Search Results for: Tenant Fees Act
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Latest property news
London council investigates own sales and lettings agency AGAIN!
CityWest Residential has now been probed by City of Westminster's own trading standards officers over fees paid when it helps buy back former Right to Buy properties.
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Latest property news
Lettings sector to face huge reforms designed to weed out rogue agents
A new compulsory code of conduct for agents backed by mandatory qualification for at least one member of staff and a new independent regulator have been announced for the lettings and property management sectors by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (DHCLG). The details of the new code will now be thrashed out by a working group of lettings, tenant and regulatory representatives, with proposals nailed down by early 2019. The DHCLG announcement, which was released during the Easter break, revealed that it wanted to protect the UK’s nine million private renters from the unexpected costs, vague bills and poor quality repairs offered by rogue agents. “Most property agents take a thorough and professional approach when carrying out their business, but sadly some do not,” says Housing Minister Heather Wheeler (pictured, left). “By introducing new standards for the sector, we will clamp down on the small minority of agents who abuse the system so we can better protect tenants and leaseholders who find themselves at the end of a raw deal. Other measures outlined by the DHCLG include the promised reform of leasehold including a new system to help leaseholders challenge unfair fees, help to switch managing agents…
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Latest property news
A Question of Property: Sheraz Dar, CEO of CreditLadder
The government is pulling out all the political stops to fix the UK’s ‘broken’ housing market and that includes helping more people to get on the property ladder. As part of this billion-pound push, HM Treasury last week announced that six tech firms had been chosen to compete in a £2 million race to develop a tech platform that will help tenants achieve home ownership more easily. CreditLadder.co.uk is one of them. It’s an online service that enables tenants to report their rental payments to Experian for free with the minimum of form filling. Its basic service is free for renters to use but the site charges agents a small fee to offer its service to tenants. Its website was the first in the UK to use Open Banking technology to enable tenants to report their rent. Tenants give CreditLadder permission to ‘read’ their bank account every month and verify that the rent has been paid in full and on time. CreditLadder is also the first in the UK to enable customers of Monzo and Starling Bank to report their rent to Experian. The Negotiator caught up CEO Sheraz Dar, who has a track record in both tech and property,…
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Mentoring
Time to delegate?
As owner of the business, I have to fulfil the role of both valuer and team leader. This is is extremely challenging... Any thoughts?
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Features
Will deposits reform achieve its intended goals?
Debate rages, frustration grows, but, says Andrea Kirkby, is the proposed legislation really a force for good?
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Features
Innovation will drive PRS
Despite the challenges weighted against landlords, Paul Staley, PRS director at SDL Group, believes the private rental sector will show sustained growth in 2018.
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Features
Boarder controls
The electronic ‘tenant passport’ is proptech’s challenge to traditional referencing. Andrea Kirkby asks if this a game-changer.
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Supplier advice
The UK rental market outlook in 2018
A changing rental market has knock-on effects for renters and for letting agents, as Mark Goddard of ZPG Property Services explains.
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Features
How to sell your business for a better price?
Running your own business can be exciting, fulfilling and profitable, but there comes a time when selling up is the best way forward. Sheila Manchester asked the experts.
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Latest property news
Fit for human habitation legislation passes second hurdle in Parliament
A bill requiring landlords and agents to ensure rental properties are fit for human habitation and enabling tenants to chase them for compensation when they don’t maintain them took its second step through the House of Commons on Friday. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill passed its second reading in Parliament during an hour-and-a-half long debate lead by the bill’s sponsor Karen Buck, MP for Westminster North (pictured, above). Her bill, for the first time, frames what ‘fit for human habitation’ means and outlines the new regulations that agents will have to ensure properties stick to. Landlords and agents already have to ensure properties are not kept in a state of ‘disrepair’ but now ‘unfit’ will cover issues such as fire safety, inadequate heating, poor ventilation, condensation and mould. At the moment landlords and agents are only obliged to repair the structure of a property when it’s broken or damaged, but when the bill becomes law most likely later this year, they will have wider responsibilities for the condition of the property. Fit for human habitation The debate included contributions from Clive Betts MP (pictured, right), who also chairs the Ministry of Housing, Communities…
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