Reside General Manager Toby Martin summarises rental activity over the last month, with the latest facts and figures from the local market.
First, let’s look at the scale of the costs.
Considering the increase in energy prices from April, the combined energy bills for the whole of Bath come to…
There are extra energy costs for washing, fridges, etc., yet I wanted to focus just on the home as this is a property blog.
Everyone’s bills will be around 50% more expensive in 2022 than in 2021, but it’s not too late for Bathonians to take some quick steps to cut their energy bills and, at the same time, cut our carbon footprint.
Upgrading the energy efficiency of UK homes is seen as a vital step to attempting to mitigate the issues of climate change, fuel poverty and our nation’s energy security.
So, what are some quick wins for Bath residents to reduce the energy bills on their homes, and how will energy efficiency play a more significant part in the value of Bath homes in the future?
These are just a handful of ideas. Check out the internet for others as it’s fascinating how much energy we use for overfull kettles, chargers left on and tech on standby etc.
Yet, these things will only scratch the surface… many of us will need to go further, especially Bath landlords, to retrofit our properties to make them more energy-efficient.
This is particularly important as in June the Government announced they would make the country carbon neutral by 2050, meaning Britain’s homes need some enormous retro-fitting to meet these ambitious climate targets.
In 2018, the Government required private landlords to improve the energy rating of their rental properties by prohibiting the rental of any property with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of F and G (the lowest ratings). Yet from 2025, it is proposed that will be increased to C for all new tenancies and 2028 for all existing tenancies (more on these EPCs below).
I don’t believe there is an appetite to mandate private homeowners to do this work, though you never know in the future.
Since 2007, every new home that has been built, rented out or put on to the market in Bath has had to have an EPC, giving it a rating between A and G (rather like those stickers you see on fridges and washing machines).
A is the highest rating (i.e., best energy efficient and greener), and G is the worst efficiency rating.
So, what next? Well, the Government will attempt to make the green revolution as painless as possible with technology.
In the future, we might have hydrogen central heating instead of mains gas; or have solar panels for electricity, all triple glazed windows and even ground source heating – sounds fanciful? Well, who would have thought some of the most wanted cars would be electric 20 years ago?
There is no doubt that the energy efficiency of our homes will rise in the coming years as the cost of fuel increases and people’s opinion on going green changes.
You don’t need to spend thousands of pounds to find out what you can do to make your property greener and cost less. Look at your EPC and it will tell you what small changes you can make to improve your Bath home’s energy efficiency rating and ultimately save yourself money. If you want to find the EPC rating of your Bath home, go to epcregister.com. If you need an EPC, drop me a line as I know some great local energy assessors that can easily do an EPC on your property at a price that won’t cost the earth!
On the face of it, yes, it could be seen as another attack on the humble Bath landlord, having to spend money on their properties and get tangled up with red tape on a register and then having no-fault evictions removed.
Yet, as always, the devil is in the detail…
This ‘Levelling Up Bill’ is a White Paper. White Papers are policy documents created by the existing Government that set out their future proposals for legislation. Many White Papers don’t even make it to the House of Commons to be debated on, and even then, it needs to be voted on by both Houses of Parliament before becoming law. Any changes are at least two or three years away, and that’s assuming it gets debated and subsequently approved.
Many have said the White Paper is supposed to lay out how to resolve the problem of rebalancing the UK economy that is suffering from the highest level of regional inequality than any G8 country. This is a gargantuan challenge…
One of the 12 points in the White Paper was focusing on housing, with a plan to introduce a new minimum standard for rental properties, a landlord register and the removal of no-fault evictions (as an aside, there was also a mention of a possible reintroduction of Home Information Packs – remember those from 2009!).
Sub Standard Rental Properties
The proposed changes will mean rental homes in the private sector will have to meet two specific standards that the existing 6,848 social housing homes in Bath currently need to meet.
The first is called the ‘Decent Homes Standard’ (DHS) and the second, the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) evaluation.
Looking at data from the Government, there are 2,114 private rental properties in Bath that are considered substandard under these two measures and each one would cost between £11,000 and £14,000 to bring up to the prescribed standard. That means…
Yet both systems of standards (DHS & HHSRS) have been slated by many (even by the Government itself).
The DHS criteria for the standard are as follows:
Note how the word ‘reasonable’ is used in three of the four points of the DHS. Reasonable is an arbitrary and very much subjective point of view. It screams loopholes and get out clauses to me.
Looking at the HHSRS, the Government announced just before the pandemic in June 2019 that the HHSRS would be revamped after it was found to be ‘complicated and inefficient to use’.
Putting aside how one measures the standards, it is a simple fact that there are many Bath rental properties that are substandard. I believe it right the Government have an ambition to halve the number of sub-standard private rentals by 2030. However, would it surprise you that…
Also, if you recall in an article I wrote recently (drop me line if you would like me to send it to you), Bath landlords could be faced with bringing their properties up to an energy rating (EPC) of C between 2026 and 2028 in legislation already proposed.
Most of the works to meet that EPC rating requirement will be the same works to meet this new DHS and HHSRS. Also, in that article, I discussed how the Government have suggested that certain allowances will be made for landlords on rental properties that can’t be improved – such as Listed properties.
So, I think Bath landlords should sit tight and let the Government shine more light on this in the coming months before any knee jerk reactions are made.
Landlord Register
To be honest, there are several city/borough registers around the UK for landlords. Experience has shown they seem to add an extra level of bureaucracy and red tape. The register would be for every Bath buy-to-let landlord and rogue landlords would be struck off whilst allowing tenants new redress rights. Another reason to employ the services of a letting agent to sort!
End of No-fault Evictions
Again, I spoke about this a few weeks ago with the proposed removal of Section 21 to evict a tenant (again, if you want a copy, drop me a line). If you recall, I stated that no-fault evictions were removed in Scotland over four years ago and the apocalyptic suggestions it would kill the rental market for Scottish landlords was not forthcoming. Now of course, the Scots strengthened the other grounds to evict a tenant. If the Government strengthen the Section 8 legislation, again, I cannot see this being an issue south of the border. Time will tell once the Government put more meat on the bones of the White Paper.
Conclusion
Many of the announcements made in the Levelling Up White Paper are re-hashed proposed legislation that has been on the books for the last couple of years.
Yet, many commentators have cautioned that more landlords with substandard homes will sell up because of these proposed changes, warning the sell up would add to the private rental sector’s shortage of homes, thus pushing up rents.
If that was true, that would increase rental returns on Bath buy-to-let and attract more Bath landlords into the sector, wouldn’t it?
But if you don’t agree other Bath landlords will buy these rental properties that other landlords are selling, who will buy their Bath properties from them? It will be Bath renters, who are now able to buy because the price has come down, meaning equilibrium should return to the market.
This is all theoretical and there are shortages/gluts in specific locations. Let us not forget it was 12/18 months ago that rents were dropped by double digit percentage points in the space of a couple of months in the big cities. Those rent drops weren’t anything to do with landlords buying up City Centre rental properties, but demand plummeted with 20-something tenants moving back in with their parents during the first lockdown and the months that followed. Yet, now rents have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels (and more) with the return of tenants to the cities.
Few of them will be left empty because most of them will be bought by other Bath landlords as they will be attracted to the sector as inflation takes hold whilst others will be bought by first-time buyers.
What goes around, comes around. So, let’s see what happens in the coming months. In the meantime, if you’re a Bath landlord and you want to discuss anything in this article, please either drop me a line or send me an email.
Tenant demand has far exceeded property supply for the last 12 months, but just what is the extent of this property shortage? As Reside’s Toby Martin discusses in the above video, the number of rental properties on the market at any one time is currently 35-40% below the average for the last decade.
This month’s round-up also includes news of upcoming smoke and carbon monoxide alarm regulations that landlords should be aware of. Be sure to watch the video for full details.
On a positive note, Bath house prices have rocketed, rents have risen faster than inflation, at the start of the year we had the benefit of a stamp duty holiday and finally, ultra-low mortgage rates, meaning Bath landlords had lots to be happy about in 2021.
On a more cautious note, the laws regarding renting are currently being debated in Parliament which will see the end of no-fault tenant evictions, and changes in regulations will require landlords to make their buy-to-let rental properties more eco-friendly at a cost of up to £10,000+ each.
So, let’s have a look at these points …
Bath buy-to-let landlords have seen the average rent of a Bath rental property rise by 6.5% in the last 12 months.
The number of Bath properties available to rent on the property portals (e.g. Rightmove, etc.) at any one time is roughly 35% to 40% below the last decade’s average, meaning there is greater competition for each rental property.
Demand has increased for several reasons.
Firstly, some homeowners cashed in on the high prices, sold up and moved into rented property.
Secondly, some Bath buy-to-let landlords have also cashed in on the buoyant property market and sold their rental property when their existing tenant handed in their notice.
Finally, the rental sector has an inverse relationship to the state of the general British economy, meaning with the uncertainty in the British economy in the early part of 2021, this meant more people decided to rent rather than tie themselves into a mortgage.
Looking at the supply side of the Bath rental market, in the short term, rents will continue to grow as some Bath landlords are abandoning the rental market – some because of the impending regulation changes which I will talk about later, and others with the natural flow of people cashing in their investments on retirement.
With increased demand and restricted supply, this will only lead to competition becoming more severe between renters, thus making Bath rents continue to rise.
For those that own property, the way house prices grew in 2021 surprised most people.
Bath house prices, according to the Land Registry, grew by 15.3% in 2021, with the typical Bath home reaching £425,500.
Many local landlords have been helped by this increase in Bath house prices and will be in a place to cash in on those capital gains by either selling their buy-to-let property (as mentioned in the previous section) or releasing some equity by re-mortgaging.
Whether Bath house price rises carry on at such a rate in 2022 will mainly depend on whether the imbalance between the number of properties that come on to the market (supply) is by the number of buyers (demand).
Most commentators believe that nationally house prices will be between 3% and 5% higher by the end of 2022 and I can see no reason why Bath house prices won’t be in that range by the end of the year either.
The reduction in tax relief for Bath buy-to-let landlords with mortgages in the last five years hit some landlords hard, yet this has been tempered by the inexpensive ultra-low mortgages available to buy-to-let landlords.
Yet even with the Bank of England increase in base rates, landlords with big deposits of 40% or more can benefit from low rates. For example, at the time of writing, you can get a BTL mortgage at 1.49% fixed for 5 years with a 40% deposit (meaning borrowing £180,000 on a £300,000 purchase would only cost you £719 per month on a 25-year mortgage – or £224 per month on interest only).
However, those with only a 25% deposit must pay slightly more, but only at a mortgage rate of 1.64%… Who can remember mortgage rates of 14% to 15% in 1992?
With inflation rising, the Bank of England has already indicated further interest rate rises are on the cards. I suspect they will be around the 1% mark by Christmas 2022. Therefore, if you are one of the one in five landlords on a variable rate mortgage, your margins will be squeezed as your variable rate mortgage will rise in line with the Bank of England interest rate rise.
Maybe it’s time to consider fixing your mortgage?
The Renters’ Reform Bill in England and The Renting Homes Act in Wales are both set to abolish Section 21 (no fault eviction). Section 21 laws allow landlords to take back possession of their rental properties without having to prove fault by the tenant.
Yet in 2022, Westminster will issue plans for a change of this law which will probably incorporate the eradication of Section 21, which would signify a major change in the balance of power between the landlord and tenant.
Some doom mongers are worried that with the abolition of Section 21, landlords may be unenthusiastic about renting and therefore sell up and leave the rental sector altogether. Yet these people said the same when tax relief for landlords was changed five years ago.
The Scottish equivalent of Section 21 was abolished at the end of 2017.
At the time, there was some anxiety about how this would affect the Scottish rental market, as anxious landlords and letting agents felt that they could lose control of their rental properties under this new law. Nonetheless, just over four years later, the rental sector has not collapsed in Scotland. The buy-to-let market remains upbeat, and there are signs that a Scottish landlord’s right to evict their tenant has been reinforced by these changes in the law.
The reason the Scottish changes worked was because the new grounds for repossessing rental properties was clear and wide-ranging. The Scots sped up the slow and unwieldy eviction process where the landlord had a legal and genuine reason to re-claim their property.
All I hope is the same changes to court procedures are made south of the border.
The law currently stands that landlords need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with at least a rating of E.
Westminster is anticipated to increase the EPC requirement for private rental properties in England and Wales to an EPC rating of C for all new rental tenancies by 2025/6, and for all existing tenancies by 2028, whilst Scottish landlords are also expected to see energy efficiency measures in their new proposed Housing Bill.
The problem is 1,959,045 of the 2,965,455 registered rental properties on the EPC database have an energy rating of D or below.
To take a property from an EPC D rating to a C rating might only cost a few hundred pounds, yet the average for all rental D and E rated properties has been calculated at just over £10,000 per property.
My advice to every Bath landlord is to look at the full EPC report of their rental property (and if you haven’t got it, contact me and I will send it to you – whether you are a client or not) as that will tell you whether this will be a big or small job.
Renovating the UK’s rental stock to meet the Government’s carbon neutral targets will be a big trial for landlords. There is talk of exemptions, which may apply to a great many Listed buildings, as there currently is for the existing minimum EPC E rating – yet only time will tell on that front.
Maybe those landlords currently buying properties to add to their rental portfolio should reconsider their buying strategy? In the past, it has been normal for Bath buy-to-let investors to be attracted to the inexpensive older properties that need an overhaul. However, with the potential energy efficiency laws coming into the game, it’s rational to suggest that buy-to-let landlords will be more predisposed to buying slightly newer properties rather than have the cost for the upgrades to meet the potential energy targets.
Roll the clock back 20 years and making money from buy-to-let in Bath was as easy as falling off a log. Yet with increased legislation and regulation, together with the changing dynamics of the British economy and the requirements tenants want in a rental property, making money won’t be as easy over the next 20 years.
It amazes me that 11 out of 20 landlords do not use a letting agent to help them with their rental portfolio, considering the cost can be offset against your tax.
Moving forward, savvy landlords will increasingly utilise their letting agent not only to collect the rent and manage the property, but also build up their portfolio to withstand the regulatory and demographic changes on the horizon, and to ensure that their investment is fit for purpose in the medium to long-term.
If your existing letting agent does not offer such advice, or you are a self-managing landlord, let’s have a chat about the future of the Bath rental market.
Buying your next property is all about finding a Bath property with the features that match your requirements. However, what might be important to you as a homebuyer, might not be as important to other homebuyers.
Some features will be red line must haves, whilst other features might be more negotiable, yet understanding what your requirements need to be, will make it easier to find the home of your dreams.
Let’s look at my top 11 rules you need to consider when buying a property in Bath.
You can change many things within a property, but location isn’t one. They say you should buy a property for the things you can change. From Lansdown to Combe Down, Newbridge to Larkhall, go and visit the different neighbourhoods of Bath. Don’t just drive through them, walk through them at different times of the day. Look at weekdays as well as weekends. Think about transport links with access to bus routes, arterial roads. If you have children (or your tenants may have), think about school catchment areas for primary / secondary schools.
Did you know there are 107,751 bedrooms in Bath?
Well, you do now! Anyway, the number of bedrooms is a very significant consideration when buying your new home. If you need bedrooms for your children, the location of the bedrooms could be an issue. Depending on the age of any children, you might not want them to be a long way from the master bedroom, or if the children are teenagers, the opposite could be true. Bedroom size is also important. Is there enough space for children to study or have wardrobes? Do you need bedrooms for an office? If office space is required, you might want to consider a property with one less bedroom and one more reception room – and it will probably be a little cheaper. All things to consider.
The type of house you buy will determine how it increases in value in the future. Now this shouldn’t be the main consideration, yet it’s important to consider.
Since 2001, the different types of property in Bath have risen by different percentages.
On a standalone point for Bath landlords, the level of rent and yield are important considerations for your Return on Investment (ROI). There tends to be an inverse relationship between capital growth and yield (i.e. Bath properties with higher capital growth tend to have lower rental yields).
I am regularly sent Rightmove links by Bath landlords, keen to know a prospective purchase’s rental worth so that they can calculate their yield. Please feel free to email me a link to the property you are thinking of purchasing; I will be able to give you a very quick estimate of its rental value, completely free of charge and obligation.
On average a person only views five houses before they buy a house and only spends around 20 minutes in each on a viewing. Therefore, I would advise that you have a good idea about the size of home you require before you start your search. If you have a big family you are going to need a bigger house obviously, yet you still need the budget to afford to buy the bigger home.
One great idea is to calculate the square metreage of your potential home. Ask to view the full copy of the Energy Performance Certificate, as it has the size of the property in square metres.
Bigger houses tend to cost more money to run with utility bills and council tax.
A final thought on size is the question of whether your family is likely to grow in the next decade? Will you have more children or is a parent coming to live with you?
In the last 12 months, the Bath property market has remained buoyant as Bathonians were forced to spend more time at home. Therefore, they looked for more space… but what did they have to pay for that privilege?
Look at the property portals (e.g. Rightmove, Boomin, Zoopla and OnTheMarket) and search for Bath property that is both available and sold subject to contract. Get a feel for asking prices of the properties that are sold subject to contract as these will give you a good idea what they roughly sold for. Again, if you are not sure, pick up the phone or drop me a line.
Check the bathroom for water leaks. Do the toilets flush OK, do the taps drip? Is there any mould? And do you need more than one?
You will undoubtedly be spending a lot of time in the lounge / living room, so it needs to meet your requirements. Do you need a dining area? Does the design and arrangement of the room suit your lifestyle (or your tenant’s). Will you need new furniture? Are there enough electrical sockets? What are the carpets like? That goes for all rooms.
What type of central heating system is present, and does it meet the requirements of you and the home? The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will tell you how energy efficient the property is and how much it will cost to run. You would be amazed how few buyers ask to see the full copy of the EPC – yet you have the right to view it – always ask the estate agent for a copy or download it for free from the Government website.
The outside space of your future Bath home is also something you need to reflect on before you start your search. What sort of back garden do you want? Do you want low maintenance? Do you want a bigger garden? You also need to ensure the outside of your next home is in great condition. Yet, if it’s a ‘do’er-upper’, does the price allow for those works to be done?
Another aspect to consider when buying a property is the loft (or even the vault / basement if it has one). In both, look for water damage that could mean problems in the future whilst in vaults / basements, a musty smell could be poor ventilation meaning dry damp could be an issue. Also check for insulation in the loft (the Energy Performance Certificate will tell you if it’s up to standard).
How many cars do you have in your family? Can you park them all on your drive? Visit the property during the day, the evening, and weekends to see how the parking provision changes. If the property has a garage, can it be used for something else?
Traditionally, if you had not sold your Bath home by the first week in November, you would normally have to wait for the house sellers to return in the famous Boxing Day rush on the portals (Rightmove, Zoopla etc) to get potential buyers interested.
Yet matters have been different this year as the various lockdowns have caused a surge in house buying right up until when the Christmas edition of the Radio Times goes on sale.
So the question is… how will the Bath property market look in 2022?
The market over the last couple of years have been different in many ways. So much so, many Bath homeowners are presently deliberating over whether they should put their home on the market in January or wait until later in the summer.
Speaking to many Bath buyers, sellers and Bath buy-to-let landlords over the last couple of weeks in the run-up to Christmas, many were asking the very same question.
What is going to happen to Bath house prices in 2022?
Some people asking this question are buyers troubling themselves that they are about to buy their Bath home just before a potential property crash, yet others are homeowners wanting to know where the top of the market is before they sell. Even a handful of Bath landlords unable to either start buying or start selling some of their rental portfolio.
Therefore, let’s see what has happened in 2021 to make a better judgement of what should happen in 2022.
Nobody has a crystal ball that can tell what 2022 holds, however most property experts are not forecasting doom and gloom for the British property market.
Whilst the final numbers won’t be known until Easter 2022, it is estimated that in 2021 one in fifteen privately owned homes in the UK will have changed hands, making it the busiest year in the last 14 years.
1,350 properties have changed hands in the last year in Bath
Although that is only up to October 2021, so numbers will be much higher once all the final counts are in by March / April 2022.
The pandemic made many Bath families re-evaluate what they wanted from their home, with many wanting bigger rooms (and more of them). Many in the press dubbed this ‘the race for space’, meaning the property market was flooded with home buyers, most bringing forward the home move they had planned between now and 2025.
The issue was, there weren’t enough Bath properties on the market to satisfy every Bath buyer, meaning Bath house prices have unsurprisingly been driven up.
The average price of a home in Bath is £425,530
Although it is still premature to say what will happen in 2022, most property commentators seem assured that we are not heading towards a house price crash, mainly due to one reason.
There aren’t enough properties on the market in Bath. Simply supply and demands economics!
The property crash in 2008 was caused by everyone dumping their property on the market.
In January 2007, there were 867 properties for sale in Bath, one year later in January 2008, that had risen to 1,177 properties, whilst today, that stands at 316
And I can’t see that changing for 2022.
In 2007, mortgage interest rates were 6.5% to 7.5%, so when the economy started to falter, everyone looked to sell their homes to reduce their outgoings as unemployment rose by over 60% in just a couple of years. This time round most people have mortgage rates of around 2% to 2.5% and unemployment is dropping, meaning they don’t need to sell their home.
Of course, the stamp duty holiday came to an end months ago, and Bank of England base interest rates are expected to rise moderately in the coming year, yet not to the level they were in 2007 (5.75%).
Nonetheless, demand for Bath homes will still be there. I have even read some reports suggesting that more than 20% of British households are seriously thinking of moving between now and the summer of 2023, and this will support Bath house prices whilst demand continues to exceed supply.
Bath house prices will be 3.3% higher by the end of 2022
Another reason why I believe that will be the case is the return to home working. If, as a country, we will need to work from home each winter for the foreseeable future because of new variants, then this will cement the need for people wanting to move home for remote working.
It might be that Bath buyers are looking for a dedicated office at home or that they feel they now no longer need to be in large built-up areas that are near to their work.
This increase in Bath house prices is expected to entice even more sellers onto the market, which will steady Bath house prices slightly (as supply increases), yet I still believe there won’t be enough properties coming onto the market to satisfy the colossal demand.
What about the Bath rental market?
Rents tend to grow in line with tenants’ wages. So, with many people getting decent pay rises and not enough properties being built, many economists are suggesting rents will be 14% to 19% higher by 2027. Even with the house price growth, the numbers for rental investments still look rosy.
Is it the right time to buy your first property in Bath?
This rise in Bath house prices has had many people asking whether 2022 is the right time to buy their first home? Should they buy now before Bath prices rocket even further or delay in the hope that house prices come back down?
As with any important decision in life, this will mainly depend on your own personal life and your motives for wanting to move.
If the Bath home that you want to buy is on the market, available and you can afford the mortgage, then delaying could be detrimental. It’s like holding off for the ‘next generation TV’, it then coming out; then just as you are about to buy the TV, the next ‘next generation TV’ gets announced for six months’ time… and the cycle is constantly in motion – so you end up never buying a TV… just like you will never buy your own home!
Buying property is a long-term game
Sometimes you just have to make your decision, get something bought and start the journey of the next 25 to 35 years of living in your family home whilst paying off your mortgage.
The present low interest rates for first-time buyers means that there are some very low mortgage deals available for those with a decent deposit, making it a good time to buy or invest in a Bath property, especially if you fix the interest rate.
If your deposit is humbler, the Government’s 5% deposit mortgage guarantee scheme will still enable you to buy a property, albeit at a slightly higher interest rate.
Looking at the bigger picture, these are only my opinions. If inflation doesn’t get too out of hand and interest rates don’t go above 2% to 3%, it looks like Bath house prices will, for 2022 and a few years beyond, continue upwards albeit with a slower trajectory than 2020/21 and probably with a few short, sharp up and down spikes on the way.
The bottom line is, ensure that any Bath house move or buy-to-let investment that you intend to make is something that you can afford, allow for future rises in interest rates and make plans for as many eventualities as possible. Do that, and you should be just fine.
These are my opinions – what are yours?
You may have seen recent reports detailing how one of the most prominent estate agents in the UK had left its landlords open to fines of between £9million and £30million in the last few days.
This is because they allegedly failed to send some paperwork to their tenants when their tenancy started.
This has had many Bath landlords picking up the phone to me to ensure they are compliant with their Bath rental property. So, what should every Bath landlord consider to ensure they are compliant and won’t be fined?
To start, there are nearly 170 pieces of legislation to comply with; these are some important ones that Bath landlords should consider.
Registering your Bath tenant’s deposit
Every Bath landlord (or their agent) needs to register the tenant’s deposit. It is believed that one in six tenants’ deposits are not registered, leaving the landlord (not the agent) liable to a fine three times the amount of the deposit, plus making it very difficult to evict them.
When your Bath tenant pays their deposit, it has to be protected in one of the government-approved schemes within 30 days.
Yet even if you do register the deposit, you must also give your tenant proof of being in the scheme. That must include information on which of the three schemes (The Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme) protects their deposit and how your tenant can get their deposit back at the end of the tenancy.
Gas Safety Certificates
Every Bath landlord must offer a safe rental home for their tenants. Every Bath rental property must have an annual Gas Safety Certificate. The certificate, issued by a qualified and registered Gas Safe engineer, is only valid for 12 months. All certificates must be retained for 24 months, and give your tenant a copy of the existing certificate.
EPC for your Bath rental property
The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is just like the colour-coded energy rating diagrams you see on fridges and washing machines, albeit it’s for your rental property. If you don’t have an EPC, you can’t rent your property. Also, since this summer, rental properties have had to achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of ‘E’. If your property doesn’t meet this requirement, you’ll be unable to rent it out (although there are a handful of exemptions). Again, you also must give your tenant a copy of the up-to-date EPC certificate.
Right to rent checks
Every Bath landlord can only let their property to a tenant who has the legal right to rent in the UK. You have the legal responsibility of checking the prospective tenant’s identification and confirming that the tenant is legally in the British Isles. If you let your property to someone in the UK illegally, you might face a substantial fine.
Anything else Bath landlords should be aware of?
How about…
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The list goes on…
As you can see, there are many things a Bath landlord must consider when it comes to being legal. Yet, apart from a logistical nuisance there are actual financial penalties involved if you do not observe with all your landlord obligations.
Final Thought for all Bath Landlords
Bath landlords can make sure they are fully compliant by having a free Bath Landlord Compliance Health Check with us at Reside. We can, within a couple of days, give you peace of mind that you are compliant, be you a landlord that manages your own Bath property or even with another agent (because being with one of the most prominent estate agents in the UK was not a guarantee the landlords would be safe from prosecution).
Call me, Toby Martin, on 01225 445777, and let’s have a no-obligation chat. What have you got to lose, versus you potentially losing thousands of pounds… the choice is yours!
The Housing Minister, Chris Pincher, has suggested older homeowners are “rattling around” in their homes as they are too big for them. He implied they are selfish and should sell up and move to a retirement home when he spoke to a committee in the House of Lords. He stated that many British homes are “under-occupied” and could be better used by younger families with children.
He went on to say that the Government will aim to persuade UK housebuilders to build more developments suitable for OAPs, freeing up space in their existing homes, which in turn would open up more homes for first and second-time buyers.
So why is this an issue?
The fundamental problem of the Bath housing ‘crisis’, is the point that the supply of Bath homes has not historically met demand, thus increasing property values (and in turn rents), consequently ensuring home ownership becomes an unattainable ambition for the twenty something’s of Bath.
Call me a pragmatist, but it’s understandable that either demand needs to drop or supply needs to rise to stop this trend getting worse for the generations to come.
Don’t get me wrong, I admire Westminster’s plans to help first-time buyers with their ‘First Homes’ initiative to increase the supply of new homes being built just for first-time buyers. Yet it’s targeted to deliver only 1,500 homes in around 100 locations in the next two years.
To give you an idea of how this a drop in the ocean, the Government sponsored the independent Barker Review of Housing Supply Report in 2004 which was tasked at looking at what could be done to level the playing field regarding the housing needs for the UK. The report found that the UK needed 240,000 homes to be built each year just to meet the demand of a growing and aging population. Since 2000, the average number of properties built in the UK each year has only been 177,975 per year. This means we have been around 62,000 homes short per year. Therefore, after 20 years of this annual shortfall we, as a country, have 1,240,500 too few homes – hence the massive uplift in house prices over the last two decades.
Therefore, one option that could resolve the housing crisis is if the Government literally looked closer to home, concentrating on matching households with the appropriately sized home… and this is what the government has shone a light on – people with too many spare bedrooms.
Is having a spare bedroom something that in this day and age is particularly wasteful? Well, let’s look at the numbers for Bath.
Well, everyone in my opinion needs a spare bedroom, especially in the light of lockdown where many of us needed to work from home.
Ok, let’s see who has two or more spare bedrooms.
Of all the homes in Bath, be they owned, privately rented or council house, 34.1% of Bath homes have two or more spare bedrooms, compared to the national average 45.2%.
Let’s break it down by ownership/tenure:
Of the 23,889 owned houses in Bath, 11,882 have two or more spare bedrooms or as expressed as a percentage,
Of the 6,848 council houses in Bath, 547 have two or more spare bedrooms, or as expressed as a percentage,
Of the 9,599 private rented houses in Bath, 1,325 have two or more spare bedrooms or as expressed as a percentage,
You can see there is the spare capacity in the Bath housing market.
The Government hit the social housing sector with their ‘Bedroom tax’ in 2012, (also known as under occupancy charge or spare room subsidy) which meant that in council homes you would receive less in Housing Benefit or Housing Costs Element in a Universal Credit claim if you lived in a housing association or council property and were deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms.
Now it seems the Government has concentrated on the group that makes up the bulk of homeowners with spare bedrooms, the older owner occupiers of large properties, in their 60s and 70s, where the kids have flown the nest.
However, there are many explanations why these mature homeowners do not downsize. These people have lived in the same house for 30, 40, even 50 years, and as one matures in life, many people do not want to depart from what they see as the family home. Much time has been invested in making friends in their neighbourhood and it’s nice to have all those rooms in case every grandchild decided to visit, at the same time, and they brought their friends!
But is that a selfish point of view? Are we addicted to our spare bedrooms?
I would ask if the ‘Minister of Superfluously Sizeable Houses’ should be kicking you out of the Bath home you worked for and have spent much of your life in? And why is it assumed that retired homeowners want to downsize to small little bungalows and apartments? Many love their spacious living rooms and kitchens (which are typically found in bigger houses).
On one side of the coin, the Government announced an increase in the tax burden on the British public with a rise to its highest level since the early 1950s to pay for care and the NHS, yet on the other side of the coin, recently cancelling vote losing policies, so that mature people going into care do not need to sell their homes (which if you think about it, they won’t live in anyway because they are going to long-term care). Whilst at the same time, to muddy the waters, they are suggesting to mature homeowners they have to move out of those same large homes to free it up for younger families? If the Government doesn’t know what the answer is, who does?
We all know that mature homeowners, if they moved to a smaller Bath home, would lose all the space they take for granted and would be unable to have the grandchildren over. Remaining in your large Bath home is not greedy, it’s just the accepted human longing to enjoy a life after 50 plus years of working and paying your dues and taxes. You could say, “Move to a managed retirement home.” Yet many are very small and quite expensive.
And anyway, why should you have to relocate and wave goodbye to all your neighbours who have become friends and provide a support network?
There is a case made by some that mature downsizers could be given stamp duty tax breaks to get them to downsize, yet I am not sure how this could be policed, and it doesn’t solve the problem of increasing the overall supply of property in the UK.
Big national builders have exploited ham-fisted planning rules since the 1980s, but no political party seems to have the answer. Housing Minister Chris Pincher might say he wants to persuade builders to build more suitable homes for mature people, yet his Government’s actions don’t seem to match his words.
In the Queen’s Speech this spring, the Government announced a proposed new planning system, which would create “simpler, faster procedures for producing local development plans, approving major schemes, assessing environmental impacts and negotiating affordable housing and infrastructure contributions”, or in layman’s terms, allowing more building to take place.
However, word coming out of Government is those plans could be cancelled following the Conservatives’ surprise defeat in the Chesham & Amersham by-election to the Liberal Democrats in the summer, which was blamed by some Conservative MPs on the new proposed planning laws.
So, whilst the Government decides what to do, what can mature Bath homeowners do if they feel they do want to downsize?
If you are a Bath homeowner or landlord and think this may affect you – feel free to drop me a line.
