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Latest property news
Letting fees ban will NOT become law until at least Spring 2019
The recently-renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG ) does not expect the letting fees ban to come into force until Spring 2019, it has confirmed. In written evidence made this week to both the Select Committee hearings that scrutinised the draft legislation, and to the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS), MHCLG has revealed that it will be at least 15 months before letting agents and landlords will no longer be able to charge fees to tenants. Introduced by Sajid Javid in November last year, the draft legislation was given a thorough savaging by experts during the hearing on Monday and will now go to a third reading in the House of Commons before moving to the Lords. letting fees ban MPs were told at the hearing by experts from Shelter and the University of York’s Centre for Housing Policy that a letting fees ban could easily lead to higher rents as banned fees were added by landlords to the rent over the length of each tenancy, and also reduce the quality of rented accommodation as landlords tightened their purse strings. “We’re pleased to see more clarity on the timetable for implementation of the ban – it’s much…
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Latest property news
Trainee letting agent spared jail after stealing £2,300 from tenants
The industry’s urgent need for regulation has been highlighted once more by a court case in Southampton, during which a repeat fraudster was successfully prosecuted for stealing at least £2,300 from prospective tenants after working as a letting agent for just two weeks. Trainee letting agent Riccardo Lampietro already had a two-year suspended sentence hanging over him after previously being caught buying a Vauxhall Corsa on finance, switching the plates and then selling it on while working at a car dealership. Lampietro (picture, left), who has in the past had a serious gambling problem, then went to work at property management firm Homelife Lettings in Southampton. While working there for a fortnight he took deposits, fees and advanced rent from prospective tenants but then pocketed the cash rather than banking it for his employer. The 28-year-old, who lives in Ringwood, avoided jail after problems with the legal process prevented the two sets of frauds being linked. Also, Lampietro has repaid most of the money he stole from the prospective tenants back and will now have to complete 200 hours of community service. He also now has a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence hanging over him for both crimes. Homelife specialises in…
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Latest property news
Trading Standards fine London lettings agents £370,000 in three months
Letting agents in London who were hoping Trading Standards would ease off investigating those who don’t display their fees properly as the fees ban looms have been in for a nasty shock. Over the past three months letting agents in the capital have been fined £370,000 by the city’s 15 trading standards offices, it has been revealed. The fines are part of a big push by the capital-wide organisation that coordinates the policing of businesses in the city, London Trading Standards, to crack down on “rogue letting agents who flout the law”. The shocking figures highlighting the level of fines levied on letting agents have been released to coincide with a week-long campaign of activity by the organisation, which kicked off on Monday highlighting knife crime, followed by lettings and property management firms yesterday. Fees display London Trading Standards is focussing largely on agents who don’t display their fees clearly and issuing fines of up to £5,000 to those who transgress “to improve the rental experience for customers”. Its most high-profile scalp was earlier this month when Camden Council’s trading standards department won an appeal in the Upper Tier Tribunal against Foxtons using the term ‘administration fees’, which led to…
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Features
A question of property: Isobel Thomson, NALS
Nigel Lewis talks to the industry’s leading lights about the big issues. This week, it’s the turn of Isobel Thomson, CEO of the National Approval Lettings Scheme (NALS).
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Latest property news
Fair Fees Forum calls time on weak lettings industry regulation
The time for stronger regulation of the industry to stop rogue agents, landlords and tenants has come, says the Fair Fees Forum set up by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) last year to tackle the threat of a letting fee ban. These should include, it says, better and more consistent Local Authority policing of the industry, tougher measures for rogue agents and the accreditation of referencing companies to help prevent bogus and repeat-offending tenants. The announcement followed a meeting held on Wednesday in a secret location attended by representatives from many of the industry’s leading firms including the three deposit schemes, NALS, RICS, the RLA and agents Chestertons, Countrywide, Hamptons, Spicerhaart, Winkworth and Connells Group. Fair Fees Forum The main problems that the Fair Fees Forum identified include patchy and sometimes non-existent policing of rogue agents, landlords and agents which has led to a regulatory housing ‘postcode lottery’ in the UK in which different authorities apply different resources to enforcing existing housing industry regulations. Members of the Fair Fees Forum also want there to be greater effort to bring rogue agents either back “into the fold” or to permanently exclude them, rather than the current system of patchy temporary…
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Latest property news
CMA rejects industry forum’s call for letting fees ban review
The NALS-organised industry Fair Fees Forum has had its request for a letting fees ban review rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which says there is too little time to complete it. “Given the pivotal role played by the private rented sector, we feel this decision is a missed opportunity to review the way the sector works to deliver the best outcome for all concerned,” says Isobel Thompson (pictured, below), Chief Executive of the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS). Irreparable damage The CMA decision not to get involved comes despite the Forum warning that great care must be taken not to cause “irreparable damage” to this part of the private rented sector by rushing through a ban without “fully considering the impact on the sector.” The news may surprise many in the industry who had been led to believe that after the soon-to-be published results of the consultation – and given both the pressures on parliamentary time and the need for primary legislations to impose a ban – it was unlikely that one would be introduced until next year. This would have given the CMA plenty of time to review the details of the ban. “This is disappointing news for the…
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Latest property news
Here’s what letting fees ban will really mean for tenants and agents, industry tells DCLG
The likely results of a letting fees ban for tenants and agents have been spelled out by the National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) in a briefing document produced by its Fair Fees Forum for the Department of Communities and Local Government. As well as highlighting how poor policing of a letting fees ban would lead to an unfair advantage for those who did not comply with the ban, the Fair Fees Forum says there will be “a number of serious disadvantages for tenants”. These include: Rents will rise as landlords seek to recoup the costs of referencing, deposit administration and inventories. The practice of high ‘month one rents’ in lieu of fees will increase. Block viewings rather than individual accompanied viewings will become the norm. Tenancy negotiations will need to simpler and more streamlined and less tailored. Tenants will have to provide their own references plus a lot of the information currently gathered by letting agents. Less help for tenants when Right to Rent enquiries become complicated or with utility bill and transfer problems. Property standards may fall as landlords do fewer repairs or refurbish properties less often. The Fair Fees Forum also makes the point that banning fees may lead…
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Latest property news
NALS agents to get free legal helpline and services
Agent members of the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) can now use a free legal helpline supplied by London and South of England legal firm Moore Blatch. NALS says the move is designed to help letting agents tackle the 145 Acts of Parliament, health and safety requirements and 100s of regulations that now apply to the private rental sector. Agents can access the legal helpline both on the phone or via email between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday, and will be offered advice and support by Moore Blatch’s team of specialist landlord and tenant lawyers. As well as the helpline, NALS members will be able to use a full range of standard documents, an online service that automates Section 8 and Section 21 notices covering possession, eviction and debt recovery. There will also be a separate and what NALS describes as a ‘simple’ system that will enable agents to produce legally-enforceable notices, letters and court documents on a solicitor’s headed paper. “There’s no doubt it’s a challenging time for agents, and we want to be able to support our firms in every way possible,” says Isobel Thomson, chief executive of NALS (pictured). “The legal landscape is constantly changing and…
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Latest property news
NALS backs Experian tenant rental payments initiative
The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) says it is to back a credit referencing system launched five years ago by leading referencing agency Experian that adds tenants’ rental payments to their credit histories. The scheme, called The Rental Exchange, aims to help tenants improve their credit score by paying their rent on time. If tenants and letting agent agree, Experian will record their monthly rental payments in the same way a home owners mortgage payments are documented. NALS says the scheme will enable tenants to “strengthen their credit histories and ease any difficulties accessing credit” and the organisation is working with The Rental Exchange to ask its member agents to get behind the scheme. NALS says the scheme is simple to use and free for agents to sign up to although previously, agents and landlords have had to pay to then access the information. Landlords and agents are split into two sizes by the scheme; those owning or managing less than 100 properties, who submit tenant payments data via a service called CreditLadder, and those who own or manage more than 100 properties. These agents or landlords will be able to feed rental payments directly into the scheme’s website. The…
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Latest property news
‘Tenant fees ban will drive more landlords to self manage’
The tenant fees ban proposed by the government during Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement recently will persuade more landlords to self-manage their properties, which in turn will place tenants in the hands of a largely unregulated part of the industry. This was one of the main conclusions of this week’s meeting of minds at the latest NALS Fair Fees forum, which met in central London last Friday at an undisclosed venue, and whose work NALS says it is ‘pretty pleased with’. It is preparing a comprehensive response to the looming government consultation on fees and the forum discussed a specially-commissioned report into the work of agents in securing tenants for a property, how the fees ban is working in Scotland for tenants, agents and landlords and how the ban might affect how the redress schemes operate. The forum was also reminded by representative from the Department of Communities and Local Government that the ban was unlikely to be kicked into the long grass and remained the ‘political will’ of ministers. Primary legislation is expected this Autumn with a fees ban to come in during early 2018. But industry representatives highlighted how a ban would lead to a poorer service to tenants and increased…
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