Letting agent not responding to my hand-delivered letter

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I am a first-time Landlord and the Letting agent does not respond to my hand-delivered twice repeated letter regarding a tenant complaint.

As I live in the same block of flats, I dealt with the tenants’ failed immersion heater within 2 days.

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‘Think carefully’ before going ahead with EPC upgrades, warns expert

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An energy expert has sought to reassure landlords that they may not need to spend huge sums retrofitting their properties to raise EPC ratings – at least not in the short term.

Jonathan Murton (pictured), director of energy efficiency consultants Murton & Co, says landlords should think carefully about how they spend their money as some retrofit measures won’t have as much impact on an EPC.

As electricity is considered a dirty fuel, for example, putting solar panels on a property could have a more significant impact on its rating than improving wall and window insulation, he tells LandlordZONE.

Under Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), EPC regulations are being revised so that the minimum rating (currently a band E) will become a band C from 1st April 2025.

This means that landlords will need to upgrade their properties to achieve an EPC band C before they can grant a tenancy. But the government has said that eventually, these properties will have to attain a ‘B’ rating.

But Murton adds that if works are estimated to cost more than £3,500, landlords can apply for a five-year exemption, while changes to building regulations set for June mean that they could find themselves with a better EPC rating if they get an assessment in July.

No guarantee

One worried landlord shares many others’ concerns that EPCs are not ‘fit for purpose’ when he says that even if a property has roof insulation, double glazing and a modern combi-boiler along with LED lights, it won’t guarantee a C-rating on an EPC.

“Many private, council, social housing and private landlord properties are not capable of meeting a C as an EPC rating, no matter what improvements are done to them,” he says.

Murton admits that while the EPC system is not perfect, it’s the best tool to quickly identify the energy performance of a particular building and how this compares with other buildings.

He adds: “It’s true that whatever you do to some houses, they might not get a C rating, however landlords should talk to their local energy assessor and interrogate the EPC to work out an investment strategy.”

Read more about EPC confusion among landlords.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘Think carefully’ before going ahead with EPC upgrades, warns expert | LandlordZONE.

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It’s time to sell your buy-to-lets. This company will do it in 7 days so you can sit back and enjoy 2022

admin    Uncategorized     agents

2022 has begun, and if 2021 taught us anything, it was that this is the year we all want to let go of the stress, cash in our portfolios, relax and enjoy life.

Many of us have spent the last 10 to 20 years building up our portfolios, however with mounting tax bills just around the corner, and constant hoops for landlords to jump through, it’s time to let go of that stress, free ourselves from managing portfolios, cash in and retire. It’s simple: there’s never been a better time to sell your buy-to-lets than right now whilst the market is still high, and portfolio exit specialists Landlord Sales Agency are the ones to do it.

Established by co-founder of the National Association of Property Buyers and industry expert, David Coughlin, they shot to success as the best company out there to sell high asset Landlord buy-to-let portfolios for the highest price. And as they’re owned by a Landlord himself who recently cashed in, they know exactly what it takes to deliver what you need: a big lump sum in the bank, and the financial freedom to do whatever you want.

From £1 million to £10 million plus portfolios, they’ll ensure you get the highest price in the fastest time.

• They’re the best for sellers with prime stock in London and the South East.
• They have a ready-made list of hundreds of cash buyers ready to buy your portfolio for the highest price.
• Their fast sale option is efficient and delivered to a standard of excellence, getting you 80% – 90% of the market value of the portfolio, a huge bang for your buck for a sale that takes less than a week.
• They can fix any problem to get you a sale in days, even tenant issues.

With a team of 20 years of experience in selling properties specifically for Landlords, plus experts who have personally got over the line 2,500 properties, they’re unrivalled. Be it tenant issues, mortgages, access issues, absolutely nothing is standing in their way from getting Landlords the highest prices in record times.

They’re a team who knows exactly what they’re doing, and they’ll get it done for you. So contact them today. It’s 2022, and there’s never been a better time to sell up and cash in than January.

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©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – It’s time to sell your buy-to-lets. This company will do it in 7 days so you can sit back and enjoy 2022 | LandlordZONE.

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LATEST: Welsh government widens £10m rent arrears fund to include more tenants

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The Welsh government has widened its £10 million Tenancy Hardship Grant scheme to include all tenants renting privately or socially who have built up rent arrears during the pandemic.

Announced in July last year, the scheme now covers tenants who have got into arrears between March 2020 and December 2021.
Originally, the scheme only covered rent arrears built up prior to June 30^th 2021.

The widening of the scheme’s scope is designed to include tenants who have lost their jobs or income after the furlough scheme ended in September last year, or who suffered a significant decrease in income when the Universal Credit uplift was removed by the UK Government, may now be eligible under the new criteria.

Other examples of rent arrears as a direct result of the pandemic include a loss of income due to lockdowns or because of becoming ill with Covid-19.

Ruth Power (pictured), CEO of Shelter Cymru says: We welcome the changes to the Tenancy Hardship Grant announced today.

“Widening the eligibility criteria will mean more people, who are struggling during the pandemic to pay their rent, are able to access support to keep their homes.

“Our advisors are working with people across Wales whose incomes have been seriously affected by the pandemic and who are really worried about the future.

“Getting money quickly to people in need will prevent families from becoming homeless.”

The Welsh government has published details of a 50-year-old tenant in Rhondda Cynon Taf who, after his income dropped from £1,300 a month to £700 during Covid, got £5,000 into arrears with his rent

He was not evicted from his home during time and, after applying to the fund, the money was paid direct to his landlord.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Welsh government widens £10m rent arrears fund to include more tenants | LandlordZONE.

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Rogue landlord who ignored HMO rules to pay £64,000, says judge

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A rogue landlord has been ordered to pay more than £64,000 for illegally converting an HMO in Barking and then ignoring a planning enforcement notice.

Sumon Miah, of Mortimer Terrace, Highgate, was found guilty of the offences at Barkingside Magistrates Court last July and has now been fined £15,000 along with costs of £12,573 and handed a £37,000 Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act – representing the criminal benefit made from renting the property out.

In summing up, the judge said the sentence reflected Miah’s persistent disregard of the enforcement notice for the property on Ripple Road (pictured) and the fact he had bought the property on Ripple Road, Barking, as a vehicle to generate income and subsequently illegally converted it into an HMO.

Warning

Councillor Margaret Mullane (pictured), Barking and Dagenham Council cabinet member for enforcement and community safety, hopes the case sends out a warning to all landlords who are not following the rules.

She says: “This has been a complete disregard for the rules put in place when it comes to planning enforcement and HMOs. And as Mr Miah continued to ignore the enforcement notice handed to him, he now has to stump up a huge amount of cash.”

Miah has three months to pay the fine and if he fails to do so, will serve a 12-month prison sentence; if the Confiscation Order isn’t paid within three months, he will serve a two-year sentence.

Barking and Dagenham’s licensing scheme covers all private landlords who must be registered with the council, which is a keen chaser of miscreant landlords through the courts.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Rogue landlord who ignored HMO rules to pay £64,000, says judge | LandlordZONE.

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‘Use a letting agent to avoid getting stung like me’ warns landlord facing £14k arrears

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A landlord who is owed £14,000 in rent arrears and is in the throes of trying to evict his errant tenant has warned others to use professional letting agents to protect their investments.

The tenant, a former friend, has always been on benefits that were originally paid directly to landlord Max Ferzoli until a few years ago.

Problems started in 2020 when he stopped paying and Ferzoli tried unsuccessfully to get the DWP to revert to direct payments. Civil servants refused to switch to direct because they said Ferzoli didn’t have his tenant’s consent to do so – a common problem LandlordZONE has highlighted many times before.

Ferzoli served a Section 21 followed, with Landlord Action’s help, by a Section 8 in March 2021 and finally got a possession order last November.

As the tenant just stayed put, he has the bailiffs ready to step in next week, but the frustrated landlord reckons his tenant’s past history and unpredictability mean it might not go to plan.

‘Awful situation’

“We started out as friends and I didn’t take a deposit – based on trust – which was admittedly amateurish,” he tells LandlordZONE. “It’s an awful situation – I’ve pleaded with him to pay me the money and even let him off paying a rent increase as a favour but it didn’t help.”

Ferzoli, who’s self-employed, already has possession of the downstairs flat at the property in Hounslow and when his tenant leaves the upstairs flat, aims to convert it into an HMO so he can spend some money on updating the electrics and then get a better return.

However, he’s now reluctant to take any more benefit claimants: “Another tenant recently left me with £7,000 worth of repairs after trashing the property which cancelled out the capital appreciation,” he adds.

“I plan to only use letting agents in future and do most maintenance myself to save money. It might be cheaper not to go through an agent but if it all goes wrong, it’s more expensive in the long-term.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘Use a letting agent to avoid getting stung like me’ warns landlord facing £14k arrears | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: ‘Use a letting agent to avoid getting stung like me’ warns landlord facing £14k arrears

Developer reveals big push into London’s ‘booming’ build-to-rent market

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Developer Avanton has launched its first 20 build-to-rent apartments in London, heralding a major expansion that will see it build hundreds more across the capital.

The luxury furnished two-bedroom apartments at the 23-storey Coda block in Battersea are being sold under Avanton’s A:Living brand, with prices from £650 to £1,000 per week, where tenants get a private residents’ club lounge, concierge, and state-of-the-art fitness studio.

Avanton says the build-to-rent sector is rapidly growing across the capital and last year committed to a three-year expansion into the sector, seeking land and strategic opportunities to deliver high-quality purpose-built stock.

The firm now has several key pipeline projects alongside a £500 million fund for strategic land acquisitions, including the £730 million Ruby Triangle project on Old Kent Road in Southwark, to provide 1,414 new homes, half of which will be build-to-rent.

Record investment

According to global real estate advisor CBRE, investors ploughed £4.1 billion into build-to-rent last year, £500m more than 2020’s previous record, while almost £2 billion worth of deals are already in the pipeline for this year.

A recent report also revealed that the sector is no longer the preserve of affluent young professionals living in cities, but is increasingly popular with older people and families who are leaving the PRS to set up home in the new blocks.

David Ronson (pictured), Avanton’s sales and marketing director, adds that its Coda launch offers a new option for Londoners. 

“A:Living will provide exceptional homes with stylish interiors curated by highly regarded designers,” says Ronson.

“Build-to-rent homes provide a solution to help with the capital’s housing shortage, and these multiple tenure schemes offer tenants a sought-after lifestyle at competitive prices.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Developer reveals big push into London’s ‘booming’ build-to-rent market | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Controversial Welsh rent reform legislation to go live in six months

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The Welsh government is to go live with its controversial Renting Homes Wales Act on 15^th July this year despite calls by landlords to ensure that it is ‘fit for purpose’.

Described by the country’s housing minister Julie James as the biggest shift in housing law in Wales for decades, it will usher in significant changes to the way landlords can evict tenants, issue tenancy contracts, and manage their properties.

This includes an already-in-place six-month notice requirement for a landlord to end a contract where the tenant is not at fault and a minimum ‘security of tenure’ of one year from the date of moving in.

This means that contract-holders in Wales will have the greatest protection from the start of their contract than in any other part of the UK, the minister claims.

Retaliatory evictions

The Act also gives protection against retaliatory eviction. If a landlord responds to a request for repairs by issuing a possession notice, they will no longer be automatically entitled to possession if the Court is satisfied the landlord issued the notice to avoid carrying out the repair.

Joint tenancies

Also, joint contract-holders can be added or removed from occupation contracts without the need to end one contract and start another.

This will make managing joint contracts easier and help those experiencing domestic abuse by enabling the perpetrator to be targeted for eviction.

Chris Norris, Director of Policy & Campaigns at the NRLA (pictured), says: “While we welcome the introduction of the Act, it is vital that the supporting legislation is fit for purpose and scrutinised sufficiently.

“In particular, the occupation contract terms, which all landlords must use, needs to improve significantly from its original consultation draft.

“These important steps must be taken before more complex regulations are introduced by the Welsh Government over the course of this year.”

The announcement has been made today because James promised last July to give landlords six months’ notice of the new rules, which will be available on its website from January 14^th onwards.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Controversial Welsh rent reform legislation to go live in six months | LandlordZONE.

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Compulsory EPC band “C” by 2025 causing confusion

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Compulsory EPC band “C” by 2025 causing confusion

There have been recent confusing reports put out that from 2025, all newly rented properties in England & Wales will be required to have an EPC rating of band C or above.

This is somewhat misleading and “jumping the gun” as so far this is only a Government proposal following a recent energy performance consultation. But it does form part of the Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings (No. 2) Bill currently wending its way through Parliament.

And, given the Government’s public commitment to net zero by 2050 at the recent international COP 26 hosted in Glasgow last year, it is looking as if the new standards will come in or at least something very close to the proposed changes.

The Bill states:

The Secretary of State must amend the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented 15 Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/962) to require that, subject to subsection (2)—

(a) all new tenancies must have an energy efficiency performance of at least EPC Band C from 31 December 2025; and

(b) all existing tenancies must be at least EPC Band C from 31 December 20 2028 where practical, cost-effective and affordable as defined under section 1(4).

What are the current regulations?

Currently, any property in England, Scotland or Wales that is either being built, marketed for sale or let as an entire property requires an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Since the 1st of October 2008, landlords letting whole properties must have a valid EPC rated at “E” or above to provide to prospective tenants. EPCs are valid for ten years. After this time, landlords are only required to get a new EPC if they are re-letting to a new tenant.

The Government’s proposal in the Bill is that rental properties meet a compulsory energy performance certificate rating of band “C” on new tenancies by December 2025, and on all rented properties by December 2028. Consequently these proposals must be taken seriously, but we’re not there yet.

Small-landlords confused or not yet aware

According to a recent House of Lords report on housing demand, around 45% of landlords own just one rental property, and another 38% own between two and four properties. Given that many of these people don’t follow developments too closely, many will be unaware of these potential changes which will affected them financially.

Some rental properties will require the substantial sums needed to bring them up to EPC band “C” and this is scary territory for many rental property owners, it’s causing a lot of concern.

One recent report by The Daily Mail’s This is Money claims that one-third of landlords were “not confident” they would be able to get their properties up to this standard. Some had said they were unable to afford the required improvements which may include such things as replacing old gas boilers, improving floor, ceiling and wall insulation insulation and installing double glazing in windows and doors.

Others said they did not see how they could do the necessary work with tenants in situ, and that they did not want to face the expense and loss of income by evicting them or finding temporary alternative accommodation. Others said they were unclear as to what they would need to do to bring their properties up to this standard because the Government had not provided enough guidance.

Plan ahead

Although there is still uncertainty as to what the final rules will be, or even if the change will happen, the fact remains that sooner or later the standards will need to be improved.

Landlords might as well “bite the bullet” sooner rather than later and plan to make impoundments when opportunities arise. One such opportunity would be when tenancies come to an end and before a new one begins.

Start off by taking a look at the recommendations in the current EPC document. This should give a guide, though it is perhaps more beneficial to get some builders’ estimates from people who know what they are doing when it comes to energy efficiency improvements.

See: Landlords advised to future-proof properties by aiming higher with EPC standards

The Government and many campaigning groups see improving energy efficiency in British rental homes as a priority and there is no doubt that many of these homes have woeful standards which not only add a lost to the cost of heating, they affect the occupants’ health.

According to the latest figures available from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK homes account for 15 per cent of the county’s greenhouse gas emissions, a lot of which is down to poor insulation standards, heat is being paid for and lost unnecessarily.

Is there any financial assistance for property EPC upgrades?

The Government tried in the past to offer support through Green Homes Grant, available to landlords as well as homeowners, but the scheme was quickly abandoned. Given that there is a lot of political pressure to meet green energy targets however, it is possible that some form of financial support may be offered to landlords in the future, but so far there is nothing on the table.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Compulsory EPC band “C” by 2025 causing confusion | LandlordZONE.

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UK average rent stabalises with small increase – Homelet

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The Latest Homelet rental market report indicates the average UK rent has continued to stabilise with the December 2021 figure showing a £2 increase to £1,060pcm and excluding London, this figure is £893.

Greater London sees the most significant year-on-year price rise in the UK with a 12.6% jump in the last year

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