I need to move urgently / I cannot do references because (insert daft reason here) / I just need somebody to give me a fresh start / I have lived in lots of places in the last few years / I stopped paying my rent at the last place because (insert daft reason here) - If you hear any of these excuses, ever, alarm bells should ring.
If you want to know why, you obviously missed Alwin Oliver's presentation at our September meeting.
A report suggesting improvements to the Tenants Fees Act to make it easier for tenants with pets to find homes has been sent to the government (MHCLG) supported by a wide range of organisations including the PDPLA. Why is there a problem with this act?
- 1 in 5 landlords have stopped allowing pets since the introduction of the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
• 55% of landlords impose blanket No Pets clauses in rental contracts
• Only 7% of landlords actively market their properties as pet friendly
• Rescues seeing more pets surrendered because of rental issues
See the full report below...
Lots of offers for members this month in addition to the normal 10% discount. If you need a new card, click here.
Ahead of the governments planned white paper on how the Private Rental Sector (PRS) should operate and be regulated due to be published this autumn, the NRLA has worked with landlord groups around the country including the PDPLA to produce our own version of this document outlining longer term solutions to many of the problems in this sector.
Following on from last months news item (see it here) about the member who had been told to replace his triple glazing with single glazing as his property was in a conservation area, the Planning Inspector in Bristol has reviewed the case and sided with the council, so the landlord now has no choice but to remove his expensive windows and replace them in accordance with the stipulated (and in our view outdated) council instructions.
OK - north to Landport.... 😁
Lots of new roads added to the Digital Home coverage network this month as large parts of Landport come online. Read on for full details and a reminder of the deal they have for PDPLA members.
Portsmouth South Labour MP, Stephen Morgan recently visited PDPLA Vice Chair Alwin Oliver with Portsmouth Councils Labour leader, Councillor George Fielding to discuss the challenges landlords face providing homes for tenants who have suffered financially during the Covid crisis.
As a result, Stephen asked questions of the appropriate government departments and as you can see from the answers received – being an opposition MP must be hugely frustrating and also, unfortunately the Conservative government does not understand the challenges landlords face trying to help tenants to stay in their homes.
You know what it is like, you wait 15 years for a Local Plan then 3 come along at once. This month Emsworth, Havant and Portsmouth all made progress on their local plans.
Why is it important – in theory, all local planning decisions are driven by the local plan. If an area needs a new doctors surgery before proposed housing can be added, expect this to be costed into Section 106 arrangements for the developer as part of any planning approval. Same for new roads and infrastructure.
Want to build something different – check the local plan – if it is not already within the definition of what can go into that area, it will never get approved.
If proposed government changes happen, you will not need planning permission anymore – if you propose something which is inline with the Local Plan, approval is automatic – so these Local Plans and their content are really important.
This month sees Digital Home launch their new online portal, further improving support to local landlords and a whole new group of roads have been added to their coverage in Portsmouth (as well as Bournemouth and Southend).
Portsmouth's Conservation Area policy has been thrown into question since local landlord, Mike West, was told to replace his energy efficient triple glazing with old style sash windows. Parts of Campbell Road are included in one of Portsmouth's 30 conservation areas as councillors, back in the late 2010's, sought to retain its look and feel as a 'leafy Southsea suburb' (their description).
You can argue whether it ever was so but looking at the photo above – you will note that although the houses were built as pairs, no two pairs were alike and today, no pair is the same as its twin.Can you tell which of these properties won a Portsmouth Society commendation for the restoration work and which is the law-breaking triple glazed abomination?
Lots of offers this month - but note only available until the 19th. And if you need another card, click here.
Members are reminded that whether they employ an agent or not, under current legislation, it is the landlord who is responsible to ensure that all paperwork is in order. Yes, this is illogical – you employ a professional to handle the paperwork, as it is so hard to comply given the huge amount of landlord focussed legislation we have to live with, and when the professional screws up it is you who foots the bill.
A group of MPs has suggested the government consider a "proportional property tax" to replace the current council tax, in a bid to fund the growing cost of social care. Unfortunately, this proposed change will appeal to all concerned EXCEPT landlords – and we can all guess what that means….
One of the roles of the NRLA is to host meetings with representatives of all of the UK associations representing landlords, to ensure that their focus when talking to central government is correct and actions across the industry are coordinated. The team meet quarterly and the PDPLA are represented by its chair, Martin Silman. His notes on the meeting follow...
The Chancellor is making landlords the scapegoats for the COVID rent debt crisis as he turns his back on the support the sector needs, says organisations representing private sector landlords, including the PDPLA and the NRLA.
With interest rates continuing at 'all time low' levels - is now the time to worry about whether you have the right mortgage deal? We would say yes, looked for a low fixed rate deal now as all the indicators suggest rates will rise (and they have already in the US)
Since we announced the Digital Home broadband deal for local landlords, we have had many questions about coverage, so included below is a map of current coverage and plans. Also, if you have already taken advantage of the deal, don't forget to send an email with the property address to
Freelance workers have transformed the workforce, making it more flexible, accessible, and diverse. While some companies have embraced independent workers in place of the typical employer-employee model, others have yet to make the shift. As landlords, we are already heavily dependent on 'one man band' workers but in case you have not considered why, do read on to learn about the many ways that freelancers can benefit your business.
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a tariff charged by local councils which allows funds to be raised from new developments towards the cost of infrastructure to support development of the area. Havant has just announced its proposed new charges which are at least 50% higher for most developments.
Obviously as landlords, our primary role is to provide safe and secure homes for our tenants - you will want to turn a profit if at all possible, but in the eyes of the law any financial consideration is irrelevant. This focus was always there - government 'Housing Disrepair Guidance' has been available since 2001, but the recent 'Homes (Fit For Human Habitation)' laws have increased the number of organisations offering 'no win, no fee' legal representation so as landlords, you need to take extra care.
Looking back at planning applications over the past 3 months, there is a lot of building work planned or underway (over 700 individual developments so far this year) which is good for the regeneration of the city but as in previous years, it is piecemeal with no matching upgrade to infrastructure or services. There was a Portsmouth City Local Plan produced in 2006 which was due to be updated in 2011, but for a number of reasons this has yet to been done. You can argue that without a tranche of money from central government there is little point in having a grand vision that can never be implemented, but unless the transport and services needs are articulated, they will never be achieved. This all becomes more pertinent with forthcoming changes to planning rules that could well state that anyone can build anything without the need for planning permission as long as it is in line with the Local Plan.
Prompted by the unrepresentative lobby group, the East St. Thomas Residents Forum, PCC took enforcement action against the institutional investment company that owned 6 HMOs occupied by 7 students. PCC argued that they were operating without planning permission. The decision of the Appeal Judge went against PCC and could mean that many, many of their recent decisions need to be revisited.
Members will be aware of the deal we have agreed with Digital Home, providing 900Mbps broadband and Wi-Fi with specialist 'landlord support and billing' at prices considerably better than those available to retail customers.
Do remember, if you have properties currently with Virgin, that you are able to leave their contract early without penalties when they hit you with their annual price increase.
NOAH, the UKs animal health industry representative body, has launched a campaign 'Securing the Right to Rent with Pets: Making One Health Housing a Reality', to help improve access to pets for people living in rented or socially owned housing. This includes encouraging wider use of the Government's recommended Model Tenancy Agreement and introducing new pet-friendly policies to protect tenants and property owners to promote responsible pet ownership.
One of our members used our 'questions@' service to seek advice on insuring his leasehold flat in case, for example, there was a leak in the flat above.
Read on to see the advice given by Steve Cox of insurers Boswells...
It continues to amaze us when we see the vast gulf in the treatment of landlords between local authorities – where 13 sq m is enough in Southampton, expect to be asked for 25 sq m in Portsmouth. Leave rubbish out in Portsmouth get a £10,000 fine, want to be a rogue – go to Havant.
Normally our April issue contains an article that is perfectly credible but untrue. Our April Fool tradition goes back to at least 2010. However, as the last year has been unbelievable, it should come as no surprise that this 'April Fool' substitute is the reverse – it is totally incredible but true. Here it is: Anyone can create an HMO anywhere without worrying about planning permission, property standards, facilities or the need for a licence.
After the sad case of a landlord in Gosport who lost a great deal of money, we have asked local MP's to help us get the Universal Credit process improved.
PCC have a duty to operate a scheme to licence any property which is used as an HMO for 5 or more people, but they continue to add unnecessary and unrealistic requirements without any apparent justification, review, consultation or approval. Yes, this time we are talking about fire alarms AGAIN but that is not the only issue.
In 1989, inflation was running at 8-10% and was a concern to governments but it was not something central banks were interested in. Then the New Zealand government set an inflation target for its central bank, much to the horror of unions and businesses who feared it would kill jobs, and within 2 years inflation was down to 2%. The rest of the world soon followed. Now with New Zealand house prices rising at 19% last year, are they about to do the same for house prices?
At our January meeting, Jonathan McDermott of TPX told us of the updates to permitted development which would, in the example I gave then, allow a property owner to add 2 storeys in the middle of a block however daft and incongruous it may look. My example was the block in Arundel Street, Portsmouth which had one 'mid-terrace' shop/office available which would have met the criteria. That one has not come to planning yet but just across the road, the site of the old U Need Us shop is to get the same treatment, with a conversion to residential and 2 stories added – we will watch with interest to see its progress through the system.
After last months article about the University of Portsmouth request that we reduce student rents (see it here), there have been further exchanges between the 2 sides.
When buying white goods for your properties, do you struggle choosing between A** and A***? Well, as of 1st March 2021 it all changes and under new rules, nothing will be good enough to get an A!
That was the question asked by long term member, Mary Mortimer, this month. How would you answer it?
It is a widely held view that private landlords are responsible for most evictions, yet official statistics indicate this is not true. Action in other areas would have a greater impact on homelessness than penalising landlords and making it harder for them to repossess their property when tenants default on their obligations.
Unfortunately, we have seen another example this month of a potential tenant duped into parting with a considerable sum by a criminal impersonating a bone fide landlord. This particular example used NLA sourced paperwork and logo's to establish credibility and used the Covid-19 lockdown as an excuse to do everything via social media. Before you ask how people can be so gullible, have a look at some of the detail and see if you would have fallen for it.
Attendees at last weeks HMO Governance Board hosted by Portsmouth City Council have been asked to share an open letter with local landlords and agents asking them to reduce student rents as has been done in student halls.
Read on for details of their request, our response and some useful statistics collated by the NRLA
We have had complaints from members upset that they are being asked to test fire alarms during lockdown – one member who manages 50 properties was worried that he would be a 'super spreader' if he visited all of the houses to test the alarms as requested. When he queried this, it was suggested he phone each of the tenants and ask them to test the alarm while he listened on the phone.Apart from being a bizarre solution, how such a check would ensure that all alarms are working and audible throughout a property is unclear.
The good news is that PCC have now published guidance which hopefully allows a more common sense approach to be taken….. And also, they have finally come into line with other local authorities like Southampton and Bournemouth with an undertaking to "seek to ascertain that the tenant has already made the landlord aware of the hazard and given them an opportunity to rectify this, when taking complaints from tenants" which we have long argued for in preference to their normal practice which is to exclude the landlord and move straight to enforcement.
We also recommend you understand the policy on inspections and investigations during the Covid crisis as it is equally applicable to landlords and we recommend you adhere to it.
It will be several years before we can stand back and understand the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on student housing in the city, but in the short term we can use recent planning applications to identify some of the immediate effects.
We don't know what student numbers will be like going forward but we hear that the University have investigated 'worst case' scenarios where students do not return to face to face teaching until September next year – yes, 2022! So what is going on and what should you do if you have empty property?
We are hoping to have Jonathan McDermott from TPX at our next meeting but we are still working the details. Whether we manage to get him or not, we thought you would like to see his summary of the year, taken from his Facebook post...
Members will know that we have been campaigning for the past 8 years to convince Portsmouth City Council (PCC) to stop sharing HMO landlords private addresses and contact details with any one who asks. We have had some successes, but also recent setbacks – but the good news is that PCC finally seem to have got the message and are fulfilling their duty to protect our personal data.
PCC Quote: "disclosure would cause us to breach the First Principle of the Data Protection Act. On this basis, we are unable to disclose this information as part of your request" Thank You PCC!
In this guest blogpost, Charlie Jameson, a leaseholder affected, discusses the cladding crisis, and identifies a need to assess the costs/ benefits of a 'Fire Safety Remediation Plan.'
If you missed it, don't forget that B&Q Tradepoint are offering 20% off kitchens, bathrooms and some other items for members using their PDPLA Tradepoint cards.
Many local landlords are receiving letters from unknown businesses in direct contravention of GDPR regulations stating, "we got your details from the Portsmouth HMO register" even though the landlords no longer have Licensed properties and never gave PCC permission to share their data.
We have no evidence of any similar landlords locally, but recent cases nationally serve as a reminder that fire safety is not something any landlord should be casual about - it would be nice if the rules were clear and up to date but there is no excuse for ignorance or lax interpretation of those rules as one Luton landlord found after a tenant died in a fire in his HMO.
A member and owner of a shared (HMO) property in London Road, Portsmouth has lost an appeal against the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) decision to charge Council Tax separately on each room in the property.
After raising the issue of new insurance checks on flat roof surfaces back in August (see it here), we are pleased to say that, via our preferred broker Alan Boswell, we have convinced insurers to change their approach on this issue.
We recommend members check the wording on their renewal 'Schedule', especially if you have an Aviva 'property owners' policy.
HMRC have announced that Airbnb has agreed to share data about its hosts and their earnings. We see this as good news as the 'amateur' hosts have flooded the market with property at marginal prices, making it harder for professional landlords, who incur all the costs of running a business professionally as well as paying taxes on revenue or earnings, to compete.
It was no surprise when the Serviced Accommodation and Holiday Let sectors bombed during lockdown, but local landlords have been waiting with bated breath to see who suffered in the wider market - especially those of us who are student landlords.
Now we know the answer, it was the top end of the independent student halls market, with the Registry in St Michaels Rd and the old library in Elm Grove both filing for change of use from student halls to interim accommodation for the homeless.
It was with some incredulity that we heard that there had been 139 objections to the conversion of 2 derelict shops in Stamshaw to HMO's. We consider it hypocritical that the local authorities know they need shared housing in the city, the Local Plan talks about 'mixed and balanced' communities, Housing Options place formerly homeless tenants in them yet councillors continue to encourage the demonisation of HMO's by local residents and do nothing to explain the bigger picture or allay their fears.
This against the backdrop this week of a property in Cosham, much needed to house overseas nurses drafted in to cover staff shortages due to Covid, also sitting empty due to issues with the 'change of use' required before it can be used as shared accommodation.
