Conservatives call for housing benefit system to be scrapped

The Tories have today called for the current housing benefits system to be scrapped. The current system in England that pays the benefit to the tenant rather than the landlord has been the subject of widespread criticism since it was introduced in 2008.

According to a recent survey by Shelter 25% of tenants receiving housing benefit direct have fallen into arrears.

Many landlords have stopped offering their properties to housing benefit tenants due to the problems they have encountered with the system of payments direct to tenants.

The Conservatives have now announced that they will allow the tenant to choose to have the payments paid to themselves or the landlord and have called on the Government to change the system now.

Scottish Government to introduce tenant deposit scheme

The Scottish Government has announced plans to introduce a national scheme to safeguard tenant deposits.

A group representing tenants, landlords, agents, consumer groups and housing organisations will be advising ministers on the introduction of the scheme.

Housing and Communities Minister, Alex Neil, says it was time to protect tenants. He also promised strong action to protect students and vunerable tenants.

England and Wales launched a similiar scheme in 2007 but a recent survey by deposit provider DPS claimed that 1 in 3 landlords were ignoring the law.

Lloyds bank group cuts the amount it will lend by 80%

The Lloyds Bank group - the taxpayer owned bank - has announced that it is slashing the amount it will lend to landlords by nearly 80%.

Previously the group, which now includes Lloyds TSB, the Cheltenham & Gloucester, Halifax and Birmingham Midshires would have lent a combined £14m to a single applicant (subject to all the usual criteria). Last week the bank reduced that figure to £3m.

In our opinion there is no commercial reason for the bank to take this action at this time. According to all the recently published data house prices are, at worse, stabilising. Landlord defaults are reducing and interest rates are at an all time low.

The crucial point here is that we, the taxpayers, own this bank. NetRent.co.uk calls on the Government to explain why it continues to allow banks like Lloyds to take decisions like this.

The Government has continually said that it will make the banks support small and medium sized businesses. Most landlords are small and medium sized businesses and yet we see absolutely no evidence that any of the banks are proactively helping landlords. In fact they are, like Lloyds, are doing exactly the opposite.

Can you explain it Mr Brown and Mr Darling?

1 in 3 landlords breaking the law over tenant deposits

The Deposit Protection Service has issued a press release claiming that 1 in 3 landlords are not complying with the legislation regarding tenant deposits. The press release reads:

The number of landlords flouting tenancy deposit legislation has halved in the past year – but
almost one in three is still not obeying the law.

A survey by The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) revealed that 30 per cent of landlords are
prepared openly to admit to not registering a deposit – compared to 61 per cent in 2008.

The DPS has now backed proposals for a register of landlords, which would encourage
compliance with the law. Landlords have been required to register deposits with a
Government-accredited scheme since April 2007.

Kevin Firth, Director of The DPS, said: “Good progress has been made within the industry at
raising awareness of landlords’ legal responsibilities.”

“The fact that the number of landlords ignoring the law has halved is testament to the fact
that most landlords want to do the right thing.”

“But more needs to be done and ignorance is no excuse. We believe that the introduction of a
national register would make landlords more accountable and offer tenants a greater level of
protection.”

“Mandatory registration and deposit protection would leave rogue landlords with nowhere to
hide! “

The DPS is the only scheme to physically hold onto a deposit. It is provided free of charge,
and funded entirely by the interest earned from deposits held in the scheme.

Since the launch of the DPS in 2007, around 700,000 deposits have been protected, worth
over £520 million pounds.

The DPS surveyed more than 500 landlords to ask which, if any, deposit protection scheme
they registered their tenants’ deposits with.

For more information about tenant deposits please click here Tenant Deposits

The Government publishes help for people with rent arrears

The Government has published a comprehensive guide for people with rent arrears on it's DirectGov website.

The advice includes a video and advice on how to deal with your landlord. As well as being essential reading for people with rent arrears it would also make sense for landlords to ensure that they are fully aware of the advice.

Click here for more information What You Can Do About Rent Arrears

The EU Ban on 100 Watt Light Bulbs Comes Into Force

A European Union ban on the manufacture and import of 100 watt and frosted incandescent light bulbs came into force on 1st September.

The EU wants the bulbs to be replaced mainly by longer-lasting compact fluorescent lamps. According to the Energy Saving Trust the fluorescent bulbs use 80% less energy than the traditional bulbs which have been in use since the 19th century.

According to reports from shopkeepers people are now stockpiling supplies of the 100 watt bulbs. The ban will be extended to all incandescent bulbs by 2012.

For more information see European Commission (Energy efficiency advice) also Energy Saving Trust and Defra

The Nationwide says that house prices rise for 4th month in a row

Figures released by the Nationwide Building Society this week claim that house prices have now risen for the fourth month in a row. Does this signal the end of the property crash and that good times are just around the corner?

What the figures don't mention is that in the period from September 2007 to the start of 2009 house prices fell by over 25%. They also fail to acknowledge that getting a mortgage is still difficult and even more so when it comes to Buy-to-Let. From a height of over 3,000 different Buy-to-Let mortgages we are now left with under 200. Every major BTL lender has either stopped lending altogether or cut their lending back severely. The only ray of good news in the BTL mortgage market recently has been the decision by the Bank of China to enter the BTL market.

So why aren't the lenders lending? Why aren't banking groups like HBOS and Bradford & Bingley using the money that we, the taxpayers, have poured into them to help us, their customers? Why are there so few BTL mortgages and why are such large deposits demanded for the few mortgages that are available?

There is no doubt that a significant number of landlords would buy property if only they could get mortgages. There is also little doubt that many first time buyers would also like to get onto the housing ladder. The rise in 'reluctant landlords' proves that there are many thousands of home owners who would like to sell and buy. The problem is that the banks won't lend. The irony is that they won't lend the money we have lent them. The worry is that the Government still cannot or will not make them lend - even though the Government now owns so much of the banking sector.

Maybe we need to spend less time hoping for someone to wave a magic wand and more time waving the big stick at the banks that got us into the mess in the first place.

NetRent.co.uk launch a major website upgrade and a brand new Landlord Resource Centre

NetRent.co.uk are delighted to announce the launch of a major upgrade to our website and in particular the launch of The Landlord Resource Centre.

The Landlord Resource Centre is a major new source of information and help for landlords in the UK with a huge amount of information, advice and links to help you run your business safely and profitably. Best of all The Landlord Resource Centre is completely free.

Included within The Landlord Resource Centre are special sections on Working with Local Authorities and a Find a Letting Agent Service.

NetRent.co.uk will add to the already impressive amount of information available through The Landlord Resource Centre and we encourage landlords to contact us with suggestions about how we can make The Landlord Resource Centre even better.

We hope you like the changes we have made to our website and especially we hope that you will make full use of The Landlord Resource Centre. If you have any comments or suggestions please email us at enquiries@netrent.co.uk

Is the Government racing to register landlords to boost tax receipts?

John Denham, the Communities Secretary (pictured), wants to fast track the proposed database of private landlords by introducing legislation as early as this autumn. The stated aim is to crackdown on rogue landlords who fail to maintain their properties or fail to manage tenant deposits correctly.

However, according to an article in The Times the real reason could be to allow HMRC (the Taxman) to have access to the database. In particular HMRC are interested in people who rent out rooms in their own homes.

According to the Abbey homeowners taking in lodgers now earn £3.5 billion a year, with each household receiving an average of £6,412. HMRC admitted that it has few details about tax income from private landlords, as it is split between personal self-assessment forms and corporate returns. Nor does it have any idea how many evade payments.

Officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government said that the measures were not intended as a tax crackdown but to strengthen local authorities in tackling bad landlords with a record of exploiting vulnerable tenants. In our experience Local Authorities are so badly stretched that they struggle to deal with their current workload and we seriously doubt that many could cope with an increase if the Government were to introduce such a crackdown.

So we are left to wonder what is the real purpose of Mr Denham's race to bring in legislation that most of the industry is against. In our opinion it is simply a way of raising Tax. Whilst we have no problem with HMRC raising what is due it would be nice for the Government to be honest and tell us why this Minister is in such a desperate rush.

Read The Times article here.

New Rights for Tenants Facing Eviction

Housing Minister John Healey today set out plans to give new legal protection to tenants vulnerable to being thrown out on the street with little or no notice if their private landlord is repossessed.

John Healey said "It is wrong that through no fault of their own these families can find themselves out on the street with little prior warning. That's why I want to change the law to give new protection to those tenants who have no rights when the property they live in is repossessed.

"This will give them much needed breathing space to find another home. But I also want to see more lenders use alternatives to repossession, such as appointing Receivers of Rent to collect rent."

The Government expect that between 2000-3000 households could be affected this year.

Read the full statement here Communities Website