Call of the Week-I’ve offered to reduce the rent due to Covid-19, do I need to change my AST?

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A landlord gave our advice team a call this week with a question about offering a rent reduction to one of their tenants. The tenant had informed the landlord they were struggling financially due to Covid-19, and were worried about paying their rent. Sympathetic, the landlord agreed with the tenant verbally to accept a lower […]

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Landlord Law Virtual Conference 2020

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Whilst most events have been forced to cancel or reschedule due to the coronavirus crisis, we are delighted to confirm that the Landlord Law Conference 2020 will now be a two day virtual event, taking place on 12th &

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Salisbury office landlord donates £10k Coronavirus grant to his struggling tenants

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The office rental market is under the same financial strains as the residential one, but one landlord’s unusual and generous offer to his tenants shows commercial landlords can be accommodating too.

A kind-hearted landlord has used his small business grant to give tenants a rent holiday, unlike many of the larger commercial landlords.

Alan Munro, who
runs an accountancy firm in Salisbury, rents out offices in his two-storey
premises to the
Alzheimer’s Support and Digestive Cancers Europe charities along with a drum
studio.

But instead of pocketing his £10,000 grant
from the Government to help firms during the crisis, the small business owner
waived all their rent.

Says Alan: “I got the grant through from the
council because the building was closed. The purpose of this grant is to get
businesses to survive and whilst I have interest costs in the mortgage I took
out on the building, that doesn’t use up £10,000 in three months.

“Given that the offices are closed and they don’t use any
electricity and stuff like that it seemed very fair to me. The scheme is not
there to make a profit.”

Alan often organises events and sponsored runs to raise
funds for Alzheimer’s Support, which is losing about £7,000 a week as donations
dry up. It says although it has a number of premises around the country, Alan was
the only landlord to waive its rent.

And Alan has this message for other landlords: “If you are a rental business and you have received a grant, ask yourself why would you collect your rent if you’ve got enough money to maintain the building and pay your mortgage.”

Read more about commercial landlords and Coronavirus.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Salisbury office landlord donates £10k Coronavirus grant to his struggling tenants | LandlordZONE.

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I am helping a Telegraph journalist

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I am helping a Telegraph journalist with an article and she would like to know:

1. What experience landlords have of being refused the so-called ‘mortgage holidays’?

2. Which lenders are doing this?

3.

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STUDENT landlords: Charity works with property owners to release 250 students from tenancies

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Leicester-based accommodation charity Sulets is one of the first in the UK to negotiate a blanket deal for its student tenants with private landlords.

Sulets is the latest student
accommodation provider to give its tenants a hand-out to help them get through
the difficult summer term.

Working with private landlords, the two-branch Leicester-based educational charity has released university students early from their housing contracts in its leased properties.

Sulets made the decision to help the many students who have lost their jobs
and have had their studies and exams disrupted, after university buildings closed
and the need to ensure safe practices left them in a difficult position.

More than
250 students will benefit if they decide to be released from their tenancy
early.

CEO Irving Hill says the
decision means it will experience a significant loss of income, as will those
landlords who have worked with Sulets to share the financial pain to help the
city’s students.

He adds: “Sulets has a clear mission and we would be failing in that if we did not do all that we could for the students who are our tenants.

“I would like to thank those landlords who have partnered with us, at financial cost to themselves, when they didn’t need to, so that students could be released from their contracts without penalty.”

Read more about student landlords and the Coronavirus crisis.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – STUDENT landlords: Charity works with property owners to release 250 students from tenancies | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Mayor of London calls for extreme measures to protect renters during and after crisis

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Sadiq Khan has today said that the government should introduce a ‘triple lock’ of measure that would make it almost impossible for landlords to evict many tenants after the Coronavirus has eased.

The Mayor of London Sadiq
Khan has called for the government to go even further to protect tenants and wants
to see a ‘triple lock’ of measures that would make it almost impossible for
landlords to evict tenants after the Coronavirus pandemic has passed.

Khan says he wants to see the
government:

• Increase benefit support for renters through higher Local Housing Allowance rates and a suspended Benefit Cap.
• Permanently ban private landlords from evicting tenants who have run up rent arrears because of the Coronavirus pandemic and making Section 8 arrears’ grounds discretionary in court proceedings.
• Bring forward ban of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.

“For too long, renters in
the capital and across the country have been denied the security they need in
the place they call home. The current crisis has brought these issues into
stark relief,” says Khan.

“With millions of low
paid renters in London now facing increased financial uncertainty we face a
ticking timebomb of debt, arrears and widespread evictions once the suspension
in court proceedings is lifted.

The Mayor’s call for action is being backed by legal charity Safer Renting, who spokesperson Ben Reeve-Lewis, says:“From what we are seeing on the ground, Government guidance for landlords and tenants to work together reasonably during this crisis isn’t getting through to the rogue landlord market.

“We are seeing no let-up
in cases of harassment and illegal eviction. It’s just business as usual.”

Khan was due to face re-election on May 7^th but has now been given an extra year in office as Mayor of London after the election was postponed until May 2021.

Read more about the Mayoral election.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Mayor of London calls for extreme measures to protect renters during and after crisis | LandlordZONE.

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Landlords welcome calls for benefit boost for tenants

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Landlords have supported calls from the Mayor of London to ensure the benefits system covers the cost of private rents for those tenants adversely affected by coronavirus. Sadiq Khan is calling on the government to introduce a new ‘triple lock’ of measures aimed at protecting private renters. He has urged the government to increase welfare […]

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Today in politics: ONS data, triple protection call, Right to Rent and more

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We look at the new ONS futures, Sadiq Khan’s call for triple protection for tenants as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, questions to government ministers, Right to Rent and building regulations. PRS rents up 1.4% PRS rents in the UK have gone up 1.4% in the 12 months to March 2020 according to new […]

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Right to Rent challenge lost in Court of Appeal

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In 2018 the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and the RLA obtained a Judicial Review of the government’s Right to Rent scheme based on the argument that it increased discrimination against ethnic minorities and foreigners by making Landlords responsible for checking the right of a tenant to reside in the UK for at least the term of the tenancy.

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Revealed: 5,700 evictions sitting in limbo following ban, EXCLUSIVE analysis estimates

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True extent of problems caused by government’s sudden evictions ban are uncovered by the analysis, which reveals how thousands of landlords must now wait for months until proceedings can restart or conclude.

Research on behalf of LandlordZONE has revealed that there are over 5,000 evictions which have become stuck in the legal system following the government’s evictions ban announced on 18^th March.

We have spoken to several of these private landlords, many of whom launched evictions proceedings against tenants for non-payment of rent well before the ban.

These landlords are now stuck with tenants who have often not paid rent for months and who are now able to live rent free in their properties until at least early June.

And as LandlordZONE has pointed out before, the huge backlog within the court system that has built up since the evictions ban means these landlords may have to wait until July or August before court hearing dates become available.

£22,000 arrears

We have been made aware of one case of a landlord owed £22,000 in arrears from her tenant who had not paid rent for the best part of eighteen months and had the eviction date set with the bailiff that week.

But the court cancelled the eviction and she will now have to wait for up to six months to complete the eviction, adding more lost rent to her debt, which she says could push her into financial collapse.

Tim Frome, Legal Director of Landlord Action, estimates that there are 25,000 cases now stuck in the system of which 15,370 are social landlords, 4,345 are ‘accelerated cases’ via a Section 21 notice not requiring a court hearing (but needing a judge to look at the paperwork). This leaves 5,723 private landlord cases via Section 8 notices left in limbo.

These estimates are based on analysis of the previous three months’ government possession statistics.

20,000 cases

“We must be talking over 20,000 cases that may require some form of hearing that have currently been stayed,” says Frome.

“There will also be new cases that have been issued over the last month, and the practice direction relating to the stay on current possession cases was updated yesterday to say new cases should still be issued.

“At Landlord Action we have over 600 cases that are in the different possession stages including serving a notice.

“Over 500 are live possession claims with the courts that are currently stayed. We have done all we can to prepare for when the hearings are rescheduled from beginning of July as it is clearly going to be a busy time for us.

“The Courts will be
under huge pressure as the block listed hearings generally only last 5 minutes.
As there are likely to be further rent arrears by the time of the hearing and
potentially other issues that have occurred during the extended period we are
likely to see a number of these cases adjourned for longer hearings in the
future.

“This will put
more pressure on the court system over the next six to nine months.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Revealed: 5,700 evictions sitting in limbo following ban, EXCLUSIVE analysis estimates | LandlordZONE.

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