Fines totalling £120,000 follow fatal fire at unlicenced HMO

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlord, two agents and letting agency each fined £30,000 highlighting tragic and expensive consequences of ignoring local HMO rules.

Agents and a
landlord who showed callous
disregard for their tenants’ safety have each been handed a maximum fine of
£30,000 after a fatal fire at their unlicensed property.

Agents Narinder and Joginder Singh, their company Homeseekers Ltd
and the landlord, failed to licence the property in Saxon Road, Southall, as an
HMO.

Serious safety
failings there led to the death of 17-year-old Nancy Kaur, who died from smoke
inhalation during a fire in January 2019.

The property,
built as a three-bedroom semi-detached house, but illegally converted into a
five-bedroom HMO, was home to ten people at the time of the fire, including a
family of five who were all sleeping in one room.

After the fire, Ealing council officers discovered the house lacked even basic fire safety measures, had no fire alarm or fire doors, smoke seals on the doors or emergency lighting. 

Fire spread

This had caused smoke to spread rapidly through the house, affecting the tenants, including the teenager and her mother, who remains hospitalised. Two other children were also seriously injured but have since recovered.

Ealing Council says if the owner and agents had applied for the council license, it would have required them to immediately install basic fire safety measures such as smoke alarms. 

The landlord decided to accept and pay his penalty but Homeseekers Ltd and the two agents, who are directors of the company, appealed. However, a residential property tribunal has upheld all three maximum penalties.

Councillor Joanna Camadoo-Rothwell, Ealing Council’s lead member for community safety and inclusion, says: “The harm that arose stemmed directly from the owner and agent’s failure to licence the property, which they deliberately avoided doing because they knew the house was unfit. The landlord and agents showed callous disregard for the safety of their tenants.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Fines totalling £120,000 follow fatal fire at unlicenced HMO | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Fines totalling £120,000 follow fatal fire at unlicenced HMO

Wales: 12-month contracts, the Minister’s statement in full

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Twelve-month contracts are set to become mandatory in Wales under a new law announced today. The RLA has warned many landlords could leave the market, for fear of being stuck with  whose tenants are not paying the rent, are making neighbours lives a misery or wilfully damaging the property.  Julie James AM , the Minister for […]

The post Wales: 12-month contracts, the Minister’s statement in full appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Wales: 12-month contracts, the Minister’s statement in full

Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) at NPN’s first event of 2020

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Norfolk Property Network’s first meeting of 2020 will be Wednesday 19th February at the Oaklands Hotel Norwich. I will be joined by Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) Hon legal Counsel to Property118 and the co-designer of a range of solutions for business structures wherever you are on your property career.

The post Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) at NPN’s first event of 2020 appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) at NPN’s first event of 2020

Should letting agents be paid to refer services to landlords?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Two key regulators ask estate agents to give their thoughts as industry faces ‘last chance saloon’ on referral fees.

A ban on referral fees paid
by third parties to estate agents for recommending services to landlords has
taken a step closer towards reality following an update from the Trading
Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team and the Property Ombudsman published
late on Friday.

The two organisations have
asked estate agents to consider whether they would prefer partial or total
disclosure of fees to landlords when doing business, and whether a total ban
would be appropriate.

The current Trading Standards
guidance issued last year only warns agents that they must reveal referral fees
or ‘risk prosecution’, but any government proposals on future legislation have
yet to be revealed.

But tackling the shady world
of referral fees has become a government priority as it bids to bring greater
transparency and fairness to the housing market.

The government wants
landlords to be able to shop around for services based on an unbiased
recommendation or, at the very least, for the referral fees earned by the agent
to be made clear.

This is alongside other
measures being considered including whether to regulate sales and lettings
agencies, how to reform the leasehold system and plans to force landlords to
join a national register in England, as they are already required to do in
Wales and Scotland.

Fees are earned by letting
agencies in a variety of ways across both sales and lettings.

This includes fees for referring landlords to conveyancers, inventory
companies, referencing agencies, mortgage providers and maintenance and repairs
firms.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Should letting agents be paid to refer services to landlords? | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Should letting agents be paid to refer services to landlords?

Proposed EPC band C by 2024 for Scottish homeowners

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Scottish Government have issued a further consultation to mandate EPC Band C on all homeowner’s properties offered for sale or which undergo major renovation by 2024, 6 years ahead of the previous target of 2030.

The current average rating in Scotland is D61

The post Proposed EPC band C by 2024 for Scottish homeowners appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Proposed EPC band C by 2024 for Scottish homeowners

Year-long contracts to be made mandatory by the Welsh Government

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Twelve-month contracts are set to become mandatory in Wales under a new law announced today. Landlords will be unable to serve notice during the first six months of a new let under the Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Bill, with the subsequent notice period extending from two to six months. The combined effect means it will […]

The post Year-long contracts to be made mandatory by the Welsh Government appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

View Full Article: Year-long contracts to be made mandatory by the Welsh Government

The optimal business structure for UK landlords

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Taking professional advice on the optimal ownership structure for UK landlords is arguably the most overlooked aspect of their financial planning.

It is probably fair to say that most landlords do a fair amount of reseach when buying properties to consider the potential for capital appreciation and cashflow.

The post The optimal business structure for UK landlords appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: The optimal business structure for UK landlords

Are fines to landlords disproportionate to the crime?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

How much do people get fined for driving a vehicle without a driving licence?

I ask this question because recently a landlord was fined £90,000 for not having licences despite his properties being faultless!

It makes me think that no landlord should take the risk of owning properties in their own personal names these days

The post Are fines to landlords disproportionate to the crime? appeared first on Property118.

View Full Article: Are fines to landlords disproportionate to the crime?

Interview: Leading figure Slams fast-spreading HMO and Selective Licensing schemes as ‘insane’

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Estate agent Steve Wayne says both landlords and lettings agents believe licensing schemes

Leading London estate agent Steve Wayne has said
what many in the private rental sector think but are usually too afraid to say
– that Selective and HMO licensing is a ‘a ridiculous joke’.

Wayne runs multi-branch agency Benjamin Stevens
with a head office in Edgware, a second branch in Bushey but it’s a business that
also covers Luton and Camden. Wayne runs a large portfolio on behalf of his
landlord clients.

His biggest gripe about Selective Licensing and
HMO regualtions is that they all feature different regulations depending on
location which, if you’re a landlord or agent looking after multiple
properties, make the paperwork a nightmare.

“For example, where I’m sat here in our head office,
we’re surrounded by the London Borough of Barnet, Brent and Harrow and they all
have different policies on HMOs, while some do Selective Licensing and some
don’t,” he says.

“It’s insane when you think about the
practicalities of it; we have identical properties that are only a road apart
and yet the rules and price of paying to register can be very different.

“For example, you end up having one long
road, a third of which is in Harrow, a third of which is Brent, and the other
bit is in Barnet.”

Wayne says it was a mistake for the
government to give boroughs individual control over how the different licensing
schemes work because it then becomes a bureaucratic nightmare.

“If we had one set of rules that were applied nationally then it would
be easier to enforce and easier for tenants and landlords to understand what levels
of property and tenancy management are expected.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Interview: Leading figure Slams fast-spreading HMO and Selective Licensing schemes as ‘insane’ | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Interview: Leading figure Slams fast-spreading HMO and Selective Licensing schemes as ‘insane’

EXCLUSIVE: London councils have fined landlords £4.5 million since rogue database went live

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Figures from licensing consultancy shown to LandlordZONE reveal the staggering level of fines paid by rogue landlords in the capital.

Landlords and other property
managers in the Capital have been fined a total of £4.5 million since the Mayor
of London’s ‘name and shame’ rogue database was established three and a half
years ago, LandlordZONE can reveal.

The figures, which also show
an average fine of £12,857, come from London-based property licensing compliance
consultancy Kamma
Data, which tracks the fines levied on individuals and companies
mentioned in the register.

“Approximately 70% of these fines
relate to the Selective Licensing schemes being operated within London,” says
its CEO Orla Shields.

A look through the Mayor of
London’s register, which is backed by the NLA, Generation Rent, Shelter and
eight London councils, reveals that landlords are fined for a wide variety of
reasons.

These include failing to
provide council enforcement officers with information or documentation about a property,
HMO management and licensing offences and operating an unlicensed premise.

The database covers both criminal
and civil penalties and includes three elements; a public database for tenants
to check a prospective landlord to see if they have ever been prosecuted or
fined, a private database for councils to share more detailed information on
landlords, and a tool that enables tenants to report problem landlords.

Explore
the Rogue Landlord
and Agent Checker

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: London councils have fined landlords £4.5 million since rogue database went live | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: EXCLUSIVE: London councils have fined landlords £4.5 million since rogue database went live