Protected: Coronavirus: Frequently asked questions

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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Join me! Star footballer (and landlord) urges industry to offer empty properties to NHS staff

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Premiership player Wilfried Zaha is offering 50 of his apartments for free to healthcare staff and wants other landlords to follow suit. Could you help?

Premier League footballer Wilfried Zaha has called on landlords to join him by and open up their empty properties to NHS staff fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Crystal Palace winger is offering 50 apartments owned by his company ZoProperties rent-free to frontline staff needing short-term accommodation near hospitals, after being moved by the plight of those scared to go home after shifts and infect their loved ones and the public. 

Zaha
and his business partner, Obi Williams, say they have been inundated with
requests and asked NHS management to oversee the allocation process.

He
told The Standard: “If people
can help it would me much appreciated, because I get messages myself from people
talking about how they need a place and how it would be appreciated, if I could
I would.”

Zaha’s
business partner Williams, added: “If there are any landlords or property
companies out there, if the association for serviced apartment providers want
to help, please help. We need properties right now.”

The footballer has also launched a Just Giving Campaign which aims to raise £50,000 by asking people without properties to fund more short-term accommodation for frontline staff.

Chelsea owner
Roman Abramovich joined the effort by offering free accommodation at the
Millennium Hotel next to Stamford Bridge to NHS staff, while Gary Neville has offered
up his two hotels in Manchester.

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Landlord bodies call for more government help to support PRS

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Help for Landlords:

The
Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and the National Landlords
Association (NLA) soon to be combined into an 80,000 plus landlord
association are jointly calling on the government to provide more
support for the private rented sector (PRS).

Although
they recognise the value of the measures taken so far on mortgage
holidays* for struggling landlords, they want a bunch of further
measures introduced which would provide help for those landlords
without mortgages who find themselves in difficulties.

The
organisations are suggesting that “all but emergency repairs and
maintenance, where there is a threat to the safety of tenants or the
habitability of the property,” should be postponed until normal
business operations can be safely resumed.

In
addition, these landlords bodies are arguing for any new licensing
scheme payments due to local authorities to be deferred, and the
costs charged by superior landlords for blocks of flats, such as
service charges and ground rents, in relation to leasehold properties
be, suspended.

Another
suggestion is that the government speed up benefit payments,
scrapping the automatic five-week wait for the first payment of
Universal Credit, and paying the housing element of new UC claims
directly to landlords, ensuring that the housing element “properly
reflects rent levels.”

In
a joint statement, the two organisations have said:

“We
welcome the government’s constructive engagement to date and will
continue to work with them in the same spirit.

“Whilst
measures to allow buy-to-let mortgage holidays are welcome, further
action is needed.

“Everything
possible needs to be done to support the incomes of tenants affected
by the crisis. That means a suite of measures to ensure benefits can
be paid swiftly, and that they properly cover the costs of rents.

“This
needs to be matched with further measures to reduce the costs faced
especially by landlords without a mortgage.

“This
would provide them with greater flexibility to work with tenants
struggling as a consequence of the virus.

“We
recognise the concerns that many landlords and tenants will still
have and are working closely with the Government to ensure they are
addressed.

“In
the meantime we thank landlords who are supporting their tenants at
this difficult time.”

*Barclays
have said that not all buy-to-let borrowers have been
given the option of a 3-month repayment holiday
because the support is aimed primarily at
residential mortgage borrowers. A spokesperson for Barclays
said: “This is an unprecedented and ever-changing situation, we are
constantly reviewing how we best support all of our customers and are
working on an appropriate solution and will provide an update later
this week.”

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BREAKING: Government confirms it may extend evictions ban if landlords chase tenants after crisis

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A government spokesman in the Lords has quietly conceded that ministers will use powers being given to them within the Coronavirus Bill to protect tenants from payment chasing after the pandemic dies down.

The government has confirmed that it will consider extending the evictions ban if landlords begin chasing tenants for back-dated rent after the Coronavirus crisis is over.

Government spokesman Lord Bethell told peers that the Coronavirus Bill going through parliament at the moment gave the government room to manoeuvre on this point.

“We have the power to extend both the three-month notice period and the date these powers will end, and we are clear that we will use these powers if necessary,” he said.

His comments followed calls from Labour peer Lord Adonis earlier on in the debate.

“My understanding is that while Schedule 29 [of the bill] meets the concerns of people who may potentially be evicted by preventing actual evictions during the period of the coronavirus crisis, it does not prevent evictions or action being taken against tenants afterwards in respect of the non-payment of rent while the crisis is proceeding,” he said.

“That simply does not seem reasonable to me if our aim is to offer security and decent support for people because of the crisis.

“We need to see to it that not only are they not evicted, but that they are not waiting until the day after the crisis ends to be evicted because they have not been able to pay the rent in the interim.”

Another Labour peer, Baroness Thornton, said she was extremely concerned that landlords would chase tenants for back-dated rent after the crisis, helping increase their financial problems.

Read more about evictions.

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Can a Declaration of Trust get round the loss of letting relief?

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My parents own a rental property which was their previous residence and has been renting the property for a number of years.

They are in the process of selling the property mainly to make use the letting relief which goes after 5th April.

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DPS to return landlord’s money to agent in financial trouble?

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I’ve run out of patience with the agents who manage my properties and will shortly give notice or terminate their contract. I appreciate the present situation is difficult, but this is after a series of errors at my expense.

Now I’ve had increased charges and some staff suddenly never in the office (not due to illness or the lockdown).

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Coronavirus – What Landlords need to know

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Tessa Shepperson of Landlord Law talks to John Stewart of the Residential Landlords Association bringing people up to date with developments for landlords in the UK resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic.

This is the recording of Tessa’s webinar yesterday (24 March.

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Coronavirus: Generous landlord offers rent reduction for NHS staff

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A kind-hearted landlord is prepared to offer a considerable rent reduction for her two bedroom flat in Weybridge, Surrey, for tenants who work in the NHS. Sally-Anne Evans, who also owns a distribution business, has contacted the hospital trust close to the property to ask if they have any nurses or doctors who would be […]

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BREAKING: Stop property viewings and routine inspections, landlords are told

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The latest advice issued today is that although tradespeople can complete repairs at properties if they take precautions, landlords should avoid face-to-face contact with existing or prospective tenants.

The government has told landlords and letting agents that they should not conduct house viewings or complete routine inspections of properties, but has said that their tradespeople can complete emergency repairs.

But confirmation has yet to come through from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about essential tasks such as gas safety and electrical equipment testing and whether these will be exempt from the lockdown as ‘essential services’.

It is also understood that ministers are considering whether to allow many of the companies serving the private rented sector to continue doing their work if a property is owned by someone working in frontline health and emergency services.

Until yesterday industry organisation Gas Safe Register was recommending to landlords that they book inspections by an approved engineer as soon as possible if their renewal date was within the next two months.

The organisation says that following the lock-down announcement last night, it is urgently seeking guidance from the Cabinet Office and the Health and Safety Executive about whether residential property safety inspections will be deemed ‘essential services’.

Also, landlords who are refurbishing properties can continue their work as construction sites have also been given the green light as essential service, it was confirmed this morning.

But all this advice from government remains just that – guidance; the necessary legislation to make it an offence to ignore the rules has yet to make its way through parliament, although this is expected to be achieved at any moment.

One grey area is whether landlords can help tenants move into or out of a property; there are a large number of outstanding rental tenancy contracts that were signed and paid for up-front before the Coronavirus shutdown, and now lockdown, gripped the nation.

These are now progressing as expected and LandlordZONE understand many inventory clerks continue to work if the properties are being taken up or vacated by people working in frontline services such as nurses.

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We want to help – Recovering deferred rent?

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We want to help our tenants in difficulty by giving them initially, a 3-month deferment of their rent. Not a gift or free ride – just no rent to be paid for 3 months, but then (assuming/hoping) things get back to normal

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