2,500 London renters prepared to stop paying rent, campaign claims

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The London Renters Union, which has so far refused to answer questions from LandlordZONE about its campaign, says the current evictions ban due to expire on June 25th to be made permanent.

More
than 2,500 renters in the capital have vowed not to pay rent during the crisis
and are swapping tips on how to square up to landlords.

The London Renters Union (LRU) boasts that its campaign and website cantpaywontpay.uk, which launched last month, has encouraged increasing numbers of renters to sign up and confirm that they’re prioritising essential spending instead of paying rent.

Some of them
are attending campaign action meetings to share tips on how to tell their
landlord that they’ll be withholding rent, as well as how to demand that landlords
write off rent debt and how to resist evictions. Renters are also being informed
about the risks of withholding rent and their legal rights.

Zara, a union organiser from East Ham, can’t be furloughed or claim benefit because of her immigration status, but says her landlord is expecting her to pay full rent. She explains: “We’re sharing skills in how to refuse to pay rent, and how to stop ourselves being evicted. Thousands of people have already joined our movement – and now we are being heard. It’s really giving me hope.”

Permanent ban

An LRU spokesman adds: “Unless the Government makes that evictions ban permanent and cancels the debt that hundreds of thousands of renters now find themselves in, we’re going to have a really chaotic and nasty rent debt and evictions crisis when we get to the end of June.”

The union
wants the Government to avert a crisis of rent debt and evictions by suspending
rent payments for the duration of the crisis, making the evictions ban
permanent, cancelling rent debt, introducing rent controls and ending migration
status checks in the housing system.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – 2,500 London renters prepared to stop paying rent, campaign claims | LandlordZONE.

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After a six-month Coronavirus delay the UK’s largest landlord show is to finally go ahead in September

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The first of this year’s five National Landlord Investment exhibitions and conferences will now take place on September 8th in London, assuming restrictions have been lifted.

The organisers of the sector’s most popular conference and exhibition the National Landlord Investment show have stuck their neck out and committed to new dates for its rota of five shows, which will now begin in early September.

The show is celebrating its 70^th show anniversary this year, and its organisers have pinned their hopes on a return to normality by the Autumn when, they expect, public spaces such as exhibition halls will be allowed to welcome big crowds, and conference venues will be allowed to open.

This is welcome news and although it’s brave scheduling considering the uncertainty around both personal and business freedoms this year, not surprising.

Olympia

Its organisers Tenants History Ltd have already had to cancel its March 19^th and June 11^th shows at London’s Olympia and instead have booked a single show also at Olympia on September 8^th.

It has also moved its West Midlands show at Aston Villa FC’s arena from 9^th September to 28^th September.

The rest of the shows remain at the same venues and dates including Manchester United FC 8^th October, Cardiff City FC on 22^nd October and then back to Olympia on 3^rd November.

But the National Landlord Investment show is not alone as it fights to find a date that’s safe enough to guarantee the even will happen.

ARLA Propertymark is in similar difficulties as it waits to hear if its booked Excel conference jamboree can take place on 2^nd September. The venue is still home to the Nightingale Hospital.

All the landlord shows are free to attend and are in addition to an annual awards ceremony held each November at The Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in central London. This year’s event is due to take place on the 19^th November.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – After a six-month Coronavirus delay the UK’s largest landlord show is to finally go ahead in September | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Ministry clarifies rules on deposits when landlords reduce or waive a tenant’s rent

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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says landlords will not have to return any part of a deposit when they reduce rents, and will still be compliant with the Tenant Fees Act.

The government has clarified that landlords who offer tenants a lower rent or a rent holiday during the Coronavirus crisis will not have to return the relevant portion of the tenant’s existing deposit.

This announcement follows the Tenant Fees Act going live in full today and is an attempt by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to ensure landlords understand its rules on rental deposits.

While the Tenant Fees Act limits deposits to five weeks’ rent, this applies to the rent level at the beginning of the tenancy and not any subsequent variations.

The clarification is within MHCLG’s 24-page Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance for Landlords and Tenants document updated today but originally published on 28^th March.

Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at The PRS, warns landlords to ensure they keep a clear record of what’s been agreed when negotiating and that it’s understood how long the agreement will last.

“Tenant and landlord need to agree what happens after the rent reduction period is over including whether the tenant is expected to repay the unpaid rent via a higher rent afterwards, or whether the outstanding rent is waived.

“Once clear documentation has been established, then on that basis the deposit can be retained at its original level, and a landlord or letting agent will be in accordance with the Tenant Fees Act.”

The PRS recently launched a mediation service designed to help landlords or their agent and a tenant resolve issues related to a tenancy without going to court.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Ministry clarifies rules on deposits when landlords reduce or waive a tenant’s rent | LandlordZONE.

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Updated COVID-19 Government guidance for landlords and tenants

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This guidance has now been updated as of 1st June and provides advice to landlords and tenants on the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020, and further advice for landlords, tenants and local authorities more broadly about their rights and responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The post Updated COVID-19 Government guidance for landlords and tenants appeared first on Property118.

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Think carefully before keeping university campuses closed, warns property industry leader

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As students and landlords continue their Mexican stand-off over rent waivers, David Cox says a far tougher battle looms if universities continue to keep lecture halls closed.

David Cox, the Chief Executive of ARLA Propertymark, has sought to distance himself from his comments made to The Daily Telegraph that student landlords could see the sector ‘disappearing for up to 12 months’.

Cox tells LandlordZONE that the comments were taken out of context and that he was talking only about a ‘worst case scenario’.

But he is worried what will happen if campuses are still closed for the start of the next semester and is calling on university Vice Chancellors to think carefully before banning students from their campuses once more, and to consider the damage that it could do to many city economies and their private rental markets.

“Manchester, for example, has 100,000 students at five universities so telling students to stay away would have unimaginable consequences for the pubs, bars, restaurants and shops that rely on them,” says Cox.

“I can understand that large lecture halls are probably a no-no at the moment, but I think that seminars can be conducted safely if social distancing is observed.”

The battle between landlords and students over rents due for the most recent semester continues with several rent strikes under way in Bristol and London, but a much greater battle looms in September/October when the new educational year begins.

Frustration

Cox says that unless the government passes a specific law closing universities, he can’t see the ‘frustration of contract’ argument mooted by the CMA last week standing up to scrutiny.

Instead,  students will have to persuade landlords to release them from their contracts if universities keep their campuses shut.

“The Propertymark position on student tenancies due to start in September is that they have already been signed, the deposits have been paid and the contracts remain in place.

“Many students have nailed down their student accommodation by January or February so most tenancies are already signed, sealed and delivered.

“We don’t agree with the ‘frustration of contract’ position; the house is habitable, they have a legal interest in the property, they can move in, but it’s not a frustration of contract. Only a law closing universities would fulfil that.”

But Cox is confident it won’t come to this – lockdown is easing, shops are opening again, people are being allowed to gather in groups again, and by September or October universities are likely to be open again.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Think carefully before keeping university campuses closed, warns property industry leader | LandlordZONE.

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Small Claim win but how do I get the money owed?

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I won the claim against a tenant who did a bunk leaving arrears and damage. Although she didn’t turn up to the last hearing, the court awarded me the figure I was chasing for.

Do I need to await for something official from the court to say I can now progress getting back the money?

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Tenant paid for repair herself at extortionate price?

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I have a tenant who had a leak from  the toilet cistern. She found a plumber herself who repaired the leak without telling the agent or myself as the landlord.

The repair cost an extortion£276!

When the agent later questioned their own plumber on the cost of the repair carried out they quoted a maximum of £85.

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Developer proves councils CAN be challenged successfully over HMO plan rejections

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Bob Panesar’s plan to enlarge an HMO in Worcester was rejected by both local and national planning decision makers, but his subsequent appeal looks set to succeed.

A plucky developer in Worcester who took on the local council for rejecting his HMO extension plans looks set to win his planning battle.

Councillors threw out developer Bob Panesar’s application for a side and rear extension to the HMO in Bozward Street (pictured) last February to create a sixth bedroom, but he successfully gained a lawful development certificate and has now submitted another planning application.

These certificates can confirm that planning
permission isn’t required and prove to both
the local authority and future buyers that the project was legal.

Gavin Dick,
local authority policy officer at the National Residential Landlords
Association, says that while planning officers can approve a scheme, planning
committees are politically motivated and can refuse it – often just because
it’s an HMO. Getting a lawful development certificate can be a way of
challenging that rejection.

Dick tells LandlordZONE: “If it doesn’t contravene planning rules then it can go ahead. But it’s a good idea to thoroughly understand the planning rules in your area before you make applications to make sure there isn’t an article four direction with specific restrictions, because it’s an expensive process.” 

Parking fears

Worcester City
Council’s planning committee and the Government’s planning inspectorate had both
rejected the application over parking and congestion fears; the report said allowing the extra room in the
HMO would make parking worse on the street.

However, at a
city council planning committee meeting earlier this year, council planners said
the authority’s hands were tied over providing the lawful development
certificate. Panesar’s application states that the proposed extension would
fall within its permitted development rights, which includes certain types of
work that don’t need planning permission.

A council
spokesman tells LandlordZONE this is the first issue of its kind that it’s had
in relation to an HMO. He says: “Councillor Alan Amos has now called the
current application in for determination by the planning committee. No
recommendation on the application has been made to date.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Developer proves councils CAN be challenged successfully over HMO plan rejections | LandlordZONE.

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LATEST: Landlords warned that tenant fees ban goes live IN FULL on Monday morning

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Key organisations urge landlords to check they are compliant with the Tenant Fees Act which applies to all tenancies regardless of their start date from midnight on the 1st June.

Landlords and agents are being reminded that the year-long transition period that the government gave them to prepare for the tenant fees ban ends on Monday, and that they should check carefully that they are compliant.

The fees ban legislation went live on 1^st June last year, but only applied to tenancies started after that date, and renewals. But from next week onwards it will also apply to all tenancies, regardless of when they started.

Landlords and their agents will not be able to charge any of their tenants prohibited fees including for check-ins and check-outs, referencing, viewings, inventories, securing guarantors and property cleaning.

David Cox, Chief Executive of ARLA Propertymark, warns that any prohibited ‘advance fees’ that were charged before the fees ban and were carried through until now must be returned.

“The prime example of this is an advance check-out fee which will become a prohibited payment on Monday and will have to be returned whether the tenancy is ending or not,” he says.

Allowed fees

The only fees that can be charged are the rent, a deposit of no more than five weeks’ rent, a holding deposit of one week’s rent and up to £50 to vary a contract.

Other permitted fees include the costs of replacing a lost key, charges for the early termination of a contract, utilities and council tax costs (if charged separately for), and fees for late payment of rent albeit only after the payment has been outstanding for 14 days or more.

“Whilst most letting agents have stopped charging fees to tenants and we have received relatively few complaints to the Property

Fines

Redress Scheme (PRS) about this, now the ban applies to retrospective tenancies, if agents and landlords are not up to speed with the changes they risk penal sanctions under the law,” says Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the PRS.

“This
include a £5,000 fine rising to £30,000 and a prohibition on serving a Section
21 possession notice. 

“If a complaint is received by the PRS we will automatically instruct an agent to repay the fee and may well award additional compensation to a tenant.

“This however will not exempt an agent from a local authority prosecution for the breach and we may be obliged to report an agent to NTSELAT.”

Read more guidance about the fees ban.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Landlords warned that tenant fees ban goes live IN FULL on Monday morning | LandlordZONE.

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Covid-19 Code of practice for commercial landlords and tenants

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High street businesses and landlords are set to receive a new government code of practice providing improved clarity and reassurance over rent payments.

A working group has been established by the government with the commercial rental sector to develop a code which encourages fair and transparent discussions between landlords and tenants over rental payments during the coronavirus pandemic and guidance on rent arrears payments and treatment of sub-letter and suppliers.

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