Our last Newsround for August, and as we come to the end of the summer recess, there is no shortage of housing news.
Should landlords permit childminding in their properties?
In the news this week, the Children’s Minister Claire Coutinho has written to social landlords and developers urging them to review their restrictive clauses on tenant contracts, with special consideration to childminders.
Stats show that the number of child minders has more than halved over the past 10 years, and this is being blamed on not getting permission from their landlord, mortgage lender and insurers.
Ben Beadle from the NRLA has joined forces with the Department of Education to see how private landlords can help this crisis, he does, however say that landlords should not be blamed for the ‘systemic issues in another industry’. Furthermore, landlords need to be able to take higher deposits or additional rent to cover any potential extra damage and higher wear and tear. He says
No landlord wants to stand in the way of the provision of childcare, but the Government must recognise that housing providers are not the issue. The Government’s encouragement to landlords to ‘be open-minded’ is no-doubt well-meaning but fails entirely to acknowledge the very real issues facing the childcare industry or the legitimate concerns of housing providers.
He adds
Mortgage lenders and insurers need to be more flexible in enabling landlords to allow childminders to operate from the properties they let. Tenancy deposits must also be allowed to reflect the greater risk of damage to properties being used for childminding.
Bad news for students seeking accommodation
There is 25% less student accommodation available this autumn than four years ago, yet there is a large rise in student numbers this year. Rents are also up, giving huge challenges to students finding a place to live within easy reach of their chosen university. Toby Parsloe of Savills says
The UK has a record 2.3m full-time students, 91,000 more than last year. UCAS applications have remained elevated since the pandemic, as economic uncertainty has pushed many younger people towards higher education to make them stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.
This is likely to get worse, not better in future years and is coupled with fewer rental properties on the market due to the current cost of living crisis. It is also country wide rather than being localised to one area. He adds
Issues with undersupply in the UK student rental market have been bubbling for many years, but are becoming even more prominent with signs of private landlords selling up in response to rises in interest rates, reductions in tax relief, and the fact that many who bought when buy-to-let took off in the early 2000s are now reaching retirement and looking to sell.
The student sector will always be in demand.
Scammers target the rental market
There has been an increase in scammers placing fake property listings on sites like Facebook and Gumtree that replicate genuine properties. The scammers change the contact details, have fake links and pretend to be the landlord when contacted. They then disappear once the deposit has been paid. Action Fraud say scams are up by 23% from 2021 with 541 cases alone last month.
The scammers tricks are getting more and more desperate, asking for deposits to view properties, letting properties they don’t even own, or letting a property to multiple tenants. Prospective tenants are being advised to try and verify landlords, check the land registry, before parting with any money, use reputable letting agents, and don’t be put under pressure. If the price is too good to be true – then it probably is fake.
Jonathan Rolande, from the National Association of Property Buyers says
It’s always better to be cautious and thorough in your research before making any financial commitments or sharing personal information and if you can, use a legitimate letting agent to rent your next home.
The problem is being driven by a shortage of rental properties and tenants are having to act quickly to avoid bidding wars. The average monthly rent rose to an all-time high of £1,273 in June, a third higher than the £951 in June 2021. There were almost 66,000 rental properties listed on Gumtree, the online classifieds advertising site, between January and June. These had more than a million replies.
Council is slammed for severe misgovernment
Newham council in London has been accused by The Housing Ombudsman of ‘severe maladministration’ in its own management of a damp and mould case which took three years to resolve. Whereas just earlier this week it threatened private landlords with ‘unlimited fines’ and saying they would take control of their properties if they did not sign up to their mandatory Selective licensing scheme.
Richard Blakeway, of the Housing Ombudsman, said
There were significant failings throughout this case which left the resident living with damp and mould for an unreasonable amount of time.
Despite repeated issues with communications from its repairs team, the landlord [Newham council] did not change its approach and take ownership of the resolution of the issues.
He adds
I welcome the landlord’s response to the lessons from this report and its extensive efforts to put in place a stronger and more proactive approach to addressing damp and mould.
Newham council had 42,000 licensed properties from 2018 to July 2023, with 2,620 breaches under investigation and 387 final penalty notices issued.
Hopefully, the council will see the irony of their orders and be proactive towards themselves.
New advice Q&A to help tenants
A new ‘question and answer’ type tool to help tenants who have repair or maintenance issues has been launched, under the radar, by The Ministry of Justice. It is called ‘How to get repairs done in your rented home’ and takes tenants through a series of ten question and answers which can help identify if a tenant is subject to a ‘revenge eviction’. It ends by advising them to either seek more information about their rights, get in touch with their council or seek legal aid.
Julie Ford a mediation expert says
It feels like the Gov are sneaking these new tools under the radar on purpose – it is all becoming very ‘pro-tenant’ with a stealth-like advance following on from [the Government’s] recent anti-landlord rhetoric.
It is felt that this is yet another initiative by the government to try to improve conditions and recourse for both private and social housing sectors following the tragic death of Awaab Ishaak last year who died from mould in his home that was not dealt with.
Sean Hooker from the Property Redress Scheme has said that what is really needed is a private rented sector ombudsman for repairs to be set up ‘as quickly as possible’.
Snippets
Council threatens to take control of landlord properties
Court delays for landlords evicting tenants ‘at their worst for 30 years’
Tribunals ‘not fair’ and weighted towards tenants’ says frustrated landlord
Cleaning is still the biggest cause of deposit disputes
Landlord Banning Orders not used because of council cuts – claim
UK’s landlords not tenants need funding help to meet EPC targets
Letting agents warned after firm caught taking fees from tenant’s deposit
Newsround will be back next week.