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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Fees ban loophole: letting agents charging ‘pet rent’ to recoup lost revenue
A national newspaper investigation claims to have found widespread evidence that many letting agents are attempting to recoup revenue lost following the tenant fees ban by charging tenants a additional pet rent. The Guardian claims that agents and landlords are charging up to £40 a month to including a single pet within a tenancy agreement. Examples outlined by the investigation include an Oxfordshire landlord who charged a family £40 a month for a dog on top of the £995 a month they charged for ‘human’ residents of the property. The article also claims ‘pet rent’ clauses within rental contracts are becoming common and the article quotes one agent, Elliott Oliver in Cheltenham, saying the company has no alternative but to charge extra for pets following the tenant fees ban. Pet charges Prior to the ban, most agents simply charged tenants with pets a larger rental deposit but the five-week limit brought in by the fees ban means this is no longer possible. Examples of online adverts for properties where tenants must pay an additional rent for pets are not hard to find online. Research by The Negotiator on all three portals found over 160 properties offered in and around London…
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Letting agency fined £3,000 after admitting three offences relating to HMO
Bolton firm Miller Metcalfe Estate Agents Ltd must also pay £1,616 in costs and a victim surcharge after fire safety features were found missing at town centre property.
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Row between lettings agency and tenant leads to high-profile eviction
A tenant at the centre of a much-publicised argument with a Brighton lettings agency over the condition of his rented property is claiming to have been made homeless. Jim Haughey, a young renter living in the seaside town, had complained to managing agent King & Chasemore about the poor state of his rented property’s garden after moving in. Pictures he took show dilapidated garden furniture and bird droppings. After several emails between the two parties over a two-month period, he has told local media that the problems were not sorted out and that a subsequent Section 21 notice served on him by his landlord has the hallmarks of a ‘revenge eviction’. ACORN, the local renters’ union organisation, claims the eviction notice came just a day after his final complaint about the property and that this has lead “both Jim and ACORN to believe that his eviction must be in line with the complaints he’d been issuing”, its website says. Sit-in protest But police were called when members of ACORN staged a sit-in at the lettings agency’s branch and several staff claimed to be intimidated by the protestors. “The eviction came after a back and forth of emails requesting repairs and…
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Industry warns hard line on EU immigration will cause ‘distress’ for renters, landlords and agents
ARLA says a planned transition following Brexit was the agreed path with government, not Priti Patel's proposed sudden hard border on 31st October.
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Council charges record £900 per property to license rented homes
Barking & Daganham council, which requires all private rented properties within its borders to be licenced, has also increased its fees for HMOs to £1,300.
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Excluding property developers from AML is unfair to estate agents, it is claimed
Leading tech platform says loophole in Estate Agency Act 1979 must be closed so that all property sales in the UK are covered by AML regulations.
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Welsh fees ban differs to England’s legislation in two major ways, guidance shows
Welsh agents are bracing themselves as ban looms on September 1st but won't face a cap on security deposits and that default fees will cover a wider range of charges, unlike in England.
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Land Registry hires 1,000 staff to reduce shocking six-month delays for leaseholders
Ongoing problems are beginning to seriously impact the housing market as leaseholders wait for months to update leases prior to putting properties on the market.
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Average cost of evicting rogue tenants reaches eye-watering £31k
Claim by leading letting agency Benham & Reeves includes lost rent, refit costs and legal fees.
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Six agencies expelled from The Property Ombudsman
Gerry Fitzjohn, TPO Chairman, warns that expelled agents can be banned from carrying out agency business.
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