Month: May 2019

What makes a good letting agent?

Lesley Davis Leave a comment

Earlier this week the ‘eviction notice’ pictured above was doing the rounds on Twitter. Hard to know if this is real or just fake news but if this is a genuine notice from a letting agent to their tenant – pink felt tip aside – there are so many reasons why this is completely unacceptable that it’s hard to know where to begin.

So we asked Sam Hay who heads up LifebyRingley, our Manchester-based Lettings division, for her tips to help landlords – and tenants – find a professional letting agent who will work hard on your behalf – and who can be relied on not to deliver notices like this one!

It is easy to get a feel for an agent simply by doing some research of your own online. Sam says a good starting to point is to look at their marketing material. How do they currently advertise their properties? Are the pictures professional and the descriptions well written?

Find out what others say about them. Take a look at their online reviews – which cut through the marketing blurb companies send out – to get a feel for the level of service they offer.

Where are they located and are they members of a professional body such as ARLA? – This is important as it not only gives you an idea of the standards they are expected to maintain but means they will also have a complaints system in place if things go wrong.

Once you’ve shortlisted a handful of agents, here are some questions to ask them individually:

  • How long have they been in business? A firm that is well established and has a solid client base is generally a better bet.
  • How do they deal with their maintenance ie, how does the process work? If it isn’t dealt with quickly and professionally it can cost you a good tenant.
  • What is their accounting process?
  • How do they train their team and how often does training occur?
  • Check what their fully managed service includes and what it doesn’t, so you are fully aware of the charges
  • How proactive are they when it comes to finding tenants?
  • What technology do they use? It is important that you can access all documentation easily

At Ringley we aim to tick all these boxes. We’re confident we offer value for money and a great service for our clients – and we’re here to answer your questions, so give us a call or contact us at https://lifebyringley.co.uk/ .

Right to rent update

Lesley Davis Leave a comment

Earlier this month, the Government issued new guidance on right to rent checks post-Brexit. Like most things Brexit-related, there has been a lot of uncertainty about what will happen next and landlords and letting agents have been rightly confused as to what their rights and responsibilities will be once the UK leaves the EU later this year. In response, the Home Office has now confirmed that there will be no changes made to existing legislation until 1 January 2021.

Under the law as it stands, anyone letting a property must check that prospective tenants have the legal right to rent a home before a new tenancy agreement is signed.

Until 1 January 2021 EU, EEA and Swiss citizens will continue to be able to prove their right to rent in the UK as they do now, for example by showing their passport or national identity card.

There will be no change to the way EU, EEA and Swiss citizens prove their right to rent until 1 January 2021. This remains the same if the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal. Letting agents and landlords do not need to check if new EEA and Swiss tenants arrived before or after the UK left the EU, or if they have status under the EU Settlement Scheme or European temporary leave to remain. Nor will they need to retrospectively check the status of EU, EEA or Swiss tenants or their family members who entered into a tenancy agreement before 1 January 2021.

Irish citizens will continue to have the right to rent in the UK and will continue to prove their right to rent as they do now, for example by using their passport.

However, the Home Office states that letting agents and landlords should continue to conduct right to rent checks on all prospective tenants to comply with the Code of practice on illegal immigrants and private rented accommodation and the Code of practice for landlords: avoiding unlawful discrimination.

As is now the case, in order for a landlord to obtain a statutory excuse from a civil penalty when letting to the non-EEA family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, the prospective tenant will need to show Home Office issued documentation as set out in the legislation and guidance.

So watch out for new guidance on how to carry out right to rent checks from 1 January 2021 and in the meantime, if you’re still confused, go to the government website at gov.uk which has plenty of useful links and more information on right to rent checks.

Section 21: Finding the right balance

Lesley Davis Leave a comment

With the introduction of more regulation, reductions in tax relief on mortgage interest and 3% Stamp Duty on buy-to-let properties, landlords are really under pressure. Add Section 21 changes into the mix and there is a real risk that, having lit the touch paper, all the government has to do is stand well back and watch the rental market go down in flames.

This may be an exaggeration but according to a recent survey carried out by Landlord Action and reported in yesterday’s Landlord Today, more than a third (38%) of buy-to-let landlords will consider offloading properties if the government axes Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions. A further 33% said they would only continue being a landlord if “significant changes” are made  to Section 8.

The study also found that 70% of landlords would be less willing to consider a longer-term tenancy if Section 21 was no longer available to them, while 85% said they would be more selective with their choice of tenant. 

This is serious. The government is attempting to reform the private rental sector in order to help tenants but is running the risk of alienating the very landlords that people rely on to provide their homes.

In response, today there has been a new call on the government to rethink its plans to change the Section 21 eviction process. The founder of Landlord Action, Paul Shamplina, has written to housing minister Heather Wheeler, inviting her to gain a greater understanding of the possession process before making drastic reforms, by attending an eviction with him.  In formulating policy and new legislation it is vitally important that any reforms present equal opportunity for everyone operating and living in the private rental sector.

With 85% of landlords telling the National Landlords Association in a recent poll that they would be unlikely to vote for any party proposing to remove Section 21, for the minister’s sake let’s hope she is in listening mode.

Section 21 changes: have your say today

Lesley Davis Leave a comment

Last week this blog looked at the problems that could be caused for the rental sector by the proposal to scrap “no-fault” Section 21 evictions.

The government proposes to effectively make tenancies open-ended, while at the same time strengthening the rights of landlords who want to recover their properties by giving the Section 8 process more teeth. Getting this right will make or break the planned change in the law. Get it wrong and the government risks seriously damaging the rental sector – which is already struggling to meet the demand for housing.

The average time it takes for a private landlord to repossess a property via the current system is nearly four months, according to data from the Ministry of Justice published in Landlord Today last week. This is completely unacceptable. All landlords know that eviction of any kind is a last resort. And even official figures point to the fact that only 10% of tenancies are ended by the landlord, not the tenant. All other things being equal, they have a better investment with a long term tenant where there is no void rent loss and less move-in, move-out wear and tear.  But there are legitimate reasons why a buy-to-let landlord may need to evict someone when they have a change of circumstances and that situation must be supported by an efficient court process.

In Scotland, where court reform was rolled out prior to scrapping their equivalent of Section 21, the new regime seems to be working. So paying attention to Section 8 will be vital if the new regime is to be fair to landlords as well as to tenants.

Not surprisingly, there has been a strong reaction to the government’s plans from the lettings sector, with more than 6,000 people responding to the Residential Landlord Association’s survey asking what a post-Section 21 private rented sector should look like – a record response for the trade body. The RLA survey closes today and the results will be used to respond to the government’s formal consultation when it is launched, so go to the RLA website at https://rla.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/possession-reform-ensuring-landlord-confidence-apr-may to have your say.

Section 21 changes: what’s the problem?

Lesley Davis Leave a comment

On 16 April this blog flagged up government plans to scrap “no-fault” evictions. The change proposed to the Housing Act 1988 means landlords will always need to give tenants a reason for ending a tenancy, such as breach of contract or wanting to sell the property. We also drew attention to the fact that the government needs to show caution if this decision, by putting tenants’ interests first, is not to have unforeseen consequences.

In fact, the results of scrapping Section 21 are not ‘unforeseen’ at all. If the proposed change is not carefully thought through and properly managed, we predict smaller landlords leaving the rental market in favour of less troublesome investments, shrinking the available rental stock as a result.

So why has the government chosen not to introduce three- year tenancies but now seeks to introduce never-ending agreements or contracts that can only end using protracted court eviction processes and proving fault? Many landlords feel more secure in renting their properties knowing that they can get to know their tenants during the first year of their tenancy and have a straightforward way out using Section 21 (a non-adversarial, no-fault process) should any kind of nuisance, behaviour or problem with late payment start to rear its head.  Housing Associations also use a one year contract before they grant long term tenancies for the very same reasons. 

Richard Lambert urges the government to look to Scotland, which scrapped no fault evictions in 2017.

The National Landlord’s Association (NLA) has been quick to slam the proposal, arguing that Section 21 “has become a backstop to overcome the ineffective Section 8 process”. Richard Lambert, CEO of the NLA, talking to Landlord Today earlier this month, said: “Landlords currently have little choice but to use Section 21. They have no confidence in the ability or the capacity of the courts to deal with possession claims quickly and surely, regardless of the strength of the landlord’s case”.

Lambert suggests that before making any major decisions, the government should look to Scotland, which outlawed Section 33 notices (equivalent to Section 21) in December 2017. Scottish landlords were just as resistant to the change as their English counterparts but the predictions of disaster have not materialised, probably due in large part to the fact that the court process was reformed in advance of the Section 33 changes. With Wales also expected to following Scotland’s lead, it is vital that the law makers tread carefully. As Richard Lambert says:  “If the government introduces yet another piece of badly thought-out legislation, we guarantee there will be chaos.” We wholeheartedly agree with that.

Tomorrow’s blog will take a closer look at what could be done to make any new proposals work for tenants AND landlords.