Tribunal makes blatant ‘one set of rules for tenants, another for landlords’ judgement

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A First Tier Property Tribunal has admonished a council for coming down too hard on a sub-letting and benefit-claiming tenant who flouted housing rules.

Fenland District Council had fined Vasil Iliev £35,000 for non-compliance of HMO regulations and renting an unlicensed HMO, but the tribunal reduced this to just £3,500 after it ruled there was no evidence he had exploited the occupants.

Housing officers discovered eight Bulgarian men living in four bedrooms at the flat above a takeaway in Norfolk Street (pictured), Wisbech, which was in a poor state of repair with four category one hazards (excess cold, fire, food safety and domestic hygiene, pest and refuse) and one category two hazard (electrical deficiencies).

Worst ever

One officer said the property was ‘the worst condition’ he’d ever seen and was unsuitable for housing. An Emergency Prohibition Notice was issued and the tenants moved to temporary accommodation.

Iliev claimed he was only a tenant and that the occupants were not paying rent but merely contributing £60 per week towards the bills and that he was helping them out.

Although the tribunal agreed the property was an HMO, it ruled that the council had only assumed Iliev was the landlord and didn’t try to establish the extent of his interest in the property.

Read more: the difference between an HMO and a bedsit.

It added that he had tried and failed to run the takeaway downstairs and then allowed members of the community to occupy the flat for a short period – well below the market rate of at least £100 per room or £400 a week.

Professional landlord

It said: “He is clearly not a professional landlord and the arrangement was not at a commercial rent.

“There was also no evidence that he had any knowledge of the requirements for private sector lettings or licensing. Since the applicant is in receipt of benefits it is likely to take a very long time for him to pay this amount and it is clearly sufficient to deter him from reoffending.”

Read the judgement in full.

View Full Article: Tribunal makes blatant ‘one set of rules for tenants, another for landlords’ judgement

What landlords letting abroad need to know about Making Tax Digital

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Letting out property abroad can be a great way of generating extra income.

The property might have been bought primarily as an investment but for others or it could be second or holiday home let out when not in use.

There are plenty of things to think about, though. Different countries have different rules on renting out properties, and you may have to obtain and pay for licences.

You will also have to consider how you will manage the property remotely and the many other issues from insurance to maintenance.

Another important thing to think about is tax.

There are already a number of issues to consider, but now Making Tax Digital (MTD), the UK’s government initiative that aims to revolutionise the way that we all report and pay tax, is changing the landscape again.

Regular reporting

Making Tax Digital for landlords will require regular reporting of your finances using MTD-compatible accounting software, such as that offered by Sage, or a ‘bridging’ software that can take data from sources such as spreadsheets and make it accessible to HMRC’s own software.

Using a good accounting software package has a number of benefits, including allowing you to manage your bookkeeping, invoicing and expenses all in one place – which also helps you to keep on top of your tax affairs.

MTD currently applies to businesses registered for VAT. As the staged rollout continues, most individuals currently using Self-Assessment will have to make the change to MTD by April 2024 for income tax accounting and reporting.

This includes landlords, but only generally if the income from their properties is greater than £10,000 per year.

MTD also applies to sole traders, however, and the incomes from the rental and any sole trader businesses are combined for the purposes of tax reporting under MTD. This also applies to rental income from foreign (non-UK) property.

There’s a difference between making a mistake and deliberately trying to avoid tax, of course, but even making an honest mistake can land you in hot water.

One of the key differences between the existing tax reporting system – which is generally done annually – and MTD is a ‘regular obligation’ to provide quarterly updates.

Penalty points

If you fail to meet submission deadlines, you will accumulate ‘penalty points’, and if these build up, fines will automatically be applied. A new penalty system is also set to be introduced for late payments.

Letting property abroad also has a number of tax considerations that are not specifically connected to the change to MTD, beyond the requirements to make regular update submissions.

And there may be local taxes on foreign properties to be aware of, for example, which could include purchase taxes, tax on sales, income tax on rents, and annual taxes related to the property value.

Also, you may end up being taxed twice on your rental income, but you can normally claim tax relief to get some, if not all, of this tax back.

View Full Article: What landlords letting abroad need to know about Making Tax Digital

Property Redress Scheme Seeks 15 New Advisory Panel Members

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The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) was launched in 2014 and is the UK’s largest lettings redress scheme with over 13,250 letting agency branches covered. All estate agents, lettings agents and property managers in England and Wales must become members of such a scheme with the fine for non-participation up to £5000.

View Full Article: Property Redress Scheme Seeks 15 New Advisory Panel Members

There are signs that the property market is returning to normal

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Lloyd’s of London one of the world’s biggest high-risk insurers occupies one of London’ s landmark tower buildings, affectionately known as the inside-out-building.

Lloyd’s has occupied the building for 36 years. Its lease will run out in 2031 but there is a break coming up in 2026 which would give the business an opportunity to move, to downsize floor space or change configuration in a new home, in the light of Covid.

Instead the company has indicated it wants to stay in the building. It seems it has now abandoned the idea of downsizing from this famous City of London tower and is already in talks with the owners extend its stay.

The pandemic efficient switch to working from home (WFH), followed by a slow return of brokers to the central City office, has influenced the directors to re-consider any plans it may have had to exercise the break clause in 2026.

The company has confirmed to The Financial Times that it has decided face-to-face trading remains a key function of its insurance markets and it seems it still needs this amount of floor space to perform these operations.

Lloyd’s has also confirmed that it is in discussions the its landlord, Chinese insurer, Ping An, to extend its lease beyond 2031, according to the FT, “if the right terms are agreed”. Lloyd’s has said:

“Our preference is to stay in the building… We remain on course to confirm our plans later this year.”

Lloyd’s decision to stay probably comes as a relief to its landlord Ping An, which the FT says, last month instructed its architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) to come up with ideas as to what it should do with the building if Lloyds were to leave.

The near 300ft unique office high tower known as the “inside-out” building, so named because facilities such as its lifts and pipework are visible on the outside, and the covering is predominately glass.

Designed by the late Lord Rogers, the building was bought by Commerzbank for £231 million in 2005 and Ping An paid £260 million for the tower in 2013.

Now it is planning to stay, Lloyd’s has said that it wanted to build “the marketplace of the future”, which means having an integrated digital offering, as well as a “thriving physical space for our market to convene”.

More signs of recovery

Another sign of recovery is the aims of the latest cohort of graduates moving into the employment market. Having endured enforced lockdowns, living with parents for extended periods and on-line tutoring, students want to enter physical spaces and workgroups.

Some students have gone through their whole courses doing remote learning and now they simply have one priority at their interviews: they want to learn about the world of work through meeting people, interacting physically and making friends at work.

Companies also want to see their new starters in the office, even when the company is perhaps already offering working flexibly for its staff, but this means that enough of the key staff need to be in the office to help with inducting, training and developing new staff.

In many industries it’s still an employees’ and graduates’ market – there’s a scrabble for talent from companies that want to employ the best. In the case of, for example, property agents JLL, the company intends to take 100 trainees in the UK operations this year, that’s twice as many as they took on last year, and other companies seem to be doing likewise.

The students coming back

Another effect of the relaxing restrictions and a return to normal, the giant student accommodation specialist landlord, Unite Group PLC, is looking to raise its student hall rents more that it had forecast, as more students plan to return to national university campuses.

The multi-site student accommodation provider says it is experiencing strong demand again from both domestic and foreign students for the 2022-2023 academic year and has already firmed up 90% of its room lets.

With a general relaxation in Covid restrictions, students are planning on returning to face-to-face lectures, and there will be less restrictions on international travel. The company is banking on an occupancy in the high 90s percentage level.

Joe Lister, Unite chief financial officer told The Times:

“We continue to make good progress with bookings, with reservations now ahead of pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating the strength of student demand.”

The company thinks it is well protected from a cost / price squeeze due to inflation, as it will be implementing annual re-pricing and cost hedging.

View Full Article: There are signs that the property market is returning to normal

Your last chance to sell your property portfolio for the best price

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You may think that you’ve missed your chance to sell a property portfolio for the best price, but surprisingly, the markets are showing otherwise.

According to the Halifax, property prices are defying the current economic downturn by continuing to rise.

View Full Article: Your last chance to sell your property portfolio for the best price

Landlords told to ‘brace themselves’ for inspections at 29,000 properties

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Durham Council has warned landlords covered by its new selective licensing scheme to brace themselves for inspections next month.

At least 29,000 properties, 42% of the county’s PRS, are covered by the scheme which launched in April after winning government approval.

Durham had originally submitted a plan that covered 65% of the county and included 51,000 private rented properties, but scaled it down following a consultation.

Councillor James Rowlandson (pictured), cabinet member for resources, investments, and assets, explains that the scheme is about holding landlords accountable who fail to provide appropriate living standards for their tenants.

He adds: “This is an opportunity for landlords to ensure their properties meet the required standard ahead of inspection, and to ensure they are complying with their legal obligations.”

The council is encouraging landlords to apply before the first inspections begin in August and says: “Landlords are required to carry out any necessary action identified during the inspection, such as repairs, in order to comply with the licence conditions. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action.”

The licence fee per property is a maximum of £500, with a discount if landlords meet certain criteria, however the reduction period for new applicants ends on 31st July.

In April, LandlordZONE reported that the council had waited three weeks after launching its scheme to share the news on its website – potentially leaving some landlords in the dark.

Despite announcing it had won approval back in December for a launch on 1^st April, the council’s website went quiet on the subject until 21^st April.

View Full Article: Landlords told to ‘brace themselves’ for inspections at 29,000 properties

Government promises to speed up court evictions process for landlords

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The government has vowed to speed up the evictions process for landlords by improving admin around bailiff enforcement activity and bringing in new technology.

During a debate on the courts system in the Commons, Justice Minister James Cartlidge, who resigned a few hours after his commons appearance, promised that by next year it would modernise how the courts deal with possession claims as part of the courts and tribunals service reform programme.

Conservative MP Andrew Lewer questioned whether reforms promised in the recent White Paper to speed up the court system would be in place before the change in private tenancies, given that it currently takes a private landlord nine months to repossess a property through the courts, with the end of section 21 repossessions expected to drive up cases.

The government was injecting more than £10 million a year into housing legal aid through reforms to the housing possession court duty scheme, said Cartlidge.

“We will further streamline the court process to ensure that landlords can get possession in the most urgent circumstances.

“Finally, we will continue to make administrative efficiencies to maximise bailiff resource for enforcement activity, including the enforcement of possession orders.”

Cartlidge added that more than 70% of all courtrooms, including more than 90% of Crown courtrooms, were already fitted with its video hearings platform and that it would be looking at what more it could do to increase throughput using technology.

Vulnerable tenants

Shadow Solicitor General Andrew Slaughter (pictured) asked why the government was extending fixed recoverable costs to housing cases that would prevent law centres and other providers from having the means to represent vulnerable tenants against bad landlords, including in disrepair and unlawful eviction cases.

Cartlidge said: “I am confident that we have put in a huge funding package across the justice system, with £477 million to support court recovery in the spending review.” 

The announcement comes four years after a consultation by the government on court processes speed.

View Full Article: Government promises to speed up court evictions process for landlords

Brownfield Land Release Fund

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Apparently, there is still some government work being carried out – Derelict and underused brownfield sites across England will be used to build thousands of new homes – the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced 8th July 2022.

View Full Article: Brownfield Land Release Fund

Retrospective registration?

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If you grant a tenancy for +7 years it has to be registered at HM Land Registry.

What will happen, under the new White Paper if it becomes law if tenants stay +7 years?

Does the tenancy then have to be retrospectively registered?

View Full Article: Retrospective registration?

Zero to Hero: The new breed of landlord who’s also an agent, blogger and investor

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“I won’t win every landlord so I might as well teach them how to do things properly,” explains Portsmouth-based investor and entrepreneur Tom Soane (main picture), who runs landlord workshops as well as the popular Anonymous Landlord podcast as a way to share his and others’ experience.

Soane, who runs a fast-expanding portfolio of properties, insists the information and advice is all free and promises to answer every email and help wherever he can.

“I’d love to offer a landlord support service one day,” he tells LandlordZONE, “where they could get a quick answer to everything.”

Empire

In the meantime, he’s busy growing his business empire in Hampshire. Soane started his career as a letting agent, then became a mortgage advisor before starting up his own agency – local online platform Pink Street – in 2012.

After getting some mentoring, he figured that scaling up was the way to go and first bought the Whites agency in Fareham followed by four more acquisitions in quick succession: Taylor Garnier in Wickham, Tenant Finders in Southsea, YesCanDo in Havant, and Principal Properties in Waterlooville.

Soane is still growing his own portfolio of properties around the country – mainly buy-to-let houses for a fast exit if needed – using the capital to re-invest.

4,000 properties

He’s also on the lookout for more agencies around Hampshire and aims to eventually reach his target of having 4,000 managed properties, up from the current 1,000, to become the biggest independent letting agency in the county.

Lettings make up 80% of his companies’ business and Soane explains that he’s taken learnings from each firm to hone his model.

“The difference between mine and other companies is the people I employ and having robust processes for everything,” he says.

He predicts that in the future, the PRS will witness larger property owners creating agencies for their own portfolio, and his next project builds on that: a portfolio management firm for those landlords currently using multiple agencies for their properties around the country, giving them a single point of contact – opening the door for him to buy agencies in other areas. “I love to keep busy,” he laughs. “It’s also a way of leaving a legacy.”

Read more ‘Zero to Hero’ stories.

View Full Article: Zero to Hero: The new breed of landlord who’s also an agent, blogger and investor