Green mortgage aims to make an impact on BTL investors

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Buy-to-let landlords could add the cost of making properties more energy efficient onto their mortgage in an initiative to make more UK homes greener.

Ashman Bank will design and run the trial for PRS investors who would be able to borrow the money for improvements and include it in their monthly repayments. Under the new variant – Impact Buy to Let – it would assess a property’s energy efficiency, provide options on how it can be improved and incorporate the cost of carrying out the work onto the duration of the mortgage.

Loft insulation

It is one of 26 innovative green finance projects sharing £4.1 million worth of funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Each aims to encourage homeowners to make their properties more energy efficient with measures such as loft insulation and double glazing and help them save more than £460 a year on their energy bills, according to the government.

Another trial initiative run by Energy Saving Trust Enterprises will explore a Pathways to Green Finance service aimed at those in the PRS looking to retrofit homes. After six months the firms can apply for more funding to run a pilot scheme.

Reduce bills

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, says it has put in place long-term commitments to ensure homes across the country have greater energy efficiency to reduce bills, drive down energy use and lower emissions. He adds: “We are supporting these organisations to develop fresh and innovative ways of helping more people get better access to energy efficiency measures, such as loft insulation, double glazing and heat pumps.”

Landlords are still waiting for confirmation that the proposed date for meeting EPC band C has been delayed until 2028, with increasing numbers opting to sell up instead.

View Full Article: Green mortgage aims to make an impact on BTL investors

Hybrid LLP Action Group Motives

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Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers said …

“This (the Hybrid LLP Action Group) is not a knee-jerk reaction or an attempt to undermine other advisers’ work for the sake of it. 

The Hybrid LLP Action Group arises from a number of landlords approaching us with concerns about the robustness of their structures and the correctness of the filings at HMRC and Companies House made in their names.

View Full Article: Hybrid LLP Action Group Motives

Landlord Crusader: Section 21 abolition – congratulations to Shelter et al

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And so, it came to pass – section 21 notices to gain possession of a rented property will be no more and there was only the wailing of landlords that could be heard.

So, I guess, congratulations to Shelter and Generation Rent and all the others on a media campaign that focussed on the vilification of landlords over recent years.

View Full Article: Landlord Crusader: Section 21 abolition – congratulations to Shelter et al

Tenant will not let anyone into property?

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Hello, Can anyone from the Property118 community please offer me any advice? My tenant has not paid for a year (Don’t ask, that’s a whole other story!) and the gas and electric certificates are due but the tenant will not let anyone into the property or answer any communications directed to her at all!

View Full Article: Tenant will not let anyone into property?

Greens want rent freezes as part of the Renters’ Reform Bill

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The Green Party is calling for the Renters’ Reform Bill to go much further than the government is planning for – and says there should be an ‘immediate rent freeze’.

The party is also urging for councils to get the power to implement rent freezes where they might be necessary.

View Full Article: Greens want rent freezes as part of the Renters’ Reform Bill

Enforced landlord registration part of plan to help sector shape up

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A new ombudsman – known as the landlord redress scheme – and property portal would be compulsory for all private sector landlords.

Part of the Renters (Reform) Bill, the redress scheme will have the legal authority to compel apologies, take remedial action and pay compensation and, according to the government, will provide fair, impartial, and binding resolution to many issues and prove “quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial than the court system”. Any decision under the scheme would be made enforceable as if it were a court order.

Finer details

Sean Hooker, head of redress at Property Redress Scheme, tells LandlordZONE that although the government is still working out the finer details, the initiative should help address the gap in dispute resolution for tenants whose landlords do not use an agent or where the issues fall under the obligations of the landlord and not their agent.

Meanwhile, the private rented property portal would help landlords “understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance, alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement,” according to the government. It aims to support local councils by helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most.

Correct technology

The PRS’s Hooker believes a portal should help landlords and agents understand and comply with their obligations. “Of course, the caveat is that the technology is correct and the process of registering and complying is straightforward and affordable and we await the details of how this will be achieved in a realistic timescale as it is the lynchpin of so much of the other reforms proposed,” he adds.

Fears have long been voiced about local councils’ ability to carry out further enforcement when budgets are being cut. The Local Government Association believes improved access to data on the PRS and mandated landlord registration will increase councils’ oversight of and ability to enforce against the small minority of landlords guilty of criminal behaviour.

Housing spokesman Darren Rodwell adds: “The LGA will continue to work with the government to ensure that councils have the right powers, skills, capacity and resources to undertake effective enforcement activity to improve standards in the private rented sector.”

View Full Article: Enforced landlord registration part of plan to help sector shape up

Reform Bill: Landlord database to be enforced with court orders

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A new ombudsman – known as the landlord redress scheme – and property portal would be compulsory for all private sector landlords.

Part of the Renters (Reform) Bill, the redress scheme or schemes will have the legal authority to compel apologies, take remedial action and pay compensation and, according to the government, will provide fair, impartial, and binding resolution to many issues and prove “quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial than the court system”.

Any decision under the scheme would be made enforceable as if it were a court order.

Finer details

Sean Hooker, head of redress at Property Redress Scheme, tells LandlordZONE that although the government is still working out the finer details, the initiative should help address the gap in dispute resolution for tenants whose landlords do not use an agent or where the issues fall under the obligations of the landlord and not their agent.

Meanwhile, the private rented property portal would help landlords “understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance, alongside providing better information to tenants to make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement,” according to the government. It aims to support local councils by helping them target enforcement activity where it is needed most.

Correct technology

The PRS’s Hooker believes a portal should help landlords and agents understand and comply with their obligations. “Of course, the caveat is that the technology is correct and the process of registering and complying is straightforward and affordable and we await the details of how this will be achieved in a realistic timescale as it is the lynchpin of so much of the other reforms proposed,” he adds.

Fears have long been voiced about local councils’ ability to carry out further enforcement when budgets are being cut. The Local Government Association believes improved access to data on the PRS and mandated landlord registration will increase councils’ oversight of and ability to enforce against the small minority of landlords guilty of criminal behaviour.

Housing spokesman Darren Rodwell adds: “The LGA will continue to work with the government to ensure that councils have the right powers, skills, capacity and resources to undertake effective enforcement activity to improve standards in the private rented sector.”

View Full Article: Reform Bill: Landlord database to be enforced with court orders

Sector braces itself for proposed challenging notice periods

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Tenants could effectively move in and give notice the same day under proposals in the Renters (Reform) Bill.

The draft legislation scraps assured shorthold tenancies in favour of periodic tenancies, while rental periods can only be 28 days or one month. Tenants will be able to stay until they decide to end the tenancy by giving two months’ notice or the landlord can evidence a valid ground for possession. Landlords won’t be able to use grounds for moving in, selling or redevelopment for the first six months of the tenancy.

Shorter notice

Property lawyer at JMW, David Smith, explains that notice periods are likely to be the change that most substantially alters the sector on a day-to-day basis. “It has implications for short letting, for agency fee models, and for how landlords set rents,” he says.

Landlords will be fined by local authorities if they try to give tenants a fixed term tenancy longer than a month, while they face a fine if they fail to give their tenant a new written statement that includes a record of terms. “This will be a risk area for a lot of landlords and agents but in reality, it brings England into line with the other parts of the UK,” adds Smith.

Potentially contested

In a move to combat the cost-of-living crisis, rent increases will be limited to once a year and the minimum notice landlords must provide of any change in rent will be increased to two months using a section 13 notice, which can be potentially contested before a tribunal.

However, there is no detail in the Bill about how these changes would affect student landlords who fear open-ended tenancies mean they won’t be able to guarantee accommodation will be available for the start of each academic year, unless sitting tenants have handed in their notice to leave.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says the government must recognise these serious concerns. “Without the ability to plan around the academic year, students will have no certainty that properties will be available to rent when they need them.”

View Full Article: Sector braces itself for proposed challenging notice periods

Justice at stake if eviction reforms aren’t backed by funding boost

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Court reforms and extra funding are needed if the government’s overhaul of the evictions process is to succeed, warn landlord groups and eviction specialists.

It has promised to abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions as part of the Renters (Reform) Bill, meaning that all evictions would need to be based on an approved reason given by the landlord through a section 8 notice.

Under the reforms, landlords will only be able to evict tenants in certain circumstances, including when they want to sell the property or when they or a close family member want to move in, after six months. However, after a three-month period they will be free to put the property back on the rental market. The Bill also makes it easier for landlords to repossess their properties in cases of anti-social behaviour or where the tenant repeatedly fails to pay rent.

Possession grounds

Property lawyer at JMW, David Smith, explains that there is a huge increase in the number of grounds for possession to deal with a range of needs for social landlords, and to deal with other scenarios where a private landlord would find themselves in breach of the law if they allowed the tenancy to continue. “The promised new ground for possession for repeated arrears is there, as are the expected changes to ground 14 to allow eviction for behaviour ‘capable of causing’ a nuisance.”

However, with an average wait time between a court claim and repossession of nearly 10 months in 2022, according to the Ministry of Justice, more than half of the evictions previously carried out using Section 21 will now be diverted to the courts, adds Smith.

Reduce delays

While the government has promised to digitise parts of the court system to reduce delays, there is little detail on how this will work and no funding has been allocated. NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says staff numbers need to increase in the court system to meet the needs of these reforms while Landlord Action’s Paul Shamplina believes greater reform of the court system will be required if landlords are to have confidence to remain in the market.

Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, tells LandlordZONE: “Moving to section 8…means rent arrears won’t be tolerated. Government has got the message, but a failure to fund the court system properly will mean a lack of justice for landlords and tenants.”

View Full Article: Justice at stake if eviction reforms aren’t backed by funding boost

Renters Reform Bill worse than feared

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It is only a Bill and has just been published but the Renters’ Reform Bill appears at first sight worse than many have feared. All tenancies are to become periodic, meaning landlords will have no security of income and student landlords in particular will find the tenants will not pay for the summer holidays.

View Full Article: Renters Reform Bill worse than feared