Online Boiler Company Offers Landlord Solution

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Most landlords can likely vouch for the agony of having a tenant with a broken boiler. A phone call screaming you out of bed at midnight, a furious and passive aggressive early morning WhatsApp or traumatised letting agent softly passing on the message with some admirable censorship.

Heatable.co.uk, a rapidly growing digital boiler buying platform founded in 2017 was designed to solve boiler buying problems for UK homeowners, but has inadvertently become a hit with landlords for its incredible ease of use and simplified process.

The Heatable Process:

• Self-survey on heatable.co.uk
• Choose and book installation date
• Boiler installation is completed

The boiler installation purchase process has traditionally been a sluggish one, requiring landlords to arrange multiple property surveys to ensure a fair price – a process that could take days if not weeks itself before finally agreeing upon a service, price and installation date that will incur a further delay. A delay which is fair to say the vast majority of tenants will not display great patience for – understandably so.

Achieved through close partnerships with manufacturers, the introduction of digital tech and low overheads, Heatable have simplified this process phenomenally in addition to offering incredibly low prices, often 20% cheaper than leading competitors.

Pay monthly plans, including 0% interest options are also available.

From the point of ordering, all necessary confirmations, paperwork and correspondents will be issued to landlords directly via email and Heatable are happy to liaise with tenants or letting agents on their behalf – a treat for landlords that may even be more pleasing than their prices.

During the unfortunate age of Covid-19, Heatable have also provided another accidental solution to the problem of multiple people/surveyors attending a tenants property prior to a confirmed installation. Global pandemics have understandably only shortened the tethers of cold showering tenants.

Their online self-survey eradicates the requirement for physical inspection of the property, and offers the reassurance of just one home appointment.

Payment & Payment Options:

Traditionally, a worry for a new boiler buyer has always been ‘surprise’ costs – essentially heating engineers on the day finding totally ‘unexpected’ works that have to be completed; most common of which is a new gas pipe supply.

Heatable’s fixed price eradicates that problem and payment is secured up front, leaving landlords with no financial concerns once the order is placed. No frantic eBay selling session required.

For landlords in the throes of a multiple property problem disaster – when it rains, it pours – Heatable also offer pay monthly options between 1-10 years, with interest free options available over 2 years on selected new boilers.

For returning landlords, blessed with multiple boiler breakdowns – Heatable will offer £100 discount each installation after the first booking.

A previously agonising and stressful process for landlords has been revolutionised.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Online Boiler Company Offers Landlord Solution | LandlordZONE.

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Fraudulent attempts to rent properties surge as criminals warm to illegal sub-letting

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A rise in tenant fraud and unchecked fraudulent rental applications are having a devastating impact on landlords, warns tenant due diligence and guarantee firm Homeppl.

Rising unemployment and affordability among renters are adding to the problem, according to Homeppl, which points to a 71% increase in the number of fraudulent applications between the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 – meaning that one in 50 rental applications are now fraudulent, rising to one in 20 in London.

Its report Are you prepared for an increase in tenancy fraud? finds that legal costs and lost rent mean each fraudulent tenant costs more than £30,000 while the tenant themselves are at very little risk.

CEO and founder Alexander Siedes says: “The consequences for landlords of inadvertently approving a fraudulent application are dire – up to £30,000 in lost income and legal costs and fines of up to £3,000 for renting to a tenant with no legal right to rent in the UK.

“In a worst-case scenario, scammers will lose their holding deposit, but there is little to de-incentivise them from making further fraudulent applications.”

He adds that the fact there are no consequences for fraudulent tenants means they will simply keep trying and, due to the sophistication of most fraudulent applications, many will succeed.

“When you add to that the softening of eviction regulations which means landlords have less power to evict fraudulent tenants, increasingly, scammers are renting properties with the intention of illegally subletting them to make easy money, at a huge cost and risk to the landlord.”

Fraudsters try to trick agents and landlords with a range of strategies, including using fake ID, employer references, or references from former landlords.

Read more: How to deal with rogue or criminal tenants.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Fraudulent attempts to rent properties surge as criminals warm to illegal sub-letting | LandlordZONE.

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Japanese knotweed, not the nasty threat it once was?

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For many years Japanese knotweed has carried a stigma that condemned property as virtually unsaleable. The mere suspicion of the imported weed being anywhere near a property would leave buyers and mortgage lenders running for the hills, it would strike fear in the hearts of buyers, sellers, lenders and property owners alike.

Compensation claims have been seriously high and lawyers have made a good living pursuing claims on a no-win-no-fee basis. A quick Google search reveals a host of practitioners offering their services in this way.

A Court of Appeal decision in Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams and Waistell [2018] concluded that the weed poses a “significant risk of damage to any property that is within 7 metres due to its underground shoots, and that it can cause significant damage to building structures and substructures.”

A major re-think

However, according to James Fawcett of brownejacobson LLP solicitors, the risk from Japanese knotweed could be overstated and “the tide might be starting to turn?”

A Parliamentary committee recently heard evidence that suggests that the extensive evidence put forward indicates that Japanese knotweed does not cause significant damage to property, even where it is growing in close proximity. It suggested that there is potentially far greater risk to property posed by trees and it calls into question the ‘7 metre rule’ suggesting that knowtweed roots are unlikely to reach as far as was previously thought.

James Fawcett writes:

“So might Japanese knotweed simply be misunderstood? Well there is no doubt that concerns regarding the threat it poses to the UK’s ecology remains, but it may be its ability cause damage to property has been overstated. In light of the Parliamentary debate it is anticipated that the RICS will revise its guidance on Japanese knotweed in the near future and mortgage lenders may take note. The true impact of Japanese knotweed is likely to become better understood and the risk of future nuisance claims may well diminish as a consequence of that.”

New guidance for surveyors

Indeed The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (‘RICS’) is now in the process of updating its guidance to surveyors on their approach to Japanese knotweed, when valuing a property. The updated guidance is currently in draft consultation form and will replace the RICS information paper “Japanese Knotweed and residential property, 2012”.

The RICS’ revised guidance is based on extensive research and will be there to help surveyors when valuing properties where Japanese knotweed is found to be present. The general consensus now appears to be that providing Japanese knotweed is “appropriately managed”, it should have a minimal effect on the buying and selling of properties.

A manageable threat

RICS’ aim is to raise awareness of Japanese knotweed, putting it into context and putting the emphasis on “management and control” as opposed to the often drastic remedies proposed earlier, such as the complete removal of all contaminated soil. Here the emphasis will be on the application of herbicides, as opposed to excavation of the affected land, and the recognition that complete eradication may not be appropriate.

The new guidance is to produce a classification system for the weed that will place an infestation into “management categories” depending on its seriousness, but will overall pitch the problem as a “mitigatable environmental issue”, which in most cases can be remediated with effective treatment.

It is likely the The RICS guidance will also re-assess the ‘7-metre rule’ which presumes the plant is capable of spreading this distance underground, which would lead to an expectation of a surveyor reporting the infestation to a mortgage lender. It would appear that the new guidance will presume there’s no automatic requirement to report the presence of Japanese knotweed to a lender if it is more than 3 metres from a boundary, with anything beyond that requiring a risk assessment.

Ruth Hill of brownejacobson LLP concludes:

“The impact of the [RICS] guidance (and the science that sits behind it) will also undoubtedly influence the outcome of civil claims in nuisance, both in terms of liability and quantum. The current reliance by claimants on the 7-metre rule will have to be modified and we may also see a reduction in the value of claims for diminution in value of property in some circumstances in light of the re-assessment of risk from Japanese knotweed (together with any change in public perception of Japanese knotweed in saleability of residential property). This will be welcome news to the public sector, with public bodies and local authorities often in the firing line as major landowners.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Japanese knotweed, not the nasty threat it once was? | LandlordZONE.

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Hastings Landlord Sells Property Portfolio for £2.3 million joining a rush of Landlords wanting to sell fast while house prices are still high

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It seems almost unheard of, 24 flats sold for £2.256 million in just 9 days, yet for a Landlord in Hastings, that’s exactly what happened when he reached out to the Landlord Sales Agency. And it’s a story that’s been happening over and over again for the portfolio experts company that’s making a name for itself by helping Landlords cash in their portfolios in record speeds for the highest prices possible.

If you haven’t yet heard of Landlord Sales Agency, you’ll definitely want to. A company founded by landlords for landlords and established in 2006, they’re known for their “any problem we can fix” formula, led by co-founder of the NAPB, founder of National Residential, and industry expert, David Coughlin.

Like many of us who have built up their portfolios, now more than ever we’re thinking about selling. The market is high, it won’t be this high again for another 7 years, and it’s time to cash in and retire. There’s never been a better opportunity than right now, and there’s never been a more trusted company who really do deliver what they say.

Here at Landlord Sales Agency, we’ve helped hundreds of landlords like you sell their portfolios for the best price. Simply let our experts do the work, while you relax knowing that you’re just weeks away from cashing in while house prices are high.

• We have the best team to sell your properties for the best price no matter what the problems.
• We’re FAST, we sell in 28 days or less.
• Our team has 20 years of experience in selling properties, specifically for Landlords.
• Our experts have personally got over the line 2,500 houses just like yours.
• We have buyers ready to go on our books wanting to buy your portfolios

Contact us today, and get ready to live the life you’ve been working for.

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Landlords confused over which How to Rent guide to issue

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords are being urged to exercise caution when serving the statutory How to Rent guide to new tenants after confusion has arisen about which version is the most up to date following a recent update.

MHCLG have uploaded a new ‘easy-to-read’ How to Rent guide to its website which, apart from tacitly admitting the other 18-page guide is somewhat difficult to understand, appears to supersede it too.

Within the new easy-to-read guide, it says ‘the landlord should give new tenants an up to date copy of this guide’ whereas previous guidance was that landlords must serve the original, more long-winded version.

Landlords are under a statutory requirement to give tenants a copy of the How to Rent guide when the begin or renew a tenancy.

This is not nit-picking but could have expensive ramifications for landlords further down the line.

Eviction failure risk

To serve a Section 21 ‘not fault’ notice to evict a tenant legally, a landlord must have served the most ‘up to date’ version of the guide along with a valid EPC and Gas Safety Certificate.

Some landlords have taken to social media to ask which version they should serve – one saying: “I think the Government are just trying to confuse us all. The version they have published today is an easy read version, but the one published in Dec 2020 is still the latest version.”

Letting agent Phil Ashford says he believes that the main legislation covering this guide still says landlords and agents should ‘issue the main guide’ which is the December 2020 version.

“The easy read guide is not referenced and therefore [not] required,” he says.

LandlordZONE has put in an urgent request with MHCLG for clarification.

MHCLG has form when it comes to landlord documentation. In June last year it pulled the latest update to the Electrical Safety Standards after LandlordZONE pointed out that discrepancies in its wording were causing confusion among landlords and the wider industry.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords confused over which How to Rent guide to issue | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Thousands of landlords released from ‘cladding hell’ after EWS1 forms scrapped

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords who own leasehold properties in low and medium-rise apartment blocks affected by the cladding scandal will no longer have to supply an EWS1 form when selling or remortgaging their properties, the government has announced.

Thousands of landlords who have been unable to sell or re-finance their properties following the Grenfell tragedy will now be unlocked after an official report commissioned by the housing secretary Robert Jenrick tasked with looking at medium and lower-rise apartment blocks reported that there is ‘no systemic risk of fire in these blocks of flats’.

Jenrick says he is now working with lenders to ensure they don’t require the controversial EWS1 cladding forms when dealing with leaseholders wishing to sell or re-mortgage their properties.

Landlords seeking to sell up will also have a larger pool of buyers interested in their properties as the new rules will apply to those buying flats in these blocks too.

“Today’s announcement is a significant step forward for leaseholders in medium and lower-rise buildings who have faced difficulty in selling, anxiety at the potential cost of remediation and concern at the safety of their homes,” says Jenrick.

“While we are strengthening the overall regulatory system, leaseholders cannot remain stuck in homes they cannot sell because of excessive industry caution, nor should they feel that they are living in homes that are unsafe, when the evidence demonstrates otherwise.”

Key lenders

Three key high street lenders have already signed up to stop requiring EWS1 forms including HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds with others expected to follow.

But property management giant Ringley has warned that, although this is the ‘right decision’, many leaseholders have spent huge sums paying surveyors to produce the EWS1 forms they were told were needed.

“The question now is who will compensate them, and of course, what is to be done about those living in buildings 18 metres or higher,” says MD Mary-Anne Bowring.

Read more: Landlord reveals nightmare of being caught up in building safety scandal

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Thousands of landlords released from ‘cladding hell’ after EWS1 forms scrapped | LandlordZONE.

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Businessman fined over car repair garage turned into ‘atrocious’ slum HMO

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A businessman has been fined for housing tenants in appalling conditions without windows, hot water or fire safety measures at his premises.

49-year-old Mehmet Gurcuoglu, director of Golden Motors on Andre Street in Hackney Downs (pictured), used a dilapidated outbuilding at the railway arch car wash and tyre workshop where tyres were stored up to the ceiling next to beds and blocked escape routes.

He admitted operating an HMO without a licence and to five breaches of management regulations and was fined £8,992 at Thames Magistrates Court.

The court heard that as well as being flammable, the tyres would have filled the escape route with toxic gases if they had caught fire, while the one battery operated smoke alarm had been covered up with plastic sheeting.

Police raid

Council officers joined police on a raid of the property in 2019 where they discovered four people living, probably with a young child.

Councillor Sem Moema, mayoral adviser for private renting and housing affordability (pictured), described it as one of the most atrocious cases officers in the borough had ever seen.

She says: “While this is an extreme example of criminal behaviour, it’s also a symptom of the wider housing shortage and a poorly regulated private rented sector that encourages landlords to let out poor quality homes at often extortionate rents.

“Our crackdown shows that we’ll take whatever action we can to tackle those who don’t play by the rules while we continue our campaign for better renting and a fairer system for tenants.”

Earlier this year, rogue landlords who illegally let a Clapton property without providing proper washing facilities or tackling serious fire hazards were fined £22,000 after a Hackney Council prosecution.

Read more: Minister reveals true number of rogue landlords on ‘pointless’ national database

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Businessman fined over car repair garage turned into ‘atrocious’ slum HMO | LandlordZONE.

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US private equity swooping on undervalued UK building companies

admin    Uncategorized     agents

With U.K. house prices soaring during the pandemic, share prices in the markets were hit and have remained largely depressed due to reduced profits. It was a signal to US investors who saw two quoted UK building companies with exceptional prospects trading at low valuations – perhaps too tempting to resist.

The US funds are simply doing what they do best, snapping up bargains when prices are low, when future prospects are good, and then selling on a high.

According to the Wall Street Journal, UK home sales prices last month were 13.4% higher than they were in June 2020, a figure sourced from the House Price Index published by the Nationwide Building Society, one of Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders. It’s the strongest annual house price growth since 2004. It means the average house price is now almost £250,000.

NAEA Propertymark says there is a severe shortage of housing stock for sale, meaning that there are currently 16 potential home buyers for every property on the market.

In January the Lone Star Real Estate Fund, of Dallas, Texas, acquired the well established retirement home builder McCarthy and Stone for £647 million, or £1.20 a share. The company’s shares had previously been trading above £1.50 just before the pandemic hit.

And since then the Blackstone Group Inc., another mega US fund specialising in real estate, is in the process of finalizing a deal to buy St. Modwen Properties PLC, a FTSE 250 constituent house builder and logistics company. The price agreed is £1.25 billion.

According to St. Modwen’s latest annual report, the house builder, which also rents commercial property, made a pre-tax loss of £139m in 2020, down from a £59m pre-tax profit in the previous year.

Raul Cimesa, head of London new homes at real-estate agent Knight Frank told the WSJ:

“The [UK] real-estate market just goes on growing and growing.”

Despite property prices rising inexorably, many UK home builders have seen their share prices decline during the pandemic. Construction sites and estate agents had to close during the first lockdown, and have only opened up slowly since.

Ben Babington of Trilogy Land & New Homes told the Journal that these U.S. investment firms are taking advantage of the large discount these companies are trading at and what they see as the disconnect between this and their real value. They are targeting the home sales market in London’s suburbs and regional towns and cities, he says.

“I am sure investors are seeing really good value in investing in housing at the moment. Share prices have taken a bit of a battering during the crisis,” Babington said.

James Seppala, head of Blackstone Real Estate Europe, has said that St. Modwen will be given “significant additional capital” to expand its output, mainly in the family homes market in and around regional towns and cities.

St. Modwen is a company that owns a property portfolio valued at some £1.37 billion and sold 948 homes in 2020. But the couple of months of closure in 2020 during the spring lockdown lost the company a significant amount of its production for the year, while it’s rental income also took a hit, throwing it into a pre-tax loss at the financial year end last November.

Also helping these US investors is the weakness of Sterling. At less than $1.40 to the pound, the currency is well below what it was just five years ago, at around $1.80 to $1.90.

Real-estate agents, Savills, forecasts show that prices are set to keep on growing albeit perhaps at a slower pace than now once the Stamp Duty holiday finally comes to an end in September. The firm expects prices will grow by 21.1% between now and 2025.

Other US investors have either invested in UK already or are eyeing prospects. US property investors are also interested in the UK rental market in the form of large managed apartment blocks.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – US private equity swooping on undervalued UK building companies | LandlordZONE.

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MP says landlords, tenants and government must ‘shoulder cost’ of rent arrears

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Conservative MP Nigel Mills has suggested that the burden of shouldering spiralling rent debt should be shared three ways between tenants, landlords and the government.

A member of the Work and Pensions Committee, Mills (pictured main image, bottom right) believes tenants can’t be expected to clear their debts without help, which would end up with them being evicted, losing their deposit and struggling to get another tenancy. Instead, landlords could agree to waive a third of the arrears, tenants would pay back a third and the tax payer would pay a third.

“The government should step in and say it’s nobody’s fault,” says Mills. “Tenants will need to pay some of their debt, but in return a landlord could offer a new one-year lease so the tenancy can be sustained and the arrears could be cleared over a decent period, in return for a taxpayer contribution. Those proportions could be moved up or down but that seems to be a realistic model.”

He made the suggestion while taking part in an NRLA webinar on tackling Covid-related rent arrears along with Yvonne Fovargue, Labour chair of the All-Party Group for Debt and Personal Finance, and Chris Norris, policy director at the National Residential Landlords Association.

Arrears triple

Government data shows that in England, since the start of lockdown measures last March, the proportion of private sector tenants in rent arrears has tripled.

Norris says that landlords are not asking the government to bail people out, but for enough support to let people help themselves. He adds: “If we can continue to work together towards that kind of targeted financial package and solution we all want to find, there’s an awful lot that can be done to work our way out of this.”

The NRLA will now submit a report based on the webinar to the Chancellor, the Housing Secretary and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Watch the webinar for free.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MP says landlords, tenants and government must ‘shoulder cost’ of rent arrears | LandlordZONE.

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CLADDING LATEST: Crisis sparks political unrest in Tory heartland

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The government’s failure to fully support leaseholders affected by the cladding crisis has sparked revolt in the Tory heartlands where local councillors have urged Housing Minister Robert Jenrick to do more to help.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council passed a motion earlier this year saying leaseholders including many buy-to-let landlords should not be forced to pick up the bill for any cladding-related work.

Tristan Robinson, the Conservative councillor with responsibility for homes and regeneration (pictured, above), has now told the minister how current government measures have not reduced the financial burden on owners in the town where seven high-rise apartment blocks recently failed cladding checks.

Unacceptable

In his letter, Robinson said: “It is the council’s view that the current situation is unacceptable and that the costs associated with remedial action for fire safety should be met by the building owner and not by residents whom purchased, or rent their properties in good faith.

“The current funding schemes comprising of the waking watch fund and the building safety fund certainly reduce the financial burden on leaseholders but crucially they have not reduced this burden altogether.”

He urged the government to consider making further funding available for those not covered by existing schemes. Robinson added: “In many cases residents are not only facing significant increased costs, but are also unable to sell their properties until the buildings are fully remediated.”

The waking watch fund pays for the cost of a new fire alarm to remove the costly 24/7 fire patrols, but does not cover the patrols themselves, while the building safety fund only supports the removal of unsafe non-ACM cladding system on residential buildings 18 metres and over.

Council comment

“These collective terms were simply used to refer to whoever incurs costs in terms of paying for waking watches and/or any fire safety remedial works which are needed,” a council spokesperson tells LandlordZONE.

“The council’s view is that these costs should not be borne by individual leaseholders (including landlords) or residents, and that such costs should either be covered by government grants or the ultimate freeholder of the building.”

Read more: Our interview with landlord caught up in cladding crisis.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – CLADDING LATEST: Crisis sparks political unrest in Tory heartland | LandlordZONE.

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