Regulations For Private Landlords

 

 

 

With many rules in the private rental sector, it is more important than ever for private residential landlords to keep up with the latest regulations. Compare conveyance solicitors Today

In recent years, the buy-to-let market has become more regulated than ever. In fact, the changes to the property investment sector have pushed many buy-to-let landlords and investors to set up limited companies showing how the sector is becoming more professionalised. While increased regulation is not always celebrated, it does mean there’s more accountability for landlords within the private rented sector which in turn is improving standards all round.

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What Are Landlords’ Legal Responsibilities?

There have been a number of recent regulation changes buy-to-let landlords need to be aware of. Here are some of the most important.

Electrical Safety Standards

Landlords MUST ensure that all of their privately rented properties comply with the new electrical safety regulations. This is part of the government’s drive to improve standards across the private rented sector.

These regulations require landlords to have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a person who is qualified and competent, at an interval of at least every 5 years. Landlords must provide a copy of the EPC to their tenants, and to their local authority if requested. The Regulations came into force on 1 June 2020. They form part of the Department’s wider work to improve safety in all residential premises, particularly in the private rented sector.

This is a major step towards levelling up the private rented sector. It makes sure it will offer high-quality, safe and secure housing. 

If any work is necessary to fix any minor faults, landlords must hire a qualified person to carry this out. Once all the electrical fixtures and fittings are compliant, landlords should obtain a written report. They must supply this to their tenants.

Meeting Safety Standards

Landlords must ensure tenants are safe as follows:

• A smoke alarm must be installed on every floor of the property.
• Carbon monoxide detectors must be placed in rooms with a coal fire or wood burning stove.
• a gas safety certificate for EVERY gas appliance must be available inside the property.
• To reduce fire risk, all furniture must meet safety standards and display the appropriate labels.
• Any electrical devices must be safe for use. We recommend an Installation Survey or Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) so you can be sure you are compliant.
• The water supply must be working properly to protect tenants from Legionella.

A Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) allows local authorities to assess the condition of a property and any potential hazards. The aim is to maintain good standards in the private rented section. Your Move can help you understand how this legislation may apply to your property.

Right to Rent

Landlords have a responsibility to restrict illegal immigrants accessing the private rented sector. They must check that a tenant is legally allowed to reside in the UK. If a landlord rents out a property to a tenant without the right to rent, the penalty is an unlimited fine and up to 5 years in prison. (There are some tenants who you don’t have to check but this depends on types of accommodation). 

Information For Your Tenant

Your tenant must be provided with the landlord’s full name and address, or details of their letting agent. Your tenant must also receive a copy of the Government’s How to Rent guide. This gives practical advice about what to do before and during a let.

Protecting a tenant’s deposit

Most tenancies are assured shorthold tenancies (AST). As a landlord you must protect the tenancy deposit with a UK government-approved deposit protection scheme.

A landlord of an AST who doesn’t protect the deposit can be fined. It can make it much harder to end the tenancy.

Deposits must be returned in full at the end of the tenancy, unless there is a dispute about damage caused to the property or unpaid rent.

Repairs

Landlords are responsible for most repairs to the exterior or structure of a property. This means that any problems with the roof, chimneys, walls, guttering and drains are the responsibility of the landlord. Landlords are also responsible for keeping the equipment for supplying water, gas and electricity in safe working order.

Accessing the property

As a landlord it is inevitable that you will need to access the property from time to time. Maybe to carry out repairs and inspections. However, access must not cause any unnecessary interference to your tenant.

Give reasonable notice and arrange a suitable time with yourself and the tenant. The notice period is usually set out in your tenancy agreement

How Much Notice Do Landlords Have To Give? 

Your landlord must follow strict procedures if they want you to leave their property, depending on the type of tenancy agreement you have and the terms of it. If they do not, they may be guilty of illegally evicting or harassing you.

Five reasons to be hopeful about buying in 2022

 The last 22 months or so have undoubtedly been a sellers’ market, with record high demand outstripping supply and leading to steadily rising or much-increased house prices across all regions of the UK. 

But there have also been considerable opportunities for buyers, thanks to tax breaks, favourable borrowing conditions and mortgage lenders bringing out competitive products to win business. 

This is likely to still be the case in 2022, where – despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 – there are causes for optimism. 

Here are five reasons to be hopeful about buying in 2022.  

1: Most First Time Buyers still have a stamp duty holiday 

Amid the hype of the stamp duty holiday, it was easily forgotten that most First Time Buyers will pay no stamp duty on their first purchase.  

This has been the case since 2017, when former Chancellor Phillip Hammond moved to exempt First Time Buyers acquiring homes worth up to £300,000 from paying any SDLT. This is most First Time Buyers. 

So, in fact, the stamp duty holiday made no difference to most First Time Buyers, as they already have a permanent stamp duty holiday of their own. This won’t be changing anytime soon, and certainly not in 2022, so it’s one less thing for First Time Buyers to worry about. 

However, there is a worrying lack of awareness about this stamp duty exemption for First Time Buyers. Recent research found that only 17% of under-35s understood that First Time Buyers may not need to pay stamp duty. This knowledge gap will need to be closed if young buyers are to feel confident about their chances of getting on the ladder this year. 

2: New schemes to come into their own, plus potential new ones 

2021 saw the introduction of several new schemes, including First Homes and the 95% mortgage guarantee scheme, the effects of which should become clear this year. The 95% mortgage guarantee scheme is set to finish at the end of 2022 but may be extended further if necessary. 

Fallout from the pandemic should be calmer by then, so the need for a government-backed scheme to reassure nervous lenders may not be needed. 

Meanwhile, Help to Buy (2021-2023) will enter its second year as the Coalition’s flagship scheme is gradually phased out.  

Help to Buy (2021-2023), which is aimed squarely at FTBs to bat off criticism that the previous iterations of this scheme haven’t been helping this cohort enough, has regional price limits.  

The limits are set at 1.5 times the average first-time buyer price in each region in England, to keep the prices of new homes closer to the average regional first-time buyer property prices, thereby cutting the amount that first-time buyers need to borrow. 

As well as these existing schemes, there is every chance that new ones will be introduced - governments like nothing more than introducing flagship housing schemes to increase their appeal to young First Time Buyers. 

3: Interest rates are still very low 

Despite the recent rise in interest rates – up from 0.1% to 0.25% - and further anticipated ones in the first half of next year, to combat soaring inflation, interest rates are still at very low levels historically. And any future rises are expected to be small and incremental. 

This is good news for borrowers, who tend to gain if interest rates are low. It may be an especially good time, early next year, for people to lock in low interest rates on fixed-rate deals, before further rises occur. This could encourage hesitant buyers to accelerate their home-buying plans, to ensure their mortgage repayments are cheaper for longer. 

4: The supply and demand imbalance should narrow 

The supply/demand imbalance has grown wider than ever in the last few years, fuelled by the stamp duty holiday – which brought a huge number of buyers onto the market, looking to take advantage of the tax breaks – and the long-term and chronic shortage of supply. 

But there is a chance this could start to narrow next year as the market cools slightly and starts to return to normality after a few years of being supercharged. 

There has already been evidence that demand has slipped slightly since the end of the stamp duty holiday, as was to be expected. 

And it seems highly unlikely that demand will be as high as it has been recently. This should make it easier for buyers in terms of competing for properties, while more sellers might be encouraged onto the market thanks to the current strong rate of house price growth. 

5: More new homes on the market 

The government has a long-held target of reaching 300,000 new homes a year by the middle of this decade – something it’s still some way off achieving. This should encourage the government to accelerate current and future house-building programmes, something it mentioned in the recent Budget, with plans for a major regeneration and investment in brownfield land and sites. 

There are currently many issues in the construction sector – due to Covid, Brexit, supply shortages, mental health problems and labour difficulties – but you only need to look at the cranes and building sites gracing many towns and cities to see how many new projects are underway, many of which will be suitable for those looking to buy. 

And so, despite some ongoing issues and challenges, there are many reasons for buyers to be hopeful in 2022.

 

The Hardest Places to Get Planning Permission Revealed

 

 Research from Roofing Megastore has revealed where in the UK it is most difficult, and most easy, to get planning permission approved for your property.

 

 They analysed three years of data from the Ministry of Housing, noting how many applications were either accepted or rejected in over 300 district planning authorities. On average 91% of planning permission requests across the whole country are approved, however when you look at individual districts, the likelihood can change dramatically.
 

The Hardest Places

 
Roofing Megastore’s research found that the most difficult place to get planning permission in the UK is Enfield with an approval rate of 65.13%. This is 26% lower than the national average. Hillingdon follows close behind with a rate of 66.01%. This aligns with the fact that a whopping 8 out of the top 10 hardest places to get planning permission are in London. Only one is located in the north of England: Rochdale, Greater Manchester is 7^th with 74.03%.
 
What this shows us is that the UK capital is not an ideal location for someone wishing to expand and renovate their home. They are more likely to waste money applying for planning application, only for it to be rejected.
 
However, it is important to note that 65% is not a drastically low figure, we can see that over half of all applications are still approved. Wishing to build onto your home is therefore not out of the question across London, but it is important to be aware of the higher risk of rejection.

The 10 Hardest Places to Get Planning Permission in England: (based on % of applications granted)

Location	% of applications granted
Enfield, London	65.13%
Hillingdon, London	66.01%
Harrow, London	69.56%
Hounslow, London	71.24%
Greenwich, London	71.47%
Lambeth, London	73.55%
Rochdale, Greater Manchester	74.03%
Southend-on-Sea, Essex	74.46%
Newham, London	76.02%
Bromley, London	76.82%

The Easiest Places

 
On the other side of the coin, the research found that the easiest place to get planning permission in the UK is Carlisle in Cumbria, with an approval rate of 98.90%. Copeland and Eden, both also in Cumbria, showed up in the top 10 as well, 2^nd and 8^th respectively. The spread of districts was much wider here, with locations ranging from the North East to the Midlands to the South West of Britain. Though 6 out of 10 are more northerly.

With this data, it’s not as easy to pinpoint which part of the country it’s best to go to in order to get planning permission. However, based on the national average and the fact that these figures hover around 97-98% we can deduce that the further you move away from big cities like London and Manchester and into rural areas, the easier it is to build on or expand your property.

The 10 Easiest Places to Get Planning Permission in England: (based on % of applications granted)

Location	% of applications granted
Carlisle, Cumbria	98.90%
Copeland, Cumbria	98.72%
Richmondshire, North Yorkshire	98.17%
Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire	97.89%
County Durham, North east	97.82%
Fareham, Hampshire	97.79%
Cornwall, South West	97.39%
Eden, Cumbria	97.38%
North West Leicestershire, Midlands/ Rushmore, Hampshire	97.36%
Darlington, County Durham	97.29%

 

Why is this the case?

As well as understanding where the easiest and hardest places to get planning permission are, we need to consider why they appear on these lists. Getting approved or rejected for planning permission can depend on a number of factors, including your neighbours, the site you want to build on, the type of structure you want to build and the status of the property itself.

We can see that built up areas like London and Manchester are harder to get planning permission in than rural areas like Cumbria. In these cities you are more likely to have neighbours that may disapprove of your plans. The lack of space may also be an issue, meaning that the limited land you wish to build on could be unsuitable for building or your local authorities may disapprove of you reducing open spaces they have.

So, if you live in one of these areas highlighted as being difficult to get planning permission, it is important to consider what may stop you before you go to apply. Perhaps do some research on why people near you have been rejected in the past and see what you can do, if anything, to avoid this.