When is a new Council Tax banding charge applicable?

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I am currently renovating a large 3-story flat into three totally separate self-contained flats – one on each floor. Clearly, they will need to be separately CT banded – how, and when is this done?

Am currently paying the CT on the whole flat as it is currently banded

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Jon’s top tips for post-eviction peace of mind

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Jon Tatam is Head of Client and Commercial Services at Court Enforcement Services, the UK’s largest High Court and Commercial Property enforcement company. Jon is a specialist in providing recovery solutions to landlords and throughout his 10+ years in the industry he has helped landlords recover their properties, unpaid rent and other costs.

Below, Jon shares his top tips on what to give some thought to from the point of eviction onwards. They are not all essential requirements but some will certainly be very essential and others may seem drastic but if you have a particularly difficult or troublesome tenant, they are certainly worth considering.

You have successfully served your tenant with notice, obtained a Court Order for possession of your property, transferred the enforcement to the High Court to expedite the matter and the High Court Enforcement Agents are now on site executing the eviction for you….

Problem solved and you have your property back, right?

Unfortunately, not quite, there are a few more things you need to consider to fully resolve the matter:

TORTS (Interference with Goods) Act 1977

A TORTS Notice essentially gives the tenant a fixed period of time to arrange to collect all their goods and chattels from the property post eviction if they cannot achieve this on the day.

The last thing you want is to be left with a property full of your tenant’s belongings that you cannot remove and dispose of leaving you with a property that is technically returned to you but that you cannot use.

At the point of eviction Court Enforcement Services Limited (CES) will always serve a TORTS Notice simultaneously to evicting in accordance with the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977.

The timescale on our TORTS Notice is typically 7 days as it needs to be deemed as reasonable, therefore, for a larger scale operation you may consider giving longer accordingly.

If the tenant fails to act within the terms of the Notice, then you can remove the goods and chattels yourself. You would not be permitted to do so if you had not firstly served the TORTS Notice.

It is a very good tool to put some pressure on tenants when they are likely to try and cause issues and delays, whether you follow through on it or not, is up to you but it could help. The test of a TORTS is have you been reasonable, so, I would not recommend providing anything less than 7 days to protect your own position.

Supervised Access

This follows on from the above tip around the service of a TORTS Notice. When the tenant wants to collect their goods and chattels how do you manage that scenario?

At the eviction and on the assumption that the tenant won’t be able to remove all their items on the day, they will pack enough for a few days and then will have to return to collect the remaining belongings at a later date.

At CES we offer a “Supervised Access” service whereby we retain the keys to facilitate this access in order to protect your position and minimise the risk of a claim for missing or damaged items (which happens more regularly than you would think) or alternatively you can handle that aspect yourself.

It essentially is a balance of cost versus risk, however, if you wanted to remain distanced from the matter and for CES to conduct supervised access for the tenants to remove their goods then we can easily organise this for you.

If you decide to handle this yourself then the key points you should remember are:

• There may be a conflict, especially given that you are emotionally involved in the matter and our attendance removes this worry.
• Have a suitable number of people present depending on how many the tenant has. I would suggest equal numbers.
• To avoid the tenants trying to reclaim possession of the property you absolutely should do the following:
  • Dead lock the doors open so that the door cannot be properly closed on you.
  • ALWAYS ensure that you or someone you have with you is inside the property. Do NOT merely wait outside.
  • If the tenant refuses to vacate, do not leave and allow them sole occupation. Call the police and/or the Enforcement Agent for assistance.
  • Keep an eye on what is going on inside to prevent any damage being caused or items being removed that my belong to you.

Property drain-down

This is a very important requirement for almost all landlords and is very regularly overlooked. Most landlord insurance policies will state that if the property is stood vacant then it must be “drained down”.

This means that the water tank, systems, central heating etc., need to be fully emptied. If this is not done and the property sustains water damage for any reason, then the insurance policy may be voided.

This is a relatively simple and speedy process and CES can make all these arrangements for you at the time of the eviction.

Security

If your tenant is particularly difficult and/or troublesome and you think they may take extreme action to try and break back into your property or land, there are many options available to add additional security to try and prevent this from happening, such measures include but are not limited to:

• Manned guarding
• Canine guarding
• Dog handling
• Concrete Barriers
• Steel protection
• PIR alarm system
• CCTV systems

CES can make the necessary arrangements for any of these additional measures to prevent an unauthorised re-entry. If the tenants do break back in then whilst it is a lot quicker to remove them a second time around by way of restitution, it does still involve a Court process and associated costs. As they say, prevention is always better than cure.

Tracing

Finally removed the tenant and all their belongings from your property but they still owe you money, maybe for rent arrears or damages, costs, or other dilapidations?

The good news is that at CES we have a range of tools available to trace your tenant to their new address. We would, however, recommend waiting at least 2 months to do this so it is not a wasted exercise. The reason being is the databases we use such as the Electoral Roll and credit reference agencies take time to update and we want to maximise the chances of locating a new address for you.

Pre-sue reports

Once we have found your ex-tenants new address what happens next?

If the Order you already have from the Court allows for the recovery of the monies owed to you then we can immediately proceed with our enforcement process to attempt recovery for you.

If, however, you only obtained an Order for possession of the property and not the monies owed it can be difficult to ascertain whether the further cost exposure to try and recover the debt amount is a worthwhile risk.

Whilst we can never guarantee a successful recovery or make a promise on the chances of one, at CES we can carry out a pre-sue report for you. This service is designed to try and ascertain the debtor’s propensity to pay and/or the availability of any assets that may be identifiable as available to assist in the recovery process.

Whether the assets are removable tangible assets such as vehicles etc., or fixed assets such as property will determine the best route to take in trying to recover, or worse case, secure your debt.

Our pre-sue reports help in identifying such assets and propensity to pay to greatly mitigate the calculated risk you would take in pursuing further recovery options.

As I said above, these measures are not all essential requirements but some will certainly be needed, and, others may seem a bit drastic but if you have a particularly difficult or troublesome tenant then they are worth considering.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if we can help.

How Can We Help?

Contact us and discover more about how we can help you to use High Court Enforcement to speed up the eviction process as well as to locate former tenants and recover any monies owed to you:

Call: 01993 220557
Email: bd@courtenforcementservices.co.uk
www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk/landlord-zone-residential-evictions/

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Jon’s top tips for post-eviction peace of mind | LandlordZONE.

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Landlord added to national ‘rogue database’ after dodging HMO rules and ignoring fines

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Preston Council has added its first name to the rogue landlord database after a landlord failed to improve and licence a string of student houses in the city.

Michael Gibbons, trading as Student Accommodation Preston, was served an Improvement Notice after a tenant complained about living conditions at his HMO in Pedder Street, Ashton, in December 2018. An inspection discovered he did not have an HMO licence.

Gibbons refused to engage with the housing standards team in its attempts to make improvements at the property and a number of other student houses. The council then refused his belated HMO licence applications as he was not deemed to be a fit and proper person.

In September 2019, Gibbons was fined £12,375 for each offence. Last year, he lost both appeals – against the fines and the ruling that he was not a fit and proper person – at First Tier Tribunal hearings, preventing him from operating any licensed HMO properties in Preston. As these fines remain unpaid, the council is now in the process of enforcing them through the courts.

Gibbons appealed against being put on the national database, but in September this was abandoned. During the investigation, 13 former tenants won rent repayment orders totalling £46,908.

Held to account

Councillor Jennifer Mein, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, says the landlord has finally been held to account for his behaviour.

“Thanks to the team’s intervention and dedication, local authorities across the country will now be aware of Mr Gibbons’ record in Preston and it is likely this will severely limit his ability to operate any other HMOs,” she adds. “Preston City Council takes all tenant complaints seriously and investigates them thoroughly.”

Councils can add landlords to the database after they have made a banning order; earlier this year the government revealed that only 38 had been included since it was set up in 2018.

But Gibbons will be in sparse company – only a handful of rogue landlords have made it onto the database so far.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlord added to national ‘rogue database’ after dodging HMO rules and ignoring fines | LandlordZONE.

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‘We all need to work together to change attitudes about private landlords in Whitehall’

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A new group for portfolio landlords has officially launched today that hopes to change attitudes in the corridors of power about landlords.

During the launch event today attended both in-person and online by many leading members of the landlord community, founder Marcus Selmon revealed that his organisation now has 35 founding members who collectively operate portfolios containing some 6,000 properties.

“The UK’s landlords, the vast majority of whom are hardworking and diligent, are concerned over the current government agenda suggesting that the problems of the private rental sector (PRS) are somehow largely their fault,” said Selmon.

Called the Portfolio Landlord Action Group (PLAN), Selmon told the gathering that the initiative had been well received and that although originally only open to those with 75 properties or more, its doors may now be thrown open to landlords with smaller portfolios too.

“I want to make it clear that we are not trying to replicate other trade organisations and we are not competing against them,” he said.

Improve the PRS

He said instead PLAN would work with all the sector’s trade bodies to engage with ministers in a bid to persuade the government to work with landlords to improve the PRS rather than appearing to blame them for its failings.

“We also want to bring portfolio landlords together in order to discuss the specific challenges we experience and share information face-to-face and online about how to support ourselves – including how best to use tech to improve our service and source funding,” said Selmon.

Nevertheless, many around the table urged ministers to ‘have a rethink’ about the Government’s approach to the PRS, highlighting how many of its proposals – such as banning Section 21 evictions – will have unintended consequences.

Those interested in finding out more should contact Marcus Selmon direct via email.

Read more about PLAN.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘We all need to work together to change attitudes about private landlords in Whitehall’ | LandlordZONE.

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Confessions of a Council HMO Enforcement Officer

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Today we had an unusual communication: This morning was one of those mornings where you receive a message and punch your fist in the air with delight – discovering that there are still some good, discipline-fashioned Enforcement Officers standing up and enforcing in the right way.

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BREAKING: Landlords lauded as official report reveals PRS greener than expected

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Private landlords in England and Wales have been praised for being one step ahead of the government’s energy efficiency certificate (EPC) rules after an official report revealed that the median EPC achieved by all properties within the sector is a band D.

For a property to be rented legally, a landlord or letting agent must obtain an EPC for a property that’s a Band E or above.

But there are Government proposals on the table for all rented properties to reach a Band C by December 2025 for new tenancies and 2028 for existing ones.

The latest report on progress by the department of housing shows that in terms of median EPC band, flats and maisonettes have already reached a band C, while terraces and semis have much further to go, while detached houses are the least energy efficient.

Safe, secure, reform

“It is…good to see letting agents and landlords meeting the requirements and adhering to the rules – everyone wants to see rented property that is safe, secure and warm,” says Timothy Douglas, Policy Manager at Propertymark.

“But the UK Government’s latest proposals for EPC band C presents a much tougher challenge for many properties across the country.

“It is of no surprise that social rented dwellings are more energy efficient because the social rented sector has received significantly more funding to improve energy efficiency than the private rented sector, despite being the smallest housing tenure in England.

“With the wide range of property types in the private rented sector and proposals for a £10,000 cost cap, landlords across the country are being presented with financial and practical challenges, which if not tackled, could result in a reduction in supply and landlords exiting the market.”

Read the DLUHC official report in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Landlords lauded as official report reveals PRS greener than expected | LandlordZONE.

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The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill and new code of practice

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The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has announced the introduction of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill into Parliament alongside a new code of practice.

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UK Central Bank Digital Currency

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HM Treasury (HMT) and the Bank of England (the Bank) have announced the next steps on the exploration of a UK Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). CBDC would be a new form of digital money issued by the Bank of England and for use by households and businesses for their everyday payments needs.

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SHAMPLINA: Tonight’s TV show highlights rise in tenant anti-social behaviour

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Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords is back on TV tonight at 10pm on Channel 5, this time exposing the issue of landlords dealing with anti-social tenants.

Anti-social behaviour comes in many forms including drug abuse and prostitution, harassing neighbours or other tenants, property damage and playing loud music.

Tonight’s episode sees one desperate landlord, David Coppen (pictured, below), call upon the help of eviction expert Paul Shamplina (main pic, outside the property) from Landlord Action to evict a badly behaved tenant who has been upsetting the neighbours and terrifying other co-living tenants.

Whilst at the property trying to serve notice, the abusive tenant calls the police trying to claim that he was harassed.

Shamplina says the case really highlights how challenging it is for a landlord to self-manage an HMO and the issue of anti-social behaviour, a rising problem during the pandemic.

He says: “This anti-social tenant was racially abusing the other tenants, as well as being physically threatening. It was a horrendous experience for the other occupants in the HMO with the police called to the property on numerous occasions. The landlord was stuck not knowing what to do.”

ASB increase

Reported cases of anti-social behaviour have increased over the last 18 months due to changes to the eviction process in response to Covid-19. After months of restrictions and longer notice periods, eviction rules have returned to what they were before the pandemic, however without sufficient legislation on HMO’s and the impending abolition of Section 21, Paul says the number of landlords suffering with anti-social behaviour will continue to rise.

“For landlords with disruptive tenants, a Section 21 was the quickest way to gain possession, without having to gather mountains of evidence and rely on neighbours or those affected to give their account in court,” Shamplina adds.

“Once Section 21 ceases to exist, landlords’ only way of evicting anti-social tenants will be to issue a Section 8 notice.  While this will enable them to repossess their property, they will be required to provide sufficient evidence to satisfy a court and, this is not easy, even with the most overtly challenging tenant.

“Without a court system equipped to cope with the vast increase in hearings because of anti-social behaviour, problem tenants will be able to remain in situ far too long, leaving those affected suffering even longer.”

Watch Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel 5 tonight (Wednesday 10^th November at 10pm).  

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – SHAMPLINA: Tonight’s TV show highlights rise in tenant anti-social behaviour | LandlordZONE.

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The MP for Welfare Delivery doesn’t know how your Benefit is paid

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Universal Credit tenants, more bad news, I’m afraid. The MP for Welfare Delivery doesn’t know how your Benefit is paid. So I’m afraid more Landlords aren’t taking you.

I and many Landlords are pulling our hair out at the daftness and lack of communication from DWP Universal Credit

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