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Em Morley

How can letting agents and landlords help older tenants and family renters?

Published On: September 12, 2019 at 9:09 am

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Letting agents and landlords can benefit from being particularly attentive to the needs of family renters and older tenants in the private rental sector (PRS), says Tenant Shop.

The provider of products and services for letting agents and tenants is pointing out that renting has become the choice of tenure for even more people living in the UK. As well as young professionals saving for their first home, there are many other tenant types choosing to stay in the PRS.

The proportion of private renters aged 55-64 increased to 9% in 2017-18 from 5% ten years previously, according to the most recent English Housing Survey (EHS).

Meanwhile, the previous year’s EHS documented a 1.8m rise in the number of family tenants over a decade.

Various other studies and research in recent years have also revealed an increase in the number of middle-aged renters, with or without children, as well as older people renting for lifestyle reasons.

Glenn Seddington, Managing Director of Tenant Shop, comments: “More people from all demographics are choosing to live in the PRS for the long-term. This is due to a number of reasons, including the flexibility and affordability it offers.

“This development has provided agents and landlords with the chance to work with new age groups and those that cater to older tenants and family renters within their service offering can reap the benefits.”

What are older tenants looking for?

Tenant shop highlights that older tenants or middle-aged renters will be looking to work with agents and landlords who can provide them with a reliable and comprehensive customer service.

As well as being able to use efficient and easily navigable online communications processes, they’ll also be keen to meet in person or speak on the phone when necessary.

Seddington explains: “Older tenants may also be looking for insurance products to protect their most valuable belongings and their families, and an alternative way to access the utilities market.

“By working closely with our agent partners, we have been able to support them further following this shift in market activity. And those that always like to be at the cutting-edge of the trends and lead the way with customer service are understood to already be yielding results.”

How can agents and landlords help family renters?

Typical family renters are likely to live busy and hectic lifestyles, balancing school runs, work commutes, meal times, house cleaning and more. Therefore, they are likely to be interested in a low-stress and hassle-free service from property professionals.

Seddington continues: “Tenants with young children are more likely to be under financial pressure, so they will be looking to keep bills down through introductory offers and deals when it comes to utilities.

“Agents who can make key introductions, as well as providing expert advice on things like contents insurance, can start to build long-term relationships with these tenants who will become the buyers, sellers and landlords of the future.”

August Property Index results show a decline in the market

Published On: September 12, 2019 at 8:46 am

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August Property Index results show a decline in the market

The Agency Express Property Activity Index for last month has just been released, and it has revealed a downturn across the UK property market for August.

Month on month figures show that properties ‘For Sale’ dropped by 7.8% and ‘Sold’ by 6.3%.

Whilst August can sometimes be a slower month because of seasonal factors, the figures are still lower this year than in the same period last year. Properties for sale are down by 6% and ‘Sold’ properties are down by 3.6%.

In terms of location, The Property Activity Index showed that all but one region in The UK reported declines in both ‘For Sale’ and ‘Sold’.

The West Midlands was the only region to record increases, with a 4.5% increase in the number of properties sold in August when compared to July. As it happens, this was a record-breaking month for the region; its best ever August.

The regions with the smallest declines were:

New listings ‘For Sale’

Yorkshire & Humberside -0.1%
North West -1.2%
East Midlands -5%
West Midlands -6.8%
North East -7.7%
London -7.9%
Wales -7.9%

Properties ‘Sold’

Scotland -0.7%
North West -2.1%
North East -3.1%
South East -5.7%
Central England -6.7%
East Midlands 7.4%

At the opposite end of the scale, East Anglia saw the largest decline in ‘Sold’ properties with a 15.5% decrease.

Scotland and the South East also performed badly. New listings ‘For Sale’ in the South East fell for a third month in a row with a13.8% drop and Scotland sat at a record low of -13.3%.

Housing Hand seek help from councils to ensure better access to UK housing

Published On: September 11, 2019 at 9:38 am

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The number of those sleeping rough in the UK has risen by 165% between 2010 and 2018, according to figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

UK rent guarantor service Housing Hand believes that it is time that local councils did all they can to support those who find it harder to access housing. It acknowledges that supporting people to get off the streets and back into mainstream housing is a complex issue, better addressed by supporting those at risk of becoming homeless in the first place.

According to the Museum for Homelessness, a homeless person dies every 19 hours in the UK. Over the past eight years, homelessness has risen sharply, so we are in desperate need of a solution.

Housing Hand wishes to contribute more to establishing this solution. It is due to meet with Housing Minister Esther McVey during this month to discuss plans to support those who are finding it hard to access housing, including working with local councils.

Jeremy Robinson, Group Managed Director of Housing Hand, has commented: “Local authorities have a complex task ahead of them when it comes to meeting the housing needs of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. 

“Doing so requires them to work with a range of external agencies and to find new ways of supporting their constituents. As such, Housing Hand is trialling a new way of working with local councils to ensure that those who need housing are better able to access it.”

Housing Hand’s service involves it stepping in to act as a guarantor should the tenant not be able to pay their rent. The company works directly with landlords, local councils and tenants in order to provide stability within the rented accommodation sector. It is undertaking the trial with local councils as part of its corporate social responsibility agenda.

Government’s approach to rental market “incoherent” says expert

Published On: September 10, 2019 at 9:25 am

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Governent's approach to rental market

The Government’s approach to the private rental sector (PRS) is “incoherent”, according to a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

Contrary to the Government’s stated aims, there are “few signs” that tax increases on the sector have benefited those hoping to become homeowners, David Miles, Professor of Financial Economics at Imperial College London, argues. 

Meanwhile, he highlights, they are “left in a rental sector with reduced choice and where rents are likely to be higher as supply gradually shrinks.”

It was in 2015 that the Government introduced measures to restrict mortgage interest relief on the PRS to the basic rate of income tax and imposed a Stamp Duty levy on the purchase of new homes to let.

In his exclusive article for the Residential Landlords Association Professor Miles attacks the Government’s approach which has sought to cut investment in the rental market to support aspiring first-time buyers. He argues that such buyers “are hardly helped by squeezing the supply of rental property and driving rents up.”

He goes on to say that there is nothing “intrinsically wrong with people being in the rented sector for an extended phase of their life. We should want to avoid a situation where people feel pressurised into taking big mortgages relative to their income early in life because the rental option is so poor.”

Professor Miles goes on to conclude: “In a world where house prices might be consistently higher relative to incomes than in the past we might naturally expect the period in which people are in the rented sector is longer.

“And there are good economic reasons for believing that in a country with a rising population and where real incomes tend to increase over time house prices might well rise at least as fast as incomes. To have then introduced measures that reduce the supply of rented property is perverse.”

David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association, said: “Professor Miles hits the nail on the head. Choking off the supply of rental properties does nothing to help aspiring home first-time buyers who need somewhere to live now.

“It is time to change tack and recognise that we need more homes to rent as well as to buy in order to meet growing demand and have policies that support investment.” 

Rogue letting agent and landlord database should be opened to industry

Published On: September 10, 2019 at 8:38 am

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The national blacklist of rogue letting agents should be opened up to the industry, says ARLA Propertymark. It’s important that agents have access to this information to avoid hiring crooked staff.

The database contains names of rogue letting agents and landlords. It can currently only be accessed by local and central government.

ARLA has highlighted that a local council will know that an agent on the blacklist is banned from the industry, but potential employers will not.

A consultation was launched over the summer by the Government discussing the possibility of opening the database to tenants and prospective tenants. This would be useful to all looking to research an agent or landlord before committing.

In ARLA’s official report it states that the Government should go even further and allow access to membership organisations and letting agents. It wants the individual agents to be ‘named and shamed’ rather than the firms.

The organisation stated in its response: “ARLA Propertymark believes that letting agents would greatly benefit from access to the database.

“This is because they will be able to properly vet potential employees before making any recruitment decision.

“Currently as the database stands letting agents are concerned that because only the local authority can view entrants, they may be at risk of hiring a banned letting agent.

“For this reason, we also think that it is vital that the database focuses on individuals rather than the agency that employs them.

“This is because, if an estate agency business receives a database entry rather than the individual working within it, there is nothing stopping the rogue letting agent from setting up another company or working in lettings elsewhere.

“Placing the focus on the individual agent would limit this.

“By making the database open and transparent, access to the details of banned letting agents would be a greater added protection to employers than just receiving employment references.”

Hounslow Council halts plans to introduce landlords licensing scheme

Published On: September 9, 2019 at 9:12 am

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Hounslow Council has u-turned on plans for a licensing scheme for landlords following representations by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and Safeagent (formerly the National Approved Letting Scheme – NALS).

The Council’s cabinet agreed on 9th July to proceed with the plan to introduce an additional licensing scheme for landlords.

The Council was threatened with a judicial review by the RLA, stating that there were flaws in the consultation it ran to establish the scheme. The RLA has listed the following issues with the consultation:

  • It failed to provide any information upon which the plans for the scheme were being made.
  • No information was provided to prove the ineffective management of Houses of Multiple Occupation for which such schemes are generally used.  
  • It failed to outline, as is required by law, how such a licencing scheme would be consistent with the council’s housing strategy and what conclusions the councils had reached about potential alternative ways of addressing the problems this scheme was seeking to address.
  • Whilst the consultation proposed that the scheme be adopted across the whole Borough it made reference to applying it across a smaller area without giving respondents to the consultation any information about what this might look like. This gave the clear impression that the Council had made up its mind before the consultation began.
  • Although much of the information about the above was presented to the Council’s cabinet, these papers could not be found on the authority’s website for respondents to access.  

The Council’s lawyers have now contacted the RLA to confirm that it will not take forward the decision by the Cabinet to introduce the additional licencing scheme, and will now reconsider the way forward, including carrying out a new consultation.

David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association, said: “We welcome today’s news. Hounslow Council had failed to consult on its plans properly. We are glad that they have had the courage to admit this and think again.

“Rather than seeking to re-consult on its proposals, the Council should consider the reality that they can already access a wealth of information on landlords from council tax returns, tenancy deposit schemes and the electoral roll. 

“Instead of tying up good landlords with red tape whilst the criminals continue operating under the radar, the Council needs to develop proper enforcement strategies focussed on rooting out those who bring the sector into disrepute. Licensing does not achieve this.”

Isobel Thomson, Chief Executive, Safeagent, added: “This is a victory for common sense – we are pleased Hounslow Council took on board the issues we raised about the validity of their proposed scheme.  It is important that Councils do not just automatically view licensing as the panacea for all ills in the PRS.  

“There are other existing options at their disposal which could be used more sensibly and would not involve the cost or the level of administration that licensing does.”