Shelter
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Latest property news
NO DSS notices now “unlawful” claims Shelter following landmark case
Letting agents who try to screen out applicants for rented properties who are on benefits may now be breaking the law, it has been claimed. This follows legal action brought by Birmingham tenant Rosie Keogh with the help of housing charity Shelter against a lettings agency after she claimed to have been rejected because part of her rent was to be paid by housing benefit. “You feel like a second-class citizen,” she told the BBC. “I felt as a housing benefit claimant I was somehow not be trusted with paying my rent on time.” Rosie (pictured, left) says she hopes the case will stop the common NO DSS signs seen in many rental ads by setting a precedent making the “No DSS rule unlawful [which] will then open up the market so everyone can participate in it,” she said. The Moseley-based part-time cleaner and former para-legal secretary had a eleven-year track record of paying her rent on time before encountering problems in 2016 when she applied to rent a property marketed by lettings firm Nicholas George. She claimed that, because 60% of people on housing benefit are women, and that 95% of single parents are women, the agent’s actions discriminated…
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Latest property news
Tenant fees ban WILL drive up rents and lower property standards, MPs are told
MPs put the new housing minister Sajid Javid’s tenant fees ban legislation under scrutiny last night, and it was proven to be lacking on several fronts. Landlords are likely to increase their rents across the tenancy to pay the extra costs of running a tenancy, something the new law can’t stop, and that there is a substantial risk local councils will impose unjustifiably high fines on agents and landlords to finance enforcement, in the absence of government support, it was claimed. The other key criticism made during the session was that the draft bill is likely to be self-defeating – lower fees will mean letting agents are less incentivised to help landlords run their properties professionally. These views were all the more surprising given they came from experts from the policy end of the sector, not agents. The two-hour long session was held by the parliamentary committee that oversees Sajid’s department, the Select Committee that oversees the newly renamed Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Tenant fees ban Headed up by MP Clive Betts plus 11 other MPs, it quizzed three experts in the field about how effective the bill will be. These were Shelter’s Head of Policy Kate…
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Latest property news
Has the CML changed its tune on longer tenancies?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has backed the government’s recent housing White Paper and says there is an “increased appetite” among lenders to advance mortgages to landlords who accommodate renters on longer tenancies. The White Paper sets out how the government is planning to create more secure, longer tenancies for families that would last up to three years and give people ‘the security they need to plan for the future’, Prime Minister Theresa May says in its introduction. Although the initiative has encountered criticism from some quarters of the property industry including eMoov chief execute Russell Quirk, who described the White Paper as ‘recycled rhetoric’, it has been welcomed by most agents and consumer groups including housing charity Shelter. The CML says it is keen to assist the government as it ‘works towards a market in which those renting can find a tenancy to suit their needs’. “Lenders already contribute to the funding of private and social rented housing, as well as owner-occupation, so we welcome and are comfortable with the cross-tenure approach in today’s white paper,” says Paul Smee, the CML’s director general. “We are now ready to work with the government, and with members and others, on the detailed implementation of…
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Housing Market
NLA rebuffs Shelter’s rogue landlords report
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has defended the private rented sector’s track record after a ‘rogue landlords report’ was released over the weekend by housing charity Shelter. It revealed that more than a million tenants in the UK have suffered illegal landlord activity over the past 12 months. The research, which was conducted among 3,250 people by YouGov, revealed that abuses include entering a property without tenant permission, threatening behaviour or harassment, disconnection of utility supplies or changing of locks without good reason, not lodging deposits correctly as well as racial, gender or nationality-based discrimination. But Richard Lambert, CEO of the NLA, says much of the blame for this lies at the feet of councils who are not enforcing the relevant laws or prosecuting landlords who break them which, he says, means “it’s way too easy for the unscrupulous to get away with this kind of behaviour”. “These [Shelter] figures highlight serious issues that are simply unacceptable but our research with tenants shows that 82 per cent say they are happy with their current landlord. Furthermore, Shelter’s figures show the vast majority of landlords to be law abiding.” Lambert also clearly believes that Shelter should also be tackling the problem of abusive…
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Latest property news
Shelter calls for ban on letting agent fees in Wales
Mystery shop of 85 letting agencies shows "widespread disregard for the law".
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Uncategorised
Rent growth slows
Rents on new tenancies remained flat or dropped marginally over the three months to November in 10 out of the 12 UK regions compared to the three months to October, according to research from HomeLet. The latest index data shows that the average UK rent, excluding London, on a tenancy signed during the three months to November was £743 a month, down 0.7 per cent on the previous three month period. In Greater London the average rent was £1,544, down 1 per cent. Only two regions saw rents rise over the three months to November. In Yorkshire and Humberside, rents on new tenancies rose by 0.8 per cent to £626 a month, while in the East Midlands rents were 1.2 per cent up at £635 a month. The study by Homelet also revealed that 91 per cent of landlords do not plan to increase rents in the next six months, while over the next 12 months, just around a third of landlords are planning to increase the amount they charge on their homes. “The research reveals the vast majority of landlords enjoy strong relationships with their tenants and are keen to keep them,” said Martin Totty, Barbon Insurance Group’s Chief…
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