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Em Morley

Landlord Prosecuted Over Misleading Omission

Published On: July 17, 2015 at 9:00 am

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The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) has been successfully used to prosecute a landlord who was charged with making a misleading omission.

In one of the first cases of this kind, the landlord had not informed his tenants that their flats were subject to a planning notice.

Landlord Prosecuted Over Misleading Omission

Landlord Prosecuted Over Misleading Omission

Southwark Trading Standards and Southwark Council’s planning enforcement team brought the case against Majid Saniinejad.

Saniinejad had converted a flat into two smaller homes, breaching the Council’s minimum size standards.

One of the flats did not have a window in its bedroom, which breaches fire safety and building regulations.

The landlord had rented out one flat before the planning enforcement notice was served, which required the use of the property as two dwellings to cease.

Saniinejad and his firm, Hertford (UK), appealed against the notice and he then let out the second flat.

After this, he lost his appeal and was given six months to comply with the notice.

However, Saniinejad then renewed the first tenancy for a further 12 months.

He also failed to comply with the enforcement notice and the long-term case ended with a district judge finding Saniinejad and Hertford (UK) guilty of misleading omissions under the CPRs.

The case has now been forwarded to Croydon Crown Court for sentencing and confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

At the time the offences were committed, the maximum penalty for breaching the CPRs was £5,000 in a magistrates’ court and an unlimited fine in a crown court.

Seemingly, no other successful prosecutions have used CPRs.

Paul Gander, a trading standards team leader at Southwark Council, has written up the case here: http://portfolio.cpl.co.uk/TS-Today/201507/rental-sector/.

Welsh Letting Agents Must be Trained Too

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 5:46 pm

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New legislation regarding the private rental sector in Wales will not only apply to landlords, but also to letting agents.

Welsh Letting Agents Must be Trained Too

Welsh Letting Agents Must be Trained Too

The Welsh Government is introducing the Rent Smart Wales scheme, which will require all private landlords in the country to be licensed. The date of the scheme’s launch is yet to be confirmed.

Find out what the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) thinks about it: /rla-believes-that-landlords-dont-need-more-regulation/.

The scheme requires landlords to register their rental properties and undertake unspecified training to obtain a license, if they wish to manage the property themselves.

Now, it has been revealed that letting and management agents will also have to be licensed and trained.

Documents regarding the scheme can be found here: http://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/housing-supply/renting/privately/landlord-and-agent-registration/?lang=en.

The relevant part of the documentation says: “Training for agents has yet to be set, but will cover both the agents’ relationship with tenants as well as with their client landlords. Classroom based and online training should be available in future.”

The legislation, amendments to the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, gives power to individual local authorities to implement the legal aspects of the scheme as well as register landlords and grant licenses.

After the first year of operation, in autumn 2016, the enforcement powers detailed in the legislation – including fixed penalty notices and prosecution – will be introduced, and landlords and agents that ignore the obligations will have action taken against them by local authorities and the licensing authority.

Online Agent Changes Fees to Pay-As-You-Go

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 4:49 pm

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HouseSimple, an online agent, has introduced a new fee structure.

Customers can choose to have one week’s free trial of the new fees followed by a weekly pay-as-you-go charge of £9, plus a success fee of £495 if the property sells.

Alternatively, they can pay a lump sum of £395 on completion of the sale or after 12 months of the property being on the market, whichever comes sooner.

Fees are reduced if vendors use the company’s conveyancing and mortgage broking services.

Sellers are not tied into a contract and under either payment plan, they receive services including valuation guidance, photography, floor plans and marketing on Rightmove and Zoopla.

HouseSimple also arranges viewings, and manages the negotiations and sales progression through to completion.

CEO of HouseSimple, Alex Gosling, says: “Unlike high street estate agents, who stubbornly refuse to change their commission model to provide a better value service to home sellers, we are continually striving to meet the needs of our customers.

“We recognise there is still some uncertainty amongst home sellers around online estate agents and the existing up-front fee model can dissuade people if they’ve never sold a property online before.

“We wanted to address that concern and make the service more accessible to all.

“The free one week’s trial and pay-as-you-go payment plan that we’ve introduced gives home sellers the opportunity to see how selling their property online works.

“Once they’ve dipped their toe into the water, they’ll wonder why they never tried selling with an online estate agent before.”

Gosling ignored the high street’s no-sale-no-fee model, but claims: “Consumers are fed up with paying the exorbitantly high fees that traditional estate agents charge.

“Many home sellers are paying through the nose for a poor quality customer service experience from a high street agent.

“Online estate agency is the future of this industry. Not only do we offer an equivalent service to the high street agent for a fraction of the cost, but we also secure more sales than high street estate agents and achieve a higher asking price on sales.”1

Founder of Carphone Warehouse and Chairman of TalkTalk and Dixons Carphone, Sir Charles Dunstone, alongside his business partner, Roger Taylor, recently invested £5m into HouseSimple.

HouseSimple claims to achieve an average 99% of the asking price and an average selling time of 20 days.

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/online-agent-changes-fee-structure-to-pay-as-you-go/

Gross lending up by 29% in June

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 4:44 pm

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There was a significant rise in gross lending in June, according to a new report.

Data from research compiled by the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that total lending rose by 29% in comparison to May to an estimated £20.5bn.[1]

The report showed that year-on-year figures were also up, by 15% on the total of £17.8bn lent in June of 2014.[1]

Rises

In addition, total gross lending in the second quarter of 2015 amounted to £52.2bn, which signified a 17% increase on the £44.5bn recorded in the first three months of the year. This also represented a slight increase of 1% on the same period last year, where gross lending totalled £51.7bn.[1]

‘Activity is picking up after a slow start to the year,’ observed Mohammed Jamei, economist at the Council of Mortgage Lenders. ‘Our lending figure for June may be flattered by the end of political uncertainties related to May’s general election and the underlying picture is likely to be one of only modest recovery. This should be supported by favourable conditions in the economy, though it will be limited by rising house prices and affordability pressures.’[1]

Gross lending up by 29% in June

Gross lending up by 29% in June

Less uncertainty

Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director stated that, ‘as predicted activity in June was more brisk than in the previous few months, which seems to confirm that the much talked about uncertainty around the general election had a real impact.’ However, he went on to say that, ‘with less uncertainty and a more stable political picture, I expect the market to continue to improve.’[1]

Although the Governor of the Bank of England yesterday warned that interest rate rises are coming closer, most believe this will still not happen until 2016, and any rise is likely to be small which means we still have very competitive rates and products for the foreseeable.  This should help the health of the whole of market, especially the remortgage sector which is still subdued,’ Pike concluded.[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/finance/gross-lending-sees-29-rise-in-june.html

 

Zoopla looking for new advertising agency

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 3:59 pm

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The Zoopla Property Group is said to be looking for a new advertising agency, following problems after the acquisition of price comparison site USwitch.

Conflicts of interest

Completing the acquisition of the site created a conflict of interest with Albion-the creative agency used by Zoopla-and Comparethemarket.com, which is a direct rival of USwitch.

Marketing industry website The Drum says that Zoopla’s chief marketing officer Gareth Helm is currently searching for another agency that could simultaneously manage both USwitch and the property portal.

However, Jason Goodman, founder and chief executive of Albion, believes that, ‘it’s a conflict that can’t be resolved. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Zoopla Property Group and wish them continued success in the future.’[1]

Zoopla looking for new advertising agency

Zoopla looking for new advertising agency

Just last year, Zoopla Property Group extended Albion’s working brief and asked it to service its total brand portfolio, including PrimeLocation.

‘They are a great firm and we are grateful for the value they’ve added. No doubt we’ll work together again in the future,’ commented Zoopla founder and chief executive Alex Chesterman.[2]

 

[1] https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/7/zoopla-on-the-prowl-for-new-advertising-agency

 

 

Law Firm Believes that Right to Rent Checks Could be Rolled Out This Autumn

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 3:45 pm

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A law firm has claimed that right to rent checks could be rolled out nationally from this autumn.

Right to rent requires a landlord or their letting agent to conduct immigration status checks on all prospective tenants.

Law Firm Believes that Right to Rent Checks Could be Rolled Out This Autumn

Law Firm Believes that Right to Rent Checks Could be Rolled Out This Autumn

Paragon Law, which uses Right2Rent as a trading name, states that the Home Office is bringing forward its analysis of the right to rent pilot that has been trialled in the West Midlands since December 2014.

Right2Rent was launched to aid landlords, agents and tenants with the complexities of immigration law.

In a post on its site, the law firm says: “At present, new rules for landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants are currently being piloted in the areas of Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

“Landlords within these areas are currently under a duty to undertake checks of the immigration status of their tenants.

“If they do not carry out checks, they can be fined up to £3,000 per tenant that is renting a property if they do not have a right to rent.”

It continues: “The pilot has been running from 1st December 2014 and landlords in the above areas have been getting to grips with the new system of rules, or delegating the responsibility for carrying out checks to agents to carry out checks on their behalf.

“The Government has not yet confirmed when the new rules will be rolled out nationwide.

“However, contrary to previous indications, the Home Office’s evaluation of the pilot period is being brought forward so that a report can be published earlier, with the indication being that the right to rent rules will be rolled out nationwide from autumn 2015.

“This would mean that the requirements for landlords to check the immigration status will take effect for all landlords, regardless of where they are in the UK.”

It adds: “If the roll out does go ahead as planned, landlords and letting agents across the country will need to put in place procedures to ensure that they do not get caught out by the new requirements.

“Given the large number of different documents that can prove a person’s permission to be in the UK, there are concerns over whether landlords or letting agents will have the expertise to carry out the checks properly.

“There are also concerns that landlords or letting agents will become subject to discrimination claims if they wrongly refuse to rent a property to tenants on immigration grounds.”1

However, Managing Director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), David Cox, says that no decisions have been made regarding a roll out.

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/immigration-checks-could-be-rolled-out-from-this-autumn-claim/