Tips on the Legalities of Letting

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Landlord responsibilities have increased tenfold over the last few years as the government has introduced a raft of new legislation designed to protect tenants. The difficulty is that the vast majority of landlords are not seasoned professionals, but rather people who purchased or inherited an extra property and use it to prop up their income.

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New government modern housebuilding champion

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Housing Minister Esther McVey MP has announced a new Champion for Modern Methods of Construction as part of the government’s drive to make the UK the global leader in housing standards.

Mark Farmer brings 30 years’ experience in construction to the role and will provide independent scrutiny and advice to the Government on how to increase the use of MMC in homebuilding.

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ARLA Propertymark publish their election manifesto

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2019 Election:

Ahead of the
publication of the main parties’ manifestos for the forthcoming
General Election, Propertymark joins the RLA in publishing its own
manifesto, calling on the new Government after the 12^th of
December to reform the housing sector.

Top of Propertymark’s hit list is the regulation of property agents, and is calling for the new Government to take forward the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) Working Group chaired by Lord Best.

Regulation, says
Propertymark, “offers huge potential to professionalise the sector
through a code of practice, licensing and qualifications.”

In addition, the new
Government should open access to the existing Database for Rogue
Landlords and Property Agents to tenants, agents and regulatory
bodies, in addition to the current situation where only local
authorities have access. The database, says Propertymark, should also
be merged with estate agents to limit rogue agents moving from
lettings into sales.

“The next
Government must launch a review of all taxes relating to private
landlords. Recent increases in taxes and charges, and legislative
changes e.g. Tenant Fees Act have resulted in a significant increase
in costs for landlords, with many no longer able to make ends meet.

“Our proposed
review would leave the new Government better placed to introduce
policies that reduce costs for those wishing to invest in the sector,
which in turn will help reduce rent for tenants, lead to longer-term
tenancies and make it more affordable for renters.”

Letting Agents and
Landlords would also benefit from the following, says Propertymark:

• Abolish the 3%
  surcharge on additional properties in order to boost the supply of
  rented housing.

• An annual
  Property ‘MOT’ should replace the expensive existing
  discretionary licensing schemes, improve enforcement, and give
  landlords a steer on how to maintain or improve conditions for
  tenants.

• Reform of the
  Court system by introducing a dedicated Housing Court which would
  cut the time taken for a landlord to regain possession of a property
  and will make the process more straightforward.

• The Local
  Housing Allowance cap must be lifted to accurately reflect the cost
  of renting, enabling recipients to obtain good quality and well
  managed accommodation. The operation of Universal Credit must be
  improved, allowing recipients to choose to pay the housing element
  direct to landlords, and for more frequent payments to assist with
  budgeting.

• Introduction of
  new regulations for short term lets such as Airbnb as without proper
  arrangements we believe they will have a bigger impact on the wider
  lettings market. With potentially lucrative returns and less
  regulatory requirements short term lets may take more out of the
  private rented sector.

• The landlord’s
  Energy Saving Allowance should be reintroduced and extended to cover
  everything in EPC recommendations. Help for the private rented
  sector with energy efficiency and climate change is vital if the
  ambitious targets set for improving energy efficiency are to be
  meaningful and achievable.

At present seven
million homes remain excluded from flood insurance coverage under the
Flood Re levy and pool system that replaced the statement of
principles between Government and insurance companies. Propertymark
is calling on the new Government to extend the Flood Re insurance
obligation to the leasehold sector and Private Rented Sector.

Other measures being
called for include:

• Exempt
  downsizers from stamp duty or give them incentives to encourage them
  to move
• Introduce a
  digital logbook for every property bought and sold
• Legislate to
  ensure developers remedy leasehold agreements containing onerous
  clauses

Download Propertymark’s full Election manifesto here

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ARLA Propertymark publish their election manifesto | LandlordZONE.

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Landlords Alliance Election Manifesto

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Recent years have seen a sustained attack on private landlords by the Government and other groups. The relationship between landlords and tenants has also been painted as adversarial by organisations which purport to represent tenants, but who in fact work against their interests.

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Is “Co-Living” the new rental trend?

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The Private Rented Sector is one of the fast-growing markets in housing, and now accounts for over 4.5 million households in the UK, an increase of 63% (1.6 million) from 2007. In times of rising house prices and a new generation who prefer a more flexible approach to living

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Hounslow Council relaunch additional licensing consultation

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Hounslow Council has relaunched an additional licensing consultation, after the RLA and Safe Agent threatened to launch a judicial review over the original ‘flawed’ consultation. In September, Hounslow Council u-turned on plans to introduce an additional licensing scheme in the borough, after pressure from the RLA and SafeAgent. The RLA threatened the Council with a […]

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RLA welcome government crackdown on criminal landlords

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New funding announced by the Government to tackle criminal landlords is welcome, but is nowhere near enough says the country’s leading landlords’ organisation.

Ministers have announced that local authorities will be able to access almost £4 million in new funding

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Landlords under pressure with ever increasing regulations

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Landlord Laws:

Tne number of
regulations affecting private buy-to-let landlords has increased by
32 per cent since 2010, that’s according to new research by the
Residential Landlords Association (RLA)

The RLA has identified 156 different regulations, statutory instruments and Acts of Parliament affecting landlords, a figure that’s grown from 118 since the Conservative-led coalition government came to power.

In other words, it’s becoming a legal minefield for anyone operating in the private rented sector (PRS), and its resulting in one-third of landlords with just one buy-to-let property considering selling up. On the other hand bigger landlords are looking to buy more.

The tax hit introduced by George Osborne on buy-to-let is taking its toll on both new purchases and existing owners. The stamp duty premium on second homes has dramatically increased the cost of buying an investment property and changes to mortgage interest relief mean higher costs for existing landlords.

All this taken into account it’s the bigger more professional landlord, often investing though a limited company, that’s winning out – the sweeping tax reforms and ever increasing regulations for buy-to-let landlords, and the Government’s aim of limiting small-scale amateur landlords, appears to be winning out.

Recent surveys
reveal that around 40 per cent of landlords who own two or more
properties intend to buy at least one more in the coming year.

In the meantime the
trade association for mortgage lenders is urging the government to
put a halt to further intervention in the buy-to-let market amid all
the evidence of the negative effect of regulatory and tax changes on
the industry, reducing supply and putting up market rents.

A recent report from
the Intermediary Lenders Association (ImLa) is warning that the
private rental sector is still absorbing the adverse effects of the
changes already made, and it predicts more change would force more
landlords out of the sector, reducing tenant choice and raising rent
costs.

The RLA says that
the increase in legislation is not leading to any improvement in
enforcement action against criminal landlords. Many councils
throughout Britain are failing to properly use the powers they
already have.

Previous research by the RLA found that in 2017/18, two thirds of councils had not commenced any prosecutions against private landlords. In the same year, 89 per cent of councils told the RLA they had not used new powers to issues Civil Penalties of up to £30,000 against private landlords for a range of offences. Over half, 53 per cent, did not have a policy in place to properly use the power.

Against this rising
tide of regulation and poor levels of enforcement by local councils,
the RLA is calling on all political parties in the election to commit
to improving enforcement of the powers already available rather than
introduce new legislation which councils will be unable to use to
root out the crooks.

In its manifesto for
the General Election the RLA proposes scrapping licensing schemes
which serve only to penalise good landlords whilst enabling the
criminals to operate under the radar. Instead, councils should use
the wide range of data already available to them, including council
tax, benefits, tenancy deposit and electoral roll information to
identify landlords. This needs to be backed up by central government
providing a multi-year funding settlement to properly resource
enforcement.

David Smith, Policy
Director for the Residential Landlords Association:

“Removing
criminal landlords from the sector will only be achieved if councils
have the resources and the will to properly use the wide range of
powers they already have. Piling more regulations onto the sector
which will continue not to be properly enforced is meaningless and
serves only to put off good landlords from providing the homes to
rent we need.

“It is time for
smarter enforcement, not more regulation.”

· The RLA’s research on the volume of legislation affecting the private landlords can be accessed here

· The RLA’s report, The Postcode Lottery of Local Authority Enforcement in the PRS, can be accessed here

· The RLA’s manifesto for the General Election is available here

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords under pressure with ever increasing regulations | LandlordZONE.

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Repossession and delaying tactics?

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Hi all, I am in need of some advice please. I had a repossession hearing under section 8 non payment of rent. The tenant showed up and claimed disrepair. The judge wasn’t happy and had a go at them, but said he had to give them 14 days to file a defence and adjourned till 16th Dec.

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Funding to tackle criminals a step in the right direction

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New funding announced by the government to tackle criminal landlords is welcome – but is nowhere near enough. Ministers have today announced that local authorities will be able to access almost £4 million in new funding, as part of what it describes as a “crackdown on criminal landlords” for 2019/20. This comes after £2 million […]

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