Levelling Up White Paper – S21 abolished – Landlord register – Decent homes standard

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Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will further be abolished, ending the unfair situation where renters can be kicked out of their homes for no reason.

We will consult on introducing a landlords register, and will set out plans for a crackdown on rogue landlords –

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BREAKING: Levelling up White Paper confirms ‘crack down’ on landlords

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Housing secretary Michael Gove has confirmed a raft of renting reform proposals within the government’s levelling up White Paper, although today’s announcement remains thin on detail.

But what it lacks in depth it makes up for with ambition; the document includes dozens of radical proposals including a heavy focus on landlords.

As expected, there is to be a national landlord register, a crack-down on rogue landlords, the implementation of a national ‘decent homes standard’ and moves to abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.

Other measures that were within the renting reform consultation such as the lifetime deposit scheme, are not included.

Local pride

Gove clearly wants the private rented sector to be part of the government’s efforts to level up the UK economically and in relation to opportunity, health, education, policing and devolved decision making and government spending to conclude 12 key ‘missions’ by 2030.

The government also wants to get more renters on the property ladder; and the government’s ambition is for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50%, with the biggest improvements in the lowest-performing areas.

“Not everyone shares equally in the UK’s success,” says Gove (pictured).

“For decades, too many communities have been overlooked and undervalued.

“As some areas have flourished, others have been left in a cycle of decline. The UK has been like a jet firing on only one engine.

“Levelling up and this White Paper is about ending this historic injustice and calling time on the postcode lottery.”

Reactions from landlords

Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association says: “Every tenant should have the right to expect properties to be safe and secure.

“The existing Decent Homes Standard however is not the right vehicle with which to achieve this important goal.

“At present, this standard, designed for the social rented sector, does not reflect many of the differences between it and the private rented sector. This includes the types and age of properties in each.

“We will work with the Government to ensure whatever standards expected of the sector are proportionate, fit for purpose and can be properly enforced. Without this, criminal landlords will continue to undermine the reputation of the vast majority of responsible landlords doing the right thing.”

“The White Paper has also re-announced plans to end Section 21 repossessions, consult on a national register of landlords and develop plans to better tackle rogue landlords.”

Shelter commentary

Osama Bhutta, its Director of Campaigns (pictured) says: “Today’s commitment from government is a crucial step forward and offers hope to the millions of people being held back by the housing emergency.

“You cannot level up the country without safe and secure homes. The devil will be in the detail, so the government now needs to set out how it will deliver on its promises.

“Renters have had a rotten deal for years. Far too many have been forced to live in shoddy conditions, afraid to complain for fear of eviction.”

Read the White Paper in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Levelling up White Paper confirms ‘crack down’ on landlords | LandlordZONE.

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Contract or deposit first?

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For those of you that manage your own properties (without using an agency etc), what is your sequence of events when you have a person(s) interested in taking a room or a property?

I ask this because I am having an abnormal amount of people saying that want to take a property and asking for a tenancy contract

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Evictions have a new look – at Landlord Action

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Leading evictions specialist Landlord Action has a new look after the company’s redesigned logo and website went live today.

Paul Shamplina, who is currently busy filming a special report on evictions with ITV, says the ‘powerful and bold’ branding signifies the strength of the company and goes hand in hand with the more complex legal cases that will be undertaken by the team.

Founded in 1999 as the UK’s first fixed-fee evictions specialist for private and corporate landlords and now employing over 200 legal professionals, it joined the Hamilton Fraser family in 2017.

This enabled the group to offer an end-to-end lifecycle service to landlords, covering everything from insuring their property and protecting the deposit, to protecting against poor service by their letting agent and helping landlords get their property back in the event of non-payment of rent or other tenancy issues.

Tumultous

The past two years have been tumultuous for landlords, with eviction suspensions and extended notice periods.

Since the ban on bailiff enforced evictions ended, the number of renters being evicted has increased and Landlord Action predicts that in 2022 possession figures will double when compared to 2020 and 2021.

“Supporting landlords in stressful times is what we do,” says Paul Shamplina, founder and also Chief Commercial Officer at Hamilton Fraser (main picture).

“Our business has evolved, and our team has grown to deal with the effects of the pandemic and changes in the market.

“We will continue to manage the rise in possessions, whilst also broadening our focus to encompass the more complex legal issues facing landlords in today’s market, given the shift of power in the tenant’s favour.

“Going forward, our services will become more and more important to landlords as the economy gradually unlocks following a tough winter.”

Paul Sowerbutts (pictured), who joined the company as Head of Legal last year, says: “This fantastic rebrand is the next step in Landlord Action’s move towards offering a one-stop shop for all of a landlord’s legal services.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Evictions have a new look – at Landlord Action | LandlordZONE.

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January house price inflation at 11.2%

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The latest January Nationwide House price index is reporting the strongest start to a year since 2005 with inflation running at 11.2% up from 10.4% in December with January prices up 0.8% month-on-month.

The average price of a home in the Uk now stands at £255,556

Robert Gardner

View Full Article: January house price inflation at 11.2%

LATEST: Manchester goes live with ANOTHER new selective licensing scheme

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Manchester has extended selective licensing in more of the city, covering another 1,400 properties in The Ladders, Hyde Road, Trinity and Ben Street areas.

Four similar schemes already cover 1,800 properties in Crumpsall, Old Moat, Moston and Moss Side/Rusholme where 1,871 licences have been issued, along with 51 enforcement letters, fines totalling £108,000 and 12 suspended prohibition orders.

The scheme extension follows two consultations which the council says found that 92% of residents who responded agreed that private rented properties should be inspected. The NRLA went public with its opposition to the scheme.

Officers conducted 701 external inspections and 145 internal inspections in the new areas and found six category one hazards and 215 other hazards which led to three enforcement letters telling landlords to improve their properties.

Councillor Gavin White (pictured), executive member for housing and employment, says it’s clear that these schemes improve standards in private sector homes – and tenants are seeing the real-life benefits.

He adds: “The enforcement work carried out by council officers mean that residents in private sector homes in these areas can sleep soundly knowing that their homes have been made safe as a direct result of selective licensing.” ]

Eight more?

Manchester Council has flagged up another eight areas where it might consider schemes in future, including Claremont Rd/Great Western Street, Moss Side, and Royals, Longsight, which would cover another 1,031 properties.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is a supporter of landlord licensing schemes and is also set on introducing a Good Landlord Charter in partnership with the city’s 10 councils to support landlord licensing and drive up standards in the private rented sector.

The licence fee for the new areas is £798 for five years, with an early bird offer of £591 if landlords apply before 30^th April.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Manchester goes live with ANOTHER new selective licensing scheme | LandlordZONE.

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There’s a new podcast for Landlords everyone’s talking about you won’t want to miss

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There’s a buzz in the air, and it’s for good reason. This week LandlordZONE reported that: “in the wave of podcasts that have come out recently, none have made quite an entrance like the newest outfit on the block, Landlord Sales Agency – The Podcast.

View Full Article: There’s a new podcast for Landlords everyone’s talking about you won’t want to miss

LATEST: HMO trade body launches to help landlords find trustworthy agents

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A network of HMO property managers has been launched to help landlords find agents with specialist knowledge.

The new FIA HMO Network is made up of quality, vetted HMO letting and managing agents who landlords can trust, giving members the benefit of being part of a larger group by providing supplier offers and training.

Founded by Neil Baldock (pictured), director of Essex-based estate and letting agency group Charles David Casson, it is a subsidiary of the Federation of Independent Agents (FIA) in association with Graham Lock.

Baldock believes HMO management has been seen as the poor end of the industry for years, with poor quality properties and a lack of respect for agents managing these types of property.

He says: “This is a very outdated view and with the rise in demand for co-living and shared accommodation the quality of accommodation on offer is superb amongst our agents and this is a highly profitable area of business if done well.”

Gap in market

Baldock says that he saw a gap in the market where landlords could often not find an agent willing to manage their HMOs or one with the right level of experience.

He adds: “We have already started generating leads from landlords asking us to find them an agent in a particular area.”

Ten founder members range across the country in Chelmsford, Colchester, Canterbury, Ashford, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Cambridge, Peterborough, Leeds, Hull, Selby & Goole and Liverpool, with more applications pending as the network plans to grow throughout the UK.  

Independent agents are invited to join by application only and must prove they have the right credentials and insurance. Interested agents should email Neil direct.

Read more about HMOs.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: HMO trade body launches to help landlords find trustworthy agents | LandlordZONE.

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OME GROWN! Portal launches to help landlords handle deposits better

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Alternative deposits platform OME has launched a new portal and app to help landlords onboard tenants quicker and more easily.

Ome was launched in March 2020 and provides landlords with the same level of security as a traditional deposit without the admin or legal requirements that come along with it, while relieving tenants of the need to worry about scraping together a deposit.

This means renting is more affordable for tenants via Ome’s Deposit Replacement Membership while landlords have access to a much wider pool of potential renters.

The service also offers five weeks’ rent value against damage or unpaid bills – the same as a cash deposit.

Its new portal, which has been in development since mid-2021, offers a much slicker experience for users including improved communications throughout the process, with multiple messaging options.

Better experience

Landlords using the portal now enjoy a much cleaner ‘member panel’ that will enable more sources of information to be displayed in a format that is clear and keeps them up to date.

Also, landlords will later this year also be offered more services than just deposits, supplied by members of the Hamilton Fraser family of businesses, which Ome is a part of.

Peter Agathangelou, Group CTO said, “This launch represents the first major implementation of our business transformation strategy which will enable our customers to manage their engagement with the Hamilton Fraser Group through a single portal.”

Eddie Hooker, CEO of the Hamilton Fraser Group (pictured) says: “Despite the pandemic, we have continued to push forward with our Group’s digital strategy.

“The launch of Ome’s new portal will pave the way for future development as the Group’s brands and products are added to the portal.

“The next step in our transformation will see mydeposits integrated into the tenancy deposit platform, enabling our customers to access all their deposit needs in one location.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – OME GROWN! Portal launches to help landlords handle deposits better | LandlordZONE.

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Coming changes to “feudal” leasehold laws to favour flat owners

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Flat owners (leaseholders) only own their leasehold property for a fixed period of time and during that period they pay ground rent and service charges to the freeholder (landlord).

There’s always a long-lease agreement, a detailed legal tenancy agremeent between the leaseholder and the landlord which lays down conditions of ownership, occupancy ad the number of years the lease has to run. If the lease were to end, ownership of the property reverts to the landlord, but it’s rare for this to happen – under law reforms leaseholders have an automatic right to renew / extend their lease.

Most flats are leaseholds and are usually controlled and managed day0to-day by managing agents on behalf of the landlord. Houses can also be leasehold and they usually are if they’re bought through a shared ownership scheme.

Feudal history

The leasehold system is virtually unique to Britain and dates back to the 11th Century. It is a legal system designed so that wealthy families could keep wealth, and the income from that wealth (namely property), in the family or firm, passing down through the generations.

Reforms brought in in the 1920s were introduced to hold-down rents and restrict the rights of landlords to evict tenants.

In time landlords realised that they could raise money by selling long leases (typically 99/125 years) of their houses and flats and still retain ownership. It is the basis of the system we know today.

In more recent times builders / developers started to realise extra value from a development by selling flats and houses as leaseholds, charging ongoing ground rents, and then selling the leases on to investors. The problem was that the system started to be abused. They got greedy: they started them off with expensive ground rent charges that were in some cases set to double every 10 years, making payments rise exponentially over time. Unsuspecting young couples were often lulled into buying properties which became unsaleable due their long-term lease liabilities.

Leasehold Reform

There have been several leasehold reform Acts in more recent years. The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (‘the 1967 Act’) gave leaseholders the right to acquire the freehold and any intermediate leases.

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 introduced the concept of the commonhold, a new way of owning land similar to the Australian and American condominium, into England and Wales. Unfortunately, for one reason or another they were rarely taken up.

Other reforms included in the Act gave leaseholders of blocks of flats in England the right to take over the management of the block from their landlords, subject to complying with certain qualifying conditions. Other rules strengthened leaseholders’ rights against unreasonable charges and improved the way the Leasehold Valuation Tribunals (LVTs) worked to address disputes between leaseholders and landlords.

Recent abuses

Given the recent abuses of the leasehold system, these 2002 changes and the more recent changes proposed in the The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill 2021-22, which seeks to restrict ground rents on newly created long leases of houses and flats to an annual peppercorn rent, are deemed not to go far enough. Michael Gove, the new levelling-up secretary, is said to be prioritising the ending of leasehold abuses, with further legislation planned in the next Queen’s Speech.

The current Bill having progressed through the House of Lords and Commons is due to enter its final stages soon.

Under the new law thousands of homeowners will get the power to buy their freehold. The plans would effectively phase out many leaseholds in England. Rules that prevent flat owners from buying the freehold to their property if a small part (25%) of their building is given over to commercial use, such as shops, a common configuration is cities, will go.

The new law will also make it easier for leaseholders in blocks of flats to take over management of their buildings, bringing them into common ownership in an attempt to avoid the extortionate management fees and ground rents which many leaseholders have been subjected to.

Property developers will be banned from charging ground rents on new-builds. The practice of developers selling off the freeholds to private equity companies, racking up charges to homeowners and trapping them in the properties, finally cooked the goose that laid the golden egg!

Michael Gove has said he is happy to be “taking on dukes and developers” who have made fortunes out of the system. Gove has been warned by some that he should not pick a fight with developers, companies the government needs to meet it’s housebuilding targets, but he has ignored these warnings. He’s already in the builders /developers bad books over the cladding payments they are likely to have to make.

The cladding scandal

Despite even these most recent reforms, critics say the system is still inherently unfair to homeowners who lease properties, and the cladding scandal has simply served to highlight their plight.

Thousands of flat leaseholders, many of them young couples or singles just starting out in life, are faced with extortionate charges for ongoing fire-watches and building safety, life-changing amounts of debt needed to rectify unsafe cladding, and they cannot sell.

Gove is said to want to phase out the leasehold system altogether. He wants to come up with a formula for establishing the value of freeholds and to take the responsibility off leaseholders to pay the legal fees of the freeholder. These plans are now out for consultation

Chief losers from these reforms if they do arrive will be the likes of the Queen and the Duke of Westminster, large landowners, along with many others who own large tracts of freeholds prime residential properties in the capital. Pension funds, holding many peoples’ pension savings, also have many millions invested in these residential portfolios tenanted by long leaseholders.

These reforms if they match the proposals will have the potential to bring about a fundamental shift in the way property is owned and managed in Britain, and particularly in the capital where the majority of the leaseholds reside, leading to a major re-balancing of wealth.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Coming changes to “feudal” leasehold laws to favour flat owners | LandlordZONE.

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