RLA
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Latest property news
Controversial rental property licensing scheme is ‘raising standards’, it is claimed
Liverpool’s citywide rental property licensing scheme is helping improve standards within the city just seven months after it began, Liverpool City Council has claimed. It says anti-social behaviour in ‘targeted’ streets has dropped following the introduction of the scheme, which requires landlords or their agents to manage anti-social behaviour within the properties. Errants tenants have to be given warnings about their conduct and, where necessary, licence holders must start legal proceedings against them or end their tenancies. The scheme has attracted several critics, who claim that the licence application form is in breach of the Data Protection Act and that landlords who join the scheme can be prosecuted for non-compliance in relatively grey areas of responsibility, particularly when dealing with anti-social behaviour, and that it requires landlords agents to ‘spy’ on tenants. The most vocal of these is Larry Sweeney who, in conjunction with website Property118.com, has attacked the ‘sham scheme’ for its failings including its rules on evictions. Sweeney claims the scheme’s rules contravene Section 33 of the Deregulation Act 2015 concerning the period after which a Section 21 notice can be served. “The scheme has drawn a lot of comment and challenges but taking the wider view of different stakeholders, early evidence…
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Latest property news
NALS Fair Fees Forum meets to head off a ban
The Fair Fees Forum set up last month by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) met yesterday for the first time to consider the contentious issue of excessive fees charged to tenants by agents. Many in the industry are hoping the consensus it will built can head off an outright ban on tenant fees by replacing it with a fees cap. It was quite a meeting of minds. Every interest group was invited including those from the lettings industry, two of the redress schemes and the Department for Communities and Local Government. Representatives from trading standards and tenant groups such as Crisis and Shelter were also at the ‘first of its kind’ gathering, which NALS hopes will lead to consensus among the different groups on a ‘fair fees charter’. Agents represented at the meeting included Belvoir, Chestertons, Foxtons, Hunters, Leaders, Northwood, Portico, Savills, Spicerhaart and Winkworth, all of whom made up an ‘agent group’ at the day’s proceedings. The Residential Landlords Association also had representatives at the meeting. The agent group agreed unanimously on the need for ‘fair, justifiable and transparent fees’ and that excessive fees should be curbed. But they also made it clear that agents should be able to…
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Latest property news
Name and shame rogue landlords
Criminal landlords in London should be named and shamed according to a new RLA survey in which members backed Sadiq Khan’s plans to create a rogue landlord database.
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Latest property news
Groundbreaking training partnership launched
A groundbreaking new partnership between the Residential Landlords Association and the TDS Charitable Foundation will help charities and other organisations offer free training on how to rent properties. Developed by the RLA and funded by the TDS Charitable Foundation, the train2rent scheme will see groups such as housing associations, trusts and residents’ groups given access to specially created training packs including the all materials needed to deliver a course about renting a property. There will be separate packs for landlords and tenants, which will include the course presentation and workbook, a timetable for the trainer and practical exercises. The landlord resource will include details of legal responsibilities, Right to Rent checks, protecting deposits and starting and ending a tenancy. The tenant resource covers topics including the legal rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, how to find a property and different types of tenancies. Robert Maccabe, training and development manager for the RLA said: “The Residential Landlords Association is delighted to be working in partnership with the TDS Charitable Foundation on this project. “This is a great opportunity for small organisations and groups to raise standards and created better working relationships as the private rented sector grows.” Commenting on the…
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Housing Market
Britain’s biggest landlord increases rents 33%
One of the UK’s largest and most controversial private landlords is reportedly increasing rents across his 900 buy-to-let properties in Kent by up to 33 per cent. Fergus Wilson (left) told the press that when he let a three-bedroom mid-terrace home in Maidstone, Kent, last weekend, he managed to increase the rent from £900 a month to £1,200, thanks to a high demand from tenants, fuelled largely by an influx of eastern European migrants. He will now be seeking similar rent hikes across his residential property portfolio. He commented, “I will not be asking them to leave but will serve them with a Section 13 Notice to increase the rent so that they have the opportunity to move to another landlord should they wish. That is if they can find a house of the same quality and a price they can afford. By the time they have paid out fees etc, some will take the view there is not much in it.” Wilson said that he was increasing rents to ensure that his property empire remains profitable in light of the recent tax relief changes announced by Chancellor George Osborne, who has made it his goal to create what he…
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Latest property news
Landlords’ body voice concerns over sub-letting
The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has expressed concern over controversial plans to allow private tenants to sub-let their tenancies in England, announced by the Chancellor in the Budget last month. The Chairman of the RLA, Alan Ward (left), has written to DCLG Director General, Peter Schofield, seeking greater clarification over the detail of the proposals and has raised various questions as to how this would affect landlords with leases, licensing, and mortgage conditions, and why it is that this proposal has been put forward with no consultation. You can read Alan Ward’s letter in full below. Last month, tenant eviction firm, Landlord Action, also expressed grave concern over Government plans to allow private tenants to sub-let from their tenancies, claiming that it would be “catastrophic” for the rental market. “This appears to have slipped in under the radar which, if it goes ahead, will throw up a magnitude of problems in the buy-to-let industry,” said Paul Shamplina (right), Founder of Landlord Action. “We have never seen so many sub-letting cases going to court because of unscrupulous tenants trying to cream a profit from a property they have rented,” he added. Shamplina believes that “the risk of nightmare sub-tenants” and subsequently…
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