Posts with tag: legislation

Chartered Institute of Housing calls for tougher legislation for agents

Published On: February 21, 2017 at 1:01 pm

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The Chartered Institute of Housing has called on the Government to introduce new legislative measures, including a further regulation of letting agents.

Many features outlined in the recent Housing White Paper has brought support from the firm. However, many in the private rental sector believe the Paper has imposed serious challenges for letting agents, investors and landlords.

Standards

In its submission to the Treasury ahead of the Budget next month, the Chartered Institute of Housing wants the development of an easy-to-understand set of standards. These will cover both the conditions of properties and property management in the rental sector.

What’s more, it has called for councils to receive more funding in order for them to proactively enforce existing and future standards. This is vitally important given recent alterations to licensing schemes, the Chartered Institute of Housing warns.

However, the Institute wants to see letting agents regulated most.

Chartered Institute of Housing calls for tougher legislation for agents

Chartered Institute of Housing calls for tougher legislation for agents

Rents

Included in the submission to Chancellor Phillip Hammond will be a 2010 survey from the Department of Communities and Local Government that shows 79% of landlords received less than one-quarter of their income from rent. This is evidence that, according to the firm, being a landlord is, ‘is a side-line activity for most.’[1]

It says therefore that a greater reliance is put onto letting agents. The submission goes on to say: ‘There is widespread agreement, including among organisations representing against themselves, that regulation is needed to stamp out poor and exploitative practices. This could most easily be implemented by extending the arrangements already in place to regulate estate agents, to the lettings industry.’[1]

 

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/2/trade-body-wants-much-stricter-regulation-on-letting-agents

 

Landlord fined for ignoring improvement notice

Published On: February 17, 2017 at 10:47 am

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A rogue landlord who failed to comply with an improvement notice to carry out essential repairs to his property has been told to be pay fines and fees of almost £800, following an investigation by Harrogate Borough Council.

Damian John Green of Heather Lea Avenue, Sheffield, was found guilty of not carrying out the required work to his rental property on Robert Street, Harrogate, within the allotted time.

Guilty

Mr Green pleaded guilty to non-compliance of an improvement notice for substandard and rotten window sashes and frames. This was despite the initial notice being varied, in order to provide additional time for compliance within an allotted time period agreed with the landlord.

The defendant was absent at the hearing at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court. He did however enter a guilty plea by post and was fined £400. In addition, he was told to pay council’s costs of £351 and a victim surcharge of £40.

 

Landlord fined for ignoring improvement notice

Landlord fined for ignoring improvement notice

Councilor Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing, noted: ‘This successful prosecution demonstrates the council’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding the rights of private tenants in the district.’[1]

‘We are dedicated to ensuring that landlords operate within the law and provide safe accommodation for residents. We do not tolerate poor housing standards or complete disregard for tenant welfare. Wherever possible we will continue to work with landlords to improve the private rented sector, but will not hesitate to take enforcement action where necessary and prosecute for further disregard and non-compliance as a last resort.’[1]

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/2/landlord-fined-for-failing-to-make-safety-improvements

 

 

17% of UK rental properties could be unfit by 2018

Published On: February 15, 2017 at 10:15 am

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17% of properties on the private rental market could become unrentable by 2018, should Government plans for new legislation go ahead.

New research from Urban.co.uk suggests that the Energy Efficiency Regulations passed in 2015 could lead to a number of properties being unfit. This is a concern given the existing supply/demand imbalance.

Energy Efficiency Regulations

The 2015 Energy Efficiency Regulations set out minimum energy efficiency standards for England and Wales. The legislation makes it unlawful for landlords to offer a new tenancy agreement on properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating below E from the 1st April.

Urban’s Landlord Knowledge Survey Report questioned around 4,000 UK landlords on a number of issues relating to the UK market. It suggests that many current private landlords are unaware that a large chunk of homes available in the rental market are currently below the minimum energy efficiency standards proposed.

Adam Male, co-founder of Urban.co.uk, said: ‘One reason to explain the lack of industry knowledge could be due to the recent influx in new regulations, which have flooded the rental market. With landlords facing more changes than ever over the past couple of years, it is no surprise that many find it tricky to keep up-unfortunately that’s no defence should it all go disastrously wrong.’[1]

17% of UK rental properties could be unfit by 2018

17% of UK rental properties could be unfit by 2018

Planning

Planning and preparation will be needed in order to mitigate the impact of the new legislation. Landlords are being urged to act now to make sure their properties come up to at least an E standard.

Danny Luke, managing director at Quick Move Now, observed: ‘It is commendable that the government is keen to improve the quality of rental property, but for the proposed new legislation to be workable, a great deal of thought will need to go into how landlords can be supported to make the necessary changes. This is especially true in light of the government’s decision to stop funding Green Deal improvements.’[1]

‘If significant energy efficiency improvement work is likely to be required, landlords will need support if we want to ensure a vibrant and efficient private rental market in the coming years,’ Luke added.[1]

[1] www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/2/almost-17-of-homes-could-become-unrentable-by-2018

 

Rightmove to Share Property Market Insights with NAEA and ARLA Members

Published On: February 6, 2017 at 9:25 am

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The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) have announced that they are working with property portal Rightmove to deliver property market insights to their members.

Rightmove to Share Property Market Insights with NAEA and ARLA Members

Rightmove to Share Property Market Insights with NAEA and ARLA Members

In a bid to offer more help and support to letting and estate agents, Rightmove will work alongside the organisations to bring the latest property market insights to their members.

The two membership bodies also believe that the partnership will help to keep agents up to date with any changes to legislation.

The Managing Director of the NAEA, Mark Hayward, and the Managing Director of ARLA, David Cox, issued a joint statement: “The invaluable research and data Rightmove provides helps build the knowledge of our members, which they can then use and implement into their own business model effectively.”

Miles Shipside, the Commercial Director of Rightmove, also comments on the partnership: “We’ll be working with the NAEA and ARLA throughout the year to enhance the support that we can offer estate and letting agents by providing insights using our research and whole of market data. We’ll be speaking at their national conferences and regional meetings, and we’ll be hosting free webinars that anyone in the industry can sign up to.”

If you think you can benefit from Rightmove’s property market insights, sign up for training and webinars from the NAEA and ARLA on the Rightmove Hub, at hub.rightmove.co.uk.

Upcoming webinars include:

  • February 14th with Miles Shipside, with content from the ARLA national conference
  • February 22nd with Mark Hayward
  • April 4th with David Cox

Upcoming events include:

Landlords, you may find the property market insights and updates from Rightmove and the NAEA/ARLA useful for your lettings business. Sign up to the webinars to help you understand your responsibilities.

Housing chief slams Right To Rent

Published On: February 2, 2017 at 2:50 pm

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An industry peer has moved to lambast the Right To Rent legislation, suggesting that the Government is largely unaware of its impact.

Mr John Perry, senior policy advisor at the Chartered Institute of Housing, feels that the Government must rethink the scheme before it rolls out to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Application

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Perry said that no one knows if the Right to Rent bill is achieving its objective or if it even being applied whatsoever.

Perry wrote: ‘The Home Office has admitted it cannot monitor the scheme and it’s a fair bet given the limited publicity that at least a proportion of England’s 1.8m private landlords are still completely unaware of it.’[1]

‘Refugees who have been accepted in the UK often have to wait many weeks for documents to prove it – and many become homeless because they can’t get either a social or a private tenancy. Meanwhile British people can also be affected if they have no passport or other accepted proof of UK residence, and there are a raft of other circumstances that could mean a person may not satisfy the checks,’ he warned.[1]

Housing chief slams Right To Rent

Housing chief slams Right To Rent

Checks

At present, Perry thinks that there are 11,300 daily Right To Rent checks, but as of December 2016, there were only 654 individuals without documents attempting to rent.

Concluding, Mr Perry said: ‘The additional work by landlords was estimated by the government to cost a staggering £4.7m a year. It’s time for the government to seriously reconsider the impact of right to rent on vulnerable tenants and would-be tenants before it is rolled out to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s simply not good enough to claim that the scheme has a deterrent effect when the proven benefits are so limited and there are regular reports of the damage being caused.’[1]

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/2/right-to-rent-housing-chief-says-its-not-good-enough

A burdensome approach to landlord regulation is rejected

Published On: August 3, 2016 at 10:04 am

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The Government is to relent on forcing landlords of leasehold properties to have to be a member of a redress scheme. This is despite increasing pressure from conveyancers looking for a reform of leasehold legislation.

There have been calls from The Conveyancing Association for existing and incoming leaseholders to be made to join a redress system with consumer rights, similar to one of the three existing property ombudsman schemes.

Redress Schemes

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town brought up the issue of redress schemes for landlords of leasehold properties during a Department for Communities and Local Government debate last week.

Hayter enquired if the Government was thinking of extending the requirements of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, in order to require landlords of leasehold properties to be permitted to belong to a redress scheme.

However, minister Lord Bourne noted that the Government, ‘is not persuaded that more burdensome approaches to regulate landlords would be effective.’

A burdensome approach to landlord regulation is rejected

A burdensome approach to landlord regulation is rejected

Tribunal

Mr Bourne said leaseholders in dispute with a landlord could apply to the first-tier tribunal (property chamber) in England and the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales to obtain redress.

He continued by saying, ‘the government is extending leaseholders’ access to redress by including provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 that will address an irregularity concerning the inability of courts and tribunals to restrict recovery of a landlord’s legal costs from leaseholders as administrative charges, where they consider a restriction on recovery to be just and equitable. The Government plans to introduce related secondary legislation by summer 2017.’[1]

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/8/burdensome-approaches-to-regulate-landlords-of-leasehold-homes-would-be-ineffective