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.

New EU regulation risks UK BTL market

As reported in the property trade title Property Drum the proposed EU regulation on mortgages, designed to combat fraud, which is due to be voted on early in 2012, could change the way some buy-to-let lending is regulated to bring it into line with rules governing conventional residential mortgages.

Critics are expressing fears that the new rules could seriously reduce the number of buy to let mortgages that are granted. This is because lenders would be required to test affordability using standard residential mortgage criteria: relative size of deposit, existing income, other debts, but they would not be able to include potential rental income, meaning that a landlord investor would have to be able to afford to pay the mortgage on the property without receiving any income from it.

Everyone will appreciate the need to reduce fraud but is this yet another hammer to crack a nut? In a country populated by large numbers of frustrated first-time buyers forced into the private rented sector, high rents with longer tenancies, low property purchase prices and better returns than other investment opportunities, the buy to let sector is growing, and the number of mortgages servicing it is growing too.

In the third quarter, buy-to-let lending as a proportion of total lending hit its highest level in three years, jumping 16 per cent in value. According to one lender, 10 per cent of its applications last year were from prospective landlords. This year, the proportion reached 80 per cent. A spokesperson for Lloyds recently forecast 20 per cent growth in the buy-to-let mortgage market in 2012.

Of course, this situation is rather different in many EU countries, where most people have always rented and the change from aspiration to home ownership to reconciled to long term renting is not an issue, and there are many more properties available to rent.

But in the UK, where buy to let is one of the few areas of the property business that is doing well, heavy handed EU legislation could affect our rental housings stocks far more dramatically than in other countries.

If the new legislation is passed, potential new investors and landlords wanting to develop their portfolios, and / or remortgage current assets, should get a plan underway soon; the new rules would take effect from 2013. At least an increase in activity in the short term would be good for the market; if 50 per cent of the estimated 1.4 million landlords in the UK bought a new property before the new legislation hits, we’d have 700,000 more rental properties available for tenants.

Stamp duty holiday to end as planned in 2012

The government have announced today that it will not be extending the stamp duty holiday that it put in place in 2010 and extending until 24^th March 2012.

This means that property buyers will be faced with an additional cost of up to £250,000 if they complete their purchase after the 24^th March 2012. After this date entry level stamp duty will return, meaning 1% tax on a purchase between £125,000 and £250,000.

Those thinking of buying on investing in property in 2012 may consider bring their plans forward to beat the tax deadline date, but beware if you don’t find in early January you are unlikely to see the deal complete before the deadline as sales are reportedly taking an average now of 92 days.

Find all out properties on homes24, Zoopla and rightmove

Follow us on twitter or friend us on facebook

Paula Cunningham - Director

Living Property Lettings & Property Management win Beccles Corporate Duck Race!

Quackers, the Living Property Lettings & Management mascot won the annual corporate Beccles Duck Race held today, September 11^th at Beccles quay, in a close float to the winning post.

Paula Cunningham, Director of Living Property commented, “Living Property are delighted that our girl, Quackers, did us proud winning this prestigious event which has been so well attended our community”.

Kim Davies, fellow Director of Living Property added, “the Beccles Duck Race is a fantastic well run annual event run in aid of BecclesSea Cadets, we are delighted to support this worthy organisation and take the opportunity to applaud the events main sponsors, Tobar, Hawkins Bazaar and Crisp for enabling this annual event for families”.


The Beccles Duck race report can be seen on Archant's Beccles & Bungay site here

Your can follow us at twitter @ #livingproperty

Living Property joins Zoopla network

Living Property, specialists in property rental and management based at Beccles within Suffolk’s Waveney Valley have joined the Zoopla property portal network and in so doing will see all of its clients rental instructions published across Archant, the UK largest independent regional publishers homes24.co.uk property portal as well as the properties being searchable via Yahoo UK & Ireland, Sky.com, UpMyStreet, AOL and MSN.

Paula Cunningham, Director comments, “In joining the UK’s number two property website the Zoopla network membership compliments our existing portal membership of rightmove, the UK leading portal. Our deliberate on-line strategy is to invest in the marketing and promotion of our landlord’s properties to minimise void periods thus ensuring properties are tenanted as quickly as possible”.

Kim Davies, fellow Director of Living Property added, “with 87% of all property search now undertaken on-line, in recognition that around 1 in 3 UK adults between the ages of 24 and 45 now own a smart phone and the fact that 47% of Zoopla network audience is unique we felt that the time was right to expand our on-line marketing strategy which now also includes our livingproperty.net website being mobile search enabled”.

If you have any questions about property rental email info@livingproperty.co or phone 0845 459 4095

UK ends love affair with home ownership?

Latest figures from Communities and Local Government (CLG) have revealed owner occupation of residential property is now at its lowest for 11 years, with one in every six homes in England now a private rental property,

The metrics show that 17.4% of UK housing is now within the private rented sector, an increase from 16.4% in 2009 and up 229,000 by number.

Since 2000, the number of properties in the private rented sector, which currently stands at 3.9 million, has risen by 1.8 million, reflecting the shift in housing tenure England. The growth trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future due to mortgage lenders continued risk adverse attitude to lending to would be buyers.

The number of properties in the owner-occupied sector fell from 14.9 million in 2009 to 14.8 million last year – the lowest since 2000.

The jury is out on whether this is a permanent shift, for certain private rental is no longer stigmatised as the less well offs way to habitation, coupled with other factors such as a significant improvement of the quality and variety of rental homes available for renters it highly likely that we are indeed seeing a long term shift.

If your struggling to sell you home and want advice, without obligation, about renting call Living Property Lettings & Management on 0845 459 4095

All in the course of a days work!

After seeing all the troubles in London and around the UK in the last few days there was not a hoody in sight today as I ventured out with my little Smart car onto the Reedham ferry in Norfolk. Viewing the Norfolk Broads scenery and witnessing the smiles on the faces of holiday’s makers it appears Britain is perhaps not as ‘broken’ as some would have us believe. Letting and property management is hard work and to make a success of it, like anything, you have to put in the hard yards but there are times like today when it brings along a little unplanned adventure which makes everything worth while! p.s. I now have a beautiful mansion for rent at £2,100 per month, fantastic location with views to die for, interested please email me paula@livingproperty.co

Living Property Lettings & Management acquire Homewell of Bungay

Living Property, specialists in the rental and management of residential property in Suffolk’s Waveney Valley have acquired the business of Homewell formally trading as Rentwell based in Bungay, Suffolk.

Paula Cunningham and Kim Davies, founders and directors are delighted to welcome Amanda Coates who joins their team from Homewell.

Paula comments, “Kim and I are well acquainted with Bungay and we won’t be strangers to many of Homewell’s landlords as we worked in Bungay for our former employee, Howards, who sadly closed their Bungay branch several years ago which motivated us to set up and strike out on our own. The purchase of Homewell allows us to become reacquainted with many past customers and we been truly flattered by the number of positive comments and vows of continued support of the landlords”.

Kim adds, “Paula and I are passionate in what we do and our aim is always to offer an exceptional and trusted rental and property management service delivered at highly competitive fees. We are in business for the long game, our customers know and understand this and reward us with the loyalty of their business”.

To contact Paula email paula@livingproperty.co, Kim at kim@livingproperty.co or Amanda at amanda@livingproperty.co  

A Guide to UK Residential Rental Yield Calculation

What is rental yield? Rental yield is the amount of money a landlord receives in rent over one year, shown as a percentage of the amount of money invested in the property. A property investor needs to consider costs above and below the ‘plimsoll’ line as well as void periods i.e. the period during any one year that the property stands vacant during tenant change over, latest ARLA data states void period are running at UK average of 17 days per annum.

Cost considerations are but not limited to:

1) costs of finance setup - booking fee, arrangement fee, valuation, brokers fees
2) legal fees, searches
3) costs of any refurbishment (including your own time)

From the monthly rental return, you should remove

1) costs of finance - repayments/interest
2) costs of compliance - safety checks, repairs, insurances
3) allowance for void periods between lettings
4) service costs (if applicable)
5) management fees/finders fees if using an agency
6) Advertising costs

A basic formula for rental yield is:

mrr = monthly rental return

i = investment

yield = mrr*12/i*100

If you want to factor in loan costs a calculator can be found at http://bit.ly/lvMuB9

Living Property’s ‘Smart’ Move!

As one of the leading residential lettings and property management businesses, Living Property, operating throughout South Norfolk, North Suffolk and the Waveney Valley has been keen to reduce their carbon footprint and operate in an environmentally sustainable way.

Paula Cunningham, founder and director of Living Property Lettings & Management comments, “As a mother and shortly to be grandmother I think it is vital that as adults we lead by example to our sibling generations in minimising wherever possible our carbon footprint. From the launch of Living Property we choose to recycle our waste, use recycled paper, communicate electronically and run the most efficient printers possible.”

Paula comments further, “ I happened to spot our local car mechanic, Wiggs Motor Company, had a cute second hand Smart car for sale which I bought and in order to give it a new lease of life had it treated to a Living Property branded body wrap which was done by Norfolk based Unique Signs & Graphics. I am absolutely delighted with the result and the fact that it’s another positive move to improving our operating carbon efficiency.”