NEW: Shelter says landlords ‘still rejecting tenants based on race’

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The boss of housing charity Shelter has repeated the organisation’s previous assertion that tenants seeking properties in the private rented sector (PRS) too often face racism from both landlords and letting agents.

Polly Neate’s comments have been published by the BBC within a report on its news website which includes several case studies of black house hunters looking for rooms or properties to rent in the UK.

Neate has told the BBC that Shelter’s advice lines have been supporting tenants who have been turned away by landlords due to their race, and is calling on the Government to deliver on proposals to strengthen protections for private renters within the Renters’ Reform Bill.

Regulation

“A lack of regulation means landlords and letting agents are getting away with discriminating against people of colour who feel powerless to challenge them,” she says.

The BBC report also features Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation, who says budget cuts have severely reduced the ability of organisations such as local authorities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to police discrimination within the PRS.

He also points the finger at the Right to Rent scheme, which requires landlords under threat of huge fines to do the vetting work of the Home Office’s Border Force to complete immigration checks on new tenants.

Power

“[This has] created an environment where landlords have much more power about who they choose to rent to,” he says.

“I can’t help but think that discrimination will be part and parcel of that.”

An NRLA report into the Right to Rent scheme a year after it was introduced in 2016 repeated claims by the JCWI that the scheme had  the “potential to cause discrimination”.

Separate NRLA research shows that 44% of landlords reported they are less likely to consider letting to individuals without a British passport.

“This is likely to lock vulnerable individuals out of accessing a home in the private rented sector, especially as at the last census 17% of the population of England and Wales reported they did not have a passport,” it revealed.

Latest on the Right to Rent rules.

View Full Article: NEW: Shelter says landlords ‘still rejecting tenants based on race’

Daily Telegraph wants to talk to landlords who have sold any buy-to-let properties

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If you are a landlord who has sold any buy-to-let properties and invested funds in savings bonds, which now pay higher rates, Alexa Phillips, from the Telegraph would like to speak with you.

Alexa would like to know:

When you sold the property or properties in question?

View Full Article: Daily Telegraph wants to talk to landlords who have sold any buy-to-let properties

House sales fell by 3% in December, HMRC says

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The latest data on the UK’s house sales from HMRC reveals that numbers dipped by 3% month-on-month in December 2022 with signs that rising mortgage rates impacted transactions.

The figures show that 101,920 homes were sold in December 2022 –

View Full Article: House sales fell by 3% in December, HMRC says

Petition against S24 – What are NRLA doing?

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Hello, The petition against S24 is gaining momentum and needs more fuel to engage everyone to sign up.

Please contact your local estate agents to spread the word and ask if they can put a poster in their windows.

View Full Article: Petition against S24 – What are NRLA doing?

Party wall problems?

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Hello, Has anyone had this problem?

We own a bungalow which we rent out, the tenants are very very good. They have told me they have mould on the adjoining wall, they have mentioned before the wall was very cold.

View Full Article: Party wall problems?

Now could be a GREAT time to transfer flats with Cladding Issues into a Limited Company

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Do you own one or more rental flats with cladding issues?

Have your flats with cladding issues become impossible to raise mortgages against since the Grenfell Disaster case?

If so, finally we may have some good news for you

View Full Article: Now could be a GREAT time to transfer flats with Cladding Issues into a Limited Company

Former Tory housing ministers call for radical shake-up of policy

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Four former housing ministers have backed a Tory thinktank policy paper that urges a radical rethink of government housebuilding policies.

The Centre for Policy Studies report, The Case for Housebuilding, explains how the UK’s massive shortfall in homes has played a key role in driving up prices, explains why building solely on brownfield cannot deliver the homes needed, and how housebuilding is not as unpopular as is generally understood.

It believes that it’s a myth that increasing supply would do little to reduce the price of housing to affordable levels.

The report points to a huge drop in building rates since the 1960s, smaller new homes and dramatically increased prices, particularly where supply and demand are most imbalanced.

It says rents are also climbing as a share of income; whereas private renters spent 10% of their income on housing from the 1960s to the 1980s, rising to 15% in London, the share of income spent on rent has risen to 30% in recent years, and almost 40% in London.

Less productive

It adds: “The case for housebuilding is simple – without it, Britain will be a less productive, less equal, less fair and less happy country. Building more homes is the clearest way to boost economic growth and rebuild our economy.”

Former Housing Secretaries (left to right, main picture) Sajid Javid and Simon Clarke and former Housing Ministers Brandon Lewis and Kit Malthouse have backed the report.

Javid says: “For decades, we have simply not built enough homes. This failure risks creating a generation that without any capital of its own, becomes resentful of capitalism and capitalists.

“This important report presents a clear analysis of the core challenges we face, and how elected officials can and must rise to them.”

View Full Article: Former Tory housing ministers call for radical shake-up of policy

Birmingham proceeds with HMO licensing expansion despite opposition

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Birmingham council has concluded its consultation into an additional licensing scheme across the city that would include 9,500 properties in all 69 wards.

Following a full cabinet meeting report on the scheme’s consultation which included several landlords sessions organised by the NRLA, the council is to proceed with the scheme unaltered despite nearly half of landlords and letting agents who responded saying they opposed it.

The council’s existing mandatory licensing scheme covers 4,000 larger properties with five or more occupants but it now hopes to improve standards in smaller HMOs. Landlords will soon need to pay a £755 licence fee under the scheme which could go live as early as 1st April.

Biggest scheme

In March last year, the council approved the UK’s biggest selective licensing scheme and is now waiting for Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove to give it the go-ahead. Landlords across 25 wards including North Edgbaston, South Yardley and Sparkhill are set to need a licence in a scheme covering 40,000 properties.

Sajeela Naseer (pictured), the council’s head of licensing, says years of data-gathering shows a clear correlation between HMOs and antisocial behaviour, waste and some serious home hazards.

She adds: “Licence conditions would include requiring landlords to work with the council to tackle anti-social behaviour arising from their properties, to have appropriate waste management arrangements in place and ensure that their properties are safe.”

Anti-social behaviour

Councillor Sharon Thompson (pictured), cabinet member for homes and homelessness, says it wants to hear from tenants living in HMOs and landlords who are responsible for them.

“Our research has shown that there are potentially 8,000 HMOs without a licence and that many are badly managed and give rise to a lot of anti-social behaviour,” says Thompson.

“The licence would give the council extra powers to proactively identify HMOs and join up with other services such as the police to tackle the issues. This is why we believe that designating a city-wide additional licensing area is the right course of action.”

Read the council report in full.

View Full Article: Birmingham proceeds with HMO licensing expansion despite opposition

‘Heartless’ landlord fined £175,000 over dilapidated and unlicensed HMO

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A rogue landlord who let out an unlicensed HMO with no working kitchen, unusable toilets, blocked drains and rats, has been fined a whopping £175,000.

Adam Ali had turned the former Anchor Hotel in Cobham Road, Westcliff-on-Sea (pictured), into an HMO where 18 tenants paid a total of more than £5,800 rent each month to Coastal Living Southend Ltd to live in 11 of the 15 bedrooms.

Neighbours reported anti-social behaviour, drug use, poor living conditions and rats to Southend-on-Sea Council.

It found that the property was seriously dilapidated, with no working kitchen, unusable toilets, interrupted gas supply, blocked drains and restricted fire escapes.

It was in such a bad state that an emergency prohibition order was served which closed the property immediately, and all 18 tenants were housed in emergency accommodation.

The council’s investigation took some time because the people involved had created a complex web of different limited companies and names. It was finally established that Adam Ali of Trulea Estates Ltd, trading as Coastal Living Southend Ltd, operated the premises under a short-term agreement with M F Gregory Ltd.

‘Naive and incompetent’

At a hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, Ali and the three companies involved were fined a total of £152,900, with £21,872 costs and £680 victim surcharge. The judge said the fine was, “both a deterrent for naive and incompetent landlords as well as a deterrent to company directors”.

Councillor Martin Terry (pictured), cabinet member for public protection, says it was unbelievable that those involved were able to operate in such a heartless way, exploiting residents and providing squalid living conditions.

He adds: “I want to thank the regulatory team for their hard work in securing the evidence that led to this prosecution and thanks to the court system for making an example of Mr Ali. It’s rogue landlords like him that cause such issues within the private rental market.”

Read more: Complete guide to running an HMO.

View Full Article: ‘Heartless’ landlord fined £175,000 over dilapidated and unlicensed HMO

Daily Telegraph wants to talk to Scottish landlords now buying in England

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If you are a Scottish landlord now buying properties in England because the policies are more favourable than in Scotland, Alexa Phillips, the personal finance reporter for the Telegraph would like to speak with you.

Alexa would be interested to know:

Which part of England are you buying in?

View Full Article: Daily Telegraph wants to talk to Scottish landlords now buying in England