Landlords Ombudsman Coming Soon

will there be compulsory redress scheme for tenants--so aggrieved landlords will be able to chase loss of rent disrepair etc--there are more recalcitrant tenants than landlords--all costs will be borne by tenants

ps may is an absolute embarrassment as pm--well above her pay grade

Reply to the comment left by terry sullivan at 02/10/2017 - 11:28
Exactly.

Estate Agents etc. belong to Ombudsman schemes & get paid by their customers.
The Govt want us to belong to one, but still no mention of the tenants that ain't paying us & no redress for us.
Like people have said on here before, you go in a shop, u take a Mars Bar, you don't pay, you get in trouble.

But people live in our 100k house, we have to insure it, repair it, EPC it, boiler service it, immigration check your mate who u know was born in the UK, & he don't pay u any rent, & we have no redress?

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 02/10/2017 - 12:07
We do have redress Mick, but it is bloody useless.

Hopefully the "Housing Court" the Government are discussing will help to level the playing field for landlords too.

Good tenants must surely realise that bad tenants cause them problems in much the same way as good landlords recognise that bad landlords result in them having to deal with increased administration costs associated with compliance. All of this is reflected in the price of rents of course.

What incentives?
CGT exemptions? Scrap S24? Credible S8? Income tax cap?

Or more likely, reduced fees for the new compulsory redress scheme.
-They will invent more useless red tape and then 'incentivise' landlords by charging them a bit less.

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 02/10/2017 - 12:19
Time will tell

Nothing further or new in the Hammond speech

It is amazing how all these 'experts' always come up with more red tape whenever they have a problem. Instead of creating an Ombudsman, why don't they sort out the existing mess first?

Oh Dear....and how do they think landlords will recoup the cost of belonging to a redress scheme...

That's right. A rent increase...

So let me try and summarise this so a Treasury Minister can understand...

Section 24- Increased Tax More Costs - Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

Increased Stamp Duty - Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

Letting Agent Fees Ban - More landlords expenses Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

Tighter rules on BTL Portfolio mortgages. Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

Failing to build enough houses Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

Universal Credit..Pay the tenants direct so they don't pay the landlord... Less Landlords Less Properties = Rent Increase;

A bit of a pattern here...

Generation Rent And The Tory Party - Reducing Rental Choice and Increasing Rents Since 2015....

At least in theory, the housing court is a great idea which is much needed - this is good news for landlords.

As for 12 month fixed terms (tenancies carry on indefinitely until the tenant gives notice, surrenders or is evicted; the real power to end the tenancy or not lies with the tenant; the landlord can only evict with a warrant of possession carried out by court bailiffs), I agree with everyone else, this is something many landlords offer already anyway and Mark Alexander's deed of assurance is a much better idea.

Letting agents charging tenants fees - yes this is wrong, after all it's the landlord who is the client, not the tenant - I don't expect to pay an employment agency when I apply for a job, why would I pay an agent to find me a property? I gather the fees ban will still allow one week's holding deposit to be taken and won't stop agents charging the tenant for referencing.

The ban on deposits exceeding one month's rent will make it harder for tenants who pose a higher risk. This could be because the tenant has a pet, but tenants with pets can get round this by taking out an insurance policy.

The 3 month minimum notice for section 21 - as landlords would be advised to follow the tenancy renewal date (the section 21(4) format ), many landlords end up giving nearly 3 months notice anyway as they miss the deadline for the month they're in, but aside from this, I would only like to see this proposal implemented after the housing courts have been established and shown to be making it easier to evict bad tenants.

As I've mentioned before, the issue is that most landlords are using s.21 even with good grounds, because it's much easier than the broken section 8 route. Most of the landlords who ring our advice line about section 21 are using it to evict a tenant who has defaulted in some way, not simply as a NTQ. Has anyone done a survey of eviction methods and asked landlords if they've resorted to section 21 when they should have used section 8? I believe they will find the vast majority use it when they should really use section 8.

Reply to the comment left by Mandy Thomson at 03/10/2017 - 13:26I forgot the minimum training standards for letting agents - again, really good idea and very long coming. I know there are many excellent agents out there but there are also some dreadful ones. The good ones will have no trouble passing the required standard.