LATEST: Are airport e-gates are making Right-to-Rent check more difficult, asks watchdog

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The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Bolt, has asked landlords to let him know if the new virtual way of ‘stamping’ passports is making their attempts to establish tenants’ right to rent a home in the UK more difficult.

This follows the Home Office decision to allow people from some countries to use its ePassport gates, now ubiquitous in airports, to enter the UK, rather than having their passports stamped.

Bolt is looking at five areas of immigration operations – asylum casework, the settled-status scheme, adults at risk in detention; UK Visas and Immigration’s front-end services; and e-gates.

“I am about to begin an inspection of the Home Office’s use of ePassport Gates and would like to invite anyone with relevant knowledge and experience to write to me with their evidence,” he says.

“In recent years, the use by Border Force of ePassport Gates to manage arriving international passengers has increased.

“The gates use technology to authenticate e-passports and to link the passenger to the travel document through a facial biometric comparison and have become a key component of Border Force’s strategy for managing the UK border efficiently and effectively.”

But campaigners say that because ‘B5JSSK nationals’ arriving to live in the UK no longer have to have their passports stamped and use the e-gates instead, landlords face problems establishing their Right-to-Rent status when they apply for a tenancy.

These are people from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the US.

Landlords wishing to make their views knows should email them to Bolt at: epassportgates@icibi.gov.uk

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Are airport e-gates are making Right-to-Rent check more difficult, asks watchdog | LandlordZONE.

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Housing Market recovery not expected to continue beyond Stamp Duty holiday

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The housing market gained momentum in July as the recovery continued, according to the July 2020 RICS UK Residential Survey. Anecdotal evidence suggests the Stamp Duty holiday, introduced from the 8th July, is playing a significant role in lifting demand.

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Can UC take on board Local Council advice?

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Does anyone know for sure if Universal Credit (UC) are obligated to take on board information given to them by a Local Council (LC) in regard to a client?

I deal with challenging tenants and the LC knows this well.

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‘Airbnb mortgage’ market roars back into action

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The number of landlord mortgages available for shot lets has increased by a quarter in just a month as lenders seek to cash-in on investor demand for ‘Airbnb mortgages’.

Moneyfacts has told LandlordZONE that the number of landlord mortgage products has risen from 60 to 74 since the beginning of July and that 14 providers have them on offer, up from nine.

Of these, 39 are holiday-let specific products, with 22 fixed rates averaging 3.48%, and 17 variable rates averaging 3.09%. However, this is still down on the number of products on the market back in March when 162 were up for grabs.

Mortgage lender West One is one of the lenders launching a new mortgage for landlords wanting to get in on the act.

Its new buy-to-let product is for holiday lets – including Airbnb – as well as houses, leasehold flats and maisonettes, new-builds, HMOs and Multi-Unit Freehold Blocks (MUFB).

Five-year fixed

The five-year fixed rate loan has a maximum 75% LTV with three-year early repayment charge period. Rates start at 4.04% on loan sizes from £50k to £1,000,000 with terms from five to 30 years.

MD Andrew Ferguson says its refreshed product range includes the limited edition mortgage which will meet an increase in demand for stay-at-home rentals.

“This product fills certain criteria for both standard and specialist landlords looking to expand their portfolios,” he says.

“The range covers individual and limited company applications, across standard and specialist cases, including HMO/MUFB, ex-pat and holiday lets, which have seen a resurgence since the Covid lockdown was lifted.

“The added flexibility within the five-year fixed rate with three-year ERC product is something our broker partners have been asking for, so I anticipate strong demand for this.”

Read more about Airbnb.

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Connells reports healthy profits despite Covid

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Connells Group Limited, the estate and letting agency headquartered in Leighton Buzzard, and a subsidiary of Skipton Building Society, today announced pre-tax profits of £26.2m (2018: £28.9m) in its interim results statement for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

Connells Group is a multi-branch estate and letting agency with around 600 branches across the UK, trading under multiple brand names including: Connells, Sequence, Allen & Harris, Bagshaws Residential, Barnard Marcus, Brown & Merry, Fox & Sons, Jones & Chapman, Manners & Harrison, Roger Platt, Shipways, Swetenhams, William H Brown, Sharman Quinney, Peter Alan, Burchell Edwards, Gascoigne Halman, Hatched, Rook Matthews Sayer and Kevin Henry.

These market leading profits are only slightly down on last year represent a strong performance coming against a backdrop of a UK housing market that continues to be subdued and where overall transaction numbers remain well below the same period in 2018.

The Group’s lettings agency in particular increased total revenue, supported by its mortgage services, land, new homes, conveyancing and survey and valuation divisions all producing positive results in the period.

The Group’s estate agency business was 8% below the comparative period in 2018, reflecting the significant fall away in the market in the first half this year, but total income was remarkably consistent with last year at £215.0m (2018: £214.9m).

Connells Group claims to be “the most successful estate agency business in the UK on a number of measures – its profitability, it sells the most houses and has the largest market share.”

Group CEO David Livesey says:

“We are proud of our ability to respond to challenging market conditions and to have produced such good results showing the strength, resilience and diversification of our business.

“The immense contribution of our people has again been a key driver in our success.

“Our people remain our biggest differentiator and greatest single asset, and we continue to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. The vast majority of our middle and senior management have been with us for many years and have experienced all types of markets in the past which is, again, proving invaluable. Their continuity and experience provides the backbone of our business”

The Group remains financially strong with no debt and continues to look for investment and acquisition opportunities.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Connells reports healthy profits despite Covid | LandlordZONE.

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How To Re-Purpose Defunct Commercial Buildings

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Live 90 Minute FREE Commercial Property Training Session hosted by Ranjan Bhattacharya, Property Investor & Developer with over 30 years of experience.

A unique set of circumstances are coming together right now to create a perfect cocktail of opportunity for savvy property investors.

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BREAKING: Scotland to extend its evictions ban for another six months until March next year

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Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that subject to parliamentary approval, her government intends to extend the country’s evictions ban until March 2021.

Like the UK, back in March the Scottish government brought in emergency legislation to ban all evictions within the social and private rental markets until September but, unlike legislators over the border, will now extended the ban for another six months.

Welcoming the move, Shelter’s Scottish Director Alison Watson says her organisation welcomes the move to give tenants greater protection from losing their homes as the coronavirus-led economic downturn continues.

“This will give breathing space to thousands of people who’ve been hit hard by this pandemic, so they have a fair chance to deal with the work and money problems that have been forced on them,” she says.

“Today’s decision is a big win for tenants and for Shelter Scotland’s campaign. We want to thank our supporters who emailed their MSPs to demand action, and key organisations across Scotland who pushed for this outcome.

“This shows that when we work together we can win real change. We’ll keep fighting to stop homelessness and deliver safe, affordable homes for everyone who needs them.”

The announcement by Sturgeon follows a sustained campaign by Shelter to extend the ban, including an open letter sent to her housing minister Kevin Stewart, signed by a coalition of other housing and welfare organisations.

LandlordZONE has approached the Scottish Association of Landlords for comment, which we will add to this story when it is issued.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Scotland to extend its evictions ban for another six months until March next year | LandlordZONE.

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SURVEY: Landlords report 87% of tenants paying rent and only 3% in arrears

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Landlords have reported that over 95% of private tenants are paying their rent OR have made arrangements with their landlord to lower or defer payments during the pandemic.

The independent poll commissioned by the NRLA found that among the landlords canvassed, 87% of their tenants have paid their rent as normal throughout the pandemic.

A further 8% said had agreed a reduced rent, a rent-free period or made some other agreement with their landlord or letting agent.

And only 3% of tenants are building up arrears and are unable or unwilling to repay them – with less than a third of those in arrears or two percent of tenants, being served with a possession notice.

Further evidence that landlords are working to keep tenants in their homes comes from a separate survey which shows that 55 per cent of landlords who have granted at least one tenant a deferred rent or rent free period plan to absorb the losses from their own savings.

The NRLA is also calling on calling for the Government to introduce guaranteed hardship loans to help tenants in England who are in arrears due to the pandemic.

Ahead of the winding down of the furlough scheme, it argues that – similar to the Tenant Saver Loan Scheme launched yesterday by the Welsh Government – such loans should be provided to eligible tenants, interest-free and ring-fenced solely to cover rent payments.

Chief executive Ben Beadle says eviction isn’t inevitable where people have struggled to pay their rent due to COVID-19. “Those who argue otherwise are stoking needless anxiety for tenants,” he says.

“To offer security to tenants and landlords badly hit during the lockdown we are calling on the Government to introduce a tenant loan scheme to help pay off arrears built due to the coronavirus.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – SURVEY: Landlords report 87% of tenants paying rent and only 3% in arrears | LandlordZONE.

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New Welsh £8 million Tenant Saver Loan scheme for PRS only

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Loans to pay off rent arrears built during the Covid -19 pandemic will now be available to tenants in Wales following a campaign by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

The new £8 million Tenant Saver Loan scheme

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Welsh government package of support for tenants including loan scheme

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The Welsh Government has provided a package of support to make sure as many people as possible facing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic remain in their private rented homes, sustaining tenancies and avoiding eviction due to rent arrears.

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