Landlord Law Newsround #367

Welcome to another Landlord Law Newsround, where we bring you all the latest housing news that has hit the headlines this week.

The best solution to the UK housing crisis

An interesting post from LandlordZone reporting on information from SpareRoom and saying that people taking in more lodgers could be the solution to our housing crisis.

However SpareRoom data shows that the number of rooms have actually dropped since 2017, while the number looking for a room has tripled over the past 10 years.

It seems that, according to ONS there are around 26 million spare rooms in the UK so even if a small percentage of these were rented out to lodgers, it would go a long way to solving the current problems.  Particuarly, I would suggest, for single people and students.

I know how helpful the money can be as I rented out a room to students back in the 1990’s when I had just bought my house, and funds were low.

There is often a particular problem with tenants renting to lodgers, but I have a suggestion for government in my post here.  Raising the ‘rent a room’ allowance would also help.

Will the Renters Rights Bill deter landlords from investing?

‘No’ says Housing Under Secretary Baroness Taylor of Stevenage who said in a recent debate that they “do not expect it to have a destabilising effect on the market”.  Indeed, she hopes it will make things better.

Although she agreed that there is an imblance between supply and demand, she denied that there was an “exodus from the market”.  Citing a study from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence and saying

There was no evidence that that has had an impact. In fact, the PRS has doubled in size since 2002 and is now the second largest housing tenure, with over 11 million people living in the private rented sector.

We will continue to do what we can to support both landlords and tenants in that sector,

adding that she was looking forward to “working with the House to deliver a very effective piece of renters’ rights legislation”.

Half of homes not equipped to deal with extreme weather

AXA has published a report that shows areas most vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather and that more than half of people polled said their homes were not equipped to deal with flooding or extreme heat.

They are probably correct.  What about YOUR home?

The key findings of the report are:

• Flooding is perceived to be the greatest risk in the next 10 years by 55% of those polled, followed by severe storms (48%) and rising sea levels (47%).
• London is most vulnerable to combined climate risks of flooding and extreme heat.
• Coastal areas of the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as areas in the Southeast and London, are most vulnerable to flood risks.
• Homes and businesses in England with the highest chance of flooding face at least £818m in financial costs by 2055.
• Despite admitting having concerns about climate-related property damage, more than half (52%) of those polled said they would be unprepared to deal with the impacts of flooding or extreme heat on their property.
• Nearly half (48%) of those polled said they had never checked if their home insurance covered them for the effects of extreme heat, which can cause cracking and subsidence.

The full report can be found here.

What will the PRS Database contain?

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has laid out what it considers important:

At a minimum, gas and electricity safety certificates should be fully digitised so they can be easily uploaded onto the database, alongside already digitised Energy Performance Certificates.

The database should also include a signed declaration by a landlord which confirms that a property meets the requirements of the planned decent homes standard for the sector.

Otherwise, they say, it will not help tenants determine whether properties are safe or not.  CEO Ben Beadle saying

The database of private rented properties must go beyond a basic directory. It needs to provide tenants with clear, meaningful information designed to empower informed decisions on their next home.

This will help tenants identify the vast majority of homes that are safe, secure and well-managed by responsible landlords.

It would be a travesty if the database simply became a bureaucratic list of homes and landlords with little else besides.

However, does the NRLA speak for the industry?  Some are questioning this.

The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association speaks up for small landlords

A plea to the government to help small landlords has been made by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, which has a new report out on the Vital role of the RPS.

This has six main recommendations:

• Give greater recognition to the importance of the PRS, which provides homes for just under 20% of UK households.
• Acknowledge that small landlords form the backbone of the sector.
• Recognise that, as with any industry, increased regulatory costs will push up prices.
• Accept that increased risk for landlords will require higher returns.
• Acknowledge the ability of the market to drive up standards in the PRS.
• Apply policy more fairly across tenures

The report can be downloaded here.

Snippets

New tech enables landlords to make money from solar
Property industry redress provider celebrates 10 years with rebrand
Looming open-ended tenancies to have ‘unintended consequences for tenants’
Too many buildings remain unsafe after Grenfell disaster, housing minister warns
Queueing through the night for student accommodation

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week