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Property owner given huge fine and suspended sentence

Monday, May 9th, 2011

In a case that will disturb all decent landlords with an interest in landlord insurance, a Warwickshire landlord has been given a massive £30,000 fine and a six month suspended jail sentence after one of the properties he rented out was described as looking more like a cave than a home.

Landlord Steven Boote was prosecuted after an inspector went to the property and found it was overrun with damp, mould and moss. The inspector put in his report that the property was the worst house he had seen in ten years of doing his job. The tenant lived with carpets that had become encrusted with mould an inch deep and the walls were all plastered with moss. The property has had no gas or hot water for many years and thirty buckets were positioned to catch all of the water dripping from the leaks in the roof.

Mr Boote was given a £30,000 fine including court costs and sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work after the court was shown pictures of the horrific state of his property. He was also charged with two counts of failing to carry out gas safety checks and failing to comply with an improvement notice which was issued to him.

Tenant David Whorlow, who has lived in the property since he was born, said “Living there was an absolute nightmare. I couldn’t have friends and family round and I was finding it really stressful. If I had walked out or moved then Boote would have got off scot-free from doing any repairs.”

Mr Boote who has over 40 properties bought the house four years ago but he neglected to carry out any repairs or important maintenance. Coventry Council made a surprise visit to the property in November 09 and found a number of health and safety violations which also included electrical hazards and inadequate cooking facilities. The costs issued are very high because they reflect the seriousness of the offences and also the disregard shown by the landlord to both the law and his tenant.

Tags: health and safety, landlord insurance, tenant
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Tenant ordered to clear garden by landlord

Monday, March 14th, 2011

A female tenant from Cambridge has been ordered by her housing association landlord to clear her garden within two weeks or risk having everything seized.

The tenant, Liz Osborn, received a letter last week from the Luminus Group telling her to clear the garden directly underneath her living room window at the house she shares with her partner and two teenage children.

Luminus Group are widely known for their innovative approach to providing social housing, focusing on providing homes which are all covered by landlord insurance and building sustainable communities for today and for future generations. They sent the letter saying her garden items, such as plant pots, tables and chairs and a barbecue, were taking up far too much space in what is a communal area for use by all tenants.

Ms Osborn claims she had received permission for her vegetable patch and plant pots, she said “When they visited me 18 months ago to inspect a subsidence problem, I mentioned that we wanted to put a little vegetable patch underneath the window and put out a few flower pots. They said that it was fine because the vegetable patch would be under the window in a corner plot and not in anyone’s way, as would the flower pots.”

Ms Osborn also claims she had a similar problem with her satellite dish. One day after the letter arrived, an engineer turned up on behalf of Luminus wanting to take down her Sky dish and aerial.

Luminus replied by saying it is not appropriate for a single household to take over a communal area. They also provided proof that they had written to all tenants about Sky dishes as part of their response to the digital switchover. They plan to replace all communal television with a system that is compatible with the new digital changeover.

Tags: housing association landlord, landlord, landlord insurance
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Tenants and landlords feeling the pinch

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Tenants across the UK are showing signs that the austerity measures imposed by the Government in the second half of 2010 are gradually impacting on their purse strings. Their landlords are worried about the consequences of their hardship impacting on them as well.

A survey directed at landlords by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) shows that tenants are beginning to get behind with their rental payments. The survey found that 40% of landlords questioned were experiencing some level of trouble getting payment from tenants on time. This compares to 35% over the previous 6 months and in fact is the first time the rate has increased for 18 months.

Ian Potter, an operations manager at ARLA, was not surprised at the figures explaining “At the beginning of last year, we predicted that the number of tenants having difficulties paying rent would increase and unfortunately, this seems to be the case.” He went to say that the most likely reason for the upturn in tenants struggling to pay their rent was down to job losses and pay cuts.

The survey follows hot on the heels of another survey by an online property services company which revealed that rents and rent arrears were both on the increase. Strangely enough tenants in London who have seen their rents rise inexorably over the last 10 months appear to be dealing with the increases better than their counterparts in the rest of the country, as rental arrears in the capital have stayed at roughly the same level.

Insurance companies offering landlord insurance have experienced an increase in interest about their products over the last 12 months as residential landlords become keen to protect their investment as the demand on the private rental sector grows.

Tags: landlord insurance, Landlord Insurnace, landlords, tenants
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House prices in Scotland fall by £8 a day

Monday, December 20th, 2010

There was another blow for the housing market in Scotland when figures released showed average prices had dropped by almost £3,000 over the last 12 months.

Despite an average increase of £5,000 throughout the United Kingdom, homeowners north of the border saw their property value fall by £8 per day. South Lanarkshire was one of the worst areas, with a £5,641 drop in average values. This is according to figures released from a leading property information website. Falling prices are another worry for landlords with landlord insurance who are not looking forward to the changes in housing benefit coming next year.

Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of the website, said “Scotland’s property boom outlasted much of the rest of the country, but the recovery has been stronger and more rapid across the border in England, driven by London and the south east.

“Areas least dependent on public sector jobs will perform best in the year to come. Most important of all to providing firm foundations for the market, however, will be if lenders stop restricting the supply of mortgages. There is demand to move – lenders must allow us the loans to do so.”

And there was more bad news after a survey of Scottish surveyors showed prices will slip even more this winter. The RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) said a fifth more members had reported prices falling rather than rising in November.

However, RICS said the decline of house prices in Scotland was in fact slower than in some other parts of the United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland and the West Midlands seeing worse price values. Expectations for prices in the first quarter of 2011 are not very hopeful and sales are also predicted to fall.

Sarah Speirs, spokeswoman for RICS in Scotland, said “Despite some better economic data, fears over how future spending cuts will impact on the jobs market are clearly still weighing heavily on potential purchasers’ minds, with many deciding to “wait and see” until the new year.”

Tags: Landlord Insurnace, landlords, property, Property Market, Rental Market
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Young couples make the choice to flat share

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Property websites report an increase in the number of young couples being forced to move in with flatmates because they can’t afford to buy their own home. Since the start of 2010 the number of young couples searching the web for a shared, double room in a large house has increased greatly.

Websites who specialise in house and flat sharing have seen a huge increase in demand in places like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow. Nearly 8% of the 1,000,000 visitors to the website Easyroommate each month are now couples who are looking to share; this is double the number from 2009.

Easyroommate Director, Jonathan Moore says “We are absolutely noticing the trend; the problem they face is only around a quarter of flat shares will accept a couple, so the choice is limited.”

While Gumtree’s Sam Taylor states that there has been a massive increase in searches from couples since the start of the year and remarked “We’re seeing a huge increase in the numbers visiting the site, but we’re not seeing an increase in the number of flats listed, so clearly there is an increase in demand but not in supply.”

On average an advert on Gumtree for a spare room or flat share would last for 3 weeks in January, now it lasts for just five days. Because more people are chasing a limited number of rooms, the rental prices are being pushed up.

In London the average rental price has seen an increase of over 10% and many property investors are rushing to get landlord insurance in place as they snap up properties to let. Many letting agents are even reporting rental properties going to sealed bids as people in the capital become more desperate to get decent accommodation.

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Fuel poverty set to hit one million tenants

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

People living in social housing may fall into fuel poverty because of the coalition government cuts to benefits and increased rents according to the NLGN (New Local Government Network).

The coalition recently announced a 10% cut in the council tax benefit budget, and have now also said that anyone claiming jobseekers allowance for 12 months will have their housing benefit cut by 10%. At the moment there are around 3.1 million social housing residents who receive means tested benefits in England; this includes 2.7 million who receive housing benefit.

Along with many landlords the NLGN has issued a warning that over one million households may be affected by the cuts and this combined with further plans to charge 80% of private sector rent for new social housing tenants means there could be tough times ahead for a huge number of people.

A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if they have to spend over 10% of their total income on gas and electric bills just to achieve a basic level of warmth. NLGN’s report claims that under the new changes, the estimated 628,000 households currently classed as in fuel poverty is more than likely to double. The increase in fuel poverty throughout the social sector is now outpacing that in private housing.

To reduce the amount that those living in social housing pay in energy bills, the NLGN is calling on the coalition to build upon its flagship Green Deal policy, which works by offering a loan of up to £6,500 to encourage households to take out some energy efficiency improvements, which will in the long run be paid for by the savings on energy bills.

NLGN is also asking Chris Huhne the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to bring in new powers straight away which would allow a tenant to insist their landlord invests in energy efficiency measures such as roof insulation. They believe a property owner with landlord insurance will increase the energy rating of the home if he gets help from the scheme immediately.

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Landlord association asks for help in mortgage procurement

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

A leading landlord association is calling on the government to offer help to residential landlords just hours after the Coalition Government gave the green light to Social Landlords to up their rents.

The National Landlords Association (NLA) believes that as a result of the austerity measures announced in the Spending Review, the private rental sector is going to have to provide more housing over the next four years. Many experts believe that the new measures introduced to cover social housing may well create problems and the NLA has been quick to ask questions.

David Salusbury, chairman of the NLA, falls into this category, he says buy-to-let mortgages need to be more accessible to landlords wishing to add to their portfolio and buy landlord insurance. He envisages a shortfall of properties offered by social housing and that the private sector may well have to help out. He said “The government must now put in place a strategy to incentivise the growth of the private rented sector and support professional landlords in providing much-needed homes to rent.”

Many charities believe that the new government proposals whereby social landlords can now charge up to 80% of the market value may well have a negative effect on providing housing to people on low income’s but also feel the private sector can help in other ways.

Heads of many national charities supporting the homeless and low income families believe private landlords often charge too much rent and government regulation designed to root out rogue landlords is desperately needed. The Chief Executive of the Citizens Advice Bureau, Gillian Guy, described private sector rents as ‘expensive’.

Tags: Budget, landlord insurance, NLA, tenants
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Landlords advised to explore avenues for new tenants

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Residential landlords are ignoring a large proportion of potential tenants, warns an organisation whose job it is to provide landlords with key services.

Landlord Assist, a company that provides services for professional and individual landlords, believes that many landlords are turning their backs on a lucrative market because of government legislation.

They say that many buy-to-let landlords are ignoring tenants who are on Local Housing Allowance because the local authorities pass the benefit onto the tenant rather than the landlord. It is certainly true that this has been a cause of concern in the past for landlords who struggled to get their rents on time from certain tenants but Graham Kinnear, managing director of Landlord Assist, thinks that landlords who protect themselves by taking out landlord insurance have little to fear. He explained “We believe that approximately 20 percent of tenants are in receipt of a Housing Benefit Award, which is a substantial amount of the market. Local Housing Allowance has been under a degree of scrutiny over the last 18 months and a number of landlords have decided to opt for working tenants only. However, in doing so, they are missing out on 20 percent of tenants, which equates to over 750,000 tenants nationally.”

The company believe one way to help landlords to take on LHA tenants would be for some sort of middle man or guarantor to be set up whereby the payment of rent is assured if the tenant defaults. They certainly anticipate more would be tenants could be on LHA if the impending spending review puts large numbers of public servants out of work.

Certainly many landlord organisations have campaigned for the government to alter the scheme to one where landlords are paid their rent directly by the Local Authority. Grant Shapps, the new housing minister has indicated he is supportive of landlords and their role in providing accommodation for the UK’s house hunters and it is hoped he will turn his attentions to this particular problem.

Tags: landlord advice, landlord insurance, Rental Market, tenants
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All safety concerns need to be reported

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Tenants in privately rented accommodation are being asked to report any safety fears they may have after an appearance in court by a landlord who allowed a tenant to stay in a three storey property which had no fire escape.

Any tenant living in houses of multiple occupation (HMO) has been urged to contact the housing department of York Council if they have any worries about safety issues of the room they are renting.

In November 2009 the council closed down landlord Mehmet Altin’s renting operation because he was renting five rooms located above his kebab and pizza business which had no fire escape. It was not just housing officers who had concerns as fire-fighters were also worried for the safety of tenants living in the rooms. Mr Altin also did not have a landlord’s licence. This is something that angered local landlords who pride themselves on having a landlords licence and landlord insurance.

Five months later a housing officer made a return visit to the three-storey premises where he found Mr Altin had defied the prohibition order and allowed someone to sleep in one of the rooms for a night.

Mr Altin, 36, pleaded guilty to breaching the order along with failing to ensure the safety of his tenant and running a HMO without having a licence. He was fined £3,015, a government-imposed victim surcharge and prosecution costs by York magistrates.

Ruth Abbott, the council’s housing standards and adaptations manager, said “People in the building could have been trapped in the event of a fire. We are here to ensure the safety of tenants and other people who live in HMOs and we want to know if people who live in HMO are concerned about their health or safety.”

The council works with landlords to make sure the properties are safe, but it can take extreme measures as it did in this case. Mr Altin could have purchased a HMO landlord licence for five years which would have cost him £550.

Tags: landlord advice, landlord law, safety, tenants
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Lloyds bounce back

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Yet another partly state owned bank has announced profits this week and landlords looking for a bank to provide funds for extending their property portfolio, could be well advised to try Lloyds.

Lloyds Banking Group today posted a half year underlying profit of £1.6 billion in a dramatic reversal of fortune. In the same period last year the bank lost over £3.9 billion. The bank which was rescued by the state and is still partly owned by UK, taxpayers reported good profits from its retail banking section achieved by acquiring bigger profit margins on its mortgage lending and lower loan impairment losses from its commercial banking section.

Surprisingly, the group reported that net lending to the business sector had not increased, despite politicians clamouring for the banks with a state stake holding to support small businesses by lending to them again. Eric Daniels, the Chief Executive of Lloyds, explained by saying “We are seeing very little demand out there … so it is not a question of us being mean and turning customers away.”

The insurance arm of the business was held back by a £70m charge related to its decision to stop offering the now controversial payment protection insurance policies that had been a profit maker for banks in the past.

With Lloyds insurance sector struggling and the retail arm looking to lend to business there would appear to be an opportunity for a residential landlord to arrange cheap landlord insurance at the same time as securing a loan to buy more properties.

Tags: Banks, Landlord Insurnace, landlords, tenants
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