300,000 tenants are behind in their rent, claims rental tech platform

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Goodlord has this evening told a national newspaper that the rent default rate in the UK has increased from 4% to 6.6% since the Coronavirus crisis began.

It has been claimed this evening that more than 300,000 renters in the UK – or one in fifteen of its tenants – were in arrears by at least one week last month.

The analysis for a national newspaper by lettings platform Goodlord was based on surveying agents who look after some 16,000 properties across the UK, which found that 6.6% of them were experiencing rental payment problems.

Goodlord says it previous research during April found a rent default rate of 5.8% and that in normal times the rate is 4%, suggesting rent payment problems have been growing in London as the weeks and months of the lockdown have ticked by.

Commenting on the research, Franz Doerr, CEO of rental payments platform Flatfair, says: “As more firms start to furlough staff and others cease trading due to the economic impact of the virus, swathes of young renters up and down the country will see their incomes plummet and may not be able to pay their rent.

“The mounting rent arrears crisis will get worse before it gets better.

“This may, in turn, see many landlords struggling to meet their own obligations such as mortgage repayments.

“Landlords and tenants alike need to be given the space to negotiate repayment plans that ensure that everyone is treated fairly.”

Goodlord has claimed that confusion continues among tenants about whether they have to pay rent, with some asking payment breaks even though they have suffered no financial hardship, and many not realising that landlord mortgage ‘holidays’ are in reality deferment rather than waiver schemes.

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iPhone renting app launches that charges landlords £799 per tenancy

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Although landlords may baulk at the cost, Rentd includes all aspects of finding tenants including online marketing, referencing, credit checks, accompanied viewings, rent negotiations and inventories.

A virtual letting agency that enables landlords to manage tenant finding and on-boarding via a smartphone app has launched today for London landlords with plans to expand into Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dubai.

Rentd is only available on via the iPhone App Store where it can be downloaded for free, but charges landlords a fixed fee of £799 per property claiming to find tenants and sign them up in under six days.

The app charges the fee after the tenancy has been signed, sealed and delivered and in return handles and organises the whole tenant on-boarding process.

This includes property marketing, unlimited virtual and accompanied tours, rent offer negotiations, references and credit checks, rental agreements, deposit collection and an inventory service. Co-founder Ahmed Gamal says that, although several websites and digital services offer some of these services, his is the first to encompass them all in one app.

Taxi service

This includes collecting the first month’s rent, while tenants are able to use Rentd to hail an Uber taxi to take them to a viewing, and direct them to it via Waze.

Gamal and co-founder Lawrence Hansford took three years to develop the app and say they feel there has ‘never been a better time to shake-up the market and remove the shackles of the historical way that residential property rentals still operate’.

“The Rentd app manages transactions in a way that we might be familiar with when using eBay or PayPal; these are all breakthrough examples of businesses which have disrupted the status-quo and have brought greater ease and confidence to their respective sectors,” says Gamal.

Rentd soft-launched in February and has been bug-fixing since then prior to the public launch today, but says it already has a substantial number of users. It also offers a full property management service, details of which have yet to be announced publicly.

For more information visit www.rentd.co.uk download the app.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – iPhone renting app launches that charges landlords £799 per tenancy | LandlordZONE.

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Nationwide House Price Index shows impact of Pandemic filtering through

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The Nationwide has just released its House Price index for May showing the effects the coronavirus lockdown is beginning to have on the housing market.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “UK house prices fell by 1.7% over the month in May

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House prices dropped by 1.7% during May, the biggest reduction since 2009

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Nationwide says its figures highlight the inevitable disruption caused by the seven-week property market hiatus following the arrival of the Coronavirus.

House prices slumped by 1.7% during May, the most violent monthly downturn in values since the dark days of the global financial crisis in 2009, lender the Nationwide has reported this morning.

This sharp dip during May means the annual house price inflation has reduced from 3.7% to 1.8%, as has the average house price. It has dipped from £222,915 to £218,902.

Nationwide says the fall is due to a reduction in demand for properties, citing recent government figures that reveal a 53% reduction in property sales during the first four weeks of the pandemic.

Those making offers on properties are in a powerful position and, the Nationwide figures show, price corrections are taking place.

Research by property software Reapit last week revealed that price corrections had increased by 176% since mid-May among vendors as the housing market re-opened.

Extraordinary events

“Though May saw the sharpest fall in prices for over a decade, the extraordinary events of recent months mean that we can be philosophical about such a drop,” says Andrew Montlake, Group Chief Executive of Andrews Property Group.

 “There is clearly a huge
amount of economic uncertainty at present but the drastic steps taken by the
Government to protect the economy, along with interest rates being cut to a
record low, will support the market in the months ahead.

 “It
will be 2021 before the property market finally gets into its stride again but
for now the level of transactions post-lockdown has been staggering.”

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3-month eviction ban extension and their fantasy world

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When the 3-month eviction ban was introduced, it was mentioned that it might be extended if deemed necessary. Predictably, now that the 3-month period is coming to an end, we hear a cacophony of voices – from Shelter, Generation Rent

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New Electrical Safety standards guide for 1st July

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The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require that landlords have property electrics checked at least every 5 years by a properly qualified person. The electrics must meet standards and landlords must give their tenants proof of this.

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2,500 London renters prepared to stop paying rent, campaign claims

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The London Renters Union, which has so far refused to answer questions from LandlordZONE about its campaign, says the current evictions ban due to expire on June 25th to be made permanent.

More
than 2,500 renters in the capital have vowed not to pay rent during the crisis
and are swapping tips on how to square up to landlords.

The London Renters Union (LRU) boasts that its campaign and website cantpaywontpay.uk, which launched last month, has encouraged increasing numbers of renters to sign up and confirm that they’re prioritising essential spending instead of paying rent.

Some of them
are attending campaign action meetings to share tips on how to tell their
landlord that they’ll be withholding rent, as well as how to demand that landlords
write off rent debt and how to resist evictions. Renters are also being informed
about the risks of withholding rent and their legal rights.

Zara, a union organiser from East Ham, can’t be furloughed or claim benefit because of her immigration status, but says her landlord is expecting her to pay full rent. She explains: “We’re sharing skills in how to refuse to pay rent, and how to stop ourselves being evicted. Thousands of people have already joined our movement – and now we are being heard. It’s really giving me hope.”

Permanent ban

An LRU spokesman adds: “Unless the Government makes that evictions ban permanent and cancels the debt that hundreds of thousands of renters now find themselves in, we’re going to have a really chaotic and nasty rent debt and evictions crisis when we get to the end of June.”

The union
wants the Government to avert a crisis of rent debt and evictions by suspending
rent payments for the duration of the crisis, making the evictions ban
permanent, cancelling rent debt, introducing rent controls and ending migration
status checks in the housing system.

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After a six-month Coronavirus delay the UK’s largest landlord show is to finally go ahead in September

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The first of this year’s five National Landlord Investment exhibitions and conferences will now take place on September 8th in London, assuming restrictions have been lifted.

The organisers of the sector’s most popular conference and exhibition the National Landlord Investment show have stuck their neck out and committed to new dates for its rota of five shows, which will now begin in early September.

The show is celebrating its 70^th show anniversary this year, and its organisers have pinned their hopes on a return to normality by the Autumn when, they expect, public spaces such as exhibition halls will be allowed to welcome big crowds, and conference venues will be allowed to open.

This is welcome news and although it’s brave scheduling considering the uncertainty around both personal and business freedoms this year, not surprising.

Olympia

Its organisers Tenants History Ltd have already had to cancel its March 19^th and June 11^th shows at London’s Olympia and instead have booked a single show also at Olympia on September 8^th.

It has also moved its West Midlands show at Aston Villa FC’s arena from 9^th September to 28^th September.

The rest of the shows remain at the same venues and dates including Manchester United FC 8^th October, Cardiff City FC on 22^nd October and then back to Olympia on 3^rd November.

But the National Landlord Investment show is not alone as it fights to find a date that’s safe enough to guarantee the even will happen.

ARLA Propertymark is in similar difficulties as it waits to hear if its booked Excel conference jamboree can take place on 2^nd September. The venue is still home to the Nightingale Hospital.

All the landlord shows are free to attend and are in addition to an annual awards ceremony held each November at The Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in central London. This year’s event is due to take place on the 19^th November.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – After a six-month Coronavirus delay the UK’s largest landlord show is to finally go ahead in September | LandlordZONE.

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BREAKING: Ministry clarifies rules on deposits when landlords reduce or waive a tenant’s rent

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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says landlords will not have to return any part of a deposit when they reduce rents, and will still be compliant with the Tenant Fees Act.

The government has clarified that landlords who offer tenants a lower rent or a rent holiday during the Coronavirus crisis will not have to return the relevant portion of the tenant’s existing deposit.

This announcement follows the Tenant Fees Act going live in full today and is an attempt by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to ensure landlords understand its rules on rental deposits.

While the Tenant Fees Act limits deposits to five weeks’ rent, this applies to the rent level at the beginning of the tenancy and not any subsequent variations.

The clarification is within MHCLG’s 24-page Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance for Landlords and Tenants document updated today but originally published on 28^th March.

Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at The PRS, warns landlords to ensure they keep a clear record of what’s been agreed when negotiating and that it’s understood how long the agreement will last.

“Tenant and landlord need to agree what happens after the rent reduction period is over including whether the tenant is expected to repay the unpaid rent via a higher rent afterwards, or whether the outstanding rent is waived.

“Once clear documentation has been established, then on that basis the deposit can be retained at its original level, and a landlord or letting agent will be in accordance with the Tenant Fees Act.”

The PRS recently launched a mediation service designed to help landlords or their agent and a tenant resolve issues related to a tenancy without going to court.

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Updated COVID-19 Government guidance for landlords and tenants

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This guidance has now been updated as of 1st June and provides advice to landlords and tenants on the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020, and further advice for landlords, tenants and local authorities more broadly about their rights and responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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