Students should pay their rent and not be treated differently to others tenants, say landlords

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NRLA chief Ben Beadle says he is ‘particularly annoyed’ by students organisations campaigning to persuade government to give graduate tenants special treatment.

Students must honour their tenancy contracts and should not be treated any differently to other renters, the NRLA has said in robust comments made to a webinar this week.

The Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Ben Beadle, also revealed that he has had discussions with both the National Union of Students and trade association Universities UK, and that the latter supports the NRLA and government position that students should not be ‘let off’ rent.

“I have been particularly annoyed about the student situation and how many think they are somehow something different,” he said. “If you enter into a contract then you should honour it.”

Beadle confirmed the government position that there are to be no concessions for students. “We encourage landlords and tenants in all tenures to enter into dialogue and for landlords to help their tenants where they can,” he said.

“But it’s not a landlord’s fault that the universities have closed; student loans are still being paid and [if they move back to their family] their expenditure is likely to be lower.

“For some people it is their choice to move back to their family home, but that isn’t an excuse for tenants not to honour their rental agreements.”

As LandlordZONE has reported on numerous occasions in recent weeks, this situation has been complicated by many universities and some private corporate landlords waiving students’ rent for the current semester and allowing them to choose whether to start new tenancies while they wait to see if their university is to reopen after the summer break.

Beadle also announced that the newly merged NLA and RLA now has a joint membership of 84,000 landlords and revealed that he wants to “reset views of landlords in the sector and position them as a positive partner in establishing a private rented sector that works for everyone”.

Visit the NRLA website.

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Ministers rebuffs social media critics over property viewings ‘double standards’

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But Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick admits allowing property viewings but banning family visits ‘may seem confusing at first glance’.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has faced down social media criticism of the government for allowing property viewings while still preventing millions of people from visiting family and friends who are not part of their household.

In a statement issued just a few hours ago, Jenrick defended the government’s position as many people took to Twitter and Facebook to complaint that the government is prioritising sales and lettings agents ahead of personal needs, relationships and community cohesion.

On Twitter @AndrewBrazier1 said: “So as from today we can view a property House with garden but we can’t get a haircut?.”
And @LaurenKendrick added: “So the housing market has reopened and you can now go into a strangers house to view their property.

“But we still aren’t allowed to visit grandparents? Garden centres are reopened where we are surrounded my strangers. But we still can’t visit our family? Really don’t get it.”

And @Simonmwuk commented: “Farcical that the housing market has reopened. I can put my house up for sale, have strangers come in and view it but still not see my family? This government is in a mess.”

Loved ones

Jenrick has clearly been reading the social media posts: “People have asked why they would be able to look around a stranger’s house, but not visit their parents or loved ones at home,” he says.

“Now I understand why that might seem confusing at first glance – especially when people have been separated from their loved ones for so long.

“But our guidelines make clear that in the first instance that viewings should happen virtually.

“When viewings do happen in person, we’ve set out a clear plan to ensure the safety of those already in the property itself, those considering moving in and the estate agents and lettings agents.”

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Something fishy with London’s affordable housing numbers

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London’s City Hall today released their latest house building statistics for the 2019- 2020 financial year and Mayor Sadiq Khan swiftly grabbed the opportunity to take to Twitter to congratulate himself with the following message to his 3.2million followers:

“Last year was a record-breaking year for building new affordable homes in London” he said.

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Webinar: Rent arrears, unoccupancy and inspections during the pandemic

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Watch our free webinar featuring Steve Barnes, Associate Director of Hamilton Fraser Total Landlord Insurance who has been working with landlords and leading landlord associations for over 20 years. Steve shares his insightful, half an hour presentation on ‘Coronavirus: Rent arrears, unoccupancy and inspections’, where he covers the status of rent guarantee insurance policies, the importance of mediation, inspections and tenant referencing and what to do if you have an unoccupied property.

This recording is just a snapshot of the high quality content provided at Landlord Law’s virtual conference that took place on Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 May 2020. Subscribe to Landlord Law’s YouTube channel for more helpful content.

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TV show prompts launch of landlord rating website… but will it get any reviews?

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Service is latest in long line of websites that enable tenants to review landlords and letting agents and are intended to help raise standards, but often struggle to gain traction or reviews.

Renters in Cardiff can now rate their landlord and letting agent on a new website aimed at empowering tenants.

The website joins a list of similarly well intentioned online initiatives in other cities not all of which have been successful. Marks Out Of Tenancy in Bristol and two national websites, AskTenants and RateYourLandlord are still going but StudentBricks, which set up five years ago, no longer has a website.

Rateyourlandlordcardiff.com lets tenants submit reviews – both negative and positive – with an option to upload photographic evidence and remain anonymous.

Reviews are then categorised based on which agencies or
landlords are being critiqued, making it easy for renters to decide before signing
contracts.

The site explains: “Submitting helps hold
agencies and landlords accountable and lets first-time tenants know what they
might be up against.”

Founder Shash Appan says: “The website came out of frustration of the council doing nothing to help renters in Cardiff and no real resource providing a dedicated platform to hold these agencies and landlords accountable.”

TV show

The launch follows recent TV show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back where comedian Joe Lycett called out the city’s CPS Homes for deducting hundreds of pounds from two students’ deposits for alleged damage.

Lycett revealed a total of 30 students in CPS properties
had been charged for damage they said they didn’t cause, but that when he
visited the houses, found the majority of repairs hadn’t been done.

Following Lycett’s expose, CPS said on its website: “We
have brought forward the process of working with departing tenants to better
manage the hand-back process, specifically giving them a greater opportunity to
put right themselves any damage that goes beyond ‘reasonable wear and tear’.

“While legitimate repairs will still
need to be paid for by the tenants, we have moved to a position where more than
80% of student tenancies we manage do not involve a deposit.” 

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OFFICIAL figures show landlord ‘mortgage holidays’ have avoided buy-to-let repossessions hike

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Latest data from lenders’ trade association UK Finance published today reveal only modest increases in number of buy-to-let properties being repossessed by banks and buildings societies.

New figures released today reveal how the government’s directive
to lenders to offer landlords mortgage holidays has so far prevented a steep
rise in repossessions during the crisis.

While mortgages arrears and possessions remain low, UK
Finance’s update for Q1 2020 shows only a modest increase in arrears compared
to the last quarter – the vast majority of which were seen in March as the
COVID-19 crisis hit.

In the first quarter of the year, 640 buy-to-let
mortgaged properties were repossessed, 8% more than in the same quarter of 2019.

UK Finance recorded 4,420 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears
of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance, 6% fewer than in the same quarter
of the previous year.

But of those, many landlords have even bigger problems as
there were 1,170 buy-to-let mortgages with more significant arrears
(representing 10% or more of the outstanding balance) – although this was 3% fewer
than in the same quarter of the previous year.

UK Finance believes the relatively small increase in arrears compared to Q4 2019 is due to the early effects of Covid-19.

Covid effects

Callum Bilbe, data and research analyst, says: “While we
did see a modest increase in arrears from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020, this rise relates
to the very earliest effects of the Covid-19 outbreak at the start of March,
with the payment holiday scheme being introduced shortly after this, helping to
prevent further payment issues for borrowers who might be struggling.”

He adds that an
increase in buy-to-let possessions compared to this time last year was due to
the backlog of historic cases and ensuring that these are being processed on
the same basis as the latest regulations.

UK Finance points out that the industry response to Covid-19 had been unprecedented, with more than 1.6 million mortgage payment holidays granted.

Read more about mortgage holidays.

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NRLA to back landlords over ‘unnecessary and unjustifiably expensive’ licensing schemes

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Recently-arrived Chief Executive says one of the organisations first jobs will be to look at whether selective and additional property licensing schemes truly deliver the benefits claimed for them, based on the facts.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has said that it is to focus its efforts on persuading ministers and local authorities that property licensing schemes do not raise standards and that, particularly for HMOs, they are thinly disguised revenue raising efforts.

Ben Beadle, the newly-formed organisation’s recently-arrived Chief Executive, made the comments during a webinar held by property legal expert Tessa Sanderson as part of her ongoing online conference.

“The UK seems hell bent on introducing legislation to regulate the housing market when often the measures are already in place,” he said.

“Take licensing – all of the things that landlords need to do in order to get a licence are already legal requirements including gas, electrical, fire safety and smoke detector rules – so why do you need a licence to hold it all together?

“The argument is that licensing raises standards and makes it easier for local authorities to enforce the rules, but I don’t really see an evidence to support this claim and the NRLA will be taking a very close look at licensing and assessing the impact, based on the facts.”

Beadle also says that landlords have become an easy target for legislators including licensing, despite many local authorities claiming it’s ‘not about the money’.

“If it’s not about the money, why does it cost up to £1,000 per property for a licence within some schemes,” he says.

“This is a source of great contention for landlords and it’s an issue that the NRLA is absolutely going to pick up and run with.”

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Opening of housing market welcome, but recovery likely to be slow

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With the market having been effectively closed for business, 80% of the April RICS UK Residential survey’s contributors saw both buyers and sellers pulling out of transactions, resulting in the newly agreed sales balance for April falling to -92%, down from -68% in March.

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Electrical safety: Expert guidance launched

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New rules on electrical safety will be introduced this July, with expert guidance now launched by trade association NAPIT. In addition to the NRLA’s own guide, The National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT) have issued advice ahead of the introduction of the new rules which will apply to all new tenancies. It has also introduced […]

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Housing market in Wales remains closed for now

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This week the UK Government announced that people in England will be able to move in and out of properties, providing social distancing measures are followed due to coronavirus. However, the rules in Wales remain unchanged for the moment, meaning that moving house in Wales is only allowed where this cannot be postponed. In a […]

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