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Tag: Rent

New Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm Rules For Landlords

Posted on by prateek

The UK Government has extended the rules for domestic smoke and carbon monoxide alarms within all rented accommodation in England.

Following parliamentary approval, it will soon be mandatory for landlords to repair or replace smoke and carbon monoxide alarms once they have been informed that they are faulty, although testing throughout the duration of a tenancy will remain the resident’s responsibility.

Landlords will also have to ensure a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in any room containing there is a ‘fixed combustion appliance’ (including a gas boiler). Where a new appliance is installed a carbon monoxide alarm will be required to be installed by law. Gas cookers appliances are excluded from the new rules.

The most significant changes are:

  • carbon monoxide alarms will be mandatory in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers
  • carbon monoxide alarms will also be mandatory when a new heating appliance is installed, excluding gas cookers
  • landlords will have to repair or replace alarms when a tenant reports that they are faulty

“The revisions to the smoke and carbon monoxide detector regulations are both welcome and necessary to improve tenant safety.

“Private landlords have been required since 2015 to provide working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors where applicable in rented property, and the extension of the regulations to encompass gas boilers is a sensible amendment.”
Timothy Douglas, ARLA Propertymark

No fixed timescale has yet been set, but the government has confirmed it will amend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 as soon as parliamentary time allows.

With landlords now needing to comply with nearly 170 pieces of law, it has never been more important for your tenancy to be managed by a knowledgeable, professional and regulated agency. 

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

The Debt Respite Scheme: how does it affect tenants & landlords?

Posted on by prateek

Reside General Manager Toby Martin explains the impact of the government’s new debt relief initiative.

May was Mental Health Awareness Month, a very apt time for the government to launch the Debt Respite Scheme, also known as ‘Breathing Space’.

The purpose of the scheme is to provide a temporary period of respite from creditor action to help people in problem debt, for example a tenant in rent arrears, consider their options and engage with professional debt advice.

A Breathing Space moratorium will provide protections to those in problem debt by pausing enforcement action and freezing charges, fees and interest for up to 60 days. It is not a payment holiday and certain debts, including rent, are considered ‘ongoing liabilities’.

“Breathing Space will… encourage more people to seek advice, and when they do, there will be better protections in place to stop further harm and help recovery.”
Phil Andrew, CEO of StepChange Debt Charty

There is also an alternative way into the scheme for people receiving mental health crisis treatment. A mental health crisis moratorium has some stronger protections and lasts as long as a person’s mental health crisis treatment, plus 30 days.

A Breathing Space moratorium can only be accessed once every 12 months, but there is no limit to the number of times that an individual can enter a mental health crisis moratorium.

Anyone looking to start a Breathing Space must first seek advice from a debt service provider who is authorised by the FCA to offer debt counselling or a local authority. They will determine whether the individual qualifies for a Breathing Space and, if so, will contact any creditors to notify them of the moratorium.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Chancellor Urged To Act On Tenant Debt

Posted on by prateek

A coalition of property and housing organisations, including Reside’s regulatory body ARLA Propertymark, have come together to call on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help private renters pay off COVID-19 rent arrears and help sustain existing tenancies.

Across the nation, at least half a million private renters are in arrears due to the economic impact of COVID-19. The UK Government’s own research shows that ‘private renters report being hardest hit by the pandemic’.

The joint statement issued by Propertymark, NRLA, The Big Issue Ride Out Recession Alliance, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Crisis, Money Advice Trust, Nationwide Building Society, The Mortgage Works, StepChange Debt Charity and Shelter welcomes many of the measures taken to date, but goes on to say that they do not go far enough to adequately protect renters going forward. Without additional support, more renters will lose their homes in the coming months, with the risk of an increase in homelessness.

In order to sustain tenancies wherever possible, these organisations maintain that these two pledges are required in the forthcoming budget:

1. A targeted financial package to help renters pay off arrears built since lockdown measures started in March 2020. This will help to sustain existing tenancies and keep renters in their homes, whilst also ensuring rental debt does not prevent them from finding homes in the future.

2. A welfare system that provides renters with the security of knowing that they can afford their homes. The pandemic has shown how vital this is to providing security at a time of crisis. The Government increased Universal Credit and Housing Benefit because it recognised that the system was not doing enough to support people in the first place, yet it has chosen to freeze Housing Benefit rates again from April and is considering cutting Universal Credit at the same time. It cannot be right that these measures could be pulled away from renters during continued economic uncertainty.

The Chancellor is being urged to take action now to avoid renters being scarred by debts they have no hope of clearing and a wave of people having to leave their homes in the months to come.

At Reside, we have worked with our tenants to keep levels of rent arrears very low, however we recognise that the end of the Job Retention and Self-Employment Income Support schemes will present fresh challenges. Additional support for tenants will be needed to avoid a dramatic drop-off in income, for those who are currently reliant on the furlough scheme and self-employment support grants.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

First time landlords invest as tenant demand increases

Posted on by prateek

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A recent study by major buy-to-let lender, Paragon Mortgages, found an increase in borrowing by first-time landlords as compared to the same time period last year.

Similarly, the percentage of business coming from landlords looking to grow their rental portfolios also increased.

John Heron, director of Paragon, said: “It would seem that an investment in property is increasingly attractive against a background of low returns on cash and volatility in global markets.”

“With perceptions shifting in terms of the improved availability of buy-to-let finance too, the lending industry is in a good place to support the ambitions of both new and experienced landlords.”

Also of interest to new landlords are the increases in average monthly rental costs in England and Wales – up by 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2013, according to LSL Property Services’ buy-to-let index.

David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, said: “With wage growth so weak compared to inflation and house price growth, it looks like deposits will become less affordable – which will keep demand for rented accommodation high.”

He added that “private renting will become a more and more vital aspect of the economy.”

In line with these findings, we at Reside are seeing local demand for properties increasing significantly. July 2013 was our busiest month ever in terms of properties let, which were up 44% compared to July 2012 and 116% compared to July 2011. New properties added to our website also rose by 33% in July 2013 compared with last year.

Given also that rent arrears and voids are in decline, according to the National Landlords Association, this suggests that now is an excellent time for new landlords to consider investing in rental properties.

Private rents set to outstrip house prices over next 8 years

Posted on by prateek

Private rents in the South West are set to increase significantly faster than house prices over the next eight years, with average rents set to swell by 48%. According to the National Housing Federation’s ‘Home Truths 2012’ report, Bath and North East Somerset could see a £409 rise in average monthly rents between 2013 and 2020, by far the most significant increase in the South West region. Whilst the average rent for the region as a whole is forecast to stand at £981 per month in 2020, Bath and North East Somerset would see average rents grow to £1,253 per month.

These projected rent rises follow on the heels of 37% increases in national rents over the past five years and are caused by years of not building enough affordable homes. In 2011, 390,000 new families were formed, but only 111,250 new homes were built; as this trend seems set to continue, rents look set to be forced upwards at a higher rate than house prices as more and more families turn to private rented accommodation.

Jenny Allen, South West lead manager for the National Housing Federation, commented: “The housing market is at the point of no return; with house prices and rents set to rise and thousands of families in the South West already really struggling to afford their home… Thousands of South West families are priced out of the market and are struggling to keep on top of their rents. As Home Truths shows, even working families are increasingly reliant on housing benefit to help pay their private rent.”

However, whilst the Home Truths report is forecasting dramatic rent increases, the government is painting a very different picture of the housing market by claiming that private rents are in fact going down. New housing minister Mark Prisk told the Commons that rents have fallen in real terms, because they have risen less than the rate of inflation: “The most recent official statistics published by the Valuation Office Agency in August 2012 show that median private sector rents across England rose by 0.9% in the year to June 2012, compared to a rise in RPI inflation of 2.8% over the same period. Rents have thus fallen in real terms, although there are local variations.”

Regardless of the discrepancies between the Home Truth’s predictions and Mr. Prisk’s comments, there is one thing that everyone seems to agree on: rents will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.