Regulation & Law

News articles looking at national legislation and local regulation and the application of law to the residential property industry.

  • Regulation & Law

    Landlords must evict illegal immigrants or face jail

    Landlords will face up to five years in prison if they rent properties to illegal immigrants or fail to evict tenants who lose the right to live in England under new measures announced by the Government this week. Landlords, who will be required to check a migrant’s status before agreeing a new tenancy, will also be permitted to terminate rental leases, on occasions without a court order, when asylum requests are rejected. Failure to do so could see landlords face up to five years in prison. The Government’s aim is to make it harder for illegal immigrants to live in the UK, while also clamping down on rogue landlords who provide immigrants with unsafe and often overcrowded accommodation. Greg Clark (left), the Communities Secretary, said: “We are determined to crack down on rogue landlords who make money out of illegal immigration – exploiting vulnerable people and undermining our immigration system. In future, landlords will be required to ensure that the people they rent their properties to are legally entitled to be in the country. We will also require them to meet their basic responsibilities as landlords, cracking down on those who rent out dangerous, dirty and overcrowded properties.” The Association…

    Read More »
  • The Property Ombudsman logo image
    Regulation & Law

    Agent expelled by TPO

    After failing to comply with several elements of The Property Ombudsman’s (TPO) Code of Practice for residential letting agents and subsequently failing to pay an Ombudsman’s award made of £1,600 to the complainants, Allen & Crane Estates, a sales and lettings agent based in Burnham near Slough, has been excluded from membership of TPO for a minimum of two years. The decision to expel the firm came about following a complaint from landlords who raised a number of concerns connected with the performance of the agent when they let a property through the company. Various complaints were made by the landlord, all of which were upheld to varying degrees by the Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer. This included the agent allowing tenants to take occupation of the property without the landlords’ knowledge and without evidence of reference checks having been carried out. Additionally, there was also a delay in providing the landlords with a copy of the tenancy agreement. Other issues included the agent’s failure to obtain any security deposit or a valid guarantor agreement, failure to provide regular and clear statements of account following rent being paid in irregular instalments and finally their inability to demonstrate that they had inspected the…

    Read More »
  • zero carbon home image
    Regulation & Law

    Zero carbon homes plan scrapped

    The Government will no longer be introducing requirements for zero carbon homes in 2016 and zero carbon non-domestic buildings in 2019, the Treasury announced last week, as part of plans to boost UK productivity, including the supply of new build homes being delivered. The zero carbon homes policy was first announced in 2006 by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, making Britain was the first country to make such a commitment. The move would have ensured that all new residential properties from next year would generate as much energy on-site – through renewable sources, such as wind or solar power – as they would use in heating, hot water, lighting and ventilation. The Government’s decision to scrap plans to make all new UK homes carbon neutral has been welcomed by the Home Builders Federation (HBF). “Maintaining the current energy efficiency requirements for new homes is a sensible move by Government,” said Stewart Baseley (left), Executive Chairman of the HBF. “The UK is already building some of the most energy efficient homes in the world under the current, already exacting standards, that have been developed with the full support of the industry and considerable progress is being made to deliver ever higher…

    Read More »
  • Chancellor George Osborne
    Regulation & Law

    Housing industry welcomes Chancellor’s planning shake-up

    The Government has released proposals to tackle the UK planning system with a view to speeding up house building as part of its Productivity Plan. The Chancellor George Osborne last week said that the Government is changing the country’s planning laws to make it easier for house builders to develop more residential properties. Under the new plan, planning consent would be granted automatically on suitable disused industrial land, limiting delays to development, under the reforms, while a higher number of brownfield plots could also be seized for development through new compulsory purchase powers. What’s more, major infrastructure projects that feature new homes will be fast-tracked to meet local housing demands. “Britain has been incapable of building enough homes,” said George Osborne. “The reforms we made to the planning system in the last parliament have started to improve the situation: planning permissions and housing starts are at a seven-year high.” “But we need to go further and I am not prepared to stand by when people who want to get on the housing ladder can’t do so,” he added. The Chancellor’s planning changes were described as a “major step towards solving the housing crisis” by Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the…

    Read More »
  • complaints department image
    Regulation & Law

    Righting the wrongs

    When a vendor was recently advised by the estate agent to reduce his asking price and complete additional works on the property, it seemed like sound advice to speed up the sale of his property, especially as the house went under offer just a few days later. But when it materialised that the buyer was actually a member of staff at the estate agency, the seller issued a complaint to the Ombudsman Services on the grounds that the company had failed to disclose this conflict of interest, which may have influenced the negotiation. “In the small number of cases where people have complaints these should be addressed quickly and effectively.” Brandon Lewis, Minsiter for Housing & Planning The estate agent maintained that it sold the property to the highest bidder. It also stated that the complainant was aware of the conflict in interest. However, upon investigation, the Ombudsman Services could find no evidence to show that the conflict of interest was disclosed to the complainant (the vendor) in writing, which is a legal requirement, in accordance with the Estate Agents Act. Following its failure to follow the rules, Ombudsman Services ordered the company to reduce their commission for selling the…

    Read More »
  • Regulation & Law

    Tenancy deposit deadline day

    Letting agents and property managers are being encouraged to urge landlords to check that their tenants’ deposits have been stored in a Government-protected scheme by the close of play today (Tuesday 23rd June) or they could be liable to pay the occupants of their property compensation. The deadline, which was imposed as part of the Deregulation Act, will impact on landlords who have existing tenancies that commenced before Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) was introduced in England and Wales in April 2007. Landlords and agents who still hold a deposit on a tenancy that started prior to 6th April 2007 and then rolled into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) on or after that date must protect the deposit and serve the prescribed information by today to prevent being fined. For deposits taken before the 6thApril 2007 and where the tenancy became periodic prior to this date, landlords and agents are not required to protect the deposit however, they will not be able to serve a section 21 notice to regain possession of the property unless the deposit is protected with a tenancy deposit scheme. This new legislation is viewed upon as “another positive step towards raising standards in the professional lettings…

    Read More »
  • Regulation & Law

    Don’t let property investments go to pot

    Letting agents and property managers are being reminded to remain attentive when viewing or inspecting rental properties in order to weed out tenants that may be growing cannabis in properties belong to their clients, after a new report revealed that the number of cannabis seizures in rented homes soared by up to 195 per cent in 2014. New analysis from landlord insurer, Direct Line for Business, reveals that police seized 456,911 plants across the UK last year, reflecting a sharp rise in home-based cannabis cultivation. Police raids resulted in no fewer than 59,002 plants being seized in London, which was more than any other part of the country. Birmingham had the second worst record with West Midlands police confiscating 52,218 plants, while 33,547 plants were removed from homes in Greater Manchester. Although the overall volume of seizures fell by 10 per cent between 2013 and 2014, a third of police forces have seen an increase over the year, of 40 per cent on average. West Mercia in the Midlands leads the pack with a 195 per cent increase in confiscations, followed by Cambridgeshire at 110 per cent and then Wiltshire at 75 per cent. Direct Line for Business is now…

    Read More »
  • Regulation & Law

    Stamp duty changes save homebuyers £701m

    The Stamp Duty Land Tax reforms that were introduced in December last year have saved UK homeowners £701million in the six months since the changes came into force, according to myhomemove. The Government’s estimate that the changes to how stamp duty is levied has cut the tax for 98 per cent of people purchasing homes under £937,500, is supported by the research carried out by the conveyancing service provider, which found that since the reforms each house buyer below this level has saved an average of £1,400. “The stamp duty reforms have saved UK home buyers a significant amount of money since its introduction and provided an important boost to the property market, just as house transactions were starting to slow down in the run up to the General Election,” said Doug Crawford, CEO of myhomemove. He points out that the changes have had a particularly positive impact on those struggling the most to get onto the property ladder, including first-time-buyers, as they can now save more money towards a deposit for their purchase. Crawford (left) continued, “Under the old ‘slab’ system, there was a substantial increase in price at the stamp duty thresholds, which the reforms have reduced significantly,…

    Read More »
  • Regulation & Law

    Bad week for online agent

    Online estate agent eMoov is under pressure for making unsubstantiated and misleading claims to home sellers over fees and asking prices, while their lodged complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) against OnTheMarket (OTM) will not be followed up by the regulator. The CMA took over many of the functions of the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading last year. Having investigated claims made by eMoov in an advert that its sales performance last year resulted in 99 per cent of the asking price being achieved for its clients compared to the national average of 96 per cent, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) concluded that that the statements were unsubstantiated. ASA said that sales data only covered the period of January to September 2014, while no comparable information relating to asking prices achieved by traditional estate agents in London was provided. The online estate agent also claimed that its customers had saved more than £11 million in fees by using its services because its business model depended on it selling a higher proportion of its inventory. But once again, this was panned by the ASA because it was based on the average fee its customers paid instead…

    Read More »
  • Zoopla logo image
    Regulation & Law

    Zoopla share prices dip after Ofgem probe

    Shares in The Zoopla Property Group (ZPG), which recently acquired energy provider comparison site uSwitch, dropped by 15.9p to 258.7p at the tail end of last week, following an Ofgem investigation into whether two or more companies providing a supporting service for the energy industry breached competition law. Following shareholder and FCA approval, ZPG last week completed its acquisition of uSwitch, the comparison website and lead generation engine for energy and communications switching. But while ZPG said that the deal was designed to reaffirmthe company’s mission to be the most useful resource for consumers and most effective marketing partner for professionals operating within the property industry, the acquisition may actually prove to have been badly timed. The concern for ZPG is that uSwitch, along with MoneySupermarket, has been asked by Ofgem to provide information in relation to an investigation over whether companies supporting the energy industry have broken any rules. Despite the pending investigation, the enlarged ZPG group is now working on developing products which will directly benefit ZPG members by allowing them to source the best gas, electricity, broadband, TV and phone deals in the market and earn fees whilst saving money for their clients. The aim is that…

    Read More »
Back to top button