Tenants are urged to shop rogue landlords

TENANTS are being urged to seek advice if they experience problems with so-called rogue landlords.

HomeLet, a provider of insurance to the lettings industry says recent studies indicate that more than 7.5 million private rental tenants have had problems with their landlord over the past 10 years.

The studies, HomeLet says, found that 90 per cent of environmental health officers have found landlords to be harassing tenants or illegally-evicting them.

Click here to read the full article Tenants are urged to shop rogue landlords

NetRent Comment

This story is essentially a re-hash of the Shelter figures produced to back their campaign Evict Rogue Landlords. NetRent have asked Shelter to justify these figures and we're still waiting for a reply. In short the figures are, at best, dubious.

HomeLet also insure a large number of landlord properties. Landlords might want to re-consider spending money with a company that is so clearly anti-landlord.

Yet again this is a lazy story designed to appeal to the headline writers. HomeLet should ask how many councils have encouraged tenants to seek eviction so that they can be re-housed. HomeLet should also have a good look at our Facebook campaign The Damage That Some Tenants Do before jumping on the rogue landlord bandwagon.

Meanwhile, we suggest that landlords should boycott HomeLet.

Click here to visit our Facebook page

Tenant's plea for change after rented flat repossessed

A call has been made for changes in lettings procedures after a tenant lost his new Quarry Bank flat when it was repossessed by a building society because the landlord was in mortgage arrears.

Mathew Hall was shocked to discover the property was the subject of repossession proceedings just three days after taking the keys.

Oldswinford-based lettings agent, The Property Shop, told him he could not legally withdraw from his six-month tenancy agreement and it was still possible the landlord would settle his arrears.

Click here to read the full story Tenant's plea for change after rented flat repossessed
 
NetRent Comment
 
This article raises some important issues that we believe ARLA should investigate. It is fair enough that every tenant should be vetted carefully but surely agents should also seek confirmation from landlords that the tenancy can be honoured?

Hurting tenants

The recent Benchmarks article by Richard Pates exposes the fact that the Court of Appeal has driven a coach and horses through the tenant deposit scheme inserted into the Housing Act 2004, which protects tenants against the widespread abuse by landlords of the rental deposit system.

The loss of this protection can have a devastating impact on low-income or vulnerable tenants in the current climate.

I was a solicitor for over 30 years and now run a charity which helps those on low incomes negotiate the civil justice system. We have recently had a proliferation of highly vulnerable clients who are either on the brink of homelessness, or forced to remain in sub-standard conditions because of their inability to recover deposits.

Click here to read the full article Hurting tenants

NetRent Comment

The author of this article, Joanna Kennedy, certainly has her own agenda but as our Facebook campaign 'The Damage That Some Tenants Do' shows there are two sides to this story.

The Deposit Protection Schemes are now effectively dead and the current system does not help tenants or landlords. The Government needs to act quickly to resolve this issue. NetRent do not believe that simply tightening the legislation is the answer, in our opinion Deposit Protection Schemes are not the answer, they are simply money making exercises without any real benefit to landlords or tenants.

The pity is that one of the major landlord associations also happens to run one of the three Deposit Schemes so can hardly be called an impartial observer. This could mean that landlord's views are not being represented at the highest level. The outcome is likely to be be a tightening of the legislation and a nice little earner for the NLA. Quite how this will benefit landlords is open to debate.

Click here to see our Facebook campaign The Damage That Some Tenants Do

Number of unsold homes at new high

The stock of unsold properties on estate agents' books is at its highest level for more than two years, according to new research.

A surge of new sellers pushed the average number of houses for sale at each branch to 74 properties in June, up from 68 in May, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said.

Click here to read the full story Number of unsold homes at new high

Property Investor Profile for Q2 2011

Our business partners Landlord Centre have published their latest Property Investor Profile to track developments in the UK buy-to-let mortgage market. Its findings for Q2 2011 highlight several interesting trends for the sector, including:

· Number of buy-to-let products increases

· Average loan size continues to rise

· Tracker products favoured

· Average rates drop

· Highest rental yields for students and terraced houses
 
Click here to read the full report Property Investor Profile for Q2 2011

Click here for more information about Buy to Let Mortgages NetRent Mortgages
 

Landlords still suffering, warns OFT

Letting agents are still using unfair terms and conditions for landlords despite a landmark ruling which prompted Foxtons to change its contracts, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) warned.

It urged operators to check that their terms and conditions are fair and transparent and has written to a number of agents and industry associations to point out the results of the legal case.

Click here to read the full article Landlords still suffering, warns OFT

Landlords must let tenants keep chickens and rabbits

Landlords with a no pets policy for rental properties need to watch out for a little known legal loophole which lets tenants keep chickens and rabbits.

The loophole was uncovered by a tenant with pet chickens who was threatened with action for breaching her tenancy agreement by a housing association.

Click here to read the whole story Landlords must let tenants keep chickens and rabbits

New All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector

Forty-eight Members of Parliament and Peers from across the political parties yesterday established a new All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector.

While various other attempts have been made to form such a committee, this is the first time one has actually got off the ground.

The Group will aim to inform policy towards private rented housing and has been formed at a time when changes to housing benefit, regulatory issues and the increasing demands being placed on the sector are highlighting the growing significance of private rented housing.

Speaking ahead of the Group’s formation, Conservative MP for Poole, Robert Syms who has led on forming it said:

“With waiting lists for social housing continuing to increase and home ownership remaining difficult for many, private rented accommodation is becoming increasingly important to meeting the UK’s housing needs.

“The establishment of this All Party Group will enable MPs and Peers from all parties to engage directly with landlords and tenants to consider issues of importance and where appropriate, agree on recommendations for action by government.”

Responding, Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association who will provide the secretariat to the Group said:

“The RLA wholeheartedly supports the decision by MPs and Peers to establish a cross party group for the private rented sector. This will enable landlords, tenants and other stakeholders to engage in a constructive dialogue with Parliament on how to meet increasing demand whilst ensuring high standards of housing and management.

“The RLA looks forward to playing its part in supporting the Group to meet its aims, objectives and programme of work.”

Vice-chairmen of the Group are Paul Goggins, a Labour MP, and Liberal Democrat MP David Ward.

NetRent Comment

We welcome this initiative which gives the private rented sector a much needed focal point within Parliament. Landlords need to engage with this Parliamentary Group and have their voice heard loud and clear.

The Government has calculated that there are over one million landlords in the UK and their voice and their experiences need to be heard within Parliament.

Landlords 'refusing to take people under 34' ahead of housing benefit cut

The chief executive of homelessness charity Thames Reach says private landlords are already refusing to take people under the age of 34 ahead of further housing benefit cuts which come in from January 2012.

From that date, single people under 35 will be paid a shared room rate rather than a rate for a full flat, after the Government announced plans to extend the shared room rate in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).

Click here to read the full story Landlords 'refusing to take people under 34' ahead of housing benefit cut

Tenant jailed for five years over mortgage fraud

A tenant who stole her landlords’ identities to try and con mortgages and loans worth £3m has been jailed for five years.

Most of her cons were unsuccessful, but she did obtain £515,900.

Feruza Mettrick, a 33-year-old independent financial adviser with knowledge of mortgages, targeted properties being let in Leeds, Huddersfield and Harrogate. She looked for properties which had no outstanding loans or borrowing against them, via letting agents.

Click here to read the full story Tenant jailed for five years over mortgage fraud

Landlords See Residential Lettings Market Remaining Buoyant

The residential lettings market remains buoyant, despite the fact that the property sector has been hit hard by the recession.

Figures from specialist letting agents’ service provider Endsleigh shows good news for landlords as the majority of rental prices in the UK have steadily increased over the last 2 years.

The average cost in the UK has risen by 4%, well above the inflation rate in 2010, which fell to as low as 3.0%.

Click here to read the full story Landlords See Residential Lettings Market Remaining Buoyant

Are All Landlords Rogue Landlords?

"During the programme we have shown two very different people who are representative of private landlords . . . "

With those words Jon Snow of Channel 4’s Dispatches programme ended yet another damning indictment of the private rented sector last night. In a shocking programme landlords in Manchester and London were shown to be treating both their tenants and the law with utter contempt.

The programme showed that Meridian, a Manchester property company that claims to be a charity, was wilfully housing people in truly awful slum conditions. Landlord Mr Gill from London happily housed people in his garden shed and arranged for illegal immigrants to gain access to the UK.

Jon Snow claimed Dispatches could have made the programme in any local authority area in the UK and he was backed by Shelter in his assessment that private landlords are out of control. Private landlords, it was claimed, know that they won’t be prosecuted and therefore are content to be slum landlords whilst they themselves live in exclusive ‘executive’ homes.

Dispatches also interviewed Housing Minister Grant Shapps who promised to personally look into the allegations made in the programme. And there lies the problem.

Is the Government’s Housing Minister unaware that there are rogue landlords? Would Mr Shapps be surprised to learn that there are rogue tenants? He is the Housing Minister in a country that allows some tenants to be housed in utter squalor at the tax payers’ expense. He is the Housing Minister in a country where some people live in garden sheds. He is also the Housing Minister in a country that allows tenants to cause £13,000 worth of damage to a landlord’s property without any method of redress for the landlord (see the link to the article below).

Successive Governments have targeted the majority of good, decent landlords and utterly failed to eradicate rogue landlords. There are over one million private landlords in the UK and it is always the honest landlord who has to comply with the legislation whilst the rogue landlord does what they like.

It is this inequality in the treatment of landlords that is the real scandal. There is clearly one law for honest landlords and one law for rogue landlords, but all are tarred with the same brush. No-one wants rogue landlords, especially not decent landlords.

Jon Snow should have said that Dispatches has shown two people who are representative of rogue landlords, not the majority of private landlords. Grant Shapps should target rogue landlords and at the same time make life easier for the majority of landlords who already comply with the law.

This country needs the housing that honest landlords provide, it does not need a witch hunt.

Click here to read the article Tenant 'caused £13k worth of damage to Lincoln home'
 
Click here to visit the NetRent Facebook campaign The Damage That Some Tenants Do
 
Click here to comment on this story The NetRent Forum

Councils 'are turning blind eye' to rise of slum landlords

Children sleep within inches of fungi growing through walls. Immigrants live illegally in sheds in other people's back gardens. These are just two examples of the rise of slum housing in Britain, as individuals and local authorities struggle to cope with a 21st-century housing crisis which has led to unscrupulous "slum landlords" profiteering from society's most vulnerable.

A chronic shortage in social housing and an unaffordable housing market mean that around 3.4 million people in the UK rent their homes, a 40 per cent rise in the past five years.

Click here to read the whole story Councils 'are turning blind eye' to rise of slum landlords

NetRent Comment

The Dispatches programme will be shown on Channel 4 tonight, Monday, at 8pm.

The return of the rogue landlord

In Monday’s edition of Dispatches, Jon Snow reveals shocking conditions tenants are forced to live in, highlighting the return of the slum landlord.

At a time when more people than ever are having to rent privately, and landlords are increasing rents to the extent that tenants are being priced out of certain areas of London and the South East, the programme uncovers a world where unscrupulous landlords exploit the most vulnerable people in society and get away with it.

Click here to read the full story The return of the rogue landlord

NetRent Comment

There is no excuse and indeed no defence for landlords who choose to house people in sub standard accommodation. The article also claims that local authorities are not doing their job, and again there is no excuse for that.

However, the story is not as one sided as this article and, no doubt, the programme will claim. Tenants can turn even the best property into a cess pit as our Facebook campaign 'The Damage That Some Tenants Do' shows. We predict that the programme will not feature any negative comments about how some tenants behave.

The article also quotes Shelter's unsupported claims that over 1 million tenants have been 'the victim of a scam involving a private tenancy or landlord in the last three years'. We have challenged Shelter on these figures and the basis for their campaign 'Evict Rogue Landlords' and we are still waiting for a reply - four months after we contacted them.

It is time that the real truth about renting in the UK was told. There are bad landlords and bad tenants. There is no mechanism that enables either side to find out in advance who those bad landlords and bad tenants are. This has to change.

Meanwhile, landlords have to stand up and be counted. We urge every landlord to support our campaign 'The Damage That Some Tenants Do' by clicking 'Like' on our Facebook page. If you have any stories you would like to share please add them to our Facebook page.

Click here to visit the NetRent Facebook page