight, or loud walking and banging from floors above, all constitute unreasonable and anti-social behaviour, but are they serious enough for summary eviction – somehow I doubt that.

The rules already exist for dealing with anti-social tenants and I can’t see that changing – it means going to court, so unless the behaviour is criminal and the police can deal with it quicker – don’t hold your breath – we’re stuck with what we already have.

Defining anti-social behaviour

To obtain an eviction you must show that the person’s behaviour is a “persistent pattern of anti-social behaviour,” generally falling into one of the following categories:

• verbal abuse
• harassment because of gender, race, disability or sexuality
• violence or threats of violence
• systematic bullying and/or intimidation
• a pattern noise creation
• dumping rubbish
• vandalism, damage to property and graffiti.
• Inappropriate parking
• Not controlling pets

Persistent behaviour – therein lies the rub: one or two occasions may not constitute an issue, it must be occurring multiple times, but then the question of how often arises, and the seriousness of the event would also have to be taken into account. It’s a very complex issue not easily solved or dealt with quickly.

View Full Article: Comment: will landlords really evict anti-social tenants in two weeks?

Comment: will landlords really evict ant-social tenants in two weeks?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

“Renters at risk under plans to let landlords evict tenants with two weeks notice,” says one headline.

Yes, it kind of implies that tenants will be summarily evicted, I thought so when I first read it. As the recent press reports would have us believe, but this is not going to be possible, given the way the system works at the moment…

The Government has announced a Plan to get tough on unruly tenants, to increase landlords’ rights to make it easier and quicker to evict anti-social tenants. Some press reports have even included damage to the property and rent arrears as part of the Plan.

But is this just a “sweetener” for landlords in view of the pending Renter’s Reform Bill, legislation that will hand out considerably more powers to tenants, and the big question is, how will it actually work out in practice?

The Plan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan unveiled last week has the laudable aim of cracking down on antisocial behaviour generally. It aims to “make sure anti-social behaviour is treated with the urgency it deserves,” and to roll out new “immediate justice” so that perpetrators can be made to “swiftly clean up their own mess, … giving communities more of a say over, and more visibility of, reparation.”

For landlords there are plans to introduce a new property ombudsman, reduce the notice period for all anti-social behaviour-related evictions to two weeks and presumably make it much easier to navigate the eviction process for troublesome tenants.

Repair the damage

The plan says that perpetrators will be made to repair the damage they inflicted on victims and communities, with the ambition of reparative work starting within 48 hours of them being given a disposal by the police. They will have to clean up graffiti and pick litter, even wash police cars, while wearing jumpsuits or high-vis vests, and under supervision of course.

Well, I’ll believe that when I see it!

With the increased incidence of self-reported acts of anti-social behaviour (as opposed a decline in police reported incidents), landlords and law-abiding tenants would clearly benefit from such stronger action by the police. And a change in the law, with real punitive systems to make sure that perpetrators are dealt with swiftly and effectively, would clearly be welcomed by everyone.

Yes, these changes would clearly be welcomed but forgive the cynicism; just how effective will these changes be? I want to be positive and I would like to think they will be very effective. But we all know, we’ve all heard the stories, and many of us have experienced it for ourselves, police action, police effectiveness, is not what was!

Landlord-tenant issues, even those bordering on the criminal, are invariably treated as civil matters, something the police are not generally interested in. As the police will tell you, they have a strict hierarchy of priorities: terrorism, knife and gun crime, sexual offending, domestic abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people from predatory behaviour.

I’m afraid that things like house breaking, vehicle theft and landlord-tenant issues (unless they involve violence) come way down on this list, and as the police constantly tell us themselves, as they claim, they just don’t have the resources.

Speed up the court system

“We will seek to halve the delay between a private landlords serving notice for anti-social behaviour and eviction and broaden the disruptive and harmful activities that can lead to eviction. We will also provide a clear expectation previous anti-social behaviour offenders are de-prioritised for social housing,” says the Plan.

But we all know, again, our slimed down county court system is overwhelmed, still recovering from the Covid pandemic backlog, generally it can take more than six months to evict a tenant, and that’s using Section 21, which is to be abolished.

Even a Parliament committee says that, “The Government risks undermining its own proposed tenancy reforms, include the banning of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, unless it fixes delays in the court system.”

This really does have the potential for the Government’s plans on rental reform to collapse into chaos!

A central pillar of Housing Secretary Michael Gove’s Renter’s Reform Bill is a plan to prevent unfair evictions. Without the Section 21 process this implies a test of fairness which involves a court hearing – a test of fairness in front of a county court judge, somewhat juxtaposing the Plan for speedy or summary evictions?

Who says its anti-social behaviour?

The Plan aims to speed up eviction times for perpetrators of anti-social behaviour but just how is this to be defined, surely this is open to wide wide interpretation. Will warnings be given first, if so how many, will the police really have the power to both enforce the law as well as meat out punishment?

A difficult process

Securing an eviction for anti-social behaviour has always been, up to now at least, a difficult process. The courts want good evidence and that’s often hard to gather. Police crime reports are helpful, as are witness statements from neighbours. But neighbours are often reluctant to help, even when it is happening to them, because of the fear of reprisals. They expect the landlord to intervene.

Success usually lies at the end of a long protracted process of keeping diary entries of incidents, collecting police reports and any witness reports you are lucky enough to get, going to court and convincing a judge – it can take months or even years!

The courts will always be careful about depriving tenants of a roof over their heads, they will err on the side of caution and resist evictions wherever possible, often simply giving warnings and a second chance.

Where would you draw the line?

Noisy tenants – and that’s probably the biggest cause of complaints – can drive neighbours and landlords to distraction. Having parties, playing loud music at in appropriate times as well as running washing machines overnight, banging from floors above, all constitute unreasonable and anti-social behaviour, but are they serious enough for summary eviction – somehow I doubt that.

The rules already exist for dealing with anti-social tenants and I can’t see that changing – it means going to court, so unless the behaviour is criminal and the police can deal with it quicker, don’t hold your breath, we’re stuck with what we already have.

Defining anti-social behaviour

To obtain an eviction you must show that the person’s behaviour is a “persistent pattern of anti-social behaviour,” generally falling into one of the following categories:

• verbal abuse
• harassment because of gender, race, disability or sexuality
• violence or threats of violence
• systematic bullying and/or intimidation
• a pattern noise creation
• dumping rubbish
• vandalism, damage to property and graffiti.
• Inappropriate parking
• Not controlling pets

Persistent behaviour – therein lies the rub: one or two occasions may not constitute an issue, it must be occurring multiple times, but then the question of how often arises, and the seriousness of the event would also have to be taken into account. It’s a very complex issue not easily solved by quick action.

View Full Article: Comment: will landlords really evict ant-social tenants in two weeks?