No Rent For Buy To Let Landlords

Reply to the comment left by Freda Blogs at 02/04/2020 - 18:39
Thank you for that. Yes I had read the governments advice - hence my frustration at the stance some of our tenants are taking. I was really asking if anyone was experiencing the same thing specifically with student letting or if it was just me!
I understand the issue for working tenants who are now out of work - that would be a completely different conversation & absolutely right that concessions are made

Reply to the comment left by JonC at 02/04/2020 - 18:26Jon - I'm in exactly the same boat. The Government's own guidance states that rental contracts must be honoured. When approached, I'm pointing them in the direction of these two sites.
The link below to the savethestudent website, a student orientated site, provides an excellent overview of student obligations:-
https://www.savethestudent.org/save-money/lifestyle/coronavirus-advice-university.html#rent
Also the Student Loans Company - funds will be available as usual :-
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/slc-coronavirus-covid-19-update--2
Having said that, I have a stroppy student with his father refusing to pay. I'll leave it to the County Court to educate him in August if necessary. Just a pity that he'll drag his housemates and their guarantors with him as it's joint and severable. We shall see ....

Reply to the comment left by Grumpy Doug at 02/04/2020 - 22:34
Cheers for that info Doug. So far it’s 1 or 2 people from each house for me too. I don’t know if they’re acting as spokespeople for the house or, as you say, they end up dragging the others in to it as they’re all joint tenancies.
Ultimately just a waste of everyone’s time!

When will the Government, Shelter and other organisations who have no in-depth knowledge of the Private Rented Sector, realise that for every Landlord that leaves the sector a minimum of one person or family losses a home? Other key factors: -
• PRS represents 20% of the population
• If the Council or Social cannot house the people who are made homeless, rents will rise, choice will reduce and more people will be homeless, having to stay in B&B, Hotels etc, costing the country more money.
• If will be the honest and good Landlords that will go to the wall, caused by; rent holidays, no rents, section 21 etc.
• The Tenants that cause the problem are usually the rouge tenants who do not deserve to be housed.
• As of 5th April, many Landlords will realise that the Government Tax regulations will prove that PRS is now no longer viable and leave the sector.
• Building new houses has stopped and will take many months to get back to full production, when they do it will be the houses for the private buyer which are finished the earliest.
• To rebuild the UK economy will require foreign workers, with reduction in available places to rent where are they going to live?
• During this latest crisis, Coronavirus, more Landlords have been put under financial pressure than ever before and after the last five years of Government onslaught of Taxes, regulations, rent holidays etc. More will go to the wall.
• In three months, there will be a deluge of Section 21’s and Section 8’s, 2 to 3 months after reality of the homeless will materialise!
• The Government’s generous concessions for those furlonged 80% of their wages paid, Universal Credit payments, also the self-employed, meaning that nearly all Tenants will be a position to pay rent, even if reduced. If a Tenant, then refuses to any pay the rent these benefits withdrawn and future Landlords informed of their indiscretions!
• In addition to the Courts listening to section 21 and 8 applications there will be an equal number of Small Claims Court applications for back rent, damage etc from those rouge tenants.
• Measures to highlight rouge Landlords are not working, they only effect the good Landlords, if there is going to be a Rouge Landlord register there should be a Rouge Tenant Register.
• Any Tenant who deliberately and fraudulently refuse to pay rent should have their Credit Score effected.
• With Universities closing and Students returning home not for filling the contracted rental, where will the next year intake live as these Landlords will no longer be there!
• If anyone walked into Tesco’s and took several hundreds of pounds of goods without paying it would be theft! Not paying rent is theft!
• All good Landlords will sit down and discuss with a Tenant payment plans.
• No Landlord will ever evict a good Tenant without good reason.
• Being a Landlord is a Business not a Charity and should be treated the same as any other business in the UK, this includes taxation! No return on investment leave the sector!
If the above is undisputable, it follows that the UK public need a health Private Rental sector, therefore Government, Shelter and other Landlord bashing organisations should sit down with the Landlords and find a way forward to support, incentives and improve the Sector! Failure to do will result in misery for many!

Reply to the comment left by JonC at 02/04/2020 - 18:54
Martin Lewis, on his show last night, said that students had a contract with their landlords, and if students left the accommodation early, to go home, it didn't release them from their responsibility to pay the rent.

Reply to the comment left by Lesley Lester at 03/04/2020 - 07:59
I understand your frustration. All landlords are being adversely affected in way or another, However, I think it would be naive to assume that the current state of play is the final word from Government. Importantly, while a significant number of small landlords have sold up, the number of rental properties available has apparently stayed broadly the same because larger landlords are buying up the properties at a discount. There was a report on this quite recently, though I can't remember who did it. What we are seeing is more and more lower income families and benefit tenants being unable to find accommodation because the neither small nor big landlords are prepared to take the risk.
Also, my take would be that a) the lockdown will extend way past the initial 3 weeks, b) the ban on evictions will very soon go to 6 months (as is already the case in Scotland) and c) Government will continue to push initiatives to increase the number of owner occupiers and aim to further reduce the size of the PRS

Good morning, We are students's let and our students, who now live at home sent us the letter they received from the Uni, Note that they encourage them to take advice from Shelter!
==quote==
Dear Student,
Following on from the news bulletin regarding private landlords we have the following information for you, a summary can be found under Renting from Private Landlords here. There is also a Students’ Union Facebook live session at 3pm on 2nd April with Shelter.
It is likely that you will have signed a fixed term contract which remains legally binding despite the current health pandemic. As such in theory rental payments must kept up regardless of whether you are living in the property or not as per the agreement. We are however in unprecedented times and would like to think landlords and agents would show our students some compassion with regards to keeping up rental payments. If your landlord agrees to a rent holiday period you will be required to pay this back & need to agree a repayment plan. If you do not pay your rent your landlord can pursue your guarantor & this may lead to a County Court Judgement against both parties.

The best way to deal with the current situation is to ensure strong communication is kept with your landlord and come to an agreement with them that all parties are happy with. In general the terms to be reconsidered will be:

Early Termination: Will your landlord allow you to leave the property sooner than originally contracted? This may not be today but may be at a date between now and when your contract is due to end that is fair.
Rent Reduction: Would you landlord consider reducing the rent to ease the pressure on you financially, this may be justified if you are not actually staying in the property for the coming weeks.

As per your contracts your landlord has the right to refuse the above proposals which is why it is key to outline why you are asking to give them a chance to empathise with you as much as possible. Points to include will be:

Loss of income: Have you lost your job or means to pay the rent?
Having moved out: It can be argued that you have had to move out of the property through no fault of your own and as such cannot access the accommodation you are paying for.
The University's position: The University of Surrey has outlined that we feel landlords should do what they can to help students and relieve financial pressure, as essentially that’s the "right thing to do".
Be aware you will still remain liable for your bills until you are released from your contract & your supplier has agreed to terminate your agreement with them also. If you withdraw from university you will also become liable for council tax until your tenancy is terminated.
Ultimately it is going to come down to a case by case basis, each landlord will take a view and compromise or not.
Always communicate with your landlord in writing, ideally via email. If you have a phone call conversation follow it up with an email to outline what has been talked about.
If you have exhausted the above options & are unable to come to an agreement with your landlord, please contact us to see how we may be able to support.
Regards,
==unquote==
I will send the UNi plea shortly

This is the University of Surrey plea to Landlords. They assume all landlords will have a free mortgage holidays...
==quote==
The pandemic, which is currently touching all our lives, has caused huge turmoil for all sections of society. A University, by its very nature is a family of academics, researchers, professional support staff, alumni and of course students.

The University of Surrey family has been tested to its limit, and will no doubt have to endure much more over the coming weeks and months as this virus continues to spread. Families do of course come together in times of crisis to support each other, and the University is no different. Over the last few weeks, there has been a tremendous effort from all to continue the endeavours and academic mission of the institution, as well as provide scientific and practical support to our local NHS.

However, the effect of a national lockdown is severe, and many of our students have left to be safe with their own families either at home or abroad. This was not a circumstance that anyone could foresee when embarking on a new academic year. In these exceptional circumstances, the University of Surrey has recognised that it is entirely understandable that our students wished to leave their accommodation early and will not be able to return this academic year.

The University has therefore cancelled all rent payments due for term 3 for over five thousand students in University managed accommodation who have chosen to leave early.

Not all students are able to be accommodated by the University however, and there are private landlords and providers who have not yet taken the same action to cancel rents for students who have left. It is indeed disappointing to see that many private providers have chosen to prioritise their shareholders over their student occupants, especially in light of the support being given by the government in the form of mortgage breaks.

We are today calling for all providers of student accommodation to follow our lead; do the right thing and relieve Guildford’s students of the obligation to pay rent for empty rooms.
Professor Max Lu, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Surrey
Gemma Paine, President University of Surrey Students’ Union
==unquote==

Reply to the comment left by Annie Landlord at 03/04/2020 - 09:13
Three Cheers for Martin Lewis!

What utter dross from Uni's showing how little they understand.
Fortunately I do not have any student let's but both my tenants have been furloughed this week.
One is more of a problem than the other as 50% of his income is commission which is not covered by the Gov scheme.
Getting back to student let's am I correct in thinking they run from essentially Sept to Sept?
Can only think the next intake will be paying a great deal more rent to make up shortfalls from this year.
If students currently refusing to pay rent, want to return in the autumn, to the same accommodation they will have a shock as to what they will be paying.
The Conservative Government's over the last ten years have almost destroyed the PRS with its constant attacks assuming, because we rent a property, we have an inexhaustible pot of money are close to so many of us leaving it to the detriment of the country.
I have made my two tenants aware that any unpaid rent is still due. Fortunately they have both been with me a number of years, 10 & 4 respectively so hope it work out but as I depend upon the rent as part of my retirement income I am going to struggle over the next few months as I don't have mortgages!
Please, we need to stand together and petition Government of our plight. They rescinded for a year the tax changes for the IR35 sector and they need to help us in the same way.