Welcome to our first Newsround for October, let’s see what has caught our eye this week in the housing news.
Renters Rights Bill to increase Rent Repayment Order payments
Under the new impending Renters Right Bill rent repayment orders are set to double with landlords having to pay back up to 24 months’ rent as opposed to the current limit of 12 months’ rent. The case of Rakuusen v. Jepson will be overturned meaning that property owners can be fined rather than fines being limited to the immediate landlord as now.
The remit of the rent repayment orders will also be widened to include any landlord where their property does not meet the decent homes standard and has failed to join the ombudsman.
So make sure you know your obligations – the only way to get 100% protection is 100% compliance. Ignorance of the law is (save for a very few exceptions) no defence.
You can read more here.
Government needs to act now on poor housing
It is not just in the private rental sector where tenants have to endure bad housing. Social tenants can suffer far worse conditions. Many management companies and councils need to change their attitude and ‘bullying nature’ towards social tenants where homes are in a dangerous state of disrepair with severe safety hazards and accidents just waiting to happen, and no one cares.
Seven years on from Grenfell nothing appears to have changed, according to Kwajo Tweneboa, a housing activist. The stories that hit the headlines of children falling out of tower block windows due to windows opening too wide continue.
But it is the more general everyday hazards which do not make the main news, such as damp and mould, bad electrics, faulty boilers and infestations of vermin, to name but a few, that still blight the lives of social tenants as much as private ones.
He calls on the government to:-
lead by example and be relentless and firm in its commitment to change the way in which we are seen and treated, especially by local authorities, TMOs, housing associations and developers.
He calls on change now; otherwise, it is a matter of when, not if, we see another Grenfell.
And yet again in the news, only this week, a social housing Association landlord, Wandle Housing Association, has been put under special investigation from the Housing Ombudsman following a staggering 89% failure rate of maladministration in dealing with tenants’ complaints.
You can read more here.
Most of the anti landlord venum in the press is directed towards the private sector but they should realise that many public sector landlords are as bad, if not worse.
EPC funding falls short for landlords
The government has announced new support in the form of a ‘Warm Homes: Local Grant‘ scheme in England to help support energy efficiency upgrades in homes. The grant will fund up to £30,000.00 for landlords to improve their EPC ratings but there are snags. The funding will provide capped amounts of £15000.00 on the first rental home and then up to another £15000.00 for any additional rental property.
Many are saying that this will not go far enough and it is only available in certain postcodes where their tenants are on benefits or low incomes.
Meera Chindooroy of the NRLA says
The nature of the scheme means that huge swathes of landlords across the country will be, quite literally, left out in the cold.
The PRS has some of the oldest, and hardest to improve, properties within the UK housing stock and what we would like to see is a comprehensive package of financial support available to landlords across the board.
Landlords will also have to agree to their information being held on a central database, to participate in surveys and adhere to the funding limits.
There is a worry that many older properties will fall out of the rental market entirely due to the impossibility of some older houses getting to an energy efficiency rating of C. You can read more here.
Landlords speak out against Section 21 ban
A poll carried out by Landbay claims that the banning of section 21 will be ‘catastrophic’ according to 75% of landlords. They feel it is ‘completely wrong’ and that landlords need to be able to take back control of their property to remove problem tenants.
There are further concerns that the already lengthy process to evict a tenant will just get even worse, with one landlord saying
Currently, the courts are overwhelmed with the amount of requests they get. The courts need to cope before the Bill is implemented.
Rob Stanton, a sales & distribution director of a buy-to-let lender says
While no decent landlord will object to tenants being treated fairly, they argue that the property owner deserves the same rights.
He hopes to see amendments made to the bill to make it fairer and that it won’t ‘negatively impact supply or rent for tenants’.
However, what many landlords and commentators don’t take into account is that Labour are concerned to prevent tenants evicted under no-fault grounds from claiming re-housing from Local Authorities. The strain and cost of this is causing enormous problems with Local Authorities who simply don’t have available properties to rehouse or the financing to employ staff to deal with this. It is a very big problem.
Snippets
Welsh clampdown on holiday lets and second homes ‘not working’
Shelter demands changes to make Renters Rights Bill tougher
Could this £15 box help reduce damp & mould in rented homes?
More must be done to stop rogue tenants, say exiting landlord
Tenant campaigners call for landlords to pay compensation for evictions
Over 2,000 licence applications were approved by Hackney Council after their property licensing schemes had ended
See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law
Newsround will be back again next week
“Labour are concerned to prevent tenants evicted under no-fault grounds from claiming re-housing from Local Authorities.”
If they think driving out landlords is the solution then they are sadly mistaken.
“It is a very big problem.”
When in a hole stop digging.
Personally, I don’t think they can be that stupid but they have been painted into a corner.