Gas Safety is Very Important

A health and Safety Prosecution has illustrated the stiff penalties for non compliance of gas safety legislation.

In Stafford Crown Court it was held that Mr Hussain rented out 12 properties, 9 of which had gas appliances. Only two of the properties had current gas safety certificates.

Upon inspection a number of the appliances were found to be immediately dangerous and others were at risk.

The defendant pleaded guilty to specimen charges under the Health and safety at Work Act 1974. He was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £44,500 costs with an 18 month imprisonment in default of payment.

Landlord Disrepair

A recent case involved a tenant falling supposedly due to moss on the front steps of the property. At first instance it was held that the presence of moss was not a breach of the landlords duties.

Landlords should be aware of their obligations to ensure the smooth running of a tenancy.

How many weeks make 8 in Coventry

According to Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction and rent recovery firm , many landlords are experiencing difficulties where their tenant is entitled to housing benefit but this is not handed over to the landlord.

Regulation 95 of the Housing benefit regulations states that where the tenant is in arrears at least 8 weeks then the benefit can be paid to the landlord directly.
A recent case has gone to the first tier tribunal.

Coventry Council initially advised the landlord that the tenant could not be in arrears of rent for a period of time which had not yet elapsed. The tribunal held that if the rent is due in advance then if the pay day is missed then the tenant is in arrears. According a period of 8 weeks could be four weeks plus a day.

watch out for bogus landlords

Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction service are warning prospective tenants to be on their guard.

A recent scam uncovered by Oxfordshire Trading Standards has been operating whereby bogus landlords advertise their properties and then ask respondants to send their bank details in order to verify that they have sufficient money to pay the ongoing rent.

Once they have dispatched their bank details not only is there no property to move into but their account is targeted by the fraudsters.

Given that many of the private advertisement websites require no verification it is, according to Trading Standards, almost impossible to catch the criminals and reclaim the money back.

Buy To Let

According to Landlord Assist the nationwide tenant eviction and rent recovery firm Landlords continue to be pleased that they remain in the Buy to Let Sector.

According to recent research a typical landlord lost £600 on the capital value of the property yet earned £8,000 in rent over the last twelve months.

By contrast during 2008 a typical landlord would have lost almost 9% even after allowing for the rental income.

Graham Kinnear MD of Landlord Assist comments "These figures suggest that the worst of the downturn is behind us. We have many clients who are currently actively trying to increase the size of their property portfolios presumably to take advantage of improved market conditions"
Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord Assist urges landlords to still remain vigilant "Landlords should contact us immediately they have tenant difficulties. Cash flow is very important in a business like this particularly where the landlord is looking to expand their business."

Landlord Assist have provided free no obligation advice to many thousands of landlords and letting agents. You can avail yourself of their services on 08707 662288 or contact them via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk

Lets with Pets

Lets with Pets is an initiative launched by the Dogs Trust to help pet owners find accommodation within the private rented sector.

According to Landlord Assist, the award winning tenant eviction and rent collection service, pet owners make up over a third of the UK population so landlords who refuse to take tenants with pets could be missing out on an enormous pool of potential tenants.

Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist comments "One of our Clients welcomes pets and their void rate for their portfolio is less than 5%. It is certainly something landlords should consider"
The Lets with Pets scheme offers agents and landlords advice on letting properties to tenants with pets. Landlords should also be aware that guide dogs must be permitted in any property in order to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act which prohibits anyone renting a property from discriminating against a disabled person.

Landlord Assist offer landlords and letting agents free, no obligation advice and can be contacted on 08707 662288 or via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk

Changes to Local Housing Allowance

It is alleged that reforms to housing benefit which could fight the problem of benefit dependency would cost at least £60 Million to implement. The idea is a transition to work payment under which claimants would continue to receive housing benefit for three months after starting a job.

Graham Kinnear, MD of tenant eviction firm Landlord Assist feels this is a price worth paying "According to the documentation that I have seen the scheme is designed so that people are better off in employment than claiming benefits. This is obviously a good thing although quite why we have reached 2010 before realising is a mystery"

Sam Lister a policy Officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing appears to agree and comments "£60 million would be the absolute bottom line that recalculating LHA rates would save"

Stephen Parry of Landlord Assist comments "Currently approx £17 Billion in housing benefit is paid every year which is £6 billion more than was paid in 2000. The system clearly needs overhauling particularly when a number of the LHA awards never reach the landlord of the property"

John Denny, Chief Executive of a Housing Trust said they had seen a 10% increase in tenants claiming housing benefit over the last five years.

Kay Boycott, Director of Policy at Shelter said "We’re very disappointed that the government hasn’t made the decision to immediately restore choice to tenants"

Landlord Assist help landlords nationwide with the issues of rent arrears and tenant eviction and provide free, no obligation advice on 08707 662288 or via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk

we speak, they listen!

Graham Kinnear, MD of award winning tenant eviction and rent recovery firm, Landlord Assist is delighted that a recent publication by the Department of Work and Pensions has acknowledged that problems with the Local Housing Allowance exist.

The document entitled "Supporting People into Work: The next Stage of Housing Benefit Reform" comments that some stakeholders have raised concerns about the operation of direct payment of Local Housing Allowance to customers and that in some cases, safeguard procedures are not being operated well enough.

Whilst disappointed that the system was introduced in the first place, Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord Assist is pleased it is finally getting an overhaul.

Landlord Assist have been lobbying for 12 months calling for a change from the current system where housing benefit awards are paid directly to the tenant.

Kinnear continues "We have dealt with numerous cases where the tenant receives a housing benefit award but does not pay the rent"

The Local Housing Allowance was introduced for new tenancies in April 2008. Under the new rules rent benefit is paid direct to the tenant and in practice many are refusing to pay the landlord the rent.

Landlord Assist offer landlords free, no obligation advice on 08707 662288 or via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk

Clearly too much Red Tape!

Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction service have applauded shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps for his approach in trying to reducing the red tape and bureaucracy surrounding the housing sector.

As Home Information Packs have been in place for 2 years Mr Shapps marked the date by demonstrating the need to remove hips by dressing a suburban semi in red tape to illustrate the raft of bureaucracy which surrounds this sector.

Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist comments "We have long been lobbying for change to the housing sector which will allow the market to operate more freely both in the sales arena for our investment landlords and in the private rented sector to allow our landlords businesses to operate more efficiently. We are delighted that Mr Shapps shares our vision"

Landlord Assist provide free no obligation advice to landlords and can be contacted on 08707 662288 or via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk.

No heating and an outside loo!!

Leading Tenant Eviction firm Landlord Assist are aware of recent research which suggests that some 6million households in the UK are living in sub standard, non decent accommodation. According to the research the majority of sub standards have no central heating system and incredibly many still have an outside lavatory.

Landlord Assist are regularly lobbying government about allowing market forces to operate in the housing sector rather than impacting the sector with ever increasing legislation and bureaucracy.

Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord assist comments "It is incredible that there are almost 100 pieces of legislation relating to the private rented sector and yet reportedly 6 million households live in sub standard accommodation. Clearly if the HHRS system under the 2004 Housing Act was implemented fully it could address all of these issues"

Landlord Assist act solely for the landlord and offer free, no obligation advice. They can be contacted on 08707 662288 or via their website www.landlordassist.co.uk.

Where is your tenants deposit?

Landlord Assist, the nationwide, award winning eviction and rent collection service is urging Landlords to review their handling of deposits.

Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist states that his firm lodge deposits with the Deposit Protection Service on behalf of landlords as it is the only authorised scheme which offers protection to all parties if the letting agent or landlord goes bust.

Kinnear states "whether landlords and letting agents agree with the requirement to lodge deposits they must accept that this is law and accordingly they should choose a custodial scheme in order that the tenant and landlord are protected in the event that the letting agent goes out of business. There have been a number of cases where landlords are responsible for the repayment of the deposit which disappeared when their letting agent went out of business"

A spokesman for the Deposit Protection Service states "We have used both internal and external adjudicators to ensure that landlords and tenants get the best possible service. All the adjudicators we employ are qualified in law and experienced in housing law and all are members of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators"

Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord Assist agrees "There is a clear advantage for landlords to have their tenants deposits in a custodial scheme as it will protect all parties should the letting agent go out of business"

Landlord Duty to prevent disease

Property managers must learn about the legal risks associated with people contracting legionaires Disease in their buildings. That is the message from the Chartered Institute of Building Services.

The liability for prevention comes from Health and Safety Legislation

Tenants still in arrears

According to many commentators it seems like life for Landlords is finally getting easier. Not so says Landlord Assist, the award winning nationwide tenant eviction service. Despite rents being on the increase and interest rates at an all time low, many landlords are struggling with tenants who will not or cannot pay their rent.

Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist states that "according to research by the National Landlords Association nearly three quarters of landlords have experienced rental arrears and worryingly 43% of these arrears have occurred in the last 12 months"

Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord Assist agrees "The majority of our workload this year has been acting for landlords whose tenants are in arrears. The arrears have been caused by increasing unemployment amongst tenants and as a result of the Councils paying housing benefit direct to tenants"

The system is far from perfect although landlord Assist provide free, no obligation advice to landlords on all landlord and tenant matters. Call us now on 08707 662288

Change Local Housing Allowance Legislation

According to recent research 400,000 Britons are falling behind with their mortgage payments on their Buy to Let property and Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction company know the reason for why.

Under the Local Housing Allowance system housing benefit tenants receive their benefit award direct from the Council and the landlord needs to keep their fingers crossed that the tenant will use that money to pay the rent.

According to Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist the country is littered with landlords struggling to pay their buy to let mortgages as the tenants are refusing to hand over their benefit award. "We are dealing every day with situations where tenants are in receipt of a benefit award but the rent still remains unpaid" says Kinnear.

Dr Brian Iddeon who represents Labour in Bolton South wants tenants to have greater protection in the event of private sector landlords defaulting on mortgages. Stephen Parry of Landlord Assist disagrees "Our experience is that those landlords struggling to make payments are very often those landlords who have tenants in receipt of a benefit award but who choose to spend it on themselves rather than pay their rent"

There have been growing calls from Landlord Assist and others to review the Local Housing Allowance system to make payments direct to the landlord in order that they can maintain their mortgage payments.

Kinnear concludes "The government want to encourage the development of the private rental sector yet the Local Housing Allowance scheme works against the landlord – review of the legislation is therefore required"

Accidental landlords - we want you to stay

Landlord Assist the nationwide tenant eviction firm have acted for many so called accidental landlords in dealing with their tenancy issues. According to Graham Kinnear, MD of Landlord Assist many of them don’t relish being landlords at all. He continues "Many of the accidental landlords are renting simply until the price of their property comes back in line with its 2007 value and allows them to move on"

Set against this is news from estate agents Savills who believe that landlords in this situation may have to wait almost 10 years for a return of 2007 levels. Jeremy Leaf, spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors states that many accidental landlords are returning to the sales market but many are forced to remain as landlords.

The only consolation for those landlords forced to hold on is the prospect of increased tenant demand and rising rents. In recent research 22% of surveyors said that rents were increasing in their area and 11% said that the amount of available rental property is declining.

Stephen Parry, Commercial Director of Landlord Assist details "We have retrained many of our staff to deal with accidental landlords who have no experience of the lettings market and the laws which need adhering to. We hope that as a result of our support and assistance to these new landlords that many of them will remain in the rental sector and enjoy their experience as a landlord"

Landlord Assist provide free, no obligation advice on all landlord and tenant matters.

Buy to Let Image improves

Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction firm are convinced that the traditional image of the Buy to Let Landlord is improving as a result of the recession.

According to Graham Kinnear, Managing Director of Landlord Assist the public perception of the landlord was blackened by the alleged activities of 1950s landlord Peter Rachman which led to the new term "Rachmanism" which was used to refer to "being a bad landlord"

Subsequently during the explosion of Buy to Let throughout the late 1990s, many UK landlords were accused of being greedy setting high rent levels and refusing to undertake maintenance and repair to their properties. The lack of choice of property meant that tenants were often forced to take substandard accommodation.

A raft of recent legislation has tidied up the sector and now deposits need to be protected and local authorities have control over the standard of private sector housing to ensure safety for tenants.

According to Stephen Parry of Landlord Assist "institutional investors have introduced high quality rental accommodation to the market and enforced others to provide better quality accommodation in order to compete."

Kinnear concludes "All these factors have enhanced the image of the Buy To Let landlord and we at Landlord Assist are proud to represent landlords throughout the UK"

Which property should you Buy?

Landlord Assist, the award winning nationwide tenant eviction service has been undertaking research amoungst its clients to reveal the properties which offer the best yield in terms of property location and type.

Graham Kinnear, Director of Landlord Assist says the research concurs with expectations with University Towns providing the highest yield. According to Kinnear Nottingham performed best with yields of 10.9% being achieved by some landlords. Second place went to Durham with 9.23%.

Kinnear continues "Across the board for University Towns yields of 7.6% are being achieved. Typically these comprise three bedroom houses let to a number of students"

With the exception of student accommodation the best yields appear from one and two bedroom flats (although not town centre new build) located in towns with areas of the North East and South East faring best.

Paul Hughes of Estate Agents Milton Ashbury in Margate, Kent confirms the position "We are selling apartments at £35,000 which will rent at £350 per month and therefore providing 12% gross yield. Two bedroom apartments can make 10% and the demand for rental accommodation is still strong in this area"

With the reduction in the number of properties being constructed it is anticipated that there will be an increased demand for existing stock which should drive rents up and therefore may enhance the yield achieveable.

Stephen Parry, Commercial Director at Landlord Assist agrees "We are seeing an increase in rental levels and this is likely to continue throughout 2010. Yields for residential property will still outperform those available via other investment vehicles"