Landlords savage Coventry council as it proceeds with expanded HMO scheme despite Coronavirus

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The NRLA says it is ‘irresponsible’ to proceed with the planned scheme due to go live on May 4th as it will endanger both landlords and inspectors and its introduction paused until after the crisis.

Plans to expand Coventry’s HMO licensing scheme during the Coronavirus crisis have been described as irresponsible by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

The city is due to implement an expansion of its HMO scheme on May 4^th which will usher in regulation of an extra 4,000 properties including smaller HMOs.

Landlords of houses occupied by three or four tenants and all properties converted to self-contained flats that are wholly tenanted will be required to apply to the council for an HMO licence.

But the government last week issued guidance urging local authorities to delay implementing new or expanded schemes. Despite this, Coventry is to proceed, prompting the NRLA to write directly to the council and demand a delay.

“The guidelines are there to protect tenants and landlords from unnecessary contact,” says Chris Norris, its Policy Director.

“Where a licensing scheme is introduced,
landlords have to go into their properties to check that they meet the
licensing obligation and maybe need to carry out non-essential works. This
exposes them and the tenants to an enhanced risk of contagion.

“Several local authorities have done the right thing and paused the introduction of new licensing schemes in response to the crisis including Luton and Newcastle and we are asking Coventry to do the same.

‘Thoroughly irresponsible’

“It would be thoroughly irresponsible of the Council to ignore the guidelines and go ahead with their plans.”

Coventry initially tried to implement a city-wide selective licensing scheme but, after a consultation, decided not to proceed.

Instead, an Additional Licensing scheme for smaller HMOs was approved and it is this that is now due to go live.

The councils says: “Landlords will not have to perform any additional works or alterations to their properties as a result of their properties becoming licensable. 

“However, they will need to ensure that all of their HMO properties meet the relevant standards of fire safety and amenity provision.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords savage Coventry council as it proceeds with expanded HMO scheme despite Coronavirus | LandlordZONE.

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Tenancy expires during Covid-19 lockdown

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I am a landlord, having a 2 bed flat with 1 tenant. The tenancy agreement is due to expire early May.

The tenant says he doesn’t know if he can leave. He also just told me he can only pay half the rent as he lost his job.

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Landlords: ‘Don’t jump on the repayment holiday bandwagon’

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Warning is made by leading buy-to-let mortgage brokerage, which has claimed lenders expect most landlords to cover an rental shortfalls from their own savings.

A leading mortgage broker has claimed that most landlords who have contacted it about a repayment holiday don’t really need one, and urged them not to ‘jump on the bandwagon’.

Kent-based Mortgages for Business, which offers a national service and specialises in buy-to-let mortgages, says only a small percentage of recent landlord callers to its coronavirus helpline needed a mortgage payment holiday because they are in financial dire straits.

The broker’s Managing Director Steve Olenjnik also claims that most landlords have sufficient cash reserves to cover any rental shortfall should their tenants stop paying.

He also says that landlords who do request mortgage payment holidays could see their credit scores reduced and their ability to secure affordable home loans in the future.

Mortgage holiday

Somewhat controversially, Olenjnik also claims that those awaiting decisions on a mortgage application who then ask for a holiday on an existing loan may see the former turned down.

“We are having a lot of discussions with landlords around payment holiday requests,” he told Mortgage Strategy.

“Lenders expect landlords to be able to cover void periods under normal circumstances – where a property is empty, and a landlord is not getting any rent – so they will not take kindly to landlords trying to take advantage of them just to build up some cash reserves.  

On 19^th March the government revealed that it was to direct lender to give landlords mortgage holidays of up to three months after ‘recognising the extra pressures that face landlords’ during the crisis.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords: ‘Don’t jump on the repayment holiday bandwagon’ | LandlordZONE.

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12% of private renters have asked for a rent pause or reduction so far, research reveals

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New report from Opinium reveals the impact that the Coronavirus crisis is having on landlord and tenant relationships and finances.

New research published today reveals that landlords both fear that their relationship with tenants could become hostile due to the strain of COVID-19 and that 12% of all renters have asked for a rent reduction or payment pause.

A survey of 2,000 renters and landlords by
Opinium found that 62% are worried about a deteriorating relationship, while 73%
of landlords are also concerned their tenants won’t be able to pay all or part
of their rent.

Meanwhile, 70% worry that tenants will quit
their home, leaving them with an empty property, which is perhaps unjustified
as only 10% of renters have either had to voluntarily leave their home, move in
with friends or parents or ask for their tenancy to end earlier, rising to 25%
whose job has been affected.

Since the crisis, 12% of renters have already
asked for reduced rent or a pause in rent payments, rising to 25% of those with
affected jobs.

Most landlords are on their tenants’ side, as
the survey found 56% of tenants who’ve had to make a change to their living
situation say their landlord has been supportive.

However, 31% reckon their landlord hasn’t
been supportive, including 9% whose landlord wasn’t at all supportive when
having to make the changes.

Of all those renters who were working before
the outbreak, 25% have been furloughed, 17% have suffered a loss in earnings
and 14% have had their hours cut.

The research also found that as a result there’s considerable financial pressure on renters; 43% whose work has been impacted by the outbreak report that they’ve struggled to pay rent, bills or for food.

Read the report in full.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – 12% of private renters have asked for a rent pause or reduction so far, research reveals | LandlordZONE.

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Has anyone ever let a friend invest in their BTL property?

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Hi, I am looking for a bit of advice and wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions. I have a friend currently working in Bermuda, (but from UK), who is looking to get on the property ladder.

They can’t get an overseas mortgage

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Dormant Freeholders service charge demands

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Can anyone offer an opinion please as I  own some leasehold properties and the management company have sent service charge demands naming two Limited companies as freeholders.

I checked both limited companies out via companies house which stated they were dormant and never traded!

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Time to open up vacant homes to NHS staff say campaigners

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But National Residential Landlords Association says local councils taking possession of unused properties is much trickier to achieve than it sounds and warns many may not be habitable.

Action on Empty Homes is calling on local
councils to take possession of vacant properties and offer them to deserving
health workers.

While many NHS staff
are desperate for accommodation near work, the national campaigning charity points to Government data
which shows there are 226,000 long-term empty homes in England, two-thirds of them near hospitals.

Nearly one in 20 homes in the City of London
are vacant, while just down the road, Barts Hospital has one of the highest
numbers of deaths from Coronavirus.

The charity says councils should ask homeowners and landlords
to volunteer their second or empty properties so essential workers can use them.

Action
on Empty Homes director, Will McMahon, says: “Long-term empty homes which are immediately suitable for use should be
brought into use. This can easily be achieved
because local authorities know where these houses are and who owns them as this
information is collected for council tax purposes.”

While councils can reclaim long-term empty properties as a last resort, it suggests the Government should give them powers to take possession more urgently, as well as provide funding to cover cleaning and insurance costs and utility safety checks. It could also consider paying a fair rent to owners.

Vulnerable people

The charity points to
recent action in Lowestoft where East Suffolk Council transformed an empty sheltered housing
property into eight
flats in just seven days to help vulnerable people during the crisis.

However, Gavin Dick, local authority policy officer at the National Residential Landlords Association, says trying to access these properties can sometimes be legally or practically difficult.

“Houses can be empty
because people are working away from home for long periods, or they’re going
through a tricky divorce or probate.

Someone might not
have the money to bring it up to standard, and the boiler might not work, which
is no good for housing NHS staff,” he tells LandlordZONE.

The letting-agency backed NHS Homes website, which provides NHS workers or healthcare professionals with free temporary homes, lists 2,500 properties and is now receiving requests from more than 280 hospitals across the country.

Visit Action on Empty Homes

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Breaking: which areas of the UK will see most rental contract renewals during crisis

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Consultancy firm Dataloft analysed 250,000 historic rental transactions to pinpoint which urban areas will see the most tenancies come up for renewal, and therefore see likely price and terms renegotiation.

A leading property market information firm has identified the areas of England where the most tenancy renewals are due to take place during the next three months as the Coronavirus pandemic rages on.

Tenants who are about to renew their tenancies are likely to either ask for rent reductions or other arrangements required to help them weather reduced income or unemployment.

The research has been completed by DataLoft showing how vulnerable cities are around the UK to the crisis based on the number of tenants due to renew their tenancies during the second quarter of the year.

The pandemic has arrived at a crucial period during the annual rental market cycle. Just under a third (32%) of tenancies are renewed during the second quarter of each year on average because lease renewals are not distributed evenly across the year.

Tenancy renewal volumes also vary significantly from region to region during April, May and June.

London is the least exposed (24% of leases renew) while Wales is the most exposed (44%) followed by Yorkshire and the Humber and the SW (both 42%) and the East Midlands (41%).

Landlords

“It looks as though landlords are more protected in London than other parts of the UK because the peak in lease expiries occurs in Q3 rather than Q2 and there is a reasonable chance of some normality having returned by then,” says Dataloft.

“The London activity peak in the rental market is driven by the calendar for graduate employment starts and academic term dates.

“There is a real possibility that graduate recruitment will be deferred or reduced this year. It is also possible that the new student intake will be affected too, especially if overseas student numbers fall.”

Dataloft analysed some 250,000 rental transactions to produce the research.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Breaking: which areas of the UK will see most rental contract renewals during crisis | LandlordZONE.

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Interview: Student landlord raises fears as July move-in deadline looms

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Andrew Green, founder of Birmingham specialist landlord Unipads, tells LandlordZONE about the problems he and other landlords in the sector are facing as Coronavirus disrupts student life.

One of
Birmingham’s largest student landlords fears hundreds of students might decide
not to sign tenancy agreements next term, leaving it thousands of pounds out of
pocket.

Unipads, which owns a mixture of HMOs in converted properties and apartments in a purpose-built block in the city, says that if the Coronavirus crisis doesn’t improve dramatically, many of the 350 students who are set to pick up keys in July might not turn up – despite paying a £450-£650 deposit.

Co-founder Andrew Green tells LandlordZONE that he’s particularly worried about the 40 international students, mainly from China, due to start a university course next term.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they are willing to forfeit their £500
deposit, but if lots of them don’t come we’re stuffed as we’ll be losing the
£10,000 a year rent,” he says.

Although no students have actually contacted him about the issue
yet, Green believes it’s only because they’re waiting to see what happens.

“It’s easier for companies and universities who run halls of residence as they can cope with refunds, but we’re a private landlord with one block and terraced houses,” says Green. “If things haven’t improved dramatically, it’s unlikely that people will want to collect their keys and move in.”

Green, who’s run the company for 18 years, says he knows of many
other landlords in the same position.

“We could start the tenancies from August or even September if
things start to improve, but we’ve still got mortgage maintenance,” he adds. “There’s
really nothing we can do as their contracts aren’t enforceable until they pick
up the keys.”

The National
Union of Students is urging landlords to offer students a no-penalty early
release from tenancy contracts for the current and next academic year. It says if
a delay prevents them from moving into accommodation that they’ve already
signed a tenancy agreement for, landlords should offer a release from contract.

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Covid-19 rental advice given by University – Help?

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This is my first ever discussion starter – we are really desperate, don’t know what to do and hope the community here might be able to help.
We specialise in student rental. Fixed term for one year, 4 students on one AST.

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