Grampa

Amen to that.

Housing minister Esther McVey has confirmed the scrapping of Section 21 repossessions in favour of a new set of rules. In a written answer to a question from Tory MP Steven Baker on the eve of the dissolution of Parliament in readiness for the General Election on December 12, she let slip a revamp of no fault evictions was definitely on the way. Baker asked if she would meet social housing providers in his Wycombe constituency to discuss the impact of abolishing Section 21 evictions. McVey wrote that her department was sifting through more than 20,000 responses to the Section 21 consultation that closed earlier this year. “As part of this new deal [for landlords and tenants], the government has agreed to consult on repealing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. This would provide tenants with greater security in their homes because landlords would not be able to end a tenancy without a specified reason,” she told the MP. “Our consultation, ‘A New Deal for Renting: Resetting the balance of rights and responsibilities between landlords and tenants’ sought views from across the private and social rented sectors on how the new system should operate, including whether the reforms proposed (including the use of Section 21 notices) should extend to all users of the Housing Act 1988, including social housing providers. As part of the consultation process my officials met with a number of housing associations, including some who operate in the Wycombe area, and discussed how a more effective system can be developed that works for everybody. “We will publish our response in due course, setting out how the new system will work and our next steps.” Under Parliamentary rules, McVey loses her seat as an MP when Parliament is dissolved, but continues in her job as housing minister until the election, as the roles are separate from each other. Original Source: Guild of Residential Landlords

Its the min wage of £10 ph to include under 18 year olds I think is pure stupidity. So if you are a small employer such as a corner shop owner with a couple of employees there is no way you are going to employ a snotty nose kid with no works experience, or common sense when you can get a older person who will bring more value for the same/similar wage. How does that encourage employers to recruit youngsters.

Oops forgot that because of tenant fee ban. Just add the annual cost of cleaning to the rent. Which just goes to show it was a badly thought out law and the tenants still pay. And on the subject of the tenant fee ban after we increased the fees to the the landlords and raised the rent we actually earn more as an agent. The tenants have all had rent increases the landlords get more or the sameish rental income. Less work on contract renewals because the tenants dont need chasing as much and even more savings once we get our electronic singable contracts up and running.

You could get it cleaned at the start of the tenancy and make it a requirement written into the AST that its cleaned every year by the tenant thereafter and a invoice has to be provided. The problem with that is policing it. I can hear tenants now saying "but we didnt have a open fire this year" . Another option is to add £5 pcm to the rent and arrange yourself. Another option is to board up the fireplace if the property has central heating. The trouble with that is its not unheard for tenants to open it up without permission. Dont forget you legally need to provide a CO detector in a property if uses solid fuel even if the fireplace is boarded up we advise to still provide one for the above reason. We also had one tenant who had his own brushes and insisted he could do it himself even though he wasnt a sweep by trade. We were not too happy about that.

Ultimately it is down to proof and the landlord has a responsibility to keep in repair the structure and security of the building as previously mentioned. It doesnt stop you sending the invoice to the tenant for repayment. How that will effect landlord tenant relations is another matter. If they didnt pay you could try a claim via the small claims court on-line and let the judge sort it out as a normal dispute over money.

I agree, but it still doesnt stop me trying to recover the cost in certain situations.

It is not unknown for tenants to blame unknown party's for breaking windows and damaging doors to try and get out of being liable. If it was a good tenant without previous issues I would say the same as RL and put it down to experience and the joys (and costs) of being a landlord. However if there had been previous problems with the tenants such as wild party's, complaints, unexplained damage, problems on inspections, domestic bust-ups etc. I have been known to try and recoup the cost from the tenant or tenants deposit. Taking the stance they are responsible for returning the property in the same condition as they originally rented it in. A little grey I know but it's a judgement call on how far you push it.

That is exactly what I initially thought. However, although the hardcore Brexiteers will do that I think most will take the pragmatic view that the BP cant win and realiase a Tory win is second best option and a Labour win will risk opening up a whole new merry go round of debates, bills, stalling, peoples votes, protests, and put a very lot of very angry people on the streets.. If you think the remoaners protests were large and relatively peaceful I very much suspect we will see something very different if it all turns 180 degrees and remainers get their way.

Correct. You dont need to renew a EPC during a tenancy. However you do need a new one for a new (new tenant) tenancy. As they last for 10 years we have a policy of renewing them as soon as they have expired unless instructed not by the landlord. The reason being 1. it is one less task to do for a new tenancy. 2. The heating/insulation may have been upgraded and now be rated E or above. 3. Having seen many stupid decisions by judges at evictions I would rather have a valid EPC in place if I have to evict. Remember unless it can be shown a EPC is given to a tenant at the being/start of a new tenancy no s21 can be used.

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I guess it depends how early you want to advertise it. You want good up to date photos. Its no good just using limited or old photos because if you plan to update at a later date as a lot of earlier viewers of the ad who ruled the property out will just skip past the updated ad. However saying that if you can get some good photos for the property portals advertising a couple of weeks before the property is ready will give you a head start but make it perfectly clear in the ad when the property will be ready for viewing.

As a landlord or agent?

Yes, its a valid question but where you you draw the line. Would you say the front facing flats dont pay for the grass cutting at the rear because they dont look over it and therefor dont benefit from it. Or a blocked drain pipe at one end of the building effecting only the flats at that end? Should only the flats that are effected pay? There are lots of issues regarding owning a leasehold property that can seem unfair. One being the contributions to a reserve fund that are being built up for future works. If you sell before the works are started you dont get that money back the new owner gets the benefit.

You also get leases with a higher % contribution based on the size/bedrooms compared to others. I have also dealt with a block where the total % contribution didnt total 100%., it was a odd amount about 93% if i remember correctly.How that happened during drafting I've no idea.

When purchasing a leasehold property you solicitor should tell you if there are potential problems with the lease but it is surprising how many dont. We see it all the time being a estate agent in the same area for the last 15+ years and sold numerous properties multiple times. One will come back on the market and serious issues are raised by the purchasers solicitor regarding the lease or boundary etc which were not raised on previous sales. This just shouldn't happened. But dont even get me started on high st solicitors and landlord and tenant law.

Having seen many leases and many badly drafted I would say it could any, all or nobody. The devil is in the wording so read your lease as RL states.

Its not just the tax savings, its the extra flexibility on ownership, shareholding etc. The long term plan being to leave the properties to the kids. I should do as you say grind down the numbers a bit more if I was honest but it does help having family members who are accountants with their own practice and landlords themselves. The plan with the properties I have at the moment is to gradually sell and "upgrade" to bigger, freehold, share of freehold with reasonable service charges. and buy via the Ltd Co. I am finding the the prices are reducing at the moment and not as many purchasers out there (which many change a bit next month) so I guess depending on your level of risk it could be viewed an a good time to get a good deal.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. The only thing that hurts is the ltd company mortgage which are not as good as personal BTL. Managed to source a 5 year fixed for 3.19% but the borrowing is only in the region of 60-70k so the payments relatively small. Had to drag that rate out from the FA as he first suggested a 3.99% rate with lower fees but the lower rate and over double arrangement fees still saves over 2.5k over the period of 5 years so do your sums guys.

Had a chunk of cash hanging about so just had a very/fairly good offer accepted on another BTL flat. Five flats in a block with a comes with share of the Freehold and sensible service charges. Cant see huge capital growth in the future (regardless of Brexit) but a good yield but in the same road and opposite 2 other flats I own. I am purchasing it in a Ltd company which is a first for me. Bold move or pure stupidity?😄

Who wants the 3 years? You or the tenant?

In an ideal world you should get the guarantor to re-sign upon every renewal but the trouble with guarantors a lot of the time they are out of the area or they fall out with the tenants or later read up on the responsibilities and liability they have potentially given themselves. But having an agreement/deed that potentially has no end date (because it covers renewals and periodic) could give a a cute solicitor/Shelter rep an argument to get it invalidated at a court hearing. The one we use get around that "get out/end date" argument by saying they can be released if a suitable replacement is found. Not as tight legally as them resigning every time but a good compromise.

took me longer than 25 mins as well. Personally I think the decision has been made and what we say is irrelevant but 15 years in the letting industry does make you cynical.

REF: PROPOSED BAN OF SECTION 21 ARLA CEO David Cox says this will make a difference if we as agents and more importantly, your landlords fill in this survey .. yets it takes 20mins .. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/52JFF5T ... otherwise dont come crying in the future when its (S21) taken away and you couldnt be bothered to complete a 20min survey and send the same to your landlords

Paint it all white😀