Regulation & Law
News articles looking at national legislation and local regulation and the application of law to the residential property industry.
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Letting or selling a property? You’ll soon have to reveal its pollution levels
The air that your buyers or tenants breathe will soon be measured and listed within property details.
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Orderrrr! What former Speaker of the House John Bercow really thinks now he’s free
Freed from the shackles of office, Bercow told a packed room at The Negotiator Conference on Friday his views on Brexit, the General Election and accusations that he was not impartial as a speaker.
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Major high street agent using ‘biased’ check out reports to make money, it is claimed
Inventories trade body the AIIC says it is compiling a dossier of evidence for the Ministry of Housing including proof that a leading high street agency brand is involved.
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Nationwide breaks ranks and backs cross-party plans to scrap Section 21 evictions
The UK’s second largest mortgage lender the Nationwide building society has broken ranks and, highly unusually, supported the key political parties by saying it believes Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions should be scrapped. Both the Tories, Labour and LibDems have all said if elected they’d get rid of Section 21 evictions and would transfer the process to the court system. This proposal, many agents and landlords argue, will make it more difficult to eject tenants who have stopped paying the rent or who are behaving antisocially. The building society’s disclosure came during an industry roundtable convened earlier this week. It included representatives from ARLA Propertymark, Connells, the soon to be merged NLA and RLA, Generation Rent and Countrywide. The group also agreed that letting agents should play a stronger role in ensuring tenants understand the legal framework of their tenancy, although this is likely to infuriate some landlords who view empowered and more knowledgeable tenants as future ‘troublemakers’. The event also recommended that insurance products aimed at the lettings industry should include clauses that prevent landlords and agents using ‘No DSS’ clauses within their property ads. Paul Wootton, Nationwide Building Society’s Director of Home Propositions (left), said: “It was great…
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‘We’ll intervene when councils won’t prosecute rogue letting agents’, says NTSEAT boss
James Munro says he wants to reassure agents that NTSEAT wants to end the uneven policing of letting agents that the industry has complained about.
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BREAKING: Property developers banned from issuing ‘mini bonds’ to raise cash
Shock announcement by Financial Conduct Authority today follows complaints over opaque and complex nature of mini bonds.
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EXCLUSIVE: Trading Standards to halt agents charging pet rent if legal advice goes its way
The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) has sought legal advice on whether agents can charge higher rents or additional ‘rent premiums’ for tenants who have pets, and a decision is likely next week, The Negotiator has been told. As we have reported before, many agents have been charging up to £50 a month or £600 a year as a ‘rent premium’ to tenants who have dogs or cats. This has been prompted by the tenant fees ban legislation in England and Wales, which capped rental deposits at five week’s rent for most tenancies, and six weeks’ rent for those over £50,000 a year. “This has caused some issues especially with problem properties and tenants where agents have always quite rightly said that they wanted larger deposits because it’s very difficult getting money back from people after they have moved on,” says James Munro, Senior Manager at NTSEAT (left). “So they want to ensure they have a contingency if there are problems during the tenancy. “They are saying five weeks’ deposit isn’t enough now, and understandably they are trying different ways of trying to deal with this. “But we’re not entirely happy with this because we think it’s something…
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Tenant evictions set to be key battleground during General Election
A leading renters’ rights lobbying group has claimed that Section 21 evictions will play a key role in the looming General Election on December 12th. Generation Rent, which believes that the private rental sector should be reorganised for the safety of tenants rather than the profit of landlords, says several marginal constituencies, including Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge & South Ruislip constituency, feature high levels of ‘no fault’ evictions. Generation Rent says the problem of ‘no fault’ evictions is becoming a key campaigning issue. Its analysis of official government data shows that of the 260,000 families who faced homelessness last year some 27,450 or 10.5% were via evictions using a Section 21 notice. A further 800 households were evicted after complaining to their landlord, letting agent or council about their property, figures published in The Times reveals. Homeless “For private renters, the most common reason for becoming homeless is that your landlord wants to sell or simply re-let the property,” says Dan Wilson-Craw of Generation Rent. “Landlords don’t have to prove grounds or help you move. “The next government would dramatically reduce homelessness by abolishing Section 21 evictions, making landlords foot the tenant’s bill if they want to sell.” The call to…
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First ever banning order in London obtained against criminal landlord
The first ever rogue landlord banning order in London has been obtained against 42-year-old Cesar De Sousa Melo. This banning order follows multiple investigations by Camden Council into Melo’s activities, which were brought to the attention of officers following a rogue landlord referral received in May 2018 via the Greater London Authority and Mayor of London website. Melo, who is believed to be of Brazilian origins, was subsequently found to have broken a host of rules and laws governing rented property at three addresses including illegally subletting one property, dangerous electrical wiring, failing to fit smoke alarms and shoddy partition work. Multiple breaches The flats he managed also featured cramped conditions (pictured, above), inadequate fire alarms and overall multiple breaches of the Housing Act 2004. Tenants staying in the flats all of which were in and around Kings Cross and Euston in Central London were all young or from overseas and paid inflated rents for poor standards of housing. The banning order begins somewhat curiously in March next year and, if Melo breaches the order, he faces imprisonment for up to 51 weeks or a court fine – or both – or a Civil Financial Penalty of up to £30,000.…
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Latest mortgage fraud case ‘strikes at the heart of conveyancing’
By changing her name and then applying for a passport, Sarah Broadbelt sold a property she didn't own for £75,000 without anyone in the chain noticing.
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