Seething Landlord

Absolutely, no point changing anything until we know the exact criteria by which properties will be assessed. The previous government seemed to have finally recognised this but with the new, blinkered ideologues in power we are back to square one.... Read More

Will they what?... Read More

Correct, which negates many of the points made. Tenants will have the whip hand when it comes to rent increases and delays in repairs. Faceless corporations will be under the same pressures and subject to the same sanctions as private landlords.... Read More

What's happened to the anticipated root and branch review of the EPC rating parameters? The system is no more fit for purpose now than when the previous government recognised its absurdities and kicked the plan into the long grass.... Read More

At the risk of massive oversimplification, it is my understanding that HMRC are not challenging the validity of incorporation per se but of the technicalities purporting to achieve:
1: incorporation relief from CGT
2: relief from SDLT
3: conversion of equity in the properties to a director's loan... Read More

Sorry, I am not familiar with the nuts and bolts of HMO management and tenancy agreements but in circumstances where it is not appropriate for the tenant to pay council tax direct to the billing authority I imagine that landlords should treat it in the same way as any other overhead cost and adjust the rent accordingly.... Read More

You have misread the Act. The schedule lists the categories of payment that a tenant can be required to make. If you read the whole of the schedule you will realise that your interpretation makes no sense. Paragraph 8 simply means that a requirement for the tenant to pay council tax to the billing authority (not to the landlord) is permitted.... Read More

In this case it is a payment to the landlord, not to the billing authority.... Read More

It's all smoke and mirrors. S21 is not and never has been the cause of homelessness but to admit that does not suit the agenda of the propagandists.... Read More

All property that sells is "affordable", except in the eyes of politicians who have invented their own definition that denies reality.

What is lacking is low cost housing, which can only be provided when heavily subsidised by local or national Government i.e. the taxpayer.... Read More

Why do you think that a guarantor cannot be required?... Read More

That is an example of abuse of the system by the tenant, which will be addressed in one of the new S8 grounds unless the opposition get it struck out. You could however have proceeded under the current ground 10(?) if there were persistent delays in payment, although that is a discretionary ground so S21 was probably the better choice.... Read More

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S21 is good law, used badly (by landlords) who have consistently abused the process rather than use S8 when there are valid grounds.... Read More

It's not "just information". It would be an unsubstantiated public allegation which the tenant would have no opportunity to challenge.

The idea is nonsensical.... Read More

You can't just make allegations in court proceedings without producing evidence in support, which would defeat the whole rationale for S21 and what are you going to do if the tenant challenges what you have said? If you want the reason to be known use S8, you can't have your cake and eat it.... Read More

How can you have a "no reason given" ground for possession and at the same time require that the landlord gives a reason? It's a contradiction in terms.... Read More

"He added: “We see far too many financially vulnerable private renters who should be in socially rented homes,"
That's the nub of the issue, supporting the financially vulnerable needs to be seen as the responsibility of society represented by government, not private landlords.
I see that rents are described as extortionate, with no recognition that rents are the product of a combination of return on investment based on the value of property, cost of finance, regulation and taxation, coupled with compensation for risk and balance between supply and demand.
Bodies calling for more protection for tenants never seem to understand that additional cost and risk for landlords will always generate increased rent and a reduction in supply.... Read More

Nobody has mentioned that the Courts budget is to be restricted. Where does that leave the pledge that S21 will not be abolished until the Court process is fit for purpose?... Read More

It looks as though those who switched from normal tenancies to FHLs to avoid the impact of S24 are going to find that they jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.... Read More