October 2015

The London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS) and the UK Landlord Accreditation Partnership (UKLAP) is proud to announce Your Investment & the Law Conference & Award on 18 March 2016. This prestigious event will be held to celebrate the successes of the scheme which supports and educates landlords, letting and managing agents and to acknowledge and reward excellence amongst its members. The Conference will bring together 500 plus landlords, agents, housing professionals across the board, VIP guests, including Richard Blakeway, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, Land and Property, Kate Faulkner Evening standard Property Expert and Journalist, David Smith- specialist Lawyer, Day Smith Hunter-Tax specialist and many more…

Local councils are being urged to drop landlord licensing schemes following the publication of new laws showing that they are not needed. Measures in the Government’s new Housing and Planning Bill make clear that local authorities can use council tax registration forms to ask tenants for details of a properties’ tenure and its landlord to help root out criminal landlords. The RLA campaigned hard for this measure.

Changes to taxation relief have been at the forefront of most landlord’s minds and the RLA Policy and Campaigns team is busier than ever compiling case studies, briefing papers, and offering alternative proposals to the Treasury to limit as much as possible the effects on Landlords. The idea of selling to first time buyers seems to have attracted some attention as you will see below. However, we have received confirmation form Government that they will not be changing their minds on MIR as the letter to us from Minister David Gauke confirms, you can read this response below.

The Immigration Bill had its second reading on Tuesday October 13th and the RLA featured heavily. The RLA has been involved with many meetings with the Home Office and stakeholders over the past year and continue to influence proposals. RLA Chairman Alan Ward and Policy Director David Smith have conducted several interviews recently and the following is a selection of news items recently published highlighting the RLA’s influence and involvement with the on-going conversations. ..

RLA trainer, Housing Benefit (HB) and Universal Credit (UC) expert Bill Irvine is back with another warning tale of a council looking to claw back Housing Benefit payments. Bill was left disappointed with the maladministration of this situation, and landlords should be wary of Councils overlooking to ‘claw back’ what they consider overpayments. Read on for Bill’s explanation of the situation:..

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) has launched an inquiry into the energy efficiency of private rented housing. From 1st April 2018, all privately rented properties will be required to have a minimum energy performance rating of E on an Energy Performance Certificate. This is likely to pose significant challenges given that privately rented homes are generally older and harder to treat than properties in other tenures…

David Cameron the Prime Minister of United Kingdom takes measures in his hands, which announce plans for building cheaper homes intended for those under 40 years, which for the first time buy but also to use public land for homes. George Osborn said in an article that having an own place is an important part […]

Rents in the private sector have been falling in real terms according to an independent study published today. The research, commissioned by the Greater London Assembly’s Housing Committee and carried out by the respected Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research confirms that between 2006 and 2013 private sector rents increased by less than inflation and average wage rises both in London and in England as a whole. ..

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP, has recently responded to the RLA calls for Government to reconsider the changes in taxation for private landlords set to come into force in April 2017. The Treasury remain steadfast in their proposals despite growing pressure across the sector…

Housing benefits, Universal Credit expert and RLA trainer Bill Irvine has written about the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) faulty IT system in supplying inaccurate information on tenants which sometimes leads to termination of payments unnecessarily. This has led to avoidable arrears. The following article is taken from Bill’s blog which describes DWP’s reaction and what landlords should be aware of…