Double whammy threatens landlords with cash-flow issues…

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Rent payments:

The Coronavirus Act
introduced a ban on private tenant evictions, and this, coupled with
the general media message abroad that tenants should have a rent
reduction, a rent holiday or even pay no rent, creates major issues
for some buy-to-let landlords.

The eviction ban is
in for at least the next three months, which means the suspension of
all eviction proceedings going through the courts for 90 days. It
exposes landlords to a risk not encountered before, of an extended
and lengthy period of rental losses.

It’s very
unfortunate for those landlords who were in the process of evicting
tenants when the crisis came along, possibly with large existing rent
arrears losses when trials were halted and the county courts closed
down.

So, landlords now
needing to evict a tenant for any reason, including rent
arrears, is required to
give a minimum of three months’
notice, until at least the 30^th of September. The
extension of the legal notice might add only one month to the usual
S21 two-month notice period, but this is just the start of the
process. Obtaining a court possession order to evict those tenants
who are unwilling to move will inevitably eventually face long delays
due to the backlog of suspended cases, and possibly a more lenient
approach taken by the courts.

The message seems to
have been lost in translation over rent payments, or is it just
wishful thinking on behalf of some tenants or their campaigning
groups? Government has not asked landlords to stop requesting rent
payments, and tenants need to be reminded they should continue to pay
rent and that they will still be liable for any arrears that
build-up.

Landlords are
advised to get in touch with all their tenants to determine their
financial situation and deal with their situation on a case by case
basis, bearing in mind the social distancing measures in place. Some
landlords are voluntarily offering a 20% reduction where tenants are
on an 80% wage reduction furlough, a rescheduling of payments where
there are real difficulties, such as job losses or suspensions, or a
combination of the two. Tenants should be able to apply for financial
assistance when they are in real difficulties.

Landlords themselves
should be able to apply for financial support through the benefits
system if they too find themselves in personal financial
difficulties, and bearing in mind those landlords with mortgages on
their rental properties are able to request a three-month payment
holiday from their lender.

Landlords with tax
due on account, the second HRMC payment due on 31^st of
July, can defer these self-assessment payments until the 31^st
January 2021 under the special measures introduced by the government.

However, it is very
unlikely that landlords will be offered any further direct help from
the government, similar to that being offered to the self-employed.
This is because letting property on a personal basis (outside a
limited company) is classed as investment, not a business. The
trade-off is that earnings from lettings are not subject to Class 2
or Class 4 National Insurance contributions.

In the case of
commercial landlords, again they are not expected to bring eviction
proceeding against their business tenants for at least 3 months, for
rent arrears. These landlords have an additional business judgement
to consider: if they press their tenants too hard and drive them into
administration for incorporated tenants, or bankruptcy for personal
tenants, then they risk having to take on, for an indefinite period,
business rates, insurance and other liabilities which go with a
vacant unit.

The National Landlords’ Association (NLA) and the Residential Landlords’ Association (RLA), now combined as the NRLA, say they recognise the need for tenants to be able to remain in their homes given that they might be adversely affected by coronavirus and by the government lock-down restric­tions. However, they are not happy with a blanket suspension of all evictions which they think is “too wide reaching” and that the government should do more to protect tenants’ incomes.

In addition the NRLA has called for a temporary scrapping of the five-week wait for the first payment of Universal Credit, to help tenants over this payment gap.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Double whammy threatens landlords with cash-flow issues… | LandlordZONE.

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Facebook forum ejects ‘fake landlords’ posting contentious comments

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Administrator warns that people posing as landlords will not be admitted amid worries that activists are deliberately attempting to portray landlords as uncaring and callous within discussion forums.

A landlord forum on Facebook has been forced to issue a warning to its 6,000 followers after ‘hundreds’ of new tenants suddenly joined, many posing as fake landlords and posting rude or misleading messages.

The group’s administrators were particularly worried by one, registered as ‘Timbo Tort’, who posed as a landlord who was in dispute with their tenant, complaining that a rent reduction of 20% had been requested. The person claimed to have rifled through the tenant’s bins to ascertain the ‘truth of the claim’.

“Yesterday my tenant sent me a message to say that he had been furloughed and that he was only going to pay 80% of the rent – where do I get the other 20%?” they said.

These posts were then captured via screen shot by several people on Twitter, saying: “UK landlords continuing to be perfectly normal and compassionate human beings again, I see.”

The Timbo Tort profile on Facebook has since been deleted after several other users within the Facebook landlord group questioned the person’s claims and identity.

Facebook identity

Following the surge in ‘fake landlords’, the Facebook site’s administrator issued the following warning, worried that the new members were part of a concerted attempt to portray landlords in a bad light during the crisis.

“Please
note this is a landlords group. Only for landlords. If you are not a landlord
then please leave,” it says.

There are groups everywhere for tenants. I have seen rude posts aimed at landlords and have had hundreds of applications to join the group from those we know are not landlords but claim they are. They will not be admitted.

“We have nothing to hide but we have nothing to offer tenants. This group is for landlords to get advice, share news and support from other landlords and experts to ensure they act within the law.”

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Webinars for letting property during these strange times

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In this strange new world we are living in during the coronavirus lockdown, new rules apply – some of which affect rented property.  What now are landlords rights and obligations?

The biggest blow to many landlords is the fact that they are unable to evict bad tenants. 

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Coronavirus: Government issues guidance on EPCs

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New guidance outlining the need for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) has been published by the government. The guidance specifies that the requirement for landlords to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before they let the property out remains in place. Landlords should make sure this can be conducted in a safe manner, and should also […]

The post Coronavirus: Government issues guidance on EPCs appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

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Call for 80% rental income guarantee for small landlords!

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Please support small landlords by signing this petition Click Here. Like and share on your social media to make a difference.

Private sector landlords play a vital role in the UK property sector which is generating over £50bn in rental payments contributing billions to UK treasury in income taxes.

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‘Renters think they no longer have to pay rent’ warn landlords

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Hard campaigning by tenants’ organisations and a lack of clarity from government had led many renters to mistakenly believe they off the hook during the crisis, it has been claimed.

The campaigning efforts of tenants’ organisations and a lack of guidance from the government have led many renters to believe that they no longer have to pay their rent, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has warned.

It says large numbers of members are contacting the organisation to report how tenants are claiming that they are no longer required to pay their rent during the Coronavirus pandemic.

As LandlordZONE has reported recently, this includes the London Renters’ Union, which on Friday issued a ‘rent stop’ template letter for renters to send their landlords and raised 102,000 signatures for a petition, while the National Union of Students has also called for rent payments to be suspended.

In response, the NRLA has called on government to provide strong guidance to the public that they should carry on paying their rent where possible, and that landlords are not being given the automatic right to have a three-month mortgage holiday

“This is not a green light to tenants everywhere to stop paying their rent.”

Ben Beadle, NRLA

“The mortgage repayment holiday is only available for landlords who are struggling to make their payments because their tenants are unable to pay part or all of their rent as a direct result of the coronavirus [pandemic] and through no fault of their own,” says the NRLA’s its Chief Executive

“What it does allow is that where a tenant is having genuine difficulty in meeting their rent payment because of a loss of income, landlords have much greater flexibility to agree a mutually acceptable plan with the tenant to defer the rent due.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘Renters think they no longer have to pay rent’ warn landlords | LandlordZONE.

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HMO statutory room size discretion?

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As we all aware that statutory minimum size for room is 6.51 SQM. We have ample Kitchen and Dining area space and all bathroom facilities. However, one of the room total floor space is around 5.92 SQM.

We have visited Aylesbury Council website and it states that “Discretion may be applied by the inspecting officer in regard to room sizes providing the proposed layout is acceptable and the aggregate habitable floor area of the rooms is not less than 15m2”.

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Rent payments must be maintained where possible say landlords

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Landlords are calling for a clear statement from government in response to campaigners’ calls for rent payments to be stopped during the coronavirus crisis. More and more landlords are contacting the National Residential Landlords Association saying their tenants are under the impression they no longer have to pay rent as a result of the pandemic.  […]

The post Rent payments must be maintained where possible say landlords appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

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#Coronavirus: 500 landlords attend webinar to hear latest pandemic advice

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Paul Shamplina gives landlords guidance on evictions, inspections, handling rent reduction requests, managing HMOs, mortgage arrears and Right to Rent changes.

Just how worried landlords are by the impact of Coronavirus on the ability of tenants to pay their rent was highlighted by a group of nearly 500 landlords and letting agents attending a webinar held by Paul Shamplina.

The star of Channel 5’s Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords TV show and founder of Landlord Action, who has over 20 years’ experience working with landlords, says the one-hour webinar was a lively affair during which participants fired nearly 100 questions at him.

Shamplina outlined best practice for landlords during the Coronavirus crisis including the knotty problems of mandatory property inspections, the new Right to Rent rules, renting properties during the crisis, what to do when tenants are struggling to pay the rent, and the key challenges of managing HMOs where tenants have self-isolated or caught the virus.

He also advised landlords on how to deal with their lender if they get into mortgage arrears, updated attendees on the latest changes to eviction regulations and how the crisis affects deposits.

But landlords has many other topics on their minds during the seminar and fired off many questions, which Shamplina is now working hard to answer.

A significant majority of these were about how to handle tenants who are struggling to pay their rent.

One landlord asked if it was possible to see a tenant’s last three months’ bank statements to assess their financial position, how to tell the difference between valid and invalid rent reduction requests, what happens if tenants quit a tenancy early but still want their deposit back and whether not paying rent now would validate a future evictions once the crisis is over.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – #Coronavirus: 500 landlords attend webinar to hear latest pandemic advice | LandlordZONE.

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Tensions between landlord and tenants at Manchester development erupt over rent payments

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Landlord Manchester Life, which is part owned by an Abu Dhabi company, has clashed with tenants after many requested a rent reduction as the city’s economy contracts.

A leading North West landlord has moved to reassure
hundreds of tenants that it’s willing to be patient with those struggling to
pay rent but has stopped short of offering rent reductions.

Worried residents in Manchester Life’s developments in
Ancoats and New Islington wrote to the company about their current financial
problems, wanting to discover its position; many work in industries heavily
affected by the Coronavirus crisis such as hospitality.

In a letter to residents, the company, a joint venture
run by Manchester Council and the Abu Dhabi United Group, said it realised a loss of income might temporarily impact
their ability to pay rent, which added extra worry to an already stressful
situation.

It said: “The leasing team are here to help
understand your situation and work with you on a solution that allows you
enough time to get back on track as soon as possible. We absolutely know and
understand that we will need to be patient.”

It said it had halted all debt recovery procedures, even
for those who owed rent before the current emergency.

Tenants had also asked Manchester Life whether they were entitled to rent reductions as the services they pay for – including concierge, gym and communal areas – currently can’t be used.

Request refused

But the company refused, saying it had increased other
services such as cleaning, refuse management, hazardous waste management and
administration support provisions at no extra cost to residents.

After Manchester Life announced
that its 24/7 concierge service would no longer accept parcels, residents were
told to come and collect them outside the gates.

This led to large numbers
of residents gathering at the gates for multiple deliveries, so it has changed
the policy so these will now be accepted by the concierge who can call
residents to come and collect them.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tensions between landlord and tenants at Manchester development erupt over rent payments | LandlordZONE.

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