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Latest property news
Dramatic drop in tenant arrears despite rising rents, says Your Move
There has been a dramatic reduction in the number of tenants who are in arrears despite rising rents across the UK, it has been claimed. Agent Your Move says 8.4% of its tenants were in arrears during January, down from 12.4% in December and significantly less than six months ago when arrears peaked at 13.7% of its tenants. It’s also much lower than the post-financial crash figure of 14.6%, which Your Move recorded in February 2010. Tenant arrears are improving despite rising rents, which Your Move says have increased by 2.5% across England and Wales over the past 12 months to an average of £829 per property, just under the Bank of England’s current reported inflation figure of 2.8%. Regional differences But the company says this figure masks regional differences. Rents increased by 2.9% in the North West but dropped by 2% in the North East. The data follows our report yesterday that the number of managed rental properties dropped by 8% during January, which ARLA blamed on the government’s recent tax increases for landlords and said would lead to increased rents. And the shocking difference in rents between London and the rest of the UK continues, Your Moves says.…
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Latest property news
Number of managed rental properties drops by 8% during January
The government’s tax-take on landlords is having the effect many predicted it would as the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) reports an 8% reduction in the number of rental properties managed by agents during January. ARLA says its member agents reported 184 rental properties managed per branch compared to 200 during December, the lowest figures for four months. Such an alarming contraction in the market during a traditionally busy period is also taking its toll on tenants’ finances, ARLA says. As the housing market forces more people into rented accommodation rather than ownership, ARLA says the number of tenants registered with agents increased from 59 to 70 per branch. Rough ride ARLA’s Chief Executive David Cox (pictured, below) says renters are in for a “rough ride” this year as the imbalance between supply and demand begins to push up rents. It’s already begun, ARLA claims, revealing that nearly a fifth of tenants experienced rent increases during January, up from 16% during December. The ARLA figures are backed up the latest rental index, which found that rents in the UK are rising across every region for the first time in two years. Buy-to-let lender Landbay, which produced the index, also…
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Latest property news
Think again about “simplistic” longer tenancies, landlords warn government
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has called on the government to think again about its proposed longer tenancies legislation following a meeting with new junior housing minister Heather Wheeler. The NLA’s CEO Richard Lambert met with her yesterday along with representatives of ARLA, RICS, NALS and the RLA to discuss government priorities for the private residential market ahead of a busy year for the government. This will include widening regulation within the HMO sector, the tenant fees ban, stricter energy efficiency regulations and a consumer and industry consultation on longer ASTs to increase tenant security. It is this last measure that is exercising minds at the NLA. During the meeting, the organisation says it pressed Heather Wheeler (pictured, below) to “think beyond simplistic calls for longer tenancies and look at how best to incentivise landlords to offer a wider range of tenancies to cater for the increasingly diverse range of what tenants may need”. ARLA also made an interesting point on longer tenants recently, which is likely to have also been put the minister, based on research by Capital Economics. It suggests that by abolishing tenant fees, which is scheduled to become law next year, the market will favour those…
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Latest property news
Even landlords support tenant fees ban, claims Welsh minister following consultation
The Welsh Housing Minister has claimed that the “vast majority” of people and organisation who contributed to a recent consultation on letting fees in Wales support her government’s proposed tenant fees ban including a “significant number of landlords”. Rebecca Evans, Minister for Housing and Regeneration (pictured), said 700 responses were received from tenants, landlords and letting agents and said early analysis of these responses revealed “strong support for action in this area”. Although a full response to the consultation is not expected until the New Year, the Minister says support for a ban is strong enough for her to reveal that a ban will now go ahead, bringing Wales in line with Scotland and soon, England. “I have therefore instructed my officials to proceed with plans to develop legislation,” she says. “Officials will also begin a programme of engagement with stakeholders to share information and help us shape detailed plans about how future legislation would work in practice.” Tenant fees ban It would appear that the Minister has not been swayed by ARLA’s postition that a ban would make renting more expensive in the long run, a claim it made in July when a proposed Welsh fees ban was unveiled.…
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Latest property news
Agents have at most 16 months to get ready for letting fees ban, says ARLA
The letting fees ban in England is expected to be introduced in April 2019 at the latest, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has confirmed, to give agents time to implement the looming Client Money Protection (CMP) regulations before the ban goes live. “Mandatory CMP needs to come into force before the letting fees ban does to prevent some more unscrupulous agents from propping up their businesses through their client funds when the ban comes into force,” ARLA’s Chief Executive David Cox told The Negotiator. He also revealed that ARLA is to tender to become one of the government’s approved CMP providers when the scheme goes live. Approved provider In its consultation document the government says it would prefer for CMP to be administered by an approved list of providers rather than civil servants running a centrally-run scheme, in the same way the deposits protection and redress schemes work. ARLA’s existing CMP scheme – members must have it in place to join – is the largest in the industry with £1.6 billion of the total £2.7 billion client funds held by the industry covered. “It’s all about creating a level playing field – people assume that the industry is regulated,…
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Associations & Bodies
‘Make carbon monoxide alarms compulsory in all rental homes’
ARLA Propertymark has called for carbon monoxide alarms to be made compulsory in rented properties regardless of what heating system a property is fitted with. “At the moment, they only need to be in rooms [where there is] solid fuel burning, but we should be doing all we can to protect tenants,” says David Cox, its Chief Executive (pictured above, with Abrar Hyussain-Aziz from the Gas Safety Register). The comments come during Gas Safety Week, which runs from 18th to 24th September and is organised by Gas Safety Register, the registration body for the UK’s 120,000 gas safety engineers that replaced CORGI in 2009. This year’s event was launched last week in parliament with the support of Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield (pictured, left) who highlighted how three of constituents recently died from carbon monoxide poisoning. This included a ten-year-old boy who was found dead in his bed after being poisoned by carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty boiler in the house next door. Chef Gordon Ramsay was caught up in a carbon monoxide scare recently when two members of his staff at the London House brasserie in central London were assessed for carbon monoxide poisoning, and adjoining flats evacuated.…
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Latest property news
Women fill key positions at Propertymark for first time
ARLA and NAEA Propertymark have revealed who won their recent leadership elections following a secret four-week hustings. Billed as an opportunity that “allows you to shape your organisation and to have your voice heard” the election was for both organisations’ Vice Presidents, whose role is to support the President and President Elect. The elected Vice Presidents are Michelle Niziol for ARLA, who agents will recognise from BBC TV’s The Apprentice from last year, and Lauren Scott for NAEA. It is the first time women have been elected to both positions at the same time. The new line up is: ARLA President Sally Lawson Sally has 27 years’ experience in the lettings industry, and is CEO and Founder of the national lettings franchise Concentric as well as West Midlands lettings agency Lawsons. The two organisations merged recently. President Elect Peter Savage A former professional drummer until the mid-1980s Peter then set up a property business in Spain, which he sold in 1990 and then returned to the UK. He now works as a consultant to an Essex lettings firm and a block management firm. Vice President Michelle Niziol Until recently 35-year-old Michelle was best known as a founder of IMS,…
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Latest property news
Start of the revival? ‘More people asking for home valuations’
The number of home valuations being requested by homeowners has risen by 26% this spring despite the uncertainty in the market created by Brexit and tomorrow’s General Election. Call answering company Moneypenny logs the calls made to agents via its service and says valuation requests for March, April and June this year increased when compared with the same months last year. “It’s encouraging to see such a large increase in people wanting to book home valuations this spring,” says Samantha Jones, the company’s Commercial Manager. “There was so much activity that affected the property market last year such as the Referendum in June and subsequent changes in Government that people will have been cautious about progressing with sales.” Moneypenny’s figures also appear to show increasing interest among buyers; it says call requesting property detail increased by 9% by the same measure, while calls to book property viewings rose by 8%. “The ‘let’s sit tight’ attitude of last spring is ebbing away as home sellers and buyers return to market,” says Samantha. “The truth is, regardless of political changes, we still get married, divorced, have children and so on. Our needs don’t go away so the market has to move so…
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Latest property news
Total tenant fees ban will cost industry 4,000 jobs, claims ARLA research
A total tenant fee ban will cost the industry £200 million a year in turnover and 4,000 jobs according to research published today by The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). The research also suggests that landlords will lose £300 million in income while tenants will pay an extra £103 a year in rent on average. ARLA commissioned Capital Economics to look at the lettings industry, which it says turns over £4 billion a year and employs 58,000 people charging on average £206 per tenant or £412 for a pair of tenants. £700 million a year The research also reveals that tenant fees generate around £700 million a year for the industry or 20% of its turnover. In what ARLA describes as the “damning, unintended consequences” of a ban, it will benefit those who move house often, but push up rents for those who must or choose to stay put for long periods. “The letting fees ban favours those tenants who move more regularly, says ARLA Managing Director David Cox. “This is because both short term tenants and long term tenants – who move less frequently – will see a rise in rent equivalent to £103 per year under our…
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Latest property news
New money laundering watchdog launched
The government has announced that a new watchdog is to be launched early next year to oversee the UK’s Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations, which are due to become law this June. Called the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS), its job will be to tackle potential weaknesses in the supervision of estate agents that criminals may be exploiting. The new anti money laundering watchdog will be paid for by what the HM Treasury calls ‘supervisors’; the big accountancy, law and other trade and regulatory bodies. It will be based at the HQ of the Financial Conduct Authority in London. AML rules The latest version of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 is designed to bring the UK in line with international standards and include “robust new standards of supervision”. They introduce new responsibilities for agents covering when and how they must carry out enhanced due diligence on customers, and how they carry out risk assessments to work out if their business is vulnerable to money laundering attempts. The regulation in particular ask agents to look more carefully at transfer of funds, a problem highlighted in January when a criminal gang based in London…
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