Landlord that ‘vindictively’ evicted tenants accused of ignoring tribunal

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Former tenants of billionaire landlord John Christodolou have accused him of flouting their successful rent repayment orders.

Despite being ordered to pay back-rent to three tenants in his Stoke Newington block, they believe the Monaco-based landlord – one of Britain’s richest men – is trying to avoid the penalty, reports The Times.  

Jordan Osserman (pictured) and his flatmates were awarded the repayment orders in July 2021 when they told a first-tier tribunal how Christodolou had failed to license an HMO in Simpson House, Somerford Grove (main pictured), and neglected to install fire safety measures. They also reported a lack of heating and hot water, poor building maintenance and lack of pest control measures.

Section 21 notices

Prior to the case, the tenants were approaching the end of their tenancy, but instead of going into a rolling basis or a contract for a new tenancy, they received a Section 21 eviction notice, which they believe was also sparked by their request for a block-wide reduction in rent during Covid.

In June this year, an upper tribunal increased the amount from £18,400 to £22,500, when the judge said that they had been “vindictively” evicted, adding that “the landlord’s business practices involved a systematic or institutional neglect of regulatory requirements”.

The three tenants submitted a statutory demand with a deadline for payment of 29^th September but haven’t heard back from the landlord.

However, following their successful case, some 20 other rent repayment orders, collectively worth up to £500,000, are due to be heard.

A few months ago, the tenants at Somerford Grove were asked to pay their rent to the new company which owns the block – Simpson Assets 3 – which they found out is ultimately owned by Christodoulou. Osserman said: “They came up with a new strategy which is that they are not going to pay.”

Read advice: How to handle the S21 notice process.

View Full Article: Landlord that ‘vindictively’ evicted tenants accused of ignoring tribunal

October sees a sharp slowdown in house prices

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The annual UK house price growth slowed to 7.2% in October, from 9.5% in September, Nationwide reports.

Its house price index reveals that prices fall 0.9% month-on-month – the first monthly decline since July 2021.

Robert Gardner

View Full Article: October sees a sharp slowdown in house prices

Just 1 in 12 homes is affordable for tenants on housing benefit

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Just 11% of one-bedroom properties in England are now affordable to renters on Local Housing Allowance – that’s down from 17% in April, research reveals.

That’s when Crisis and Zoopla last conducted their analysis which also reveals that the proportion of affordable two-bedroom properties has fallen to just 7% from 11%.

View Full Article: Just 1 in 12 homes is affordable for tenants on housing benefit

Property Business Structures For Investing In 2023

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2022 has been an incredibly turbulent year with Interest rates rising, the economy crashing and recession on the way.

Now is as important a time as any to make sure that your property business is structured properly for the times ahead.

View Full Article: Property Business Structures For Investing In 2023

Are you selling – or have you sold – your BTL?

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The Telegraph’s personal finance reporter, Alexa Phillips, is looking to speak to landlords who are selling (or have recently sold) their buy-to-let properties.

This includes either people who are reducing the size of their property portfolio or leaving the rental market altogether.

View Full Article: Are you selling – or have you sold – your BTL?

HMO regulations will prevent landlords helping tenants during economic downturn – claim

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Landlords trying to help tenants out during the cost-of-living crisis could fall foul of licensing and planning laws, a leading landlord group has warned.

It’s been prompted by the story of Nottingham landlord Frank Knowles who thought he was doing a good deed by allowing a tenant’s partner to move into a two-bedroom flat after she struggled to find a property.

He says his letting agent suggested she was put onto the tenancy agreement and that he increase the rent. However, during a surprise inspection, Knowles discovered the property was now deemed an HMO and that he needed an additional rather than his current selective licence.

The landlord then found out that he would have to apply for planning permission to change the use into a HMO, which comes with a £452 fee, with no guarantee this would be approved. He now must decide whether to ask the tenant’s girlfriend to leave or evict them all.

Planning and licensing

EMPO’s business development director, Giles Inman (pictured), says this illustrates how landlords could face both planning and licensing barriers when they let tenants’ partners move into properties. They could also unwittingly find themselves breaching laws due to tenants’ actions.

“With the cost-of-living crisis, tenants will take in friends and lodgers to help pay the rent – in many cases, without landlords’ knowledge – inadvertently creating HMOs which produces problems around Article 4,” he tells LandlordZONE. “The fact the letting agent wasn’t aware in this case shows how confusing and clumsy the system is.”

He adds: “Councils don’t advertise Article 4 directions as widely as licensing schemes as they can’t levy a financial penalty in the same way.”

Nottingham’s current selective licensing scheme is due to be replaced in July 2023 and EMPO has tasked NRLA property lawyer David Smith to draw up a formal response to the plans for the Secretary of State on its behalf.

View Full Article: HMO regulations will prevent landlords helping tenants during economic downturn – claim

Overgrown Magnolia tree results in loss of view!

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Hello, I am told that in English law there is no such thing as a legal right to a view, (established in Aldred’s Case 1610). However, if a tree is allowed to grow uncontrolled and too large, resulting in the loss of a valued view

View Full Article: Overgrown Magnolia tree results in loss of view!

INTERVIEW: Why one of UK’s biggest PRS landlords sold off their properties

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Scots entrepreneurs Graeme and Leanne Carling were one of the most successful landlords of the late noughties, taking advantage of the weakness in the property market following the global financial crash to build a bricks-and-mortar empire worth £200 million.

This made their company, the Carling Group, at one point one of Scotland’s biggest private residential landlords.

But while some landlords in their shoes would be happy to rest on their laurels, Graeme tells LandlordZONE that it was always their plan to pivot into other areas of business related to property once it was no longer possible to extract value from the private rented sector (PRS).

He says the Scottish Government’s greater regulation of the PRS hastened these plans and in 2019 the couple decided to start exiting the market.

“We’d seen our net income per unit dropping and realised we were going to have to double the size of our portfolio to make the same income as we were back in 2009-2011,” he says.

“It was just getting too tough and we’d been to some meetings with the Scottish Government during which you were frowned upon as a small-time landlord, and to a certain extent you still are, and it was clear that legislators wanted to professionalise the sector and squeeze the smaller landlords out.”

So after an initial attempt to scale up was thwarted by a lack of properties for sale that offered appropriate margins, the Carlings began to sell off their PRS properties.

They still ahve some left which are mostly those with long-term tenants, along with some student and workforce accommodation.

PRS halted

“We’ve halted the PRS stuff and I am glad we did,” he says. “I think the market ‘going corporate’ was and is the right way to go for the PRS – it needs professionalising including via better regulation and anyway in Scotland, we’re up against a huge social housing sector which has access to cheaper funding and grants.”

So how is the Carling Group going to make its profits in the future? The firm has been using its property disposal cash to buy up building services companies in Scotland and England, all part of a plan to create a large group with competencies across the board that can help the UK upgrade its buildings across all the different sectors including residential.

“It’s a big opportunity because there are not many buildings in the UK that won’t need some sort of work done to them to meet the new EPC standards,” he says.

“We see that as a huge market and something we know about as a substantial property owner including maintenance and upgrades. You can say we’ve flipped sides.

“Despite the distractions of the economy and politics, that 2030 EPC date is still there and that’s why we’re looking to acquire buildings services operators across England so we can combine these businesses and tender and quote and win some of the substantial government works within the existing built environment 

“We want to become a national operator – that’s out real focus at the moment.”

View Full Article: INTERVIEW: Why one of UK’s biggest PRS landlords sold off their properties

Michael Gove hints at cash help for tenants to pay rent

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Families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis could receive a cash boost so they can pay their rent, Michael Gove has hinted.

The Levelling Up secretary was speaking on the ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ show when he revealed that ‘targeted support’ could be on the table to help families pay their private landlord.

View Full Article: Michael Gove hints at cash help for tenants to pay rent

Help! I didn’t protect the tenancy deposit

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Hello, We let our property to a couple with a baby in 2019, with 90% of their rent paid by the council through a housing benefit.

They immediately fell into arrears, not paying the rent at all, so the council told me they would pay the 90% direct to me.

View Full Article: Help! I didn’t protect the tenancy deposit