Tag Archives: Current News

10Jan 2011

Current Preoperty news: Cannabis factory increases.

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By Mike Edwards

I would not normally copy information from elsewhere for my own writings, but as this is very good and timely advice from the Police on the prevention of Cannabis Factories, I will make an exception and copy in full a circular I received from Thames Valley Police sent to me because of my position advising our franchised offices within Castle Estates:

Dear Landlord/Estate Agency,

 Cannabis Cultivation

Commercial cannabis cultivation is a growing industry in the UK. In the past two years, Thames Valley Police has uncovered more than 300 cannabis factories, with an estimated yield of £4.4 million.

Cannabis factories range from small enterprises in a bedroom, to barns and industrial premises adapted for large-scale production. Because properties are often sub let from existing tenants, it can be difficult to trace those responsible.

The damage to property caused by this kind of activity can be substantial. Landlords face severe penalties for failing to report illegal drug production, and could be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Information for Landlords, giving advice on how to spot if drug production might be taking place at one of your properties and what to watch out for with regard to a new tenant is available on our force website by following the link below.

http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/crprev/crprev-home/crprev-home-canprod/crprev-home-canprod-adv.htm

Use this number, 08458 505505, to report a non-emergency crime or to give information to Thames Valley Police. You can contact Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.  Always call 999 in an emergency.

 If I can be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 Kind Regards,

 Wendy Walker, Community Information Manager, Force Intelligence Bureau, Thames Valley Police. Tel: 701 3967 (External 01865 293967) Mobile 07837 496532. Email:  [email protected]

 The area is of course not significant, but the advice is paramount.

Good advice

Any advice of this nature should of course be well received and what matters most is the ability to put steps in place to stop such a disaster happening to any Landlord and of course, when fully managed by an agent, who would carry out regular property visits, it should not! Only when Landlords leave a Tenant in the property without visiting between Tenancies do such opportunities arise and when you consider the possible actions taken against the Landlord, surely this is reason enough to ensure all properties are visited on a regular basis!

29Dec 2010

Current Property news: Confidence needed for Landlords to invest.

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By Steve Roulstone

As I said in my last blog and with good timing, news is beginning to spread of a confidence in the rental market and surely led by demand, an increase in Buy to Let products, which will enable growth again next year as Landlords seek to supply property to an increasing demand for Rental housing.

Drive the market            

I do not think we will ever see the type of mortgages available before the property crash, and most would say for the right reasons, but there is no doubt that Landlords buying for a readymade market, where rents and demand are both increasing, could give timely assistance to House sales. Therefore Societies need to have the confidence that products they make available will work. It is there job to place those products at the right level to attract business but hopefully they can also see the demand which will surely increase after both the winter season, which historically has a slowing effect on the market anyway as well as this current spell of bad winter weather.

Spring is round the corner.

So by the time Easter is upon us, again historically the time that the property market increases in volume (take note BBC!) in three months time, the markets and financial houses should be able to recognise the need and start to release the products. This is also the same time that Landlords start to look at increasing their property portfolio as I know only too well from the increased level of ‘Landlord shopping’ our offices are asked to carry out. So historically and with a market as strong as the rental sector is at present the demand and percentage of rental property looks to continue to grow in strength and size.

Walk first!           

So as my own group will be ready I believe what we need now is growing signs of confidence from the markets and it will be the mortgage products that confirms this confidence if they are made available (as seen recently with short term release or special offers made available for limited periods) then others will follow suit, whether they be Agents, Landlords, Mortgage brokers or Providers, the Buy to Let mortgage could soon be the vehicle by which the property market starts to recover. Nobody wants this to be without due consideration and that means careful product pricing and placement, but that is exactly what I both hope for and expect.

16Dec 2010

Property Landlord advice: Unlawful Eviction supports Professional Agents

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By Steve Roulstone

I have constantly voiced the opinion that our Industry progressively gets more professional year upon year. I was totally behind the recommendation of the Rugg review that both Landlords and Agents should be licensed and or registered having qualified in some prescribed manner. I believe the benefits will be for all to see and enjoy and enforce the movement away from unlawful activities. I also understand the current Government saying they would not pursue this policy at the moment, with the current financial situation to deal with they have bigger fish to deal with!

Breaking the Law

This week, I have had two reminders that what was recommended by the review is still important and that the review was correct to recommend the introduction of legislation in the first place. I have reported in these pages that as an industry we are moving away from horror stories and that renting has become embedded in our way of life as an acceptable and in many cases preferable way of life, but what I have heard this week has reminded me that some people still believe they can act outside of the law!

Landlord jailed

The first case concerning unlawful eviction was reported back in November and was referred to this week in a conversation with a colleague. A Landlord looking to remove a Tenant who had become a Housing Benefit applicant attempted to do so without proper recourse to legal methods and then physically removed the Tenant when they refused to move out. Oxford City Council took the appropriate action and the Landlord was charged and convicted being jailed for three months. Whilst it is always sad to hear about Landlords trying to act outside of the law, at least the Law caught up with him and justice was seen to have been done. Although of course the Tenant still had to go through the indignity of being dealt with unlawfully in the first place!

Unlawful Agent recommendations

The second case was I admit hearsay, but I have no reason to doubt the source or the motivation for telling me what had been heard, as it was bought out in normal conversation and not raised intentionally. In concerned a Local (to me) Agent, who advised a Landlord when discussing the methods of dealing with Tenants who fail to pay due rent and when discussing notices served within the Housing Act in such cases, with a sideways tap of the nose saying; ‘Of course there are always other ways of dealing with Tenants who do not pay’

Legal Methods

Well there are not! Any method of eviction which is not within the Housing Acts is of course unlawful and what amazes me is that agents should still recommend some midnight knock on the door method openly to a Landlord! Perhaps I should not be surprised that the agent concerned was not a specialist Letting Agent being involved in other aspects of the Housing Industry! So bring on the legislation and I shall report such matters that come to my attention wherever possible to further legitimate professional Landlords being recognised as just that!

09Dec 2010

Property Landlord advice: House prices stabilise

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By Steve Roulstone

It never ceases to amaze me how the press and in particular the BBC never fail to jump on any ‘announcement’ relating to property and place a negative spin on what is being reported. Today I see a Headline which states ‘UK House prices fell in November’ on the BBC web pages as once again, it is the BBC who decide to tell the nation that housing is in decline, still! (this is not the frist time in fact this could be said to be a trend) But lets just look a little bit closer at what is actually happening?

Massive decline

Of exactly 0.1%! That is what has actually been reported by the Halifax now is that significant enough to report a decline? Firstly, house prices are always more liable to fall at this time of the year, because the winter season is always slow for house sales, as anybody in the industry is aware. But is such a small reduction worthy of such headlines? Does it not rather suggest that such a fall at this time of year, is more representative of stability in the current level of house prices? Not it seems, if you are the BBC!

Worldwide media take note!

You see, if you look at other reports on the same subject, then a more balanced approach is taken. In The Wall Street Journal report ‘UK House prices fall as demand slips’ on the same Halifax announcment (Still a negative headline but then good news never sells!) the first lines confirm that this is because of lack of demand, giving credibility to the headline they use, because they report, less owners are looking to place property on the market. This would reflect the increase in owners looking to the rental market as they seek to maximise the return from their assets, as reported by ARLA this week. They do state it is because houses cannot be sold, I would surmise that many have not even tried!

Facts behind the fiction

Only at the end of the report by the BBC do we get to some positive and supportive quotes about what is actually happening, I would suggest the damage is done by then, because most people scan the first few lines. Do this in the WSJ report and a truer picture emerges. The facts are that the Housing market is mainly flat, would expect to slow down and probably fall in the winter and under these circumstances I think a fall of 0.1% is a good performance.

Rental market

My market continues to do well, so why should this concern me? Because I believe that it is overall confidence in the housing market that matters the most and we would all benefit from a confident market. Reports that dwell on the negative and headlines that do the same may be better news, but they also do further harm and delay confidence. So please BBC let’s see the details delivered in a more factual manner, I think we all expect better!

 

 

 

24Nov 2010

Rental Issues: Tenants Protected against defaulting Borrowers

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By Mike Edwards

Tenants will no longer be at the same risk of losing their home with little warning if their landlord defaults on their mortgage, because new rules have come into force giving judges the power to delay repossessions in order to give tenants time to find a new home.

Prior to the change           

People could previously be evicted from rental properties relatively quickly if their landlord defaulted on the mortgage and had failed to inform their lender that they were renting out the property. In most cases tenants were totally unaware of the situation until a Court Summons was received or bailiffs arrived to enforce the Court

New Legislation

Under new rules tenants with a valid tenancy will be able to attend Court possession hearings for the first time. Judges will be able to take their situation into account and delay repossession by up to two months though but even now if a lender is seeking possession under Ground 2 it is 2 months notice and only then can proceedings commence. However the tenant may be unaware that proceedings have commenced.       

Lenders must also ensure tenants know that their home is going to be repossessed by sending a letter to the property giving them notice of a court hearing date. Again however having said that lenders have been under such an obligation since the Civil Procedure Rules were changed many years ago requiring lenders to write to the property addressing the letter to The Occupier.

This letter should be sent at the earliest possible opportunity when it becomes apparent that a lender is likely to institute proceedings against a borrower but most lenders have consistently failed to do so only advising of the proceedings very shortly before they were listed or even after the event thus adding to the problems.

The end Result

Once a repossession order has been granted, the lender must without fail send a second letter to the property telling tenants they have a warrant for its possession.
The tenant can then request a delay of up to two months if they have not previously had the opportunity to do so and this is the big change introduced by the new rules.

14Oct 2010

Property Landlord Advice: Rent limit for AST Agreements increased to £100,000

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By Mike Edwards

From 1st October 2010 all tenancies where there is no legally stated reason why they cannot be ASTs  will be so deemed unless the annualised aggregate rent is in excess of £100,000 or basically £8,333 a month no matter how short the initial term might be.

The Change in Law

So if a tenant rents at £10K a month for 6 months it still cannot be an AST because annualised the rent would be £120K. The term stated in the agreement makes no difference just multiply the rent by 12 and if the result exceeds £100K then from the 1st of October it can no longer be an AST. Do not make the mistake of thinking the tenant actually has to pay £100,000 or more in a year, they do not. The same rules that applied when the limit was £25,000 now simply apply at £100,000 instead. In effect the figure for a tenancy to fall within the EXCLUDED CATEGORY and be incapable of being an AST has now been increased to £100,000

The Affect

This will mainly affect the London market (over £1924.00per week) or very high rental value properties elsewhere but it applies to all new tenancies granted from 1st October onwards and also to all tenancies granted on 6th April 2007 or later as and when they are formally renewed.

The problem

The issue here for Landlords and agents is because these previous non ASTs now become ASTs do existing deposits now need to be registered and protected for these higher value tenancies. However the provision that applied when deposit protection first came in that periodic tenancies were unaffected is thought not to apply. Unfortunately the Government Department responsible for the TDP provisions (Communities and Local Government) omitted the word “new” at a critical point when drafting these revised Regulations.

The result

In doing so they condemned all existing cases to potential uncertainty which can only be clarified by a test Court case. So the advice from CLG, ARLA and the TDP schemes is to register ALL deposits where, under the revised limit if an existing tenancy was actually a new one being granted now it would be covered by the new rules. A Prescribed Information Form must also be issued and interestingly so must any clauses that would be in any such new tenancy but were not of course in the original agreement.

08Oct 2010

Property Landlord advice: Property Scams and problems

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By Mike Edwards

There is once again an upsurge in scams within the Private Rented Sector. These come in various changing guises, some more serious than others.

Common problems:

Properties being turned into cannabis farms or to house multiple foreign workers are still on the increase, though such more common abuse of a property should soon be spotted by regular inspection visits – especially if unannounced.

Problems to be aware of:

More recent developments include people communicating with agents claiming to be the Landlord and giving a change of bank details so payments are siphoned into the wrong bank account. Any change of details should only be registered if they are in writing, the signature compared with the Landlord contract on the file and are known to have come from a confirmed source. Acknowledgement can be sent to the Landlord’s known address or by calling the landlord on a telephone number you know to be theirs. Agents without a contract on their file are short of a significant document and if they do not have a signed Landlord contract on file how can they check the landlord’s signature?   

Summer problem:

There have also been instances over the summer of people posing as agents and turning up at a joint agent’s office, requesting keys for a property supposedly on the instruction of the landlord. Or posing as contractors the Landlord has instructed to undertake work to their property. Again a vigilant and well organised agent should obtain confirmation prior to releasing the keys.

Registration of ownership scam:

Two variations on actual property ‘theft’ are also being reported. Firstly Agents are being contacted by potential tenants only interested in viewing or enquiring about empty property. This can be a sign of a potential fraud intended to transfer the ownership of the property away from the Landlord. Secondly there has been an increase in cases where the Land Registry has confirmed a property has been ‘stolen’ by tenants who identify there is no mortgage and transfer the title deeds into their name. If in response to the ‘lender’s consent’ enquiries at initial interview the landlord confirms there is no mortgage then the Landlords should be advised to ensure that their home address is the one used by the Land Registry for service of any relevant notice so they can be aware of any such attempt of transfer.

08Sep 2010

Current Property News: Reporting of Connaught collapse.

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By Steve Roulstone

The collapse of the Connaught Company is of course bad news for the employees and sub contractors and they must all be worried about their future this bleak morning. It is a position I have never been in and hopefully never will, but they are definately in my thoughts surrounding this somewhat inevitable sad news. Hopefully, with the work still needed to be completed, arrangements through a differing agency will offer some of the workers hope by picking up where Connaught have pulled out.

BBC News reporting.

However, the subject of my blog is the manner in which the BBC took great pleasure in either condemning the building Industry and or the Government as being responsible for the collapse. In my opinion, debts of £220 million cannot be associated with the stringent measures and cut backs being introduced by the Government. They have only been in operation for three months and yet the report on BBC 24 last night clearly stated that the collapse was as a result of Government measures. What kind of Company can manage to lose such massive amounts in three months? I think anybody who puts their mind to such comments will be able to see through them, but if you accept the statement at face value, then the collapse is laid squarely at the door of Number 10. Now whoever is in charge this just does not make sense and we should expect better standards from the BBC than comment which cannot be backed up.

BBC News reporting stage 2.

But they did not stop there! The next statement was that all Council House Tenants should beware (Actually they just stated Tenants with no differential) as what was going to happen about the work outstanding now? The suggestion as that it would not be carried out and they were going to be left high and dry! Well again, I am no genius, but I would have thought somebody else would be appointed to carry out the work? After all, unless Connaught was paid before the work was carried out, then it will still need to be carried out and presumably somebody will be paid by Councils across the Country for completion. Indeed this very point is made in the BBC news report on line! But this is typical of the way in which the BBC seem to deal with news relating to property. It seems to me, that bad news is good news! If it is possible for the story to be presented as the Building Industry, or housing in general in a poor light they will do just that.

Better Standards.

If I am wrong in the assumptions that I have made, then the BBC should have laid the facts out clearly for us all to understand, instead of leaving us with such unclear statetments. If I am right, then the report looks like an effort to make more out of what is a bad enough scenario for those concerned already by presenting the story using scaremongery. Come on BBC we deserve better!