Tenant makes unusual crowdfunding plea to pay £12,000 ‘upfront’ rent

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A mature international student has turned to a crowdfunding site to raise £12,000 after his landlord demanded a year’s rent upfront.

Mohamed Elsawwah, who lives in Birmingham with his wife and three children, has been studying international business in the UK for the last eight months and is trying to raise the cash in an appeal on Crowdfunder. He has yet to attract any donors.

“I moved here to pursue higher education, but due to visa restrictions, I am not allowed to work to support my family,” says Elsawwah.

Dire need

“Unfortunately, our landlord has asked us to pay 12 months’ rent in advance, which we cannot afford at the moment. We are in dire need of your support to help us raise the required funds and avoid becoming homeless.”

He adds that as well as applying for grants and scholarships, he’s looking for fundraising ideas to help reach his goal.

Adds Elsawwah: “We understand that these are challenging times, and many people are facing their own financial difficulties. However, we are grateful for any support that you can provide and promise to pay it forward once we are in a more stable financial position.”

Graham Hayward, COO at rent guarantor service Housing Hand, says it’s clearly a ridiculous situation and exactly why his company was formed in the first place – more than 10 years ago.

“If he can share his student credentials and provide a co-signer we would be happy to assist,” he tells LandlordZONE. “Occasionally landlords are fussy on who the guarantor is, but we have a 100% pay-out record and are backed by a highly rated insurance company.”

Read more about rent guarantors.

View Full Article: Tenant makes unusual crowdfunding plea to pay £12,000 ‘upfront’ rent

BREAKING: Landlords to be given more powers to evict ‘unruly tenants’

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The Government is preparing to compromise over its plans to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions by beefing up landlords’ ability to eject ‘unruly’ tenants including those involved in anti-social behaviour, the Prime Minister has revealed.

The initiative is part of the Government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan launched tomorrow morning (27th March) which will a wide-ranging initiative to crack down on anti-social behaviour including “giving landlords and housing associations more powers to evict unruly tenants who ruin their neighbours’ lives through persistent noise or by being drunk and disorderly”.

This would be appear to allay many landlords’ fears that abolishing Section 21 evictions will prevent them removing tenants who terrorist neighbours and, in the case of HMOs, fellow tenants through violent or intimidating behaviour.

Other measures within the plan include bigger fines for graffitti and littering, sprucing up green areas and parks, and re-opening empty shops.

Housing secretary Michael Gove (pictured) says: “Anti-social behaviour erodes local pride, blights our high streets and parks and is a stain on too many communities across the country.

“We know that it is more likely to flourish in areas that have, for too long, been overlooked and undervalued.”

No Explanation

“Plans to end ‘no explanation’ repossessions risk making it harder to tackle such behaviour,” says Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

“Whilst we will study the detail of the Government’s plans carefully, we welcome its commitment to strengthen the ability of landlords to evict unruly tenants.

“It follows extensive campaigning by the NRLA to ensure swift and effective action can be taken against those causing misery in their communities.

“The law must be on the side of the victims of anti-social behaviour and we are glad that the Government agrees.”

Polling by the NRLA found that half of landlords have at some point attempted to repossess a property because of a tenant’s anti-social or criminal behaviour.

Of this group 84 per cent had received no help in tackling it from their local authority and 75 per cent had no assistance from the police in dealing with anti-social tenants, the NRLA says.

Commenting on his Government’s new initiative, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says: “This action plan maps out how we will tackle this issue with the urgency it deserves and stamp out these crimes once and for all – so that wherever you live, you can feel safe in, and proud of your community.”

View Full Article: BREAKING: Landlords to be given more powers to evict ‘unruly tenants’

Inspired by a new generation of property investors

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Dear Property118

The latest videos you have published on your Property118 TV YouTube channel were very timely for me because I was on the verge of throwing the towel in following the barrage of bad news for property investors in recent years.

View Full Article: Inspired by a new generation of property investors

Smaller portfolio landlords ARE leaving the sector, says Bank of England report

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Smaller buy-to-let landlords continue to quit the market, according to the Bank of England’s latest update on PRS conditions.

The bank’s findings support the NRLA’s assessment that the landlord exodus is well underway – a position which chief executive Ben Beadle was forced to defend earlier this month.

A Guardian article had accused Beadle of making up stories about the state of the sector in a bid to persuade the government to scrap restrictions on mortgage tax relief, however a Commons committee agreed that he had not misled MPs when giving evidence about the diminishing supply of private rented housing.

Supply

Beadle (pictured) tells LandlordZONE: “Across the country demand for rented housing is massively outstripping supply – a trend which the Bank has once again highlighted in this report. The only losers from this are renters who are struggling to find a place to live.

“It makes no sense to have a tax system which actively discourages the provision of the very homes renters need. That’s why the government needs a proper plan which supports the sector to meet the growing demand from tenants for good quality private rented accommodation.”

Contracting

The Bank of England’s summary of business conditions in the first quarter of the year finds that rental housing supply is still contracting, while demand for properties continues to rise, leading to double-digit rent inflation.

Despite this, tenant groups continue to push the line that the sector is exaggerating the scale of the problem.

This week, London Renters Union sent newsletters to its members claiming that it has forced ministers to admit the landlord lobby and government have peddled lies about landlords leaving the sector because of stronger renter protections on the horizon.

The group says: “It’s outrageous that the landlord lobby has pushed this false narrative to scare government away from protecting renters when the truth is that private profiteering in our housing system is still on the rise.”

View Full Article: Smaller portfolio landlords ARE leaving the sector, says Bank of England report

Student landlords – and students – will suffer under periodic tenancies

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The looming ban on fixed-term tenancies as part of the Renters Reform Bill will cause chaos for both students and landlords in the university rental sector, experts say.

According to research by the accommodation platform StuRents, the UK will face a shortfall of around 450,000 student beds by 2025 and if landlords leave the PRS because of the ban on fixed-term tenancies

View Full Article: Student landlords – and students – will suffer under periodic tenancies

Sellers slashing house prices within a month

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As the property market begins to cool, around one in 10 home sellers are slashing their asking price within 30 days to attract a buyer, research reveals.

House Buyer Bureau says it has analysed property sale stock levels in the last 30 days and what percentage have already reduced their asking price.

View Full Article: Sellers slashing house prices within a month

Daily Telegraph wants to speak to landlords letting out to tenants in partnership with the council

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Are you a landlord who it letting out to tenants in direct partnership with the council? Then, Alexa Phillips, the personal finance reporter, for the Telegraph would like to speak with you.

Alexa would like to speak to Property118 readers about:

• What kind of incentives did the council offer you?

View Full Article: Daily Telegraph wants to speak to landlords letting out to tenants in partnership with the council

Shelter says agents and landlords who ban children are in breach of industry code

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Letting agents and their landlords who advertise properties as ‘no children’ face being accused of breaking discrimination rules, it has been claimed following a campaign by Shelter.

The organisation says agents who advertise properties as ‘no children’ are now breaking The Property Ombudsman’s Code of Practice and could face disciplinary action.

This follows the case of mum-of-four Lexi (pictured), who was evicted from her property in December 2020 and subsequently found it hard to find an agent or landlord who would accept her large family.

But The Property Ombudsman (TPO) will have an uphill battle on its hands – thousands of properties advertised on property portals including Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket feature ads with ‘No Children’ conditions often along with ‘No Pets’ and, despite a previous court case win by Shelter, ‘No DSS’ as well.

TPO’s decision to include such ‘No Children’ ads within its Code of Practice for Letting Agents on discrimination is not an outright ban; the redress scheme has said it will investigate agents whose landlords have asked for properties not to be rented to families.

Agents found in breach will be issued a warning and, in the case of a ‘flagrant’ or repeated breach, face expulsion.
But this is not an automatic ban and the practice is not illegal nor has a court judged it be in contravention of equality discrimination.

TPO’s Code does not specifically cover discrimination against parents but rather says: “You should provide a service to both landlords and tenants consistent with fairness, integrity and best practice”.

This was the case with ‘No DSS’ ads, a practice which in 2020 a county court said unfairly discriminated against a single mum-of-two with a disability, on the grounds of sex and disability under the Equality Act following a similar Shelter campaign.

LandlordZONE has approached the industry’s other redress provider, the Property Redress Scheme, for comment.

View Full Article: Shelter says agents and landlords who ban children are in breach of industry code

How do I approach neighbours over a water leak?

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Hello, I have a mini HMO next door to one of my BTL’s. When someone next door uses the shower a leak occurs in my property’s kitchen ceiling.

I have had the pipework in my property surveyed and all is OK.

View Full Article: How do I approach neighbours over a water leak?

LATEST: Gove hints at fairer tax rules for landlords in return for more regulation

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Housing Secretary Michael Gove has dropped a hint that he could be willing to consider tax concessions for landlords.

Speaking in the Commons during a Budget debate, he told MPs that the government needed to make sure there was fairness in the tax treatment of landlords before legislative changes were made to the sector, including the abolition of section 21.

He said if there was to be a pipeline of affordable private rented homes, supply also needed to improve, particularly in London, working in partnership with Mayor Sadiq Khan.

He again dismissed the idea of rent controls in England. “A rent freeze, while often attractive, has the effect, as we have unfortunately seen in Scotland, of reducing the supply of rented homes,” said Gove, responding to MP Jeremy Corbyn, who told the House that rising private rents was hitting inner-city areas hard.

“The greed and profit-taking by some private sector landlords continues unabated,” said Corbyn. “If we are to deal with the housing crisis, it means rent control and investment in council housing.”

Holiday lets

The Secretary of State also announced plans to restrict the number of holiday lets as part of new legislation. He acknowledged: “There is a problem in the private rented sector…where homes are being turned into Airbnbs and holiday lets in a way that impedes the capacity of young workers to find a place where they can stay in the locale that they love and contribute to the economy of which they wish to be part.”

Added Gove: “We will be bringing forward some planning changes to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which are intended to ensure that we have restrictions over the way that homes can be turned into Airbnbs.”

Read more about holiday lets.

View Full Article: LATEST: Gove hints at fairer tax rules for landlords in return for more regulation