Cleaning a rental property is a vital responsibility for tenants at the conclusion of a tenancy agreement. A thorough clean could be the difference between getting their deposit back in full or them facing deductions.
As such, we have devised a cleaning checklist for both tenants and landlords alike. Download it below and use it to check against an original inventory, to ensure all responsibilities have been met!
Click the image below to Download.
60 high-rise buildings in 25 local authorities have failed fire safety tests conducted in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze earlier this month, the Government has reported.
This figure amounts to a 100% failure rate, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
The number has risen from 34 tower blocks in 17 local authorities, with hundreds more still yet to be tested.
The results of the safety tests arrive as Theresa May is due to chair a meeting of the Grenfell Tower recovery taskforce later, which includes the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Downing Street sources say that the Prime Minister is likely to hear how many of the country’s high-rise buildings are swathed in potentially flammable materials.
At least 79 people are believed to have died in the Grenfell Tower blaze in North Kensington.
60 High-Rise Buildings Fail Safety Tests Following Grenfell Tower Blaze
The building’s cladding is widely blamed for how quickly the fire spread up its 24 storeys.
The new Housing Minister, Alok Sharma, refused to reveal whether the cladding used on the block was illegal.
He did, however, say: “The rules in terms of this particular type of cladding are clear. Aluminium composite material, which has a core of polyethylene, should not be put on buildings which are 18 metres high. That is absolutely clear.
“But obviously as a result of this terrible tragedy, we are going to have to learn the lessons. If that means changes to regulations as a result of what comes out of the inquiry and the work that the police and the fire service are doing – then we will make those.”
He insisted: “This shouldn’t have happened in the first place in our country, in the 21st century, and we need to make sure this never ever happens again.”
The manufacturer of the insulation used to clad Grenfell Tower has said it will stop using the product on high-rise buildings.
Officials are now carrying out inspections of tower blocks across the country.
14 areas where buildings have failed the test have been identified, with 11 yet to be named.
Five buildings failed the tests in Sunderland, four in Manchester, three in Plymouth, three in Stockton-on-Tees, two in Portsmouth, and one each in Doncaster and Norwich.
In London, five buildings have been deemed unsafe in Camden, three in Barnet, two in Wandsworth, and one each in Islington, Lambeth, Brent and Hounslow.
In a statement, the DCLG said: “All landlords and fire and rescue services for these local authorities have been alerted to the results, and we are in touch with all of them to support and monitor follow-up action.”
On Friday, authorities ordered the evacuation of four tower blocks in the Chalcots Estate in north London out of safety concerns – a move backed by Sadiq Khan.
But some 200 residents from 120 homes are still refusing to leave, according to the Leader of Camden Council, Georgia Gould. Tensions are running high, with some residents saying they were intimidated by security guards.
Sharma responded: “I understand people living in tower blocks around the country will be extremely concerned, and that is why we have been clear that we have put in place a regime of getting cladding that may not be compliant tested as quickly as possible.
“As soon as we identify a piece of cladding on a building that is non-compliant, the local authority is informed immediately, the fire authority is informed, and the fire service then goes in and sees whether there can be mitigation measures put in place so that people don’t have to leave the building whilst the cladding is taken down.
“In the case of Camden, what happened was, apart from the cladding, there were other fire safety checks which failed, and that is why people had to be evacuated.”
Gross mortgage borrowing in May totalled £13.3 billion – much in line with recent months and 9% higher than a year before, show the latest high street banking figures from the British Banking Association (BBA).
Gross Mortgage Borrowing up by 9% in May
Net mortgage borrowing in May was 2.4% higher than a year ago.
House purchase approval numbers of 40,347 in May were 3.3% lower than in May last year, and slightly down on the monthly average of 41,923 over the past six months.
Remortgaging approval numbers of 24,248 were 10% lower than in 2016, and down on the monthly average of 26,494 seen over the previous six months.
Other advances approved were 4.8% higher by number than in May last year.
The BBA’s latest data also shows that consumer credit growth was 5.1% in May, compared with 6.4% in the previous month.
This decline was driven by weaker growth in personal loans and overdrafts, with annual growth dropping from 6.3% to 4.8%, while growth in credit card borrowing also slowed, from 6.4% to 5.5%, reflecting weaker retail sales volumes in May.
The Managing Director of Retail Banking at the BBA, Eric Leenders, comments: “This month’s figures show that, in the run up to the General Election, credit growth in personal loans, cards and overdrafts has slowed, which was reflected in lower spending; with increased household costs affecting growth in deposits and saving.
“Businesses appear to be weighing up their options before raising finance to fund projects or developments. After a long period of subdued company borrowing, overall growth is starting to stabilise at a modest rate.”
The complete figures and analysis from the high street banks for May 2017 can be found on the BBA’s website here: https://www.bba.org.uk/news/press-releases/may-2017-figures-for-the-high-street-banks/#.WVDPHlth1UM
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The proposed ban on letting agent fees charged to tenants by landlords and letting agents continues to split opinion within the industry.
Many experts suggest that if the fees are banned, these costs will subsequently be passed on to landlords, who will need to reclaim these fees from elsewhere – probably through increased rents.
Gains
This said, there is little doubt that some agents have previously overcharged their tenants for financial gain. Now, the Government has chosen to act, with the proposed ban being welcomed by some leading industry figures.
Alex Harrington, group lettings managing director at Dexters, noted: ‘Dexters supports the ban on tenants fees being brought forward and the limiting of any additional charges to tenants.’[1]
‘We have always kept any charges to tenants as low as possible, making sure any financial contribution from a tenant has been transparent before they consider renting through us and that it is wholly relevant to the work carried out on their behalf,’ he continued.[1]
Charlie Woods, senior lettings director at Russell Simpson, also welcomed the plans.
Proposed ban on agent fees continues to split opinion
Mr Woods said: ‘From our point of view it’s business as usual, for quite a while now we haven’t charged the standard administration fee, because we simply don’t see the need. We also don’t charge the landlord their portion as they are paying us a fee already so we’ve always felt it was unjustified to ask for anything else on top.’
‘There has been talk of some agents pushing the fees onto the landlord, who could subsequently increase the rent to cover the additional costs. However, I feel this is unlikely, as with the sales market, overly high prices in the rental market stand out and the properties will simply not let, so all-in-all this will be a very positive move for tenants.’[1]
Leap Forwards
Calum Brannan, CEO of No Agent, sees the new Tenant’s Fees Bill as a ‘huge leap forward for the letting market.’ Brannan suggests that the industry, ‘has been double dipping and making profits from both tenants and landlords simultaneously for too long.’[1]
However, Tim Wright, product director at KeyAGENT, observed: ‘With the Tenants Fee Bill now firmly on the horizon, agents will be under increasing pressure to deliver exceptional service in tougher conditions.’[1]
[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/6/some-agents-welcome-the-governments-plans-to-cut-tenants-fees
Being a tenant is becoming increasingly common, but in which cities of the world are renters’ needs most catered for? Well it turns out that it’s not London, which has the ninth least affordable rental market among the world’s top cities of opportunity…
A great city must present a good deal of opportunities to its residents, which means that it shouldn’t hurt to live there.
Apartment search platform RENTCafé has already analysed rent prices in the top global financial centres, but it is now looking at the world in a wider angle – not just restricted to cities with outstanding activity in the financial sector. It’s also bringing the affordability of local rents into the equation.
In its latest Cities of Opportunity report, global professional services firm PwC shortlisted the world’s best cities to work and live in. Its top-30 ranking is the result of an in-depth analysis of the most prosperous global business, finance and culture capitals, which looks at ten different indicators – including, but not limited to: infrastructure, intellectual capital, sustainability and ease of doing business. All of these factors are essential for a great environment.
With this list in its hands, RENTCafé found out how much money people earn in these cities and whether these salaries are high enough to afford a rental property.
Firstly, let’s look at PwC’s best Cities of Opportunity:
RENTCafé then checked out the average rents in these markets, as well as their median incomes, and calculated the rent-to-income ratios.
Traditionally, housing costs exceeding 30% of a household’s income are viewed as a red flag, so this became RENTCafé’s first threshold. Thus, it considered the cities where the average rent was 30% or less of the local median household income to be burden-free.
It then divided the remainder of the list into two – moderately (31-50% rent-to-income) and severely (51%+) rent-burdened cities.
Here’s how the PwC list swapped around when these rent-to-income ratios were applied:
London has the 9th Least Affordable Rental Market Among the World’s Best Cities
The twist on the data puts these cities into a completely different perspective.
Granted, London sliding back 21 places when ranked by rental affordability was unsurprising, but what’s more shocking is that seven of the top ten most affordable Cities of Opportunity came straight from the lower third of the initial ranking.
Kuala Lumpur, Moscow and Johannesburg were named the most affordable Cities of Opportunity.
The trio launched from 20th, 22nd and 24th places in the original ranking, respectively. Still, the two South American markets of the 4th and 5th places – Bogotá and Rio de Janeiro – have moved the farthest from their original positions – 22 places, up from 26th and 27th respectively.
RENTCafé believes that great cities must obviously come with price tags to match – but paying the rent in these Cities of Opportunity isn’t always so painful…
In 13 of these cities, the rent-to-income ratio is comfortably below the 30% threshold. And although Tokyo, Hong Kong and Madrid technically fall into the moderately rent-burdened category, people in these cities still spend less than a third of their income to pay the rent. If you look at it this way, renting a property in more than half of the world’s Cities of Opportunity shouldn’t be too difficult.
Then again, these are Cities of Opportunity, and what would be the point of these opportunities if only a lucky few could afford to utilise them?
Which brings us to the lower end of the list…
Mexico City, Manhattan and Lagos are the least tenant-friendly Cities of Opportunity in 2017.
Although opportunities are plentiful in these cities, no amount of amenities can overlook the rent burden issue. Renters in Mexico City, Manhattan and Lagos face severe rent burdens, meaning that rent takes up more than half of a household’s income each month (60%, 59% and 57% respectively).
In other words, in an average family with two earners, one of them works only to pay the rent – and even that’s not enough. Tenants in Los Angeles also cash out 47% of their income each month on rent, and the situation isn’t much better in Paris (46%) or Singapore (44%).
Access to the great opportunities these cities offer clearly requires some form of compromise – rental affordability isn’t always their best charms. However, the good news is that there are plenty of other great cities around the world where renting a property isn’t an issue; they’re just not the best ones.
Property deals worth over £100m are dominating the market in London’s West End, according to a new report from Savills.
Ten deals, totalling £2.175bn have been transacted this year, which is a record for both the number of deals in this category.
Turnover
The property advisor reports that the ten £100+ transactions have made up 69% of the total turnover of the West End market during 2017.
Asian investors have been responsible for nearly half of all deals of this size during the year – in comparison to 19% in the whole of 2016.
Domestic investors are also pursuing larger plots, according to the report. Three acquisitions of over £100m from UK investors recorded until the end of May has equaled the number seen in the whole of 2016.
West End investment market driven by £100m+ deals
Savills said that the 11 transactions that took place in May totalled £583, which took the total investment in the year in the West End to £3bn.
Paul Cockburn, head of the West End investment team at Savills, noted: ‘A key characteristic of overseas demand is their willingness to target both scale and quality. With this comes the current high level of liquidity for large lots. Such is the demand of late there again seems renewed downward pressure on prime yields.’[1]
In addition, Savills said that prime yields in the West End market remain at 3.25% for the fifth straight month.
[1] https://www.propertyinvestortoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/6/londons-west-end-investment-market-dominated-by-100m-deals