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Latest property news
Fresh cash boost to tackle rogue landlords
The Government’s approach towards private landlords risks hurting tenants, a major property consultancy has warned, after the Housing Minister Brandon Lewis last week announced a £5 million cash boost for local authorities to tackle rogue landlords in their area. Forty-eight councils will share the funding so they can take on the irresponsible landlords that force tenants to live in squalid and dangerous properties. It is hoped that the cash will also allow councils to root out more ‘beds in sheds’. Since 2011 almost 40,000 inspections have taken place in properties with over 3,000 landlords facing further enforcement action or prosecution. The funding will allow local authorities to carry out more raids, increase inspections of property, issue more statutory notices, survey more streets and to demolish sheds and prohibited buildings. The Housing Minister said last week that the funding is part of a package of measures that will ensure millions of tenants get a better deal when they rent a home. Mr Lewis (left) said, “Many private rental tenants are happy with their home and the service they receive, but there are still rogue landlords that exploit vulnerable people and force their tenants to live in overcrowded and squalid accommodation. “We…
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Latest property news
£30k fines for rogue landlords… says Brandon Lewis, Minister for Housing
Good news for good letting agents and landlords! Brandon Lewis, Minister for Housing and Planning, took to facebook and Twitter on Sunday 20th December, to say, “We are determined to crack down on rogue landlords and to ensure a high quality, private rented sector. Good for tenants and good for the majority of excellent landlords.” Oddly, though, the launchpad for this latest package of measures was The Sun newspaper. The Sun reported: “Landlords who let out filthy or unsafe homes will face fines of up to £30,000 under new laws to be unveiled this week. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis will announce the biggest package of measures to drive out rogue property owners and agents Council chiefs will be able to slap a new civil penalty notice on offenders to provide an instant deterrent for criminal operators. Fines will be upped for failing to take action on overcrowding, hazardous conditions, poor sanitation, electrical faults, damp and vermin infestation. Measures to be introduced in the Housing and Planning Bill will go further to ensure landlords and agents who repeatedly break the rules will be banned for at least 12 months. A database of rogue landlords and letting agents will also be available…
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Latest property news
New law for lettings agents in Wales
A new registration and licensing system for landlords and lettings agents was introduced in Wales this week, as part of the Rent Smart Wales initiative. Under the new law, which came into play on Monday, with a view to improve letting and management standards for people who rent private accommodation in Wales,landlords and agents are now required to take part in a new registration and licensing scheme, which forms a key part of The Housing (Wales) Act 2014. Landlords who need to register, and landlords and agents who need to become licensed, can now register and apply for a licence. They have 12 months from 23rdNovember 2015 in which to comply with the new legislation. During this first year there will be a focus on raising awareness of the new requirements and encouraging compliance. This new law sees Wales become the first country in the UK where managing landlords and agents are obliged to obtain a new type of licence as well as undertake training to ensure they are aware of their rights and responsibilities. The new Rent Smart Wales scheme replaces the previous voluntary Landlord Accreditation Wales initiative, which was operated by Cardiff Council on behalf of all local…
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Housing Market
Boomtime for buy-to-let
Investor landlords expanding portfolios, new pension rules encouraging silver landlords, it’s all going well for BTL, says Marc Da Silva.
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Mentoring
Building businesses to protect your future
"It is crucial that we build a client base of managed landlords, to create a ‘drip’ of income over a long term period. How can we increase this element of our business?"
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Latest property news
Tenancy deposit deadline day
Letting agents and property managers are being encouraged to urge landlords to check that their tenants’ deposits have been stored in a Government-protected scheme by the close of play today (Tuesday 23rd June) or they could be liable to pay the occupants of their property compensation. The deadline, which was imposed as part of the Deregulation Act, will impact on landlords who have existing tenancies that commenced before Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) was introduced in England and Wales in April 2007. Landlords and agents who still hold a deposit on a tenancy that started prior to 6th April 2007 and then rolled into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) on or after that date must protect the deposit and serve the prescribed information by today to prevent being fined. For deposits taken before the 6thApril 2007 and where the tenancy became periodic prior to this date, landlords and agents are not required to protect the deposit however, they will not be able to serve a section 21 notice to regain possession of the property unless the deposit is protected with a tenancy deposit scheme. This new legislation is viewed upon as “another positive step towards raising standards in the professional lettings…
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Agencies & People
Don’t let property investments go to pot
Letting agents and property managers are being reminded to remain attentive when viewing or inspecting rental properties in order to weed out tenants that may be growing cannabis in properties belong to their clients, after a new report revealed that the number of cannabis seizures in rented homes soared by up to 195 per cent in 2014. New analysis from landlord insurer, Direct Line for Business, reveals that police seized 456,911 plants across the UK last year, reflecting a sharp rise in home-based cannabis cultivation. Police raids resulted in no fewer than 59,002 plants being seized in London, which was more than any other part of the country. Birmingham had the second worst record with West Midlands police confiscating 52,218 plants, while 33,547 plants were removed from homes in Greater Manchester. Although the overall volume of seizures fell by 10 per cent between 2013 and 2014, a third of police forces have seen an increase over the year, of 40 per cent on average. West Mercia in the Midlands leads the pack with a 195 per cent increase in confiscations, followed by Cambridgeshire at 110 per cent and then Wiltshire at 75 per cent. Direct Line for Business is now…
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Regulation & Law
New protection for tenants and landlords
Letting agents are now required to publish full details of the fees they charge. In addition, agents are also obliged to state whether or not they are a member of a client protection scheme and which redress scheme they are signed up to. The new legislation contained within the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force last week and is designed to ensure a fair deal for landlords and tenants, closing off the opportunity for a small minority of rogue agents to impose unreasonable, hidden charges. All letting agents are now required to publish a full tariff of their fees – both on their websites and prominently in their offices. Anyone who does not comply with these new rules will face a major fine. David Cox (left), Managing Director, Association of Residential Letting Agents, said, “Relevant information should be placed prominently in offices where letting agents have face to face contact with clients, as well as on their websites. Any costs to landlords and tenants must be clearly defined and comprehensively outlined, including all fees, charges and penalties that may be charged before, during and after a tenancy.” Meanwhile, more than 3,000 professional lettings agent across the UK have joined…
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Latest property news
Regulation of the letting agents needed, says CEO
The newly elected Conservative Government should make the regulation of letting agents a priority in a bid to deal with unscrupulous letting agencies and help improve standards in the industry, according to Leaders’ Chief Executive, Paul Weller. Mr Weller (left) believes that millions of landlords and tenants in the private rented sector (PRS) would prosper from the formal regulation of letting agents. He said, “More people and families than ever before now use the PRS and the services of letting agents. Yet the vast majority are unaware that letting agents are not regulated by the Government and that anyone can set up a letting agency, with no experience, knowledge of lettings law or client money protection in place. “Letting agents can hold hundreds of thousands of pounds in rent which they are supposed to protect. But without regulation, there is no way to enforce this and there have been countless cases of letting firms losing their clients’ money, using it for their own ends, or completely disappearing with it, leaving landlords and tenants badly out of pocket. Too many people have suffered at the hands of agents like this, as well as incompetent and unscrupulous agents who fail to provide…
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Housing Market
Labour plans for PRS would be disastrous – NLA
Labour’s plans to cap rents, ban letting agent fees, and restrict tax reliefs for landlords who do not keep properties to basic standards could have an adverse impact on the private rented sector (PRS), according to Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the National Landlords Association (NLA). While acknowledging that Labour has tenants’ “concerns at heart”, Lambert points out that the policy will almost certainly backfire because “they don’t understand the economics of supplying private housing to rent”. The NLA’s CEO (left) insists that these changes “will have far-reaching consequences for the PRS”, and could deter many people from investing in the buy-to-let market which in turn would reduce the supply of housing stock in the PRS. He commented, “If these proposals are going to be rushed into the first Queen’s Speech, less than a month away, without time to think through the consequences, Labour’s good intentions could make the housing crisis worse, not better.” NLA research has found that around two-thirds of landlords do not increase rents during a tenancy. Lambert continued, “Capping annual price rises to inflation sounds like a great consumer protection initiative, but wherever these formulas have been introduced, it’s proved to be counterproductive because it…
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