Monthly Archives: December 2012

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By Craig Smith

As our office is based in the Midlands (England) it isn’t very often that we have the need to report on a change in Scottish legislation. The 2 countries may be very similar but they don’t share all of the same laws and regulations when it comes to lettings.

New TIP Packs

Under the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 any Landlord inScotlandwill soon have to provide each new tenant with a Tenant Information Pack (TIP). This may be new toScotlandbut may I just point out that Castle Estates have been producing these packs for almost 10 years! It has changed over the years to cover the ever changing legislation and changed layout once or twice but has remained generally the same.

Why So Long?

The Scottish equivalent could be up to 30 pages long with various information about the property and its necessary legal requirements but our fits neatly enough into 5 pages and covers, we feel, all of the general information a tenant might need. It is our general practice to go through this with every tenant at the check in to ensure that they understand their rights & responsibilities before they sign any tenancy agreement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making sure that everyone knows exactly what is expected of them but being perfectly honest, I don’t know how many people actually take the time to read it during their tenancy or remember most of what it means. Which only begs the question, what is the point in having a compulsory version that is 6 times as long?!

Waste of Effort?

If the government stopped and thought realistically for a moment, they might share the same viewpoint. Maybe this will just be yet another stack of paper wasted and extra money down the drain for no reason?

The same has happened in relation to deposit protection (uh oh, here we go again with deposits!). We now need to ensure that the terms & conditions for the relevant deposit scheme are provided to each tenant at the start of their tenancy. This is just over 10 pages of information which seems to end up in the bottom of a drawer or at the back of a cabinet.

Good Idea or Bad?

In general, I do think it is a good idea to have certain information for tenants although some of it may just be overkill and could be found with 2 minutes searching on the internet. I guess we’ll have to see if this becomes law in England and Wales too and how well it goes in Scotland!

By Craig Smith

As our office is based in the Midlands (England) it isn’t very often that we have the need to report on a change in Scottish legislation. The 2 countries may be very similar but they don’t share all of the same laws and regulations when it comes to lettings.

New TIP Packs

Under the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 any Landlord inScotlandwill soon have to provide each new tenant with a Tenant Information Pack (TIP). This may be new toScotlandbut may I just point out that Castle Estates have been producing these packs for almost 10 years! It has changed over the years to cover the ever changing legislation and changed layout once or twice but has remained generally the same.

Why So Long?

The Scottish equivalent could be up to 30 pages long with various information about the property and its necessary legal requirements but our fits neatly enough into 5 pages and covers, we feel, all of the general information a tenant might need. It is our general practice to go through this with every tenant at the check in to ensure that they understand their rights & responsibilities before they sign any tenancy agreement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making sure that everyone knows exactly what is expected of them but being perfectly honest, I don’t know how many people actually take the time to read it during their tenancy or remember most of what it means. Which only begs the question, what is the point in having a compulsory version that is 6 times as long?!

Waste of Effort?

If the government stopped and thought realistically for a moment, they might share the same viewpoint. Maybe this will just be yet another stack of paper wasted and extra money down the drain for no reason?

The same has happened in relation to deposit protection (uh oh, here we go again with deposits!). We now need to ensure that the terms & conditions for the relevant deposit scheme are provided to each tenant at the start of their tenancy. This is just over 10 pages of information which seems to end up in the bottom of a drawer or at the back of a cabinet.

Good Idea or Bad?

In general, I do think it is a good idea to have certain information for tenants although some of it may just be overkill and could be found with 2 minutes searching on the internet. I guess we’ll have to see if this becomes law in England and Wales too and how well it goes in Scotland!

By Craig Smith

We always find it interesting to hear a Landlords feedback, whether it relates solely to their own property or about lettings in general. This week, The Dispute Service have released the results of a survey asking Landlords how they feel about their tenancies.

Worried by Tenants

One of the questions asked in the survey was what concerned Landlords the most when it came to letting, giving a choice of answers. The most commonly chosen answer was the quality of the tenants who were on the agreement which isn’t too surprising given some of the scare stories going round. Certainly having the tenants referenced prior to them moving in can help to determine their credibility but won’t guarantee whether they will continue to be as good as their references suggest.

One instance we have had in the past is the guarantor of a prospective tenant giving a glowing reference, only to come back and tell the horrible truth when the tenants stopped paying the rent!

Rent Arrears

Following on quite nicely from the above, the second biggest concern in this question was rent arrears. The majority of Landlords have mortgages to cover and if not still have to insure the building and have to provide for the upkeep of their properties. Arrears can be distressing even for the biggest of Landlords as it can be a lengthy process to get any non-payers to leave, not to mention the additional costs!

New Regulations

The third most commonly chosen answer to what concerns Landlords the most was complying with regulations. Over the last 5 or 6 years or so the industry has seen a lot of changes in legislation including the registration of certain deposits (there I go talking about deposits again!) and new energy regulations.

There are certain things that a lot of Landlords forget or don’t know about such as ensuring there is a handrail on the stairs or ensuring that a chimney is swept & safe to use. This can highlight the importance of speaking with a local agent who can advise a Landlord of the necessary rules & regulations in order to prevent any damages or injury to tenants and their belongings.

Happy Landlords

The survey included just over 200 Landlords and just over 80% confirmed they were satisfied with the quality of their tenants. Surely this can only be good news?! There are always going to be some bad experiences with the sheer number of lettings properties out there at the moment but this shows that the majority of experiences are good.

This is again good news for those who are referred to as reluctant Landlords i.e. an inherited property. Hopefully this should keep a little confidence in the industry and keep people renting for the future years!