John Lewis build-to-rent plans stall as locals oppose huge apartment ‘towers’

admin    Uncategorized     agents

John Lewis’s build-to-rent strategy appears to be stalling amid local opposition to its plans for large developments in West Ealing and Bromley.

The retailer has just announced pre-tax losses of £234 million as sales dipped 2% last year, making it even more vital to find new revenue streams.

Last year, it struck a £500m deal with the investment firm Abrdn to build 1,000 residential rental homes on three sites, however, local people and Bromley councillors are challenging the plans and its aspiration to become a huge private landlord.

John Lewis’s scheme to redevelop its Waitrose West Ealing site by 2027, which includes three blocks of apartments (main picture) up to 19 storeys high, has incurred the wrath of Ealing campaigning group, Stop The Towers.

Meanwhile, its plans for Bromley include the tallest tower block in the town – 24 storeys – and 350 flats, which will be considered by the council’s planning committee later this year. One councillor has already warned they won’t be voting to approve the development.

Warehouse

Although John Lewis has plans to replace its closed warehouse in Reading town centre with homes, no official plan has been submitted.

A spokesman told the local newspaper in West Ealing: “Our analysis supports the heights we are proposing, however these consultations are designed to give local people every opportunity to share their views to help shape our plans.” 

The retailer has vowed to “continue to assess further potential sites that would be suitable for development” in its full-year results, following its announcement that it plans to build 10,000 homes in the next 10 years.

View Full Article: John Lewis build-to-rent plans stall as locals oppose huge apartment ‘towers’

‘A budget that does nothing to help struggling renters’, says Shelter

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Shelter has slammed the Chancellor for failing to raise Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in his spring Budget.

The homeless charity says Jeremy Hunt could have put an end to spiralling homelessness, but instead, he has stuck his head in the sand.

“Yet again we have a Budget that does nothing to help struggling renters who are drowning in debt and rapidly rising rents,” says chief executive Polly Neate (main picture).

Outrageous

“It is outrageous that the government has chosen to keep housing benefit frozen at 2020 levels when its own figures show rents have risen by more than 8% in this time.”

Housing benefits or universal credit payments are capped by LHA rates which are designed to provide people with enough support through the benefits system to afford the cheapest 30% of housing in an area.

However, with increasingly higher rents during the last two years, more than half (54%) of renters claiming housing benefits have to cover a shortfall in their payments, according to Shelter.

Neate adds: “Sleeping rough or being shunted from hostel-to-hostel ruins people’s lives and costs the economy more. This is the government’s final warning to introduce emergency measures to keep people in their homes – it must urgently unfreeze housing benefit.”

Shelter reports that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has risen by 87% in the last 10 years – from just over 50,000 to nearly 100,000 – while more than 44% of private renting adults in England – equivalent to 3.6 million people – say rising living costs are making them more worried about becoming homeless.

View Full Article: ‘A budget that does nothing to help struggling renters’, says Shelter

Some good news for you this weekend

admin    Uncategorized     agents

We are delighted to be able to share a valuable gift with you this weekend.

Last week Simon Zutshi, Author of Property Magic, and founder of the property investors network launched his brand new six-module online Home Study programme

View Full Article: Some good news for you this weekend

Updated ‘How to Rent Guide’ published tomorrow

admin    Uncategorized     agents

An updated How to Rent Guide will be published tomorrow (Friday), and this version is the one that must be issued by landlords and letting agents to new tenants and those renewing contracts.

The guide is the checklist for renting in England and should landlords and agents not issue the correct and current version

View Full Article: Updated ‘How to Rent Guide’ published tomorrow

Help with tenant rent arrears on Universal Credit?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, I have a tenant with six months rent arrears on Universal Credit. I have filled in an online form for direct payment from UC but this was rejected.

These were the possible reasons they gave for the rejection but they did not tell me specifically:
1) tenant not on UC or housing benefit
2) wrong address
3) not in arrears

All of the above are not true so I made a call to UC but they said they need the permission from the tenant to look into the account.

View Full Article: Help with tenant rent arrears on Universal Credit?

‘Disappointing’ – housing chiefs slam lack of property measures in Budget

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords, estate agents and surveyors have all given yesterday’s Budget an unqualified thumbs down after the Chancellor chose to focus on economic growth but ignore several problem threatening to engulf the housing market.

All have said the budget was disappointing and a ‘missed opportunity’ to invest in the UK’s housing market and head off some looming problems.

These include an affordability crisis looming for first time buyers, a mortgage affordability crunch for those coming off low fixed rate loans, and a supply shortage in the private rented sector.

Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association

 “The Chancellor spoke of growth yet did nothing to introduce the pro-growth measures that are necessary if the private rented sector’s supply crisis is to be addressed.

“The current system, under which landlords are penalised for providing new homes to rent, only makes it tougher for many renters to access good quality rental properties.

“Without a comprehensive review of how the sector is taxed, supply and demand issues will only become more acute as time goes on.

“Today’s Budget also does nothing for those who are in receipt of housing benefit payments, who will continue to face an unjust freeze on the support they need.”

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Estate Agent Body Propertymark

“The Chancellor has outlined a positive economic outlook in relation to growth, inflation and debt that will provide confidence to those looking to buy and sell their homes.

“Additional funding for Levelling Up regeneration projects will also help to develop communities and places where people want to live. 

“However, despite the continued focus on VAT relief for energy saving materials it is disappointing that funding for energy efficiency improvements be-it for homeowners or landlords is not on the UK Government’s agenda and the Budget is a missed opportunity to support people to de-carbonise the housing sector.

“Additionally, there was no mention of tax incentives to boost much needed supply in the private rented sector.

“Whilst we recognise the UK Government’s focus on getting more people into work, there is little appetite to improve the welfare system and support those who are struggling the most which will have a continued knock-on impact particularly for those low-income households who rent.”

A RICS spokesperson

“RICS is disappointed by the lack of housing ambition in this budget. The fallout from the ‘mini-budget’ hit the housing market hard, and we still have the challenges of  limited housing stock and rising rents as reported again in last week’s RICS UK Residential Market Survey.

“Investment and support in creating housing stock both in the right place and of the right tenure, to support both buyers and renters is critical now more than ever. 

“This could be through new builds and suitable, standards-driven conversions, given the removal of housebuilding targets.  With political will, there is a way.”

View Full Article: ‘Disappointing’ – housing chiefs slam lack of property measures in Budget

Homeowners are better off than renters every year

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Homeowners are nearly £500 better off a year than a renter, research from Halifax reveals

It says that the monthly cost of owning a home for first-time buyers is now £971, on average.

That is £42 or 4% cheaper than the cost of renting an equivalent property.

View Full Article: Homeowners are better off than renters every year

Service charge dispute win ends up costing £18k?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi everyone, We took our Freehold Landlord to the small claims court for £3k and then it was transferred to the first-tier tribunal

The Freeholder lost and was made to refund us £2520 in service charge overpayments we had made.

View Full Article: Service charge dispute win ends up costing £18k?

BUDGET DAY: Underwhelmed PRS speaks out over a missed opportunity

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It was a Budget to forget after the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appeared to have forgotten landlords, tenants and the private rented sector (PRS) in general.

Despite hopes that there would be an announcement how the PRS is taxed –

View Full Article: BUDGET DAY: Underwhelmed PRS speaks out over a missed opportunity

BUDGET 2023: Hunt ignores pressing needs of landlords and tenants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The government failed to offer long-term support for energy efficiency improvements or increase the Local Housing Allowance in a Budget which instead focused on getting the country back to work.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt extended support for energy bills at current levels of £2,500 for a further three months and brought the charges of the four million people on pre-payment meters in line with comparable direct debit charges.

However, he made no mention of the hoped-for incentives for landlords and homeowners to make properties greener in the run-up to changing EPC rules.

Housing groups will also be disappointed that he made no announcement about helping renters meet a shortfall in their payments through unfreezing LHA.

As part of its reform of the welfare system, the Chancellor pledged to fund a new Universal Support Programme to help disabled people get into work.

Hunt also promised that for those on Universal Credit – two million job seekers – sanctions would be applied more rigorously to those who refuse to look for work. The earnings threshold would increase from 15 hours per week to 18 hours.

Universal credit

Parents on Universal Credit will now receive up to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two children per month which would be paid upfront.

The government’s childcare reform plans should help those tenants with children under five who will get 30 hours of free childcare a week from the end of maternity leave.

As previously announced, corporation tax will rise from 19% to 25% on 1st April, affecting portfolio landlords and those with limited companies.

However, no tax burden relief was offered to the sector, but neither was the rumoured increase in Stamp Duty.

For those landlords looking to the future, Hunt announced an increase in the pensions annual tax-free allowance from £40,000 to £60,000 while he also abolished the Lifetime Allowance – previously set at £1.07m.

Read the HMRC full briefing notes in full.

View Full Article: BUDGET 2023: Hunt ignores pressing needs of landlords and tenants