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Em

Em Morley

Local Council is the First to Partner with Landlord Accreditation Scheme

Published On: March 23, 2017 at 9:55 am

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North Tyneside Council has partnered with a leading landlord accreditation scheme to bring professional practice to the private rental sector in the area.

The partnership between North Tyneside Council and the National Landlords Association (NLA) is the first of its kind between a local council and landlord accreditation scheme.

North Tyneside Council is encouraging local landlords to sign up as members to the NLA and become accredited.

Local Council is the First to Partner with Landlord Accreditation Scheme

Local Council is the First to Partner with Landlord Accreditation Scheme

The council approached the NLA to develop the scheme, in order to give landlords additional support and help to raise the standards of private rental housing in the borough.

The partnership means that landlords who sign up to the NLA and become accredited will receive a package of benefits and incentives from the council, worth up to £300 per year. This includes:

  • Discounts on House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and discretionary licences.
  • Access to commercial waste disposal facilities.
  • Free tenant checks and referencing.

Landlords will also be able to take advantage of the extensive range of membership benefits available from the NLA, including:

  • Access to its telephone advice line.
  • Best practice tenancy agreements, forms and letters.
  • Bi-monthly subscription to UK Landlord, the landlord accreditation scheme magazine.

The Chief Executive of the NLA, Richard Lambert, says: “The NLA is leading the way in establishing working relationships between landlords and local authorities that are willing to work in collaboration to improve standards in the private rented sector.

“This unique partnership with North Tyneside Council represents a major step forward, and we hope it will serve as a blueprint for how the NLA can work with other councils across England in the future.”

He continues: “NLA Accreditation is a national scheme which offers greater consistency for all landlords, tenants and councils to recognise, and it’s the best way to maintain a profitable and successful lettings business.

“We’re delighted that North Tyneside Council is working with us to open up a whole raft of benefits, as well as educational and developmental resources that will work to ensure a more professional sector – not just for renters, but for everyone involved.”

Norma Redfearn, the elected Mayor of North Tyneside, also comments: “This is a great new partnership that will give landlords the opportunity to continue their professional development and gain accreditation, while also supporting our aim of raising the standard of private rented accommodation in North Tyneside.”

Landlords with properties in North Tyneside will have the opportunity to find out more about the landlord accreditation scheme at a forum on Thursday 6th April, from 6pm-7.45pm, at North Tyneside Council’s offices, Quadrant East.

The NLA is also waiving its joining fee (£14) for landlords in North Tyneside.

Landlords told to allow tenants to make improvements

Published On: March 23, 2017 at 9:50 am

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The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) has said that landlords should offer a more open-minded approach to tenants’ requests to making improvements to their rental properties.

It suggests that a growing number of number of private tenants are keen to personalise their rental accommodation.

Improvements

A recent study from Plentific found that 73% of tenants have carried out DIY improvements out of their own pocket.

The research questioned more than 2,000 tenants a found that 23% had spent more than £500 on home improvements in their property.

Patricia Barber, chair of the AIIC, observed: ‘It’s clear that tenants are increasingly willing to spend their own money on improving their rental property and this is certainly something landlords should think about.’[1]

Barber suggests that landlords who permit tenants to make reasonable alterations could see long-term rewards.

Landlords told to allow to allow tenants to make improvements

Landlords told to allow to allow tenants to make improvements

Standards

Continuing, Barber said: ‘We’re seeing more long-term tenants and they’re clearly committed to living in a higher standard of property. Landlords who cautiously allow tenants to put their own stamp on a property could benefit from a lower turnover of tenants and an improved and well-maintained property at the end of the contract.’[1]

She also advises all landlords to make sure that they have an accurate inventory in place, whereby they can long the condition of the property before, during and after the tenancy.

This will not only be imperative in terms of a dispute, but can help eradicate the risk in the first place.

Concluding, Barber said: ‘If rental properties are noticeably changing over the course of a tenancy, it’s vitally important that there is an inventory which comprehensively details the condition and contents of the property at the start of the tenancy. This way any fair deposit deductions can be made by the landlord and the chances of a [tenancy] deposit dispute are minimised.’[1]

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/3/landlords-urged-to-allow-tenants-to-personalise-their-rental-properties

 

Are you a Landlord and Worried about April 2018?

Published On: March 23, 2017 at 9:18 am

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You may know that in April next year, 2018, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) will come into effect, meaning that it will be illegal to renew or begin any lease for properties that have an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of F or G.

Are you a Landlord and Worried about April 2018?

Are you a Landlord and Worried about April 2018?

An EPC is mandatory for anyone selling or letting a property, and the rating ranges from A, which is the best rating, to G, which is the lowest.

The good news, if you are the landlord of a property with an F or G rating, being at the bottom of the scale gives you many options to improve!

A site visit would be necessary to determine the most cost efficient solutions at your property, however, the team at Polareco, which specialises in building energy advice, has put together a list of some upgrades that are both non-invasive and highly affordable:

  • Do you have open fireplaces? That will impact your EPC negatively, as you lose hot air up the chimney, even if the fireplaces are not in use. Fitting a damper to your chimney that enables the flue to be mechanically closed when not in use can earn you several points on an EPC, and be the difference between an F and E rating. The cost of a damper ranges from less than £100 to several hundred pounds.
  • Is there a hot water cylinder in your property with no or little insulation? You can earn many points by adding a jacket to it, especially if it is a sizeable cylinder (more than 130 litres), choose insulation of minimum 50mm. You can buy jackets online for less than £50, and see other customer reviews on how well it works as well as how to put it on, which is a quite simple DIY job.
  • Changing lightbulbs – From regular ones (the 40W, 60W, 100W) to LED bulbs (around 10W or less) can give you another point or two, and LED lightbulbs are easily ordered online at places like IKEA and Amazon for around £5 per bulb.
  • Add a programmer or room thermostat – This can earn you another few points. A smart thermostat like Nest costs about £200 to buy and install.

Combined, these measures are just a few hundred pounds and will reduce your tenants’ energy bills, as well as ensure you are compliant with national legislation.

Feel free to contact Polareco for more information about your specific property. They have certified domestic energy assessors, and would be happy to advise you.

To know more, contact: info@polareco.com

www.polareco.com

Prime Central London property prices hit record highs in 2016

Published On: March 22, 2017 at 2:05 pm

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Typical property prices in the Prime Central area of London hit a new high of £1,818,262 in 2016, with the market recovering during the final quarter of the year.

During the last three months of the year, prices rose 14% quarter-on-quarter and at year’s end, were up by 3.75%, according to data released by the Land Registry.

Falls

However, sales were down substantially, dropping by 3,330 during the year as a whole. This was the lowest number since records began and was a fall of 29% from the previous year.

Despite this, the final quarter of 2016 saw 118 sales, a 19% quarter-on-quarter increase.

In Greater London, average prices hit £584,694, down from 3% in comparison to the beginning of 2016. However, this was a rise of 5.7% since the previous year. Sales activity also remained low, falling by6.3% on the last quarter and 21% year-on-year.

Naomi Heaton, Chief Executive Officer of London Central Portfolio, noted: ‘Having taken a big knock following last April’s new additional rate stamp duty and the shock of Brexit, evidence of a recovery in prime central London in the fourth quarter is positive news.’[1]

‘As an international buying market, the weakness in sterling combined with the Trump effect and increasing instability in Europe, appears to have drawn investors back to prime central London as a safe haven asset class. The uptick has been led, in particular, by Kensington and Chelsea which saw a 24% quarterly increase in prices,’ she added.[1]

Prime Central London property prices hit record highs in 2016

Prime Central London property prices hit record highs in 2016

Reasons for Optimism

Moving on, Heaton pointed out that sales activity was equivalent to just 64 per week, the lowest on record. However she feels there is room for optimism:

‘Sales volumes saw a recovery at the end of last year. Whilst transactions remain significantly down for the year as a whole, lower even than the depths of the credit crunch, it is notable that there was a 19% increase in sales in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter, albeit from a very low base.’[1]

‘This is notable as it is bucks the seasonal trend where volumes typically tail-off in the quieter pre-Christmas period. It is our expectation that sales numbers will continue to harden gradually as the initial shock of Brexit and tax changes wash through.’[1]

Concluding, Heaton said: ‘Despite Government initiatives to support buyers with reductions in basic rate Stamp Duty and their flagship Help to Buy scheme, it appears the domestic market is still struggling. Salary caps on mortgage lending, which do not reflect the ratio between house prices and earnings, are hampering buyers to get on the housing ladder and their ability to trade up. This has been exacerbated by the failure to meet affordable housing targets, a trend which shows little sign of reversing.’[1]

[1] http://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/average-prices-prime-central-london-market-reached-new-high-2016/

£1,001 – The Cost of a Holiday Apartment in London hits a New High

Published On: March 22, 2017 at 11:38 am

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What makes London so appealing to the millions of visitors pulling them in every year? People pour in from all over the world, be it to visit, work or just live. Well, we think we know the answer – there are few more cosmopolitan places in the world.

The huge demand is being met by building new Crossrail links into central London and construction of new housing – such as the Battersea Power Station project – these will certainly help to cope with the influx.

So how is this affecting property prices, hotel prices and, in particular, Airbnb rentals? Since the launch of Airbnb, hoteliers in London haven’t had it easy. It took a while for Londoners to really embrace the sharing economy and put their own homes up for rent on the short-term accommodation website, but they’ve never looked back since.

We compared listings from five of the top cities in the world and worked out average prices (in pounds) for a one night stay. As you can see from the graphic, London apartments have an average rental price of £143 per night compared with the most expensive city we checked, which was Sydney, way out ahead at £178 per night.

Visitors looking to spend a romantic seven-day holiday in the UK’s capital city will have to fork out a whopping £1,001 just for their Airbnb stay – that usually won’t include a breakfast – but you will have the luxury of your own private kitchen.

The graphic above displays the cost in GBP of a seven-night stay in each city. Paris, world renowned for being one of the most romantic cities in the world, is the cheapest out of all the famous cities, at just £616 for a seven-night stay.

So, is London worth it? Is the inflated price good value compared to its neighbour Paris? Well if you don’t fancy paying £143 a night for your London stay, then why not stay outside Zone 1 of central London?

The graphic below compares the average London price with the five lowest prices boroughs of London:

As you can see, there’s good value to be had if you’re not particular as to where you’ll be staying. Compared with the most expensive boroughs in London, you can save more than 50% of your accommodation costs by staying in Zones 4, 5 and 6.

MPs call for greater powers to crackdown on illegal London lets

Published On: March 22, 2017 at 10:37 am

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As more buy-to-let landlords in London are beginning to utilise short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb, MPs are calling for more powers in order to crackdown on rogues.

A growing number of landlords are using these platforms to breach rules on letting properties, which only permit homes to be rented out short-term for up to 90 days.

Crackdown

Talking to Parliament yesterday, Westminster North Labour MP Karen Buck, along with nine other MPs, argued that landlords should have to notify councils of the dates that their property is being used for short-letting.

Buck notes that Westminster council alone is investigating over 1,100 properties which are believed to have breached the 90-day limit.

She said she welcomed, ‘freedom for homeowners to let their properties,’ but insisted that, ‘without excessive bureaucratic interference,’ it is hard for, ‘cash strapped councils to police the rules.’[1]

‘Alongside the responsible owner-occupiers are irresponsible ones, illegal sub-letters and an increasingly significant commercial operation, seeking to take advantage of potentially higher yields,’ she continued.[1]

MPs call for greater powers to crackdown on illegal London lets

MPs call for greater powers to crackdown on illegal London lets

Blocks

Earlier in March, the Mayor of London called on short-term agents operating in London to block hosts from renting out homes in the capital for over 90 days. These include Veeve, One Fine Stay, Wimdu, Booking.com, HomeAway and Airsorted.

However, until there is a change in the existing rules to analyze activity levels, Field thinks that a, ‘free-for all in short-term lets’ will keep, ‘causing misery for thousands of our constituents.’[1]

‘We want the local council to have effective powers to clamp down on this,’ she concluded.[1]

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/3/mps-call-for-greater-powers-to-clamp-down-on-illegal-lets-in-london