Hypothesis: We need to make cities denser if we are to meet green targets
Official: HMOs Safer Than Council Houses
Portsmouth City Council have been admonished by the Social Housing Regulator for 'serious failings' after admitting over 1,000 outstanding fire safety remedial actions and not having current EICRs on over 85% of them (that is about 13,260 homes).
Rent-2-Rent Operator Gets His Comeuppance
We reported the case of the landlord who let his property to a Rent-2-Rent operator (R2RO) on a contract that assigned all management responsibility to the R2RO, where the landlord was fined £7,500 by PCC when the R2RO was found to have overcrowded the property.See it here.
The good news is that PCC then went after the R2RO who was found guilty in court of multiple misdemeanours and sentenced accordingly.
Making Tax Digital Update
After our discussions about 'Making Tax Digital' at the November and January member meetings, we have some comments on what it means for us all from accountant, Sam Stapleton of SJS Advisory who was with us last month.
HMO Planning - Who Needs It?
In a bizarre decision at the January Planning Committee, Councillors may have bulldozed their own regulations and opened the way for HMO developments without the need for planning approval.
Carianne Wells of Applecore commented, "Anyone looking to increase their existing C4 HMO by 1 or 2 persons into Sui Generis use, has traditionally applied to the LPA (Local Planning Authority) for permission, at that point all the room size standards etc are assessed against policy. After yesterday it seems that both planning officers and committee members are in agreement for the first time that the increase is not a material change, and does not require planning."
Victorian Terrace Retrofit
Obviously every house is different, but this one cost £23,000 to retrofit including solar, batteries and heat pump, it reduced energy usage by 75% and added £90,000 to the property value even though the rooms were smaller - don't believe me, have a look....
iHowz view of the proposed Renters’ Rights Bill
iHowz Landlord Association submit this paper with their views on the proposed Renters Right Bill
Lloyds to use energy efficiency in mortgage affordability sums
Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland will be using properties' EPC ratings when they calculate mortgage affordability, it has been announced.
Trade Association Challenges
The PDPLA is a trade association – you may not think of it that way, but it is a group owned and run by its members for the benefit of its members. With that, come some challenges and responsibilities – we hope we are always doing what is best for most members but that does mean that at times some individual members may be worse off as a result. A couple of examples..
PCC Debate Publishing Vulnerable HMO Details
PDPLA Vice Chair, Alwin Oliver, made a deputation at the December 2024 Full Council meeting to express our dismay at the Portsmouth Independence Party motion to publicise the addresses of the 40+ PCC owned HMOs in the city. We need not have bothered as every other councillor was equally aghast and the motion was defeated. That said, we are always keen to get our members perspective across and challenge anti HMO (and anti landlord) rhetoric where we find it.
Portsmouth To Become An 'Inclusive Recovery City'
Following Portsmouth City Councils decision to become an inclusive recovery city, we wrote the following letter of support which was published in The News.
(An inclusive recovery city is a community that aims to create a supportive environment for people affected by addiction.These cities work to:
- Remove barriers: Create spaces where people can access help and advice without facing barriers
- Raise awareness: Promote understanding and challenge the stigma and shame associated with addiction
- Celebrate recovery: Recognize the strength and resilience of people in recovery
- Champion multiple pathways: Support a variety of paths to addiction recovery
- Benefit the whole city: Believe that the city will grow and benefit from these efforts)
Landlords Christmas Meeting
We had a smaller turnout than usual at our Christmas celebration this year but a good night was had by all who attended. It was billed as 'quiz-less' (which obviously meant 'less quiz than usual' rather than 'no quiz') and this years mini-quiz certainly revealed what landlords are interested in. Plus we had awards and fund raising which this year, was for Helping Hands.
Renters Rights Bill Update - Students
PDPLA friend and legal advisor, David Smith, says, "Earlier this month the Commons Bill Committee began its line by line scrutiny of the Renters' Reform Bill including amendments to each section. As anticipated, most of these amendments are being rejected....
Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) - Who & How Much?
Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) are essential safety evaluations required for certain rental properties in the UK, including Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO). The aim is to identify fire hazards, assess risks, and outline actions needed to minimize these risks, ensuring tenants' safety. This is especially critical in HMOs, where multiple tenants may live independently within a single property, increasing the complexity and potential fire risk. We had a question about the high cost of a professional FRA and this article is based on a discussion of that issue between 2 landlord members and a letting agent.
Electric Wallpaper & 0% Loans
Electric wallpaper will be trialled in 12 Glasgow tenements to evaluate its efficiency as a clean heat source and Nationwide are offering 0% loans for retrofit projects. Additionally, the boiler upgrade scheme hit record levels in September.
Recommended Traders List Grows
Remember that members have access to and can update our recommended traders list - so if you come across a supplier or trader who you have used and would use again, do add them to our list and if you have feedback on anyone on the list, do please share - it helps everyone ensure they get a good job at a sensible price and avoid those nightmare experiences which we all seek to avoid.
Have Your Say On EPC's
Do EPC's help? Could they be better? What should they focus upon / how could they be improved?
Government Decarbonisation Schemes
Utilita have published a useful (& brief) overview of the various grant schemes currently available and who each applies to.
The Changing Dynamics of Capital and Labour in Property Investment
In today's evolving property market, the role of capital and labour has taken on fresh significance, particularly in the Private Rental Sector (PRS). Once viewed primarily as assets that generated passive income, properties now demand active management and increasingly high levels of service to meet tenant expectations and navigate stringent regulations. As the property sector becomes more service-oriented, the skills, labour, and technologies required to manage it are also transforming. In this article, we'll explore the changing roles of capital and labour in the property sector, the influence of PropTech, the increasing demand for eco-efficiency, and the need for a forward-looking approach among property investors.
Venture Tower To Become Student Hall
A planning application (24/01089) has been submitted to convert Venture Tower to a 97 room student hall. We see this as a speculative application as Savills seek a buyer for the derelict property.
PDPLA Landlord Insurance
There have been a couple of questions from members this month about our relationship with Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers – how much is the discount, why should we use, etc.The short answer is because the PDPLA depends on you doing so and, if you don't, we will need to charge membership fees but for the full detail, read on…
The Impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill on the Student Rental Market: Challenges and Potential Solutions
Given that the University of Portsmouth is almost wholly reliant on the local private rental sector for student accommodation in years 2 and beyond and knowing that Scots Universities were turning people away last year due to lack of accommodation after rental regulation changes, the introduction of the Renters' Rights Bill in the UK has sparked concerns, particularly for student landlords. This is highlighted in the discussion between 2 landlords and 2 letting agents summarised here. Their dialogue reflects the uncertainty and potential disruption that the bill might bring to the student housing market, especially concerning the removal of Section 21, Ground 4A provisions, and issues around fixed-term tenancies. This article examines several of these issues and proposes potential solutions to address them, focusing on how the bill might affect landlords and students in the private rented sector (PRS).
Landlords Call For Plan For Existing Housing
In our response to the Portsmouth Local Plan, we highlighted the lack of a strategy to bring existing housing stock up to current standards and the high rents locally which can be attributed to local policies. We also worried that the support for co-living at the expense of HMOs was at best misguided and at worst, would have even more damaging effects on local rent levels.
Portsmouth: A Cheap Option For Students
A national survey has placed Portsmouth as the 7th cheapest place in the country for students and the most affordable in the South East – affordability is calculated by dividing living costs by average monthly income, and as Portsmouth rates highly for student earning potential in the local community, that does improve Portsmouth's affordability ranking significantly but, the very low private sector rents are also significant.
0.2% Mortgage Discount For Retrofit
A mortgage provider has finally stepped up and provided an incentive to property owners to retrofit their properties
HMO Planning – A Load of Sewage?
Members will know that the PDPLA and councillors on the Planning Committee have sometimes disagreed. Well, good news this month as the Planning Inspectorate highlight the fact that Southern Water have a responsibility to handle sewage and a 7-bed HMO in Copnor will not risk overloading the system.
Portsmouth Local Plan Consultation (Again)
The Portsmouth Local Plan is the document which drives all planning and development decisions in the city – it defines what can be built where, which sites are earmarked for development and which green spaces are protected. This edition will be in force until 2040 and you have 1 final chance to share your view. (Lots of updates including on student halls and HMOs plus the introduction of co-living).
Energy efficiency: New targets announced by Labour
Reproduced from the NRLA feed in case you missed it - you have until 2030 to get your properties to EPC grade C (assuming we are still stuck with EPC's by then)
Social Housing Fails
We get fed-up of social housing providers being treated as saints and private sector landlords as demons when all of the evidence is to the contrary...
Tribunal calls rent-2-rent agent ‘reprehensible’
We have long counselled against 'rent-2-rent' relationships unless the legal relationship is clearly defined and the sub-landlord is known and reputable. A First Tier Tribunal recently awarded 70% of rent to be repaid to a nurse, illegally evicted by the sub-landlord from a property near Croydon.
Portsmouth Landlords Rally Behind PDPLA Chairman Amid Calls for Resignation
Portsmouth landlords are rallying to support Martin Silman, Chairman of the Portsmouth & District Private Landlord Association (PDPLA), after a councillor called for his resignation following his criticism of the conduct of councillors at a recent City Council planning meeting.
An Open Letter to Portsmouth City Councillors - HMO Issues
Dear Councillors,
Having collaborated with many of you in various capacities and with different organizations around Portsmouth over the years, I wish to clarify my recent remarks regarding a potential HMO Kristallnacht. I understand that this comparison upset several of you, and I apologize for any offense caused but..
The PRS - Briefing for MP's
One of our Havant members "started to write to our new Labour MP in anticipation but sadly she was just pipped to the post by Alan Mak. A friend knows her personally and thinks she would have been good for our area." Rather than waste it - we include here for any new or returning MPs keen to understand the reality of the sector.
257 / 2 people / No Licence Needed
This month we learnt that a property converted into 2 flats which technically is a 257 (see definition below) does not need an HMO Licence if it is rented to 2 people or less. Unfortunately, a number of members had already spent many hours submitting HMO Licence Applications for such properties – the good news is that they will get their application fee refunded, the bad news is the time, stress and hassle of the past 9 months cannot be recompensed. We have always argued that no evidence of the need to improve 257's was included in the justification for Licensing and this is just one more example of the struggle even the Licensing team have in deciding what to include and how to handle it.
Portsmouth Planning – The Good, The Bad and the Downright Ugly
This month's Planning Committee was quite different from recent meetings, yet the outcome was largely as bad as ever and there was one aspect which we can only describe as diabolical.
UoP Student Housing Go Above & Beyond
Sadly, one of our members recently experienced something we all hope will never happen to us. A student tenant with a neurological disorder in a shared house experienced a suspected fatal episode during the night and was found the next morning by a housemate.
Our landlord member contacted PDPLA for advice. The positive news from this terrible situation is that, in the words of our member, the University Student Housing team were amazing, so this is just a short plaudit to them in a terrible situation.
Tenants Leaving Rubbish Bins On Pavement
We worried that PCC's threatened removal of waste bins if they were consistently left on the pavement would impact landlords and leave them bin-less even where the landlord had paid for a larger bin and the problem was tenant caused and beyond the landlords control.
We need not have worried as you can see from PCC's response below.
Housing Standards & Expectations - Then & Now
We seem to constantly debate housing standards and younger people particularly forget how rapidly standards improve - perhaps this reminiscence of one persons housing history will help put things in perspective.
Councillors Should Be Ashamed
After this months Planning Committee, where councillor Benedict Swann said Carianne Wells (PDPLA member and director at Applecore, which provides architectural professional services) should hang her head in shame, The News went with a front page headline of 'HMO Anger' and twice published a piece summarising Cllr. Swann's rant.
Read our response
Renters Reform Bill - Almost There...
It appears that the Renters Reform Bill will come back to Parliament for its 3rd and final reading in the next few days. It would also appear that the various representations we have made directly and also through and in support of PropertyMark and the NRLA have been listened to with regard to student tenancies, licensing schemes and court reform.
Beware Fire Alarm/Detector Maintenance
Sadly, landlords are once again at the end of the chain and pick up the workload, costs and risks associated with something as simple as a ceiling mounted smoke detector.
TradePoint Offers For Members
In addition to your normal member discount, there are further discounts this month on landscaping, decor, kitchens and bathrooms. Read on for more detail and a reminder of how to get your card if you do not have one.
Portsmouth HMO Licensing Update
There has been much angst over the introduction of Licensing in Portsmouth, both Additional and the transition of Mandatory to the same process. Whilst we continue working to encourage PCC to improve their solution there are obvious restrictions on what we can or should publish, but a short update on the current situation does seem appropriate.
Landlord Insurance - Why?
We have talked about insurance many times, most recently in September last (Better, Best, Boswells - PDPLA News - Portsmouth & District Private Landlords Association) but an incident this month brought my objectives into clear focus.
If Only People Understood Section 21 Reforms
We publish here an exchange between Roger Bell the South Hampshire Chair of iHOWZ Landlords Association and someone called Jake responding on behalf of Secretary of State, Michael Gove
HEATIO Partnership To Deliver Low-Carbon Technologies Subscription
Heatio has partnered with E.ON and Energy Systems Catapult to provide its Energy-as-a-Service solution (EaaS).
As part of the Green Home Finance Accelerator (GHFA) announced last week, the initiative will eliminate upfront costs for consumers considering heat pumps, solar PV, or battery storage via a 20-year subscription service, with monthly payments expected to be around £150 per month. The solution will also integrate a bespoke E.ON Next energy tariff, further reducing home energy costs by up to £70 per month.
The Secret Of Property Investing
We all see professionals, experts, gurus and charlatans purporting to be able to help you succeed with property, but do any of them really know the answer or are they all just after your money? Seven years ago, I saw the perfect answer to how the property market works and what you need to do to profit from it. Here it is....
Have You Registered For Property Alerts
Since 2015 we have warned members 6 times about the risks of property fraud and the need to register their properties with the Land Registry so that they get alerts of any potentially fraudulent activity - but it still seems that some members have yet to register. It takes seconds, it gives you peace of mind and it could be the difference between losing a property or not. Do it today!
Portsmouth Hates Landlords
Portsmouth has been one of the worst places to operate as a private landlord for many years owing to the anti-landlord policies of Portsmouth City Council, but recent events have taken the problem to new levels - forcing many of the poorest tenants out of the city.
Gerrymandering? Probably not. But could it be? Yes, definitely.
Read our formal complaint to the council.
Licencing Angst
So many landlords see PCC as dark overlords who will hit them with massive fines if they so much as forget to check a fire alarm, they go out of their way to give PCC no cause to admonish them. And what is the result, the landlords in question experience stress and financial pain and PCC add to their incorrect statistics of how many rogues they have sorted and how many homes they have improved, when in reality all they have done is wasted the time of local people, pushed up rents and been a drain on the local economy