Landlord Law Newsround #429

Our last Newsround for March, let’s see what has been in the news this week.

Tenants rent increase appeal fee announced

A new fees framework in the Property Chamber has been announced by the government which includes a £47 fee that tenants will have to pay in order to challenge any rent increases at the first tier property tribunal. The Ministry of justice has stated that it keeps ‘all fees under continuous review’, and this is subject to Parliamentary consent.

Ms Sackman, Justice Minister said

The purpose of the new framework is to deliver a fair and sustainable Property Chamber that is accessible to all. The framework includes a fee of £47 for applications to appeal a rent increase, with no hearing fee, this is one of the lowest fees across HMCTS.

There is a Help with Fees scheme to provide financial support for those unable to pay the fee.

The government has published draft forms and more guidance

The main forms that will interest landlords are form 3A (which is the new section 8 notice) and form 4A (which is the new notice for statutory rent increases).  These along with the other new guidance, can be found via the new Housing Hub which can be found here.

Greenwich Council HMO crackdown

Greenwich council meant business when it joined up with environmental health, licensing waste services, parking enforcement, anti social behaviour and integrated enforcement departments and also with the police, to call on 120 HMO’s in just one day all within their borough to crackdown on unlicensed hmo’s and anti social behaviour.

The council assured its residents that they were ‘listening’ to their complaints. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan said

We will continue to organise these intervention days in different areas to help reduce anti-social behaviour and environmental offences across the borough, helping residents feel safer.

All incidents were noted and will be dealt according to the council, with what is seen as the first of more crackdowns.

Tenancy fraud is getting more complex & sophisticated

Tenancy fraud is getting more prolific and complex, according to LegalforLandlords CEO Sim Sekhon. 70% of landlords are unable to recover fraud losses, and 275,000 landlords have been victims of tenant fraud. 20% of landlords have now also been victims of illegal subletting, 8% to fake financial paperwork and ID.

Fraud is costing landlords approximately £38million a month and according to LegalforLandlords, £266 million is lost forever. Non-payment of rent is the highest fraudulent activity, other red flags are references that don’t quite add up and background checks. Sim Sekhon said

Tenancy fraud is a growing and increasingly complex issue across the private rental sector, and these figures highlight just how significant the financial impact has become for landlords.

He also advised that landlords need to be ‘fastidious’ when checking documents at the start of a tenancy.

Rogue landlords’ threats to tenant ‘brash & overbearing’

A First Tier Tribunal has fined a ‘brash and overbearing’ rogue landlord with 60% of the overall rent that had been paid of £16,500. He never protected his tenants’ deposit and refused to return it, putting it against cleaning and repairs without any evidence of receipts. He also accused his tenants of keeping an ‘untidy flat’ whilst prospective viewings were ongoing.

He threatened ‘If you disrespect me again, we will just go the legal route, and I have no liquid assets in the UK (the business runs at a loss) and subsequently nothing to lose, which means you have nothing to win’.

He also blamed the council for not advising him that he needed a licence for the property. The judge said the landlord was ‘brash and overbearing’ and fined Mr Howe with a rent repayment order of £9000 and to pay additional fees.

Snippets

Government tells landlords to ‘discuss’ rent rises with tenants
Tenants’ rights campaigner quits top role
First landlords begin to trial PRS Database

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week