Tessa Shepperson Newsround #23

After several years of the Newsround I have finally got around to getting a Newsround logo done.  I hope you like it.

First some good news.

Good news on Solar

My first piece of good news is this article which reports that solar panels are going to be installed on up to 800,000 social housing properties over the next 5 years in a bid to cut energy costs for low income tenants.

We need more of this sort of thing!

Good news on right to rent checks

My next good news item is that ARLA (bless them) have now devised a scheme to help landlords and agents letting to students living abroad arranging their accommodation in advance. There is a big problem here as it is not possible to have a face to face ‘right to rent check’ meeting – as obviously the students, and their ID, are out of the country.

ARLA has now reached agreement that their Universities can, via a standard form of letter (template is linked from here) nominate the student to specified accommodation in the private rented sector, meaning that the ID check issue no longer arises. Thank you ARLA!

Although the article states:

While technically this process creates an exemption, it remains best practice to carry out a face to face check on the student’s arrival and retain records according to the code, even if this check is taking place outside of the 28 days of the start of the tenancy.

But more fines

Landlords and agents are well advised to take advantage of this new procedure and to be scrupulous generally in doing their checks as reports are showing the Home Office has stepped up its enforcement action.

According to this report from PainSmith the number of landlords fined has more than tripled in just a year.

They are obviously determined to get serious.

Universal Credit – the disaster waiting to happen

There are a number of news items around, including this one, on Universal Credit and the problems that will arise if it is rolled out before the problems have been sorted.

My message to landlords here is, if you agree to sign anyone on benefit, get them to set up a ‘jam jar’ account in a local Credit Union or Tasker payments as this will give you at least some security. In fact I would suggest you refuse to take on any benefit tenants who are not prepared to do this.

If at all possible also take a guarantee from a property owning relative.

Rent Controls and variable house prices

There are the usual plethora of posts on rents and prices.

So far as rents are concerned, Property Industry Eye is reporting that rent controls are going to be introduced in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  Although not in England.

As regards house prices (and presumably also rents), this article in the Guardian states that in many parts of the country, particularly in the North, prices are a lot more affordable. The article has a nice little map which shows where the prices are up or down.

In view of this, I suggest that unless you’re rolling, it’s probably best not to get a job in Rickmansworth where it seems that affordability has gone down by 61% or in Sevenoaks or Cambridge (affordability down 47% and 39%).

My advice, for what it’s worth, would be to work via the internet (like wot I do) in which case you can live anywhere so long as it has a decent broadband connection.  But I realise thats not for everyone.

New development at Cambridge

Speaking of Cambridge, it looks like the University is taking steps to secure accommodation for its people as it is the driving force between a new development known as the North West Cambridge Development.

This will provide three thousand much-needed homes for the Cambridge area, half of them to be ‘affordable’ (whatever that means) and including 2,000 postgraduate bed spaces, research facilities, and schools, shops and infrastructure to support all of this.

The report goes on to say

There is a patent desire to be responsible and exemplary in everything. The North West Cambridge Development sets out to achieve high levels of sustainability, including many photovoltaic cells to gather solar energy, low levels of car use and the recycling of rainwater for irrigation and the flushing of toilets.

Good for them! Let’s hope that Oxford will be able to do something similar – as Oxford too has major housing issues.

Bitcoin – secure investment or scam?

Some time ago I signed up to a financial investment newsletter service (not that I have any funds to invest but its nice to know what’s going on) and they are constantly banging on about Bitcoin and ‘digital currencies’ saying it’s the Next Big Thing.

It looks like at least one property company agrees, as this report shows that The Collective is now prepared to accept deposits in Bitcoins.  Property Industry Eye also reports here on others.

However, this may turn out to be a bad move – according to JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon, Bitcoin is a fraud ‘only fit for use by drug dealers, murderers and people living in places such as North Korea’ which will eventually ‘blow up’.

It’s even ‘“worse than tulip bulbs” he told a Conference in New York recently (referring to the famous financial ‘bubble’ in the 17th century). Strong words.

The Property Industry Eye post also reports

… that the Financial Conduct Authority has warned that ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) are mainly operating in an unregulated space, describing them as “high risk, speculative investments”.

Me, I’m sticking to old money at the moment. What about you?

Are you checking your tenant?

I know it happens (or rather doesn’t) but I am still shocked every time I read about it.

I am talking about landlords and agents failing to do any checks on prospective tenants – absolute madness when it is impossible to control tenants behaviour once they are in occupation and it will take a minimum of six months to get them out again.

This post from Property Industry Eye reports

A poll of 1,000 renters and landlords by the provider revealed that 75% of prospective tenants were not asked to provide proof of income before signing a lease agreement in the past year.

Just 22% said they were required to provide proof of sufficient funds in accounts linked to their rent, while 35% were asked to provide evidence that they had an active bank account at all and only 52% were asked to provide proof of ID. 

Madness.

If you are currently not checking your tenants – read this post here.

Grenfell News

I have to say that I was startled by this news item which indicates that chief executive of the organisation that managed Grenfell Tower prior to its incineration is still being paid his full ‘six figure’ salary despite having resigned his position – because he is “helping the organisation respond to multiple investigations”

Contrast this with this report about resident Edward Daffern, the author of many pre-fire warning blog posts who is campaigning (presumably unpaid) to save local facilities such as the library and local college and to reopen stables where riding lessons were, until recently, available for children with disabilities.

It looks as if he may have won on the library but

“We never would have got the library back had it not been for Grenfell. It is bittersweet. It has come at the cost of the Grenfell deaths,” he said.

C’est la vie I’m afraid. But it looks as if now is a good time for social housing tenants to push their requests. Before the memory of Grenfell fades …

Meanwhile

This report from the Law Society Gazette is worried that things are moving too fast re the Inquiry as many people are still living in hotels and not in a position to deal with Inquiry participation and paperwork.

The Inquiry opened yesterday (14 September) and inevitably residents are unhappy.  I know nothing about the Judge, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, myself, and I am just hoping that he turns out to be OK after all.  Although the double barrelled surname is, I agree, a bit worrying.

What made me smile this week

According to the Economist, Donald Trump is apparently the first president in 150 years not to have a pet.

Larry the Cat (@Number10Cat) said

We pets had a meeting – nobody’s willing to take on the job.

I do love Larry the Cat.

Stop Press!!

Camden Trading Standards have won a major appeal in the First Tier Tribunal, reported here on Property Industry Eye.  The case involves the use of the words ‘admin charges’ to describe fees, which the Tribunal found did not comply with the transparency rules.

I will be doing a separate post on this case later.