Licensing scheme to go before cabinet

Council chiefs are expected to back plans to introduce a compulsory licensing scheme for private landlords at a meeting tonight. 

Enfield Council’s cabinet will make a decision on the scheme, known as additional and selective licensing, under which private landlords will have to obtain a £500 five-year licence from the authority to cover every property they own. 

In order to secure a licence, landlords have to ensure that sufficient health and safety measures are in place, as well as procedures to deal with antisocial behaviour and environmental crime. 

The council believes ineffective management of privately rented homes has resulted in heightened levels of antisocial behaviour, poor standards of homes, overcrowding and missed rubbish collections. 

Following a consultation period, the proposed fee was reduced from £575 – but the council says it will offer an early bird discounted fee of £250 for landlords who sign up before April next year. 

The cost to a landlord who takes up the discount offer will amount to 96p a week per property over five years. 

Council chiefs are expected to face serious opposition from landlords at tonight’s meeting. 

A group called Enfield Landlords, which describes itself as “the umbrella organisation that self-regulates private landlords and landowners” in the borough, was set up in response to the plans. 

A petition the group started in February has been signed by 1,860 people and the matter is likely to be discussed at the next overview and scrutiny committee, which can review the policy and make recommendations. 

Edgar Meto, the landlord who heads up Enfield Landlords, has previously told the Advertiser he believes the proposals are based on the“flawed premise” that privately rented homes are the key drivers of antisocial behaviour in the borough. 

He has also accused the council of simply trying to increase revenue with the scheme. 

The initiative is supported by Jill Harrison, chief executive of Enfield Citizens' Advice Bureau. 

She said: “Something needs to be done to improve things in the private rented sector and if you are a good landlord you will not have anything to fear from the scheme. 

I think it will benefit both landlords and tenants, it is in everyone’s interest if properties are managed properly.” 

The plans are not supported by Conservative councillors. Edward Smith, shadow cabinet member for housing, said: “Our objection to the scheme is the level of inspection that is being proposed and the fees connected to it. 

“We are not in favour of the exploitation of tenants, but there are different ways of dealing with this without the need for a registration system.” 

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How can landlords evict tenants quickly?

The quick answer is that in the vast majority of cases you can’t get them out quickly, unless you can persuade them to move out voluntarily.

So, for example, if you offered them £5,000 to move out next week they might go. Depending on whether they had anywhere else to go to and how important it was for them to have £5K right now.

It might not be, or (particularly if they have a protected tenancy) it might be more cost effective for them to remain in your property. In which case they won’t leave and you will have to get a court order for possession (if you can).

Most people will go if you pay them enough money – but their price may be higher than you are prepared, or able, to pay.

If you go in and change the locks before your tenants have moved out voluntarily (HOWEVER badly they are behaving) this will put you in breach of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

You will be vulnerable not only to prosecution but also to a claim for financial compensation from your tenants.

The ONLY  safe way to evict a tenant is by the Court Bailiff (or High Court Sheriffs) acting under the authority of a court order for possession.

But what about the accelerated eviction procedure?

People often get confused about the accelerated procedure. It is badly named.

First – it is not really that quick. It generally takes between six to ten weeks from issuing the proceedings to getting the court order. Personally I would not describe that as ‘accelerated’ although maybe it is compared to some other court proceedings.

Second – you can ONLY use it to get possession based on section 21. So to be able to use it you need to have served a s21 notice first (which has a minimum notice period of two months) and the fixed term must have ended.

So if you have just found out that your tenants have lied to you on their tenant application form and it is two weeks into a 12 month fixed term – you can’t use it. Not for the next 11 ½ months anyway.

Note by the way that you can only use the accelerated procedure to evict assured shorthold tenancies (as you can only use s21 for ASTs).

A standard eviction

Assuming you have an AST (as most landlords do) a standard eviction will generally take between three (if you are very lucky) to six months, or maybe longer (if you are unlucky or have got something wrong).

You can’t really hurry this. Attempts to speed up the system generally result in more delay.

All you can do is deal with things promptly and make sure that your paperwork is perfect so there is nothing to prevent your case going ahead as normal.

Emergency situations

There are no situations that I am aware of which will entitle a landlord to go in and change the locks on a residential tenant without a court order – apart from situations where it is clear that the tenant has already left.

To find out more about this, read this post on implied surrender.

So if the tenant has gone mad and is smashing up the property – call in the police or social services as appropriate, and instruct a solicitor to apply to court for an injunction.

If the emergency is that the property is on fire or there is a gas leak, this sort of situation does allow the landlord to enter the property – but only to deal with the emergency, not to evict the tenant!

Anyway in this sort of situation the landlord is best advised to call the relevant authorities (ie the fire brigade or the National Grid’s Gas Emergency service – Freephone number: 0800 111 999)

Quick answers to common situations

I am selling the property and need the tenant to go – unless you can persuade the buyer to buy the property with the tenant in situ, you will need to get a court order in the normal way. There is no special “I want to sell the property and need the tenants out quick” ground for possession.

I am unable to pay my mortgage if the tenant fails to pay my rent – all you can do is explain this to the tenant and say that if they don’t pay you, they risk being evicted by your mortgage company

The tenant is doing something illegal in the property – report this to the police, but remember that if they are arrested and jailed, this does not of itself entitle you to go in and change the locks.

In conclusion

Once a tenant has been given the keys and moves in, you lose control over that property. You can ONLY get it back if the tenant moves out voluntarily or if you get a court order for possession. This will normally take you several months.

This is why it is CRITICAL that you take care in choosing your tenants. Once they are in it may be hard to get them out again.

Click here to read the original article: "How can landlords evict tenants quickly?"

The small print that could cost landlords thousands

Landlords who employ a property management agent could be held liable for thousands of pounds of unexpected costs due to small print in the contract.

An investigation by The Telegraph has uncovered terms and conditions in a large number of contracts that, if enforced, could eat into their returns.

Although agents argue that the terms in question exist to cover the business and are rarely imposed in practice, landlords should ensure they understand all of the fine print provided by management firms.
Here are just a few of the clauses.

Change of ownership

This clause, seen in many different firms’ contracts, gives the letting agent the right to continue charging full tenancy fees for years after the landlord has sold the property.

The clause states that if a property is sold with a tenant in place, the original owner must continue paying fees for as long as the tenant lives there. This applies even after the original tenancy term has ended, should the tenant renew or extend with the new owner.

If enforced, the original landlord could be liable to pay fees for many years, even despite having broken all other ties with the property and tenant.

Jeremy Raj, a partner in residential property at law firm Wedlake Bell, said the clause could be difficult to enforce, and should be challenged.

“You can’t normally bind someone in a contract that doesn't concern them at all,” he said.

Selling to a tenant

This common term allows the management firm to take a percentage of the sale price if the landlord sells the property to a tenant that was originally sourced and secured by the agent. It applies even if the agent had no involvement whatsoever in the sale.

Agents argue that finding the tenant indicates an entitlement to a fee, regardless of whether their firm was involved in the sale negotiations. The fee is typically set at between 1pc and 2pc plus VAT.
Based on the average UK house price of £254,000, as recorded by the Office for National Statistics in January, a 2pc fee could typically amount to £5,080 plus VAT.

Sub-letting

Some companies offer to rent, under the company’s name, from the landlord at a discount. The agent then sub-lets the property to a tenant at a higher price.

This might prove an attractive option to a landlord who does not want any involvement in, or to make any decisions on, the management of the property.

But Sally Lawson, chief executive of Concentric Lettings, who also represents the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said landlords must be aware that even in these situations they are ultimately responsible for some aspects of the “end” tenancy agreed between the agent and the actual resident.

“Giving up all control over who is in the property and the contract with the end tenant could cause problems down the line,” she said.

Mr Raj agreed, adding landlords should always maintain a direct link to, and some control over, their end tenant.

Ms Lawson said some types of sub-let agreements could also breach landlords’ contracts with their mortgage or insurance companies.

“Many mortgage lenders do not allow owners to sub-let because they need to know who is living in the property in case of repossession,” she said. “Some insurance companies also don’t allow sub-letting because they restrict some types of tenants such as students or DSS tenants.”

Maintenance fees

Estate agents have faced strong criticism for failing to disclose all fees and charges.

In February The Daily Telegraph detailed the hidden charges and inflated costs levied by estate agents which arrange property servicing and maintenance work through contractors.

On top of the usual management charge, estate agents are adding mark-ups of up to 20pc to contractors’ bills to boost their profits, plus demanding a cut of up to 60pc from contractors for work on the building. These charges are not clearly disclosed to landlords.

Adam Long is a landlord who owns a number of buy-to-let properties in the North West. He became so disillusioned with high fees and complex terms and conditions that he set up his own lettings company, Propeller.

“Last year I received a bill from my letting agent for £260 to replace a toilet seat. Just for clarity I mean only the bit you sit directly on, not the whole thing. I went to see the tenant who was irate as it had taken the lettings company nine months to achieve. The industry is in serious need of a shake-up.”

Click here to read the original article: "The small print that could cost landlords thousands"

Liverpool Council to license all landords

Liverpool City Council is currently carrying out a 12 week public consultation for a proposed citywide selective licensing scheme.

Selective Licensing requires private landlords to obtain a licence from the city council to operate.  The consultation started on the 24^th March 2014 and you can view the proposal in full and fill in an online questionnaire or make comment. Please click link for full details http://liverpool.gov.uk/selectivelicensing

Another of the pledges the council has committed to create is a ‘Scores on the Doors’ service. This has been developed whereby prospective tenants can enquire whether landlords are registered, accredited, licensed (if an HMO) or a member of a recognised landlords organisation.

The plan is to charge all landlords £500 PER PROPERTY for a 5 year license and cover every rented property in the city. The City Council is proposing to introduce a tiered licence fee structure with discounts - including for accredited landlords, for landlords with multiple properties and for landlords who submit early applications.

Failure to register could result in prosecution and fines of up to £20,000.

If you wish to take part in the consultation process please click here www.opinionresearch.co.uk/LiverpoolSelectiveLicensing

Liverpool landlord horrified by state of ex-Everton star Joseph Yobo's penthouse flat

A landlord was horrified when he saw the state in which a penthouse flat leased in the name of ex-Everton player Joseph Yobo had been left.

There were burn marks on the carpet, a dirty kitchen and bathroom, and holes in the wall left from a flat-screen television.

But the former Everton star says he has never lived in the apartment in South Ferry Quay, close to Liverpool Marina, nor even been there.

According to him, his younger brother, Gideon, paid the rent.

The keys to the flat  were handed back to the letting agent over the weekend.

Landlord Ray Smith says he was shocked by what he found when he went to inspect it.

He said: “The state it’s been left in is just unbelievable.“

There’s bond money of £1,500, but by the look of it it will need £5,000 to put all the damage right and I will have to call in industrial cleaners.“There are iron marks on the floor, as if left by ironing, and holes in the wall left by flat-screen TVs.

“I’ve never come across anything like this before and I’m just so shocked. The place looks as if it’s been burgled.”

Former Everton defender Yobo, who is now on loan to Norwich from Turkish side Fenerbahce, played his last game for the Blues in a  Premier League draw at Stoke in May 2010.

He contacted the ECHO himself to defend his conduct, saying he had been helping out Gideon.

He said: “It’s my name on the lease, but I never lived at the flat and I’ve never even been there.

“The landlord doesn’t know me and he hasn’t spoken to Gideon about this. I have property too and the landlord should have gone to the letting agents if he was unhappy.

“If he puts in a full inventory, Gideon is ready to pay for anything that is damaged.”

Gideon claimed he hired and paid for his own cleaners before moving out of the flat and arranging for the keys to be returned to the letting agent.

Yobo joined Everton from French club Marseille, initially on loan, in July 2002 as manager David Moyes’ first signing, making a permanent £3.5million switch the following summer.

He made more than 250 appearances and played in the 2009 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea during his time at Goodison.

Click here to read the original article: "Liverpool landlord horrified by state of ex-Everton star Joseph Yobo's penthouse flat"

Chartered Institute of Housing supports mandatory licensing for Welsh landlords

The Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru has joined forces with six partner organisations to assert our support for the proposed national and mandatory registration and licensing scheme, to better regulate private landlords, letting and management agents in Wales.

"In an open letter to the Western Mail we have said that the proposal for a low cost, easy to access registration process for landlords, coupled with a licensing regime for the managing landlord, agent or responsible person, will help to drive forward a sector that is providing homes for an increasing number of people in Wales."

Julie Nicholas, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at CHI Cymru said:

“We believe this is an exciting opportunity to ensure the Welsh private rented sector is fit for purpose, encourages inclusive partnership working and improves outcomes for tenants and landlords. We are committed to supporting and building knowledge and understanding and growing a healthy Welsh sector.”

“There is no question that the private rented sector is a key part of the housing supply solution, the provision of private rented housing in Wales is now almost equal to the level of social housing. As such it is important to ensure that the increasing number of Welsh families who are privately renting their homes are living in well-managed and safe properties.”

A copy of the letter is below:

17/03/2014

Dear Sir,

Re: The private rented sector in Wales

We the undersigned are writing to state our support for the Welsh Government proposal to introduce a national and mandatory registration and licensing scheme, to better regulate private landlords, letting and management agents.

The proposal for a low cost, easy to access registration process for landlords, coupled with a licensing regime for the managing landlord, agent or responsible person, will help to drive forward a sector that is providing homes for an increasing number of people in Wales. The proposal provides a clear signal that the Welsh Government is determined to improve standards, build capacity and tackle management issues in the private rented sector effectively.

Research shows that the private rented sector (PRS) is a tenure of extremes, with disproportionate levels of disrepair, whose tenants are overrepresented amongst those seeking housing advice services, with an almost non-existent tenant involvement movement. Vulnerable households are over-represented in the private rented sector, whilst the cost of private renting to the public purse is considerable, with all rental subsidies costing £9.3 billion per annum.

Raising standards and growing the private rented sector are not mutually exclusive goals; we support the need to promote a positive public image of the private rented sector as a tenure of choice in Wales, and for local authorities to improve engagement with landlords to help build relationships and local capacity.

We believe a national private landlord register, and licensing scheme for managers, will help to target rogue landlords, develop partnerships and improve consumer rights. We believe this scheme will improve services and participation for tenants and help to provide more decent homes for Wales. The proposal, properly resourced, will be integral to the success of other legislation, including changes to homelessness regulations and tenancy law.

We believe the proposals are timely and right; we urge assembly members to support the introduction of a national and mandatory registration and licensing scheme for private rented sector landlords and agents, as the Housing (Wales) Bill progresses through the Senedd in 2014.

Yours sincerely

Julie Nicholas, Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru

Jennie Bibbings, Shelter Cymru

Steve Clarke, Welsh Tenants

Nina Langrish, TPAS Cymru

Nick Bennett, Community Housing Cymru Group

Alicja Zalesinska, Tai Pawb

Auriol Miller, Cymorth Cymru

Click here to read the original article: "Chartered Institute of Housing supports mandatory licensing for Welsh landlords"

Landlords – HMRC is closing in on your undeclared lettings income

Landlords who have failed to declare their rental earnings to HMRC are being warned to pay up or face higher penalties.

The Revenue is targeting widespread tax evasion on property lettings, and estimates that one million buy-to-let and other private landlords are not declaring their rental income, cheating the public coffers of at least £550m a year. Many are understood to be using inflated claims for letting expenses to pay less tax than they should. "A lot of people are knowingly not declaring," said an HMRC spokesman. "We want to hammer down that £550m – it's significant money."

HMRC is running a Let Property Campaign to encourage landlords to come clean, or risk higher penalties. As well as those with undeclared rental earnings from previous years, the campaign is aimed at landlords who have filed inaccurate tax returns.

Landlords who come forward voluntarily will still have to pay a penalty of up to 20% – plus the tax and interest – but this compares with penalties of up to 100%, and even the possibility of prosecution.

HMRC has been ramping up its scrutiny of landlords over the past two years. Last year Hertfordshire landlord Kevin Power, 61, who rented out and sold property evading £84,000 in tax was given a suspended one-year prison sentence.

The campaign comes as many landlords have been enjoying record rents in a booming lettings market. HMRC warns that landlords with unpaid tax who ignore the campaign's "disclosure opportunity" are "playing a high risk game". Officials are obtaining data from letting agents, local authorities and elsewhere to track down those who don't come forward.

HMRC already holds data on landlords who have received tenants' housing benefit payments directly, as well as those registered with schemes for protecting tenants' deposits.

HMRC has run similar amnesties to tackle offshore account-holders, plumbers and others. Landlords who sold a rental property but did not declare the profit for capital gains tax were the subject of its Property Sales campaign last year.

Accountants said such initiatives have been a cost-effective way for HMRC to recover tax in a range of sectors, with voluntary disclosures in past campaigns yielding more than £500m since 2007.

"It's money in for least effort," said Mike Warburton, director at accountants Grant Thornton. He added that while there would "always be scope for evasion" on property lettings because rents were not taxed at source, the individual amounts owed by many landlords were "not likely to be large" because of the tax-deductible expenses they can claim.

HMRC believes that most of those failing to declare rental earnings owe only a few hundreds of pounds of tax a year. Many are thought to be small-scale, amateur landlords renting out a property as a retirement nest egg, or "accidental" landlords letting out a former home they have been unwilling or unable to sell.

HMRC accepts that "not every landlord who owes tax is deliberately trying to cheat the system", and points out that in some cases those making a disclosure would not be charged a penalty. The campaign is "not about penalising genuine mistakes", said a spokesman.

An example, he said, might be a landlord who misinterpreted the rules on tax-deductible expenses by incorrectly claiming for the capital repayments as well as the interest on the buy-to-let mortgage. However, he added: "Most people letting out a property will know that rent is taxable."

Rental Income Tax Advisors (Rita4Rent.co.uk, a specialist in landlord taxation, said it expected most of those making a disclosure under the campaign to pay a penalty of 10%.

Janice Parker, manager at Rita4Rent, warned that while HMRC was likely to prioritise letting agents' records to pinpoint the landlords who are not paying up, those not using agents might still be identified if, say, they had advertised a rental property on a letting website or in a newspaper.

However, she added: "If a landlord is letting by word of mouth it's difficult to see how HMRC would pick them up, other than by anonymous tip-off."

Informal lettings "are by their nature harder to identify", said the HMRC spokesman, though he added: "You'd be amazed at how many people 'dob' each other in."

If you believe your landlord is dodging tax call the tax evasion line on 0800 788 887. For landlords, details of how to make a disclosure are at gov.uk/let-property-campaign, tel 03000 514 479

What landlords can claim

Tax breaks for private landlords are £5bn a year, according to recent analysis by thinktank the Intergenerational Foundation. Its report, Why BTL equals Big Tax Let-off, argued that relief for landlords is unfairly generous and a significant "public subsidy" for the wealthy. The tax breaks have fuelled the buy-to-let boom, it said, making it harder for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

Landlords can offset a range of costs against rental income to reduce their tax. They get relief on mortgage interest – a relief scrapped for owner-occupiers more than a decade ago – and expenses such as house insurance premiums. They can also claim a "wear and tear" allowance of 10% of the rent on furnished rental properties.

According to HMRC, about one million landlords claim relief on a total of £6bn of mortgage interest a year, saving each an average £2,000 in tax. Another £7bn a year of deductions are claimed for property repairs, maintenance and other costs.

Overall, half or more of the total rental income declared by landlords is eaten up by expense deductions, significantly reducing the tax payable. And where landlords' tax-deductible expenses exceed the rent, they can carry forward the "rental loss" to reduce their tax in future years.

Defenders of buy-to-let tax breaks say that reliefs such as deducting loan interest are no different to those enjoyed by any business.

Click here to read the original article: "Landlords – HMRC is closing in on your undeclared lettings income"

Shelter needs to end campaign against landlords

Statistics published by Shelter on tenant evictions are failing to provide an accurate picture of the situation in the private rented sector according to the country’s leading landlord organisation.

The data, published jointly between Shelter and British Gas suggest that over the last year, 200,000 tenants in the private rented sector have “faced eviction” because they asked their landlord to fix a problem in their home. However Shelter has ignored the inconvenient truths.

Based on Shelter’s data, which indicates that there are  9 million tenants in the private rented sector in England, 200,00 is  only a little over 2 per cent of all tenants, meaning almost 98 per cent have not faced the problems Shelter and British Gas warn of. It should also be noted that these figures refer only to tenants facing evictions and not actual evictions.

Official figures published by the Ministry of Justice in February show that in 2013, the total for all tenants – in both public and private housing – having their homes repossessed by the courts amounted to 37,739 homes. This combined figure equates to only 0.5 per cent of all rented homes in England. Shelter admit to scaling up the figures from their research.

Shelter also fails to explain how many of the tenants were failing to pay their rent on time and how many of the “evictions” were as a result of tenancies coming to a close. In this instance, many landlords may have sought possession of their properties in order to embark on refurbishments. It is also noticeable that Shelter fails to indicate how many tenant evictions are as a result of anti-social behaviour.

Figures from the English Housing Survey show also that the proportion of tenants satisfied with their properties are higher in the private rented than the social sector. 83 per cent of tenants in private rented homes are satisfied with their accommodation compared to 81 per cent in the social sector.

Responding to the report, Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords’ Association said:

“Shelter are once again needlessly playing to people’s fears.

“Whilst the RLA accepts that there are landlords who should be rooted out of the sector, the fact that almost 98 per cent of tenants have not faced the problems should be a sober reminder to Shelter that the majority of tenants face no problems whatsoever with their landlord.

“The best response to the problems that Shelter identifies is to encourage more good landlords into the sector in order to boost the supply of homes to rent and to provide tenants with genuine choices over where they live. Shelter’s continued vilification of landlords will serve only to put the good landlords off further investment in the sector and push tenants into the hands of those operating under the radar.” 

In a report on regulation in the sector due to be published shortly, Professor Michael Ball of Reading University finds that:

“Private landlords felt frustrated that they are always treated as potential devils, while social landlords are always seen in official eyes and political rhetoric as angels. In contrast to such publicly aired views, it was pointed out that surveys of tenant satisfaction actually show better results for the private sector. Nor is the social housing stock consistently in tip-top condition.”

Click here to read the original article: "Shelter needs to end campaign against landlords"

Shelter launches campaign to protect private renters from ‘revenge evictions’

Too many tenants living in poor quality private rented homes are afraid to ask their landlord to fix a problem for fear of so-called ‘revenge evictions’, according to Shelter, but landlords hit back to accuse the charity of scaremongering.

The charity has launched a campaign to tighten up protections for people who face the threat of losing their home simply because they have spoken up about bad conditions.

In the past year alone, the charity claims more than 213,000 renters across England have faced eviction because they asked their landlord to fix a problem in their home.

The organisation’s study also found many were too scared of eviction to complain at all – 8% said they’d avoided asking their landlord to repair a problem or improve conditions in the last year in case they were evicted.

Shelter’s ‘9 million renters’ campaign is urging the Government to change the law to protect tenants. The charity said the problem of revenge – or retaliatory – evictions was particularly concerning, given the growth of the private rental sector in recent years.

As the English Housing Survey (EHS) revealed earlier this year, in 2012-13 private rent overtook the social sector as the second largest tenure, accounting for 4 million and 3.7 million renters respectively. It also pointed out that the private rented sector also has the largest number of non-decent homes. Of the 4.9 million homes classed as non-decent in 2012, the EHS revealed a third (33%) were privately rented.

This is echoed in Shelter’s study, which found that bad conditions were widespread, with more than 40% of renters having problems with mould in the past year. Furthermore, 25% had lived with a leaking roof or windows, while 16% had electrical hazards in their home.

“No-one should lose their home for asking their landlord to fix a problem, yet these shocking findings uncover the true scale of unfair evictions taking place across the country,” said Campbell Robb, the charity’s chief executive. “We’re calling on people across the country to sign our petition and send the Government a message that England’s nine million renters deserve better, now.”

Shelter highlighted a number of examples from across the country. These included:

• A family in Norfolk who were handed an eviction notice three weeks after reporting damp and mould to their landlord

• A couple in Brighton who complained that the mould and damp in their home was affecting their health, and were served an eviction notice just a week later

• A family from Lancashire who were evicted after complaining about a leaking roof – their landlord told them it ‘wasn’t worth his while’ to fix the problem

“In a market where there simply aren’t enough homes to go around, renters are easily replaceable. Landlords know this, and so do renters themselves,” said Hannah Gousy, of Shelter’s policy and campaigns team. “There is currently no specific legislative protections in place to stop renters who report poor conditions being evicted from their homes.

“This obviously makes their position extremely precarious, and restricts their consumer power to bargain for better conditions. Many renters feel they have no choice but to put up with dreadful conditions, as they dare not risk provoking their landlord.”

However, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has disputed the charity’s findings and called upon it to stop “campaigning against landlords”.

Using the charity’s own figures, it pointed out that those allegedly threatened with eviction for reporting problems to their landlords represents little more than 2% of the 9 million renters the charity mentions. Furthermore, it pointed out the figures refer to those facing eviction and not actual evictions.

The landlords’ body also accused Shelter of failing to explain how many of the tenants weren’t paying their rent on time, and how many of the evictions were the result of tenancies coming to a close. In this instance, the RLA added, many landlords may have sought possession of their properties in order to embark on refurbishments. The charity has also “fails to indicate how many tenant evictions are as a result of anti-social behaviour”.

According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2013 the total number of tenants who had their homes repossessed by the courts in both private and public housing came to 37,739 homes – a figure that equates to 0.5% of all rented homes in England.

“Shelter are once again needlessly playing to people’s fears,” said Alan Ward, chairman of the RLA. “Whilst the RLA accepts that there are landlords who should be rooted out of the sector, the fact that almost 98% of tenants have not faced the problems should be a sober reminder to Shelter that the majority of tenants face no problems whatsoever with their landlord.

“The best response to the problems that Shelter identifies is to encourage more good landlords into the sector in order to boost the supply of homes to rent and to provide tenants with genuine choices over where they live. Shelter’s continued vilification of landlords will serve only to put the good landlords off further investment in the sector and push tenants into the hands of those operating under the radar.”

Click here to see the shelter campaign: "9 million renters"

Click here to read the original article: "Shelter launches campaign to protect private renters from ‘revenge evictions’"

Landlords Stay Close

Some 56% of landlords live within a 10 mile radius of their rental property, while in the North West and North East the proportion is above two thirds.

The average monthly rent increased by 3.1% year-on-year to £861 per month in February, while Scotland saw the most significant increase of 9.6% to £626.

Nick Dunning, group commercial director at Countrywide, said: “Location is key to Buy-to-let investment and as the findings show, landlords tend to purchase in areas they are knowledgeable of in terms of property prices, monthly rents and the local amenities that attract tenants to an area.

“Given 94% of UK landlords own a single rental property, many choose to take a hands on approach in regards to management, so favour being closer to their rental accommodation.”

Just 6% of landlords own more than a single property, while in London only 4% do.

The capital has the largest proportion of landlords living more than 100 miles away, with more than one in five doing so, nearly twice the national average.

Dunning added: “Towns and cities always prove particularly popular with tenants due to their range of amenities and facilities. Locations with good road and rail links are also high on the list of desirables for tenants, making these types of places reliable for buy-to-let investment.

“Growing average monthly rents across the UK shows the increasing attractiveness of regions outside London. London still remains a good place to buy property given exceptionally strong capital growth over the last 12 months but investors are venturing further afield for investment opportunities.”

The average monthly rent in the UK in February 2014 was £861, up 0.2% month-on-month and 3.1% year-on-year. Seven out of 10 regions saw a decrease in average monthly rent however, with Yorkshire and Humber seeing a 6% decrease, yet Central London and the South West saw a 4.1% rise.

Over the past year however average monthly rents have increased in eight out of 10 regions, with Scotland seeing the most significant increase up 9.6% year-on-year to £626, followed by Central London, up 8.5% to £2,630.

Rent arrears decreased in all regions apart from Scotland and the East of England in February, where they rose 2.7% and 0.1% respectively. The North East saw the greatest decrease in rent arrears, at 1.8%.

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