Library
ARLA Presentation
Inaugural presentation for me up at Chatham in Kent. Good turnout, enthusiastic audience with some excellent engagement! Expansive legal update from Emma Salvatore of Trowers & Hamlins, highlighting just of a few of the now many pitfalls for landlords and why they need help, if not an agent to guide them through compliance. Impassioned presentation…
Legionella – Tenant Advice
It is important to make sure that the Tenant receives advice on Legionella at the start of the tenancy. The best way is to provide a guide that they can keep and refer to when in doubt. They need to have a basic understanding of what legionella is, things they should and should not do…
Five Things You Might Not Know About Renting a Property
According to ARLA Propertymark’s latest Private Rented Sector (PRS) Report, the number of tenants looking for a new home has increased every month since May. With more people looking for guidance on renting a property, ARLA Propertymark has compiled a list of five things renters might not know about being a tenant. You can switch…
Legionella! What is all the fuss?
Legionella is a pneumonia style bug caused from being in contact with contaminated water droplets – primarily breathed in. The regulations, in their most basic form, state that the water system must be safe to use and that every property let out needs to be assessed. In order to do this the landlord or agent…
‘No DSS’: Five leading letting agents risk breaking discrimination law
I have every sympathy for people, especially families, on benefit, not being able to rent a property; but it is not just the landlords who may decide not to take them on. The mortgage lenders and insurance companies can attach extra costs to letting to people on housing benefit. The answer has to be more…
Complain and you’re out: Research confirms link between tenant complaints and revenge eviction
It is a great shame if genuine tenants feel unable to complain about poor living standards. Quite often it can be tenant behaviour as much as a problem with the structure of the property. Professional landlords should acknowledge a tenant who brings a problem with “their” property to their attention and investigate to check the…
Social housing green paper: a ‘new deal’ for social housing
This is one part of the property market jigsaw that is at long last being addressed. One assumes it is all part of a larger picture as this government continues its journey towards more affordable and accessible homes for all! https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-housing-green-paper-a-new-deal-for-social-housing
Tech firms win prize to help UK’s renters onto the housing ladder
An excellent initiative which shows a more open minded attitude to the problem of being able to obtain a mortgage. These schemes must be watched with interest and hopefully will enable lenders to adopt a more flexible approach towards tenants who want, and can afford, to become home owners. Read the full story here
Photos and Tenant privacy! Really
Quite often during the maintenance of a property or garden, 3rd parties are needed to enter the and in order to provide a full and proper report with regard to repair, photographs of the problem will need to be taken. To ensure there is no misunderstanding regarding photographs, especially if the property is a family…
Rents to continue to rise, as supply of new property to let drops again
Yet another report highlighting the problem with the housing supply and in particular within the Private Rental Sector (PRS). Partially a result of the intended consequences of increasing stamp duty on second homes and exacerbated by the lower than needed levels of new housing. An interesting piece relating to a growing problem for tenants and…
Renters battling through broken deposit system, says Which? report
A down to earth and hard hitting report into the unjustifiable way some agents and landlords look to keep deposits, and the sometimes lengthy timescales in getting resolution coupled with the strain on tenants finances. Time for a change! Read the full article here
Landlords call for support to improve energy efficiency of rented homes
A further worry for landlords with Energy Performance Certificates below E, unless holding an Exemption Certificate. They face a real financial crunch unless the government help out with other accessible forms of energy efficiency grants. Read the full article here