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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Banned landlord fined nearly £8,000 for over-crowded, unlicensed HMO
In mitigation, Sanaur Rahman has claimed local letting agents wouldn't manage the property on his behalf and that he in poor health.
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Agents can’t charge for arranging to fix a loo, says tenant fees ban advice
Legal counsel sought by ARLA over 'contractual charges' has highlighted how fees charged for arranging a plumber to fix a toilet, and services like it, cannot be added to bills.
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Ask a question! ARLA chief to appear in live evictions webinar this week
Agents have the chance to as questions direct to the David Cox on Thursday at 9.30am online.
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Jersey estate agent calls for practice of overvaluing homes to be outlawed
Harry Trower of Broadland Estates says he frustrated by competitors which 'wildly' over value properties to win instructions and then later have to disappoint their clients.
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Fake estate agent given four year prison term for defrauding women
Prolific career criminal Stephen Davey used several fake identifies to dupe dozens of victims into handing over funds, including most recently £7,000.
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Council backs down over licensing scheme after property industry campaign
Councils will have to be more careful how they introduce borough-wide additional licensing schemes following a legal challenge by Safeagent and the RLA over a scheme in Hounslow.
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Estate agent told to tear down smart new branch exterior by planners
Despite replacing a shabby old shop and helping upgrade a formerly careworn street, Northern Ireland agency Adams McGillan has lost its planning battle.
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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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