The ethics vs financial realities of paying a tenant to leave?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, We have an awkward freeloader who’s stopped paying. If it takes 6-12 months to evict him we will have a lot of unpaid rent (Yes, we can sue, but CCJ’s may go nowhere with a “paper” debtor), plus legal/court fees

View Full Article: The ethics vs financial realities of paying a tenant to leave?

Dodgy ‘guaranteed rent’ firm RHP is STILL in business, says another fed-up landlord

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Dodgy rent-to-rent firm RHP Lettings – previously exposed on TV’s Slum Landlords, Nightmare Tenants – has been up to its old tricks again.

Another fed-up landlord who has put up with late payments for years is now desperate to break free from her agreement with the London-based outfit.

The landlord – who wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution – first signed her flat up with RHP Services (as it was known before changing its name) a few years ago and says she grew used to its poor communication, service – and excuses.

“In 2020, after finding some appalling reviews on allAgents, I got really fed up and even thought about tracking down who they were actually letting my property to,” she tells LandlordZONE. “I thought this might put pressure on them to start making payments again.”

That year, Landlord Action’s Paul Shamplina highlighted the story of a landlord who warned others not to use the company after it failed to pass on rent and mismanaged his properties. Shamplina explained how he had received numerous complaints against RHP Services/Lettings, from those in similar situations.

Read more: Don’t let this happen to you, says landlord after losing £40,500 to guaranteed rent scheme.

This landlord says her rent payments stopped again in the summer. She now wants her property back but is uncertain whether a simple year-long contract signed with RHP years ago is still valid.

“I wouldn’t want to evict anyone so I’m trying to work out what the best thing is to do,” she adds. “Looking back, I was naïve. But once you’re in their clutches it’s hard to get out.”

LandlordZONE has approached RHP Lettings for comment.

View Full Article: Dodgy ‘guaranteed rent’ firm RHP is STILL in business, says another fed-up landlord

Inventories provide landlords with a ‘last line of defence’

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Landlord and agent fears over controversial Government proposals for the private rental sector (PRS) would be eased by the adoption of a rigorous, professional inventory policy, says one industry boss.

The chief executive of No Letting Go, Nick Lyons

View Full Article: Inventories provide landlords with a ‘last line of defence’

Rents pass £1,200 for the first time

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The average rent on a newly let home in Great Britain rose to £1,204 per month in October, up £80 or 7.1% year-on-year, costing the average tenant an extra £960 each year, data reveals.

The findings from Hamptons show that rents in five regions have nudged into the next £100 price band this year

View Full Article: Rents pass £1,200 for the first time

Landlord group pushes for publication of new MEES rules

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The landlord association iHowz has written to three Government ministers urging them to publish the new domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) rules so landlords can prepare to meet them in good time.

The organisation says it is worried that the new version of the EPC and accompanying Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) will be published before the MEES criteria.

View Full Article: Landlord group pushes for publication of new MEES rules

Welsh landlords & agents have serious misgivings about longer notice periods

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The way that private rented sector (PRS) landlords operate their properties in Wales is going through one of the biggest changes in decades as the Welsh Government, under its devolved powers, pass and implement the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

This Act is to take effect from the 1st December 2022, while the Welsh Government has confirmed the extended notice period for existing tenancies will take effect from 1 June 2023. The six-month notice period already applies to new contracts starting from 1 December 2022.

Tenants are to be referred to as contract holders, tenancy agreements as occupation contracts with “written statements”, and new rules are to ensure that rental properties are “Fit For Human Habitation”.

The changes are radical and many aspects of the current legislation will change drastically, from the extended notice periods, extended succession rights, joint contracts, to changes to landlords’ rights when properties are abandoned.

The Renting Homes (Wales) Act was originally due to come into force on 15 July 2022 but was pushed back until 1 December 2022 last May.

Deep concerns from landlords and agents

The changes being introduced by the Welsh Government follow along a similar but not in an identical vein to those introduced in Scotland – Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. England could soon be followed suit with the Renters’ Reform Act, most likely to be enacted in 2023.

The Welsh Government claims the legislation will improve security of tenure for renters by, amongst other reforms, increasing the notice period for landlords seeking repossession of their properties, usually when the renter in not in breach of contract, the no fault eviction case.

The new rules have been described as the biggest change in Welsh housing law for many decades, with the old concept of a tenancy being replace by what is termed “statutorily regulated occupation contracts.”

However, while landlords coped with goodwill and flexibility with extended notice periods during the Covid, they are far less comfortable and less willing to accept a Government perusing this as a permanent change.

Objections to a permanent change

Speaking for letting agents, Tim Thomas, Policy and Campaigns Officer for Propertymark, has said of the change:

“Letting agents and their landlords showed great flexibility at the outset of the pandemic in their support of extended notice periods, but again we have a government pursuing permanent changes to what were supposed to be temporary measures.

“The Welsh Government says extending notice periods for existing tenancies from June is necessary to bring down the rising cost to taxpayers of temporary accommodation. What it fails to understand is the knock-on effect this strengthening of tenants’ rights will have on the confidence of landlords.

“New tenancies will also have to comply by 1 December.

“The private landlords our member agents represent have become important housing providers, but they need to know they can regain possession of their property when they need to do so.

“The best way to support tenants is to focus on policies that can increase the supply of housing rather those that will constrain it.”

Despite the vast majority (90%) of landlords and letting agents responding to a recent Welsh Government consultation exercise being strongly against extending the six-month notice periods to existing tenancies, the change is to go ahead.

Conversely, tenant representative bodies, as might be expected, responded to the consultation very much in favour of the proposed extension, with the overwhelming majority favouring a 1 December start rather than waiting until June next year.

Propertymark the letting agents representative body has strongly objected to the Welsh Government’s consultation proposal to extend the notice period required which will extend existing periodic standard contracts, from two months to six months, under section 173 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act.

In the body’s consultation response to the Welsh Government it outlined its recognition of the importance of security of tenure, especially for vulnerable groups. However, as it explains, “…we raised caution about the lack of supply in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) and how it would drive more landlords to sell up and leave the sector. This could mean reduced housing options for the most vulnerable and increased rents for tenants who remain in the sector.”

The Welsh minister with responsibility for housing, Julie James has responded by saying:

“The proposed extension of the six-month no-fault notice period was always going to generate highly contrasting views.

“Whilst noting the views of those landlords and agents that responded, I have decided that the societal and individual benefits accruing from the extension outweigh the negative impact on individual landlords, particularly in view of shorter notice periods of one month or less applying where there is a breach of contract.”

Regulations implementing the Renting Homes (Wales) Act (2016)

Regulations 2022 Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Consequential Amendments to Secondary Legislation) (Amendment)

Regulations 2022 Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2022

Renting Homes (Rent Determination) (Converted Contracts) (Wales) (Amendment)

Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2022

View Full Article: Welsh landlords & agents have serious misgivings about longer notice periods

Answering Your Tax and Accounting Questions

admin    Uncategorized     agents

We’ve filmed a fair few episodes of The Property Tax Show now and as expected we have a ton of questions flooding in.
01:04 – Should I Register For VAT To Reclaim VAT On My Purchase?
02:04 Do I Need To Revalue My Property Every Year For My Accountant?
View Full Article: Answering Your Tax and Accounting Questions

Eviction – Judge thinks non-existant deposit should have been protected?

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Finally had enough of a bad tenant – constantly behind on his rent. I issued him with a Section 21 notice in December 2021. Naturally, he ignored the deadline to leave by mid-February 2022. He took me to court for wrongful eviction.

View Full Article: Eviction – Judge thinks non-existant deposit should have been protected?

Council tax bills equate to 37.5% of a tenant’s rent

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With rumours that the Government might be about to increase council tax bills in its Autumn Statement comes news that hard-up tenants are already paying council tax equivalent to 37.5% of their rent.

Ocasa, the specialist rental platform

View Full Article: Council tax bills equate to 37.5% of a tenant’s rent

Propertymark slams extension to no-fault notice periods in Wales

admin    Uncategorized     agents

All new tenancies in Wales from 1 December will have a statutory six-month no-fault notice period, while existing tenancies that convert to occupation contracts will see the extension under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 take effect from 1 June next year.

View Full Article: Propertymark slams extension to no-fault notice periods in Wales