Newham Council Brings in Compulsory Licensing for Private Landlords

The London borough of Newham has announced it is to be the first council to require compulsory licensing of all private landlords from January 1, 2013. 



The licensing scheme will cover an estimated 35,000 private tenancies, representing one in three of all the borough’s households. Newham Council says it made the decision after consulting extensively with residents, private sector tenants, landlords and lettings agencies: 74% of residents and 76% of private tenants supported the scheme. Interestingly there is no mention of the percentage support from Landlords and lettings agents.


The scheme requires private landlords to pay £150 for a five-year licence if they register before 31^st December 2012; otherwise the full fee is £500. Landlords who fail to get a licence face fines of up to £20,000. 



The move by Newham council is unlikely to be welcomed by law abiding private landlords who will know doubt view this as unnecessary cost, as for other local authorities they’ll be keeping their beady eye on this as a useful way to generate revenue in these challenging economic times.

MORE LANDLORDS CHOOSE LIVING PROPERTY WAVENEY AS THEIR LETTING AGENT!

*MORE LANDLORDS CHOOSE LIVING PROPERTY WAVENEY AS THEIR LETTING AGENT! We are delighted to share the attached graph which compares Zoopla network agent’s new rental listing performance; this clearly shows that Living Property considerably outperformed the competitors listed….

We would welcome the opportunity in meeting any new landlords or if you know someone that is thinking of entering into the buy-to-let market we are always happy to offer property investment advice free of charge

*reporting period 40 days ending 11^th June 2012

CARRP European Directive delivers some welcome news for the UK Buy-to-Let market

The European directive on credit agreements relating to residential property (CARRP) has had its final amendments voted through. The UK government will be allowed to exempt buy-to-let mortgages from the directive, lifting the threat that all buy-to-let lending would have to be assessed without taking rental income into account.

It had been proposed that buy-to-let lenders would have to assess mortgage applications in exactly the same way as residential mortgages. This would have a highly damaging effect on the UK’s buy-to-let market which has played a highly useful part in shoring up the housing market.

None of the changes are quite a done deal, as the legislation still has some way to go, but pundits took encouragement from yesterday’s decisions. The UK government will actively have to enforce the buy-to-let exemption, and can only do so if they are convinced there is no detriment to consumers. The Government will now come under renewed pressure to make the exemption.


Further information can be found here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/about/what/international/mortgages

UK Government Plan to Force Home Improvements

Landlords wanting to replace broken boilers in their rental properties are set to be forced by law to install other, unrelated energy-efficient measures.

Government plans for ‘consequential improvements’, as reported in the EAT today, could have far reaching cost implications for landlords. The essence of the idea is that one improvement project could not be undertaken without the property owner having to commit to other work elsewhere in the home.
An example would be perhaps anyone wanting to add an extension or convert a loft might have to upgrade existing windows in other parts of the property to double glazing.

All consequential improvements would have to be done to full Building Regulations standards, although it is not clear whether in an emergency – for example, replacing a boiler – consequential works would have to be done at the same or could be done later.
If it is decided that consequential work must be done at the same time, it could mean delays for tenants left without hot water or heating.

Under Chapter 4 of a consultation on Building Regulations, the Government is proposing to extend the requirements for ‘consequential improvements’.

This is the term that would trigger a requirement for extra energy efficiency works in a building where other ‘controlled work’ is already taking place.

The consultation says: “The reason for proposing these changes now is to recognise the urgency of reducing emissions from the existing building stock, and, in a time of rising energy prices, to make homes and non-domestic buildings easier and cheaper to heat. It would also take advantage of a new market mechanism which has the potential to remove some of the existing barriers to action – the Green Deal.”

The paper goes on to say that the objective is to ‘use the opportunity’ to get the overall energy performance of the building improved whilst other works are being carried out.

The Government plans to phrase in the requirement for ‘consequential improvements’ from April 2014.

The consultation on ‘consequential improvements’ closed at the end of March and the outcome will not be known for some months.

The private rented sector already faces the challenges being posed by new-look EPCs, introduced last week, and the Green Deal, which is due to be implemented this autumn. In 2018, rental properties with the two lowest EPC scores are due to be banned from the market, meaning that landlords must have improved them by then.


Paula Cunningham
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paula-cunningham/37/6b1/430


If you are thinking of investing in residential property to buy-to-let please contact Living Property on 0845 459 4095 or info@livingproperty.co for more information www.livingproperty.co

UK Housing Rental's Close On Resale

Information agency Experian has reported that the number of rental properties put on the market in 2011 was 692,766.

The figure was up by 58,000 on the year before, while the number of resale properties for sale dropped by 12,000 to 769,077.

Experian additionally states that 20% of all UK rental properties last year were in London, which also had 10% of housing for sale. The South-West had the highest percentage of properties for sale at 12.2%, whilst Wales and the West Midlands had the biggest increase in available letting properties, with a 20% rise in numbers compared to 2010.

Paula Cunningham
Co founder director
Living Property Waveney Lettings & Property Management
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paula-cunningham/37/6b1/430


If you are thinking of investing in residential property to buy-to-let please contact Living Property on 0845 459 4095 or info@livingproperty.co for more information www.livingproperty.co

Energy Performance Certificate Legislation Changes (Residential Property) Effective 6th April 2012

Commissioning an EPC before marketing

A number of changes will be made to regulation 5A of the EPB Regulations. In general, the onus remains on the ‘relevant person’ (i.e. the seller or landlord) to commission an EPC before marketing. The main changes are as follows:

• the duty to commission an EPC before marketing will be extended to the sale and rent of residential and non-residential buildings;

• the current 28 day period within which an EPC is to be secured using ‘reasonable efforts’ will be reduced to 7 days;

• if after that 7 day period the EPC has not been secured the relevant person will have a further 21 days in which to do so.

Power to Require the Production of Documents

Trading Standards Officers (TSOs) currently have the power to require the ’relevant person’ (i.e. the seller or landlord) to produce copies of the EPC for inspection and to take copies if necessary. The power to require the production of documents will be extended to include persons acting on behalf of the seller or landlord – e.g. estate agents and letting agents. This means, for example, that TSOs will be authorised to require estate agents to produce evidence showing that an EPC has been commissioned where they are marketing a building without one.

Clarifying when an EPC is required

This technical amendment to Regulation 5 is intended to remove the erroneous belief that the provision of the EPC can be delayed until shortly before the parties enter into a contract for sale or rent. This will be achieved by deleting the words “before entering into a contract to sell or rent the building or, if sooner” in Regulation 5(2)(b) of the EPB Regulations

Consequential changes

A number of consequential changes will be made to enable TSOs to enforce the new duties.

EPC Information in Written Particulars

Currently, for residential sales only, the relevant person or his agent is under a duty to either attach the EPC to written particulars or include the asset rating on those particulars. The amendments will require the EPC to be attached to written particulars in relation to buildings sold or rented out. The option to include the asset rating will no longer apply.
The existing definition of ‘written particulars’ will be expanded to ensure that particulars produced for rented out buildings and commercial properties are captured by the new requirements.
As an exception to this requirement, provision is made to allow the person subject to the duty to provide the written particulars to omit the address of the building from a copy of the EPC where the address has been omitted from those particulars. A further amendment to the Regulations which will also come into force on the 6th April will require that the omission of the address from the copy of the first page of the EPC is carried out by the keeper of the register. The further amendment to the Regulations will restrict this exception to properties which are non-residential.

Statutory lodgement of air conditioning inspection reports

The requirement to lodge air conditioning inspection reports on the central Non Domestic EPC Register will become a statutory requirement, replacing the current voluntary approach.

Commencement


The amended Regulations will come into force on 6 April 2012. A copy of the amendments and the Explanatory Memoranda can be downloaded at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2452/introduction/made 
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/809/regulation/1/made

The landlord holds responsibility as the ‘Relevant Person’ they therefore carry responsibility to ensure compliance with the EPC regulations, however they may if they choose engage an agent to act on their behalf in procuring the EPC. Should the landlord, as the ‘Relevant Person’ not produce an EPC for a marketed property within the time limits set out in the regulations i.e. ideally within 7 days but certainly by 28 days from the commencement of marketing the landlord will be liable to a fine, currently at £200.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us info@livingproperty.co or phone 0845 459 4095

15% stamp duty tax on homes worth more than £2m

The UK government 2012 budget has introduced a 15% stamp duty tax on homes worth more than £2m that are bought through a company. Whilst this might come as unwelcome news to some it ensures that the majority of those active in the buy-to-let business sector purchasing residential property via company vehicles are unaffected.
The government also introduced a new 7% stamp duty rate on residential property bought personally above £2m.
Find the HMRC stamp duty land tax schedule here.
If you are considering investing in residential property within the Waveney Valley, Living Property Waveney offers a ‘Buying Agent’ service which includes sourcing suitable property, negotiation and acquisition. To find out more call 0845 459 4095 or email info@livingproperty.co

Facebook vanity URL for Living Property Waveney Lettings & Management

We are delighted to announce that with the support of our highly valued clients we have here at Living Property Waveney been able to secure a much converted Facebook vanity URL to make finding our Page so much easier....its www.facebook.com/LivingPropertyWaveneyLettings Please feel free to pass this onto anyone thinking of renting or letting in the North Suffolk / South Norfolk region of East Anglia. Thank you.  

Living Property Lettings & Management ramps up their social media marketing

Living Property, the independent specialist in residential property rental and management, based in Beccles and covering Norfolk, Suffolk and the Waveney Valley, have further developed their user experience on the Facebook and Twitter.

Kim Davies, co director explains, “Since we launched Living Property Waveney we have been present on facebook, however we wanted our friends and followers of our brand to have access to all our property content and it’s this we have now developed. You can now see all our rental properties on our ‘Listing’ page and search just as you can on our website www.livingproperty.co. We recognise that many people now use Facebook in a similar way to Google, searching for product or service provider, so developing our page in this way makes sense for us and our customers”.

Paula Cunningham, co director continues, “We also recognised that Twitter is a fantastic broadcast tool and that we can use it to let potential renters know about new rental instructions to the market, all you do if follow us @LivingProp_NEW. Each tweet gives the property address and a link to the full property details so you can arrange a viewing even when you’re on the go via a smart phone. In addition to broadcasting new property listings we have a twitter feed dedicated to giving news and information relevant to the lettings industry, this can be followed @LivingProperty”.

 If you have a property to rent Living Property are always happy to provide a rental appraisal without obligation, simply call 01502 558538 or email info@livingproperty.co

Living Property Lettings & Management launch all new website

Living Property, the independent specialist in residential property rental and management, based in Beccles and covering Norfolk, Suffolk and the Waveney Valley, are delighted to unveil their all new website, which can be found at www.livingproperty.co

Paula Cunningham and Kim Davies, co directors, have made a substantial investment in livingproperty.co with the aim in providing tenants and landlords an enjoyable, informative browsing experience.

Kim Davies, said, “We hope customers like the detailed presentation of our rental homes, in particular our approach in publishing multiple photographs of the properties. We have also built in ‘Live Agent’ functionality which allows renters and landlords to communicate with us immediately via the livingproperty.co saving the need to email or phone in, we believe we are the first dedicated lettings agency in the region to use this communications medium”.

Paula Cunningham additionally comments, “We view our site as being our shop window to the world on-line, on the site we provide useful information to would-be landlords and tenants. Additionally we also publish some of the many testimonials we get from our landlords which we hope will make interesting reading to new customers looking at engaging the services of a letting agent”.

On-line Living Property also publish their rental properties onto the UK’s leading property portals, rightmove and the Zoopla network which includes homes24.co.uk, The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun plus another six websites. Off-line Living Property use Archant Community Media’s titles, The Waveney Advertiser and Beccles & Bungay Journal.

If you have a property to rent Living Property are always happy to provide a rental appraisal without obligation, simply call 01502 558538 or email info@livingproperty.co

Water industry proposals reviewed

As reported in The Property Drum today the Government is considering pulling back from powers that would force landlords to share information on changes of tenancy with water companies, and even make them liable for their tenants’ debts.

Proposed under The Flood and Water Management Act, the Government’s current plan is to make owners liable for payment of water and sewerage bills if they fail to provide specified details of occupiers.

Mindful of the burden that regulation may impose on landlords, the Government is considering whether ‘bad debt’ can be tackled through a voluntary and non-regulatory approach.

Government believes that the lack of consequences of non-payment has contributed to unpaid bills from domestic water customers spiralling from £705m in 1998-99 to £1.635bn in 20010-11. The industry wrote off approximately £328 million of household debt in 2010-11 an increase of £168 million from the previous year.