Well, I didn’t get the ‘Social Media Influencer of the Year’ award I was shortlisted for, in the Property Press Awards 2017 (it was won by Graham Norwood of Estate Agent Today) – but that’s OK. I’m not a proper journalist anyway. I’m a lawyer.
In the circumstances, it was pretty nice of them to shortlist me.
I was delighted however that Property Industry Eye won the ‘Property Trade Magazine of the Year’ award. Very well deserved. Likewise Graham Norwood (though through gritted teeth, obviously).
Housing in the election
Another week of not a lot of housing issues in the news.
We now have the manifestos – see here for a summary by the Mirror of what the various parties have on offer. The Labour party offering seems to be the best – although I doubt much of it will come to pass.
There is an excellent analysis of the current housing issues in London, by the way, in the long read in the Guardian.
Renter power
It looks as if tenants may have the power to affect the election.
The Renters Vote campaign has published analysis showing that in 93 constituencies there are more private renters without a strong commitment to a political party than the incumbent MP’s majority. This could be enough to swing the election!
Could this be the time that renters wake up and find that they are powerful? Or are they just so disillusioned with politics that they won’t vote at all?
Landlords selling up?
The National Landlords Association has published a post saying that many landlords are finding that the due to the tax changes they are now being pushed into a higher tax bracket. Which is prompting many of them to sell.
Individuals who only let out a single property are by far the most prevalent type of landlord, representing approximately 62 percent of the UK’s landlord population – approximately 1.5 of the estimated 2.3 million. The changes are thought to affect approximately 368,000 homes, with young couples and families potentially at the greatest risk if landlords are forced to sell up as a result.
Sources for the figures are given in the article.
Property Industry Eye also reported that landlords may now be starting to sell up.
Or taking opportunities to invest?
However other reports seem to show that the buy to let sector is still strong. I suppose you just have to be a bit more canny now about the tax rules.
Student accommodation, according to Savilles, is a massive investment opportunity. But, it appears, more for foreign investors from Singapore than English would be landlords wanting to invest their inheritance from granny (or whatever).
It a bit of a topsy-turvy world when the only people able to invest in the capital are foreigners who have no intention of living there.
An illegal curry ban
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has confirmed that it is starting legal proceedings against Britains biggest buy-to-let landlord Fergus Wilson who has said that he will not allow Indian and Pakistani tenants because it takes so long to get rid of the smell of curry when they leave.
Mr Wilson, however, maintains that he is not racist, saying:
It is not the colour of their skin, but the smell of the curry.
Wilson has also banned zero-hour workers, single parents, “battered wives”, and parents with children under 18 in his latest letting criteria. However, it is doubtful if anything can be done about these criteria as they are not (save possibly the last one) ‘protected characteristics‘.
A legal fight against ‘right to rent’
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has launched a bid on Crowd Justice, with a target of £5,000, to fight the rollout of rent to rent. This is on the basis that it is not appropriate for landlords to do this work and that there is growing evidence that it encourages illegal discrimination.
Even worse, there is no evidence that the scheme works. Landlords and agents are forced to conduct complex checks, deal with extra red tape and face fines and imprisonment for a system that cannot even show that it is encouraging irregular migrants to leave the UK.
The money will be used to challenge the roll out of the scheme to Scotland and Northern Ireland without proper evaluation of its effectiveness.
You can pledge your support here.
And finally
If you want to respond to the banning letting agent fees to tenants consultation, you need to get a move on as the consultation period closes next week on 2nd June.
You will find the consultation paper here.
What made me smile this week
I’m sorry to keep banging on about the Conference but it really was such a lovely event this year.
We are going back to the same venue next year, Sprowston Manor Hotel in Norfolk. It was so lovely it seems senseless even considering anywhere else. Plus its 20 minutes drive from our house.
Conference 2018 will be on 18 May next year and bookings will open later in the year. So keep that date clear in your diary.
“We now have the manifestos – see here for a summary by the Mirror of what the various parties have on offer. The Labour party offering seems to be the best ”
For whom? Lawyers and council workers?
‘Cos it certainly isn’t the best for most landlords and tenants.
1. Three year tenancies sound great until you realise it comes at a cost and that most tenants don’t want them.
2. There are more than sufficient laws already around decent housing without creating a new army (at a cost) of clipboard jobsworths.
3. Rent increases outside of Islington aren’t a problem for the majority. Existing tenants pay *less* than new tenants, introduce this and annual rent increases at CPIH will become the norm.
4. Landlord licensing has been a failure everywhere it has been tried and puts upwards pressure on rents.
Vote winning soundbites with no thought of the consequences.