Posts with tag: tenants

Rental Housing Supply Rises to 18-Month High

Published On: October 24, 2016 at 9:13 am

Tags: letting agents,private rental sector,rental demand,rental housing,rental property,rental supply,tenants

Rental housing supply rose to an 18-month high in September, according to the latest study by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).

Rental housing supply

In September, letting agents managed an average of 193 properties per branch, up from 183 in August and the highest level recorded since April 2015, when there were also 193 rental properties registered per branch.

Rental Housing Supply Rises to 18-Month High

Rental housing supply had dropped to lows of 171 so far this year. Therefore, the jump in September paints a positive picture for tenants, amid industry-wide expectations of post-Brexit uncertainty.

Demand for rental property

Demand for rental property also grew in September, with 40 prospective tenants registered per letting agent branch, compared with 37 in the previous month.

In line with expectations, demand for rental property has been steadily increasing since the start of the year and is now at the highest level since February 2015, when there were also 40 hopeful tenants registered per branch.

Rent price growth

The amount of letting agents recording rent price growth is at the lowest level so far this year, with just 24% of agents reporting increases for tenants.

This is down by 3% on August, when 27% of agents saw rent rises, and 8% down on this year’s high of 32% in March.

The Managing Director of ARLA, David Cox, comments on the figures: “This month’s findings paint a really positive picture for renters. Although demand is rising, we’ve seen this happen gradually over the course of the year, and would expect it to slow again in line with seasonal trends over the next few months.

“On the other hand, the supply of rental stock has risen astronomically, which suggests it’s not quite right that landlords are pulling out of the market as a result of Brexit. This is supported in our findings, which reveal the number of landlords selling their buy-to-let properties hasn’t changed since April, when three landlords were selling up per branch.”

He continues: “It’s good to see less landlords hiking rents this month, but 24% is still too high. The cost of renting is already high in many parts of the country, and until the Government converts its pledges and promises into bricks and mortar, we won’t see renters reach a position where they’re able to save to get on the housing ladder. It will be interesting to see how this is tackled in the upcoming Autumn Statement.”

Tenants may be disappointed to learn that the Government’s Help to Buy scheme will be scrapped in December this year.

However, the new Housing Minister, Gavin Barwell, has spoken out in support of the private rental sector, pledging to make renting more affordable and stable for the nation’s tenants.

Calls for fair solution on tenant fees cap

Published On: October 21, 2016 at 11:34 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: Fair Fees Forum,tenancy agreements,tenant fees,tenants

The National Approved Letting Scheme has announced its Fair Fees Forum. This has been created in ordered to bring industry, trading standards and consumer groups together to talk about the creation of a new charter for the private rented sector.

In addition, the Fair Fees Forum will look at whether capping upfront tenant fees is both practical and enforceable. At the same time, the Forum will look at creating a uniform format to clearly outline fees charged to tenants.

Fees

Issues surrounding letting agent fees in England continue to rumble on. More numbers of tenant organisations are campaigning for a blanket ban on fees. As such, the National Approved Letting Scheme has acted to create the Forum.

The Forum will work closely together to consider fees and make sure that agents are still paid for work undertaken when setting up a tenancy. However, the Fair Fees Forum will look at ways to curb the fee excesses that have made their way into the market.

A cap on fees has long been called for by the Scheme, with support growing in the industry. The National Approved Letting Scheme asked 1,000 of its letting agent firms based in England if they agree a cap on fees is appropriate, as opposed to a total ban.

Calls for fair solution on tenant fees cap

Results

Results from the survey were interesting, with 84% of agents agreeing to a cap rather than blanket ban.

What’s more, analysis found that on average, the fees letting agents charge to tenants are £172-less than the national average of £233, as reported in the English Survey of Housing.

Isobel Thomson, Chief Executive of NALS said: ‘Ultimately this is about creating an equitable solution for all. The truth is, a good private rented sector cannot be free, and nor should it be. Agents should be paid for the work they do, but equally tenants should know they are paying a reasonable fee that has been explained to them clearly: nothing hidden, nothing excessive.’[1]

‘The private rented sector faces the widely held misconception that all letting agent fees are sky high, and should therefore be banned. In fact, the bulk of letting agents are charging tenants a fair fee for their service. Where they aren’t, we believe excessive fees should be curbed. NALS’ Fair Fees Forum brings all sides together to explore the feasibility and practicalities of a cap as well as considering the way in which agents’ present fees to tenants to ensure clarity and understanding. This is not a talking shop – it’s time to act on excessive tenant fees,’ she added.[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/nals-calls-for-a-fair-solution-on-upfront-tenant-fees.html

Free Online Maintenance and Repair Reporting Tool for Tenants Launches

Published On: October 20, 2016 at 9:29 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: landlord law,landlord responsibilties,maintenance,repairs,tenants

The National Landlords Code of Excellence Ltd (NLCE) has launched a free online maintenance and repair reporting tool for private tenants in a bid to tackle the age-old problem of maintenance/repair issues between landlords and tenants.

Maintenance in private rental properties is one of the most complex issues to define, particularly for tenants, and is one of the main causes of deposit disputes at the end of a tenancy. Research from deposit protection scheme My Deposits shows that while only 2% of disputes require a formal resolution service, property maintenance accounts for 42% of these cases.

The law

Furthermore, for new tenancies that start on or after 1^st October 2015, the Deregulation Act 2015 rules that:

Letting agents and tenants must put repair requests and resulting actions in writing.
Repair requests do not need to be written in English.

Free Online Maintenance and Repair Reporting Tool for Tenants Launches

These new measures were created to protect tenants from eviction when they raise a complaint about the condition of their home, called revenge or retaliatory evictions. Therefore, if a landlord or their letting agent fails to follow the correct procedure for managing repairs under this latest legislation, they could face penalties as well as being unable to evict tenants in the future.

Although the new legislation does not specifically mention what “in writing” constitutes, the courts are increasingly encouraging service of documents by electronic means.

With all of this in mind, the NLCE created its property maintenance and repair reporting tool for tenants.

In compliance with the law, the reporting tool also provides a translation service, which allows tenants to report an issue to their landlord in over 100 languages.

The NLCE works with councils, landlords and letting agents around the UK to ensure that the legal requirements of a landlord, to repair and maintain their property to housing standards criteria, are met in full.

How does it work?

This free tool allows tenants to notify their landlord of any problems they are having with their property. Once the report has been sent, the landlord cannot claim that they have never received a complaint from the tenant about a specific maintenance/repair issue.

With this facility, the landlord supplies the tenant with a plastic bank card-style NLCE tenancy emergency card, which can be acquired from the NLCE and contains the landlord’s name and contact details. The tenant can then use the information on the card to report problems to the landlord. This also helps landlords comply with their legal responsibility to provide their tenants with their contact details.

If the landlord fails to complete the work within a reasonable timeframe, the tenant can automatically raise the issue to the NLCE to make a formal complaint. This complaint will then be passed simultaneously to the relevant accreditation scheme and local council.

Once the complaint is upheld, the complaint procedure will formally begin. If the accreditation scheme cannot make the landlord conduct the works, the local authority will step in to issue an improvement notice, which forces them to complete the work within a specific timescale.

The primary objective of the maintenance and repair reporting tool is to create a paper trail between the landlord and tenant, to protect both parties in the event of a dispute.

The tool can be accessed here: https://www.landlordreferencing.co.uk/nlceuk/maintenance-issue/

Landlords facing minimum room size licensing scheme

Published On: October 18, 2016 at 2:27 pm

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: buy-to-let landlords,landlords,licensing scheme,tenants

The British Government has today announced it is to introduce minimum room sizes for shared tenant homes. This is part of a wider national clamp down on rogue landlords forcing tenants into unsafe and overcrowded properties.

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said that the measures will affect England only and will heighten councils’ ability to solve the issue. This in turn will bring an end to rogue landlords ‘ability to exploit tenants and charge them high rents for poor conditions.

Minimum sizes

Plans outlined today will see landlords letting properties to five or more people from two or more households would have to be licenced. In addition, they would have to provide a room of a minimum size of 6.52 square metres, thus closing a loophole allowing some rogues to rent rooms much too small for an adult.

Mr Barwell said: ‘These measures will give councils the powers they need to tackle poor quality rental homes in their area. By driving out rogue landlords that flout the rules out of business, we are raising standards and giving tenants the protection they need.’[1]

Other measures to help councils raise standards in multiple occupancy lets include ensuring mandatory rules apply to all shared properties with five or more people from two or more households. Additionally, this would apply to flats above and below shops and other business premises.

At present, licensing only comes into force for homes with three or more floors and does not apply to homes attached to businesses unless they are in a three-story property.

Landlords facing minimum room size licensing scheme

Storage

Under these proposals, landlords of shared properties will be permitted to provide sufficient storage and disposal of rubbish and pass a fit a proper person test. Criminal record checks will be carried out.

If a landlord fails to obtain a licence they will be liable to pay an unlimited fine. Mr Barwell believes these measures will complement other Government efforts to seek out unscrupulous landlords.

Already, £5m of Government funding to 48 councils has brought about a big increase in the number of homes checked in the last quarter. In early 2016, in excess of 33,000 homes were inspected. Around 2,800 rogues are facing prosecuting as a result of these checks.

[1] http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/landlords-multiple-occupancy-lets-england-face-mandatory-licencing/

UK Lettings Market Records Regional Growth

Published On: October 18, 2016 at 9:11 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: lettings market,private rental sector,rental property,tenants

The UK lettings market recorded regional growth in September, following buoyant activity in August, according to the latest Property Activity Index from Agency Express.

Across the UK, the number of new listings to let has risen by 1.3%, while the amount of properties let increased by 4.4%.

UK Lettings Market Records Regional Growth

However, looking at data recorded over a three-month rolling period, the amount of properties let dropped by 1%, on par to figures seen in the same period of 2015.

Regionally, seven of the 12 regions included in the Property Activity Index experienced growth in both new listings to let and the number of properties let.

The most prominent performers in the UK lettings market last month were:

Properties to let

North East: +19.6%
Yorkshire and the Humber: +12.6%
East Midlands: +12.3%
Central England: +7.6%

Properties let

West Midlands: +17.7%
Wales: +13.8%
Central England: +11.4%
South East: +10.1%

September’s top performing region was central England, which saw growth in both new listings to let and properties let. Over a three-month rolling period, however, the amount of new property listings was down by 2.1%, on par with 2015.

The West Midlands saw a record month for the amount of properties let, up by 17.7%, marking the region’s greatest increase for September since the index began in 2012.

The largest declines this month were in East Anglia. Following a record best August, new property listings to let dropped by 11.2% and properties let fell by 1.4% – the greatest decreases for September since 2013.

Typically, Scotland also recorded notable decreases. For a second consecutive month, new listings dropped, by 4.2%, while properties let rose by just 3.3% – lower than 2015’s increase of 3.6%.

The Managing Director of Agency Express, Stephen Watson, comments: “This month, we have witnessed some growth across the UK lettings market. One or two regional pockets reported record bests, while others performed consistently. However, year-on-year figures are still recovering from the buy-to-let fallout.”

Shelter’s Statements About Private Rental Housing are “Plain Wrong”, Says RLA

Published On: October 18, 2016 at 8:31 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: housing crisis,private rental sector,rental properties,tenants

Shelter’s “ongoing assault” on the state of private rental housing in the UK is “plain wrong”, insists the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).

Shelter’s Statements About Private Rental Housing are “Plain Wrong”, Says RLA

The RLA is responding to yesterday’s report from the homelessness charity that over one in four homes are in an unacceptable standard. The study focused on the instability and insecurity of living in private rental housing.

However, the RLA has highlighted statistics that show that 82% of tenants in the private rental sector are satisfied with their homes, which is higher than in the social rental sector.

These figures were taken from the annual English Housing Survey.

While Shelter refers to the instability that those living in private rental housing face, the most recent English Housing Survey shows that, on average, tenants are living in their homes for four years. Additionally, a version of the survey published last year found that landlords end just 8% of tenancies.

The Vice Chairman of the RLA, Chris Town, says: “Shelter is once again making extravagant claims about the standard of all housing in Britain, let alone private rented property.

“Though we share Shelter’s ambition for every rented home to be of a decent standard, the answer is not more regulation.

“With over 400 regulations covering the sector, what is needed is not new powers, but better enforcement of existing powers to root out the crooks, rather than tying the majority of good landlords up in excessive red tape.”

He concludes: “The most effective way of ensuring housing is affordable is to increase supply. We hope Shelter will support landlords in calling on the Government to change recent tax policies and on councils to scrap ineffective, but costly, licensing schemes, all of which discourage investment.”

Positively, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has pledged to put housebuilding ahead of the deficit, in a bid to solve the country’s chronic housing shortage.

However, many groups have called on the Chancellor to scrap the many tax changes that landlords currently face, as they believe that these measures will only hit those living in private rental housing.