• Home
  • About
  • Clinic
  • Training
  • Tenants
  • Landlord Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson

  • Home
  • Posts
  • News & comment
  • Cases
  • Tenants
    • The Renters Guide Website
    • 15 Places for tenant help
  • Clinic
  • Series
    • Analysis
    • should law and justice be free
    • HMO Basics
    • Tenancy Agreements 33 days
    • Airbnb
    • Grounds for Eviction
    • Tips

Landlord Law Newsround #211

September 10, 2021 by Mark Savill

Welcome to this weeks Newsround which starts with some welcome news for landlords:

Pre-covid eviction notice periods to return from 1 October

This means that if you are looking to serve a notice on your tenant, you should wait until 1 October 2021 to serve your notice as the expiry date with then be sooner.

For example, section 21 notices currently have a notice period of 4 months whereas from 1 October it will go back to being 2 months.  If you have served notice recently it may also be worth re-serving it after October 1.

Generation Rent are, needless to say, unhappy about this and are asking people to write to their MPs about it.  Also on Tuesday 14 September, a group of renters will be going to Parliament to make demands.  If you want to join them, contact details are on this article.

I should point out though that article is misleading when saying ‘Landlords will once again be able to evict renters for no reason, with just two months’ notice’.  The two months notice is for issuing proceedings, which will normally take months to get through the courts.  Tenants are NOT at risk of actually having to leave their homes immediately after the two month notice period ends.

Any tenants who receive an eviction notice should read the Renters Guide article here.

Government considering planning consent for AirBnB short lets

The Government is considering requiring landlords of short or holiday lets to apply for planning permission first. This may be used as a way to curb the growing trend of landlords renting properties to holiday-makers rather than local people in more tourist-focused parts of the country, such as Cornwall and Devon.

The trend has caused a decrease in available rental properties in particular in holiday spots and a price hike for those properties which are available making life difficult for low-income families.

This requirement would not retrospective but would apply to existing landlords who intend switching to short lets.

This is one of three proposals which the Housing secretary is currently considering, the others being a ban on new-build homes being sold as holiday properties and an increase in the portion of houses being built being designated as ‘affordable’.

Cleaning is still the biggest issue in tenancy deposit disputes – TDS

Surprisingly, considering the increased issues with rent arrears since the start of the pandemic, cleaning is still the single largest reason why tenancy deposit disputes occur at the end of tenancy, according to TDS.

According to TDS figures, cleaning was at the heart of 49% of deposit dispute issues in 2020/2021. Rental arrears was lower than some may expect with only 15% of disputes being caused by arrears.

In addition to this, tenancies, in general, were less likely to end in a dispute this year than in previous years, as only 0.7% ended in dispute compared to 0.85% in 2019/20. TDS chief executive Steve Harriott says the drop is ‘most likely down to the pandemic’ with fewer tenants moving.

It is interesting to note that tenants are by far and away the largest majority starting end of tenancy disputes, with 75% of disputes compared to just 7% started by landlords.

National Audit Office Criticises Government’s Green Homes Grant scheme

The Government’s Green Home Grant scheme has been criticised by the way it collapsed last year by the financial watchdog service. In March 2020, it was revealed that £1.5  billion would be used for the ‘green homes grant’ programme which would allow landlords to claim for the installation of energy-efficient improvements. This is part of the government plans to make all rental properties by 2025 have a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of ‘C’.

However, the scheme has been not had the desired effect with the programme ending with no notice and landlords often having a poor experience in applying for the grant as well.

NAO labelled the scheme as

Overly Ambitious… and was not executed to an acceptable standard, significantly limiting its impact on job creation and carbon reduction

The Government expected that the grant scheme would support 82,500 jobs over six months and allow around 600,000 households to save up to £600 on their energy bills. However, it has fallen well short of that.

In addition to this, around 3000 complaints were made about the process between October 2020 to April 2021, with some landlords having delays in the grants as well as find it challenging to complete the application form.

It’s generally accepted that the government have made a total Horlicks of this but hopefully, it will be replaced by something it bit better organised – if they want landlords to be able to do the necessary works.

Government rejects last weeks call to allow landlords to charge a ‘pet deposit’

Last weeks call by a cross-party group to allow landlords to charge pet deposits has been rejected by the government. In Newsround 210, we reported on the proposed change to the Tenant Fees Act which would allow tenants to take out pet damage insurance.

However, in a written reply by junior housing minister Eddie Hughes argued that the current framework set out within the Tenant Fees Act 2019 is sufficient enough as it allows landlords the ability to charge tenants an additional deposit.

Hughes replied:

The five week cap should be considered the maximum, rather than the default amount charged. This approach should therefore accommodate private renters who wish to keep pets, without the need for a separate pet deposit.’

I very much doubt that this will be the end of it though.  Plus, I suspect that if the Telegraph were to write a leader on the subject, Boris would tell Ministers to change their minds.

Good EPC rating does not add market appreciation to the selling price of a property reveals study

A recent report by Nationwide has revealed that significant improvements made to the EPC rating of a property will likely not be rewarded if the property is sold. The Survey showed that there is only a 1.7% house price premium on properties with an EPC rating of A or B compared to a property with a rating of ‘D’

However, with that being said, the report did clarify that this change will likely increase over time, especially if the government continues to take measures to incentivise greater energy efficiency in rental properties.

Snippets

  • Pets Allowed in Rental Developmental as momentum grows for pet reform
  • New tenancy deposit tech cuts admin time by 70%
  • Landlord in Leeds fights HMO minimum guideline sizes
  • The end of the furlough scheme unlikely to have an effect on rental market
  • Levitt report into RICS scandal reveals ‘disaster waiting to happen’

Newsround will be back next week.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: News and comment

Scroll down for the comments

IMPORTANT: Please check the date of the post above - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.

You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.

Notes on comments:

For personal landlord and tenant related problems, please use our >> Blog Clinic.
Note that we do not publish all comments, please >> click here to read our terms of use and comments policy. Comments close after three months.

Keep up with the news on Landlord Law blog!

To get posts sent direct to your email in box click here

About Mark Savill

Mark works as an admin assistant at Landlord Law. He is a graduate of law from Aberystwyth University.

« Rent Repayment Orders and the case of Rakusen v. Jepson
The Landlord Law Vlog – dirty properties and cleaning charges »

“Interesting posts on residential landlord & tenant law and practice - in England & Wales UK”

Subscribe to the Landlord Law Blog by email

Never miss another post!

Sign up to our
>> daily updates

If you are new to the blog >> click here

Get Your Free Ebook:

Click to get your Free Ebook

>> Click Here for Your Free Copy

Featured Post

Tessa Shepperson

Why you need and how to get proper legal advice on landlord and tenant issues

Tessa’s Podcast

The Landlord and Lawyer Podcast

Worried about Insurance?

Landlord Law Insurance Mini-Course

Disclaimer

The purpose of this blog is to provide information, comment and discussion.

Although Tessa, or guest bloggers, may from time to time, give helpful comments to readers' questions, these can only be based on the information given by the reader in his or her comment, which may not contain all material facts.

Any comments or suggestions provided by Tessa or any guest bloggers should not, therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.

Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship (apart from the Fast Track block clinic service - so far as the questioners only are concerned).

Please also note that any opinion expressed by a guest blogger is his or hers alone, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tessa Shepperson, or the other writers on this blog.

Cookies

You can find out more about our use of 'cookies' on this website here.

Associated sites

Landlord Law Services
The Renters Guide
Eco Landlords
Your Law Store

Legal

Landlord Law Blog is © 2006 – 2021 Tessa Shepperson.

Note that Tessa is an introducer for Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and will get a commission from sales made via links on this website.

© 2006–2022 Tessa Shepperson | Rainmaker Platform | Contact Page | Privacy | Log in

This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
I accept