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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." 

 Leasing properties to councils, Serco, or other social housing providers is becoming an increasingly attractive option for landlords. These arrangements offer the promise of long-term contracts, guaranteed rental income, and reduced vacancy risks. However, landlords must approach such agreements with a clear understanding of the opportunities and risks involved, particularly regarding contracts, tenant obligations, and financing.

 iHowz Landlord Association submit this paper with their views on the proposed Renters Right Bill

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..  

The buy to let market witnessed significant developments throughout 2024, marked by fluctuating mortgage rates and upcoming regulatory changes.

As we start 2025, the landscape continues evolving, presenting both challenges and opportunities for property investors. Here, we look back at last year and share some thoughts on what we can expect from the buy to let market this year. 

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.

Given the surprise Stamp Duty announcement in November's budget, we're looking at how you can mitigate the new higher charge and how your landlord peers have reacted.  

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)

Carianne Wells of Applecore PMD, has 2 observations relevant to landlords who may be considering selling their HMOs in the future or developing or enlarging them.  She says, "As the Local Plan moves towards implementation, which is looking at potentially being towards the latter part of next year. It could be sooner, but knowing planning,  nothing moves very quickly. I wanted to make you aware of the 2 biggest changes that I foresee with HMO Conversions"

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.  

A high-profile licensing enforcement case relating to a property in Manners Road, Portsmouth, has garnered significant local and national attention. The case involved a £7,500 fine issued by Portsmouth City Council to a landlord under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme. The landlord appealed to the First-tier Tribunal, whose detailed findings offer crucial lessons for landlords, particularly those engaging in rent-to-rent agreements.

This article breaks down the case, key tribunal findings, and takeaways for landlords to help avoid similar pitfalls.

Members have increasingly been asking about alternatives to tenancies, ie licences and holiday letting agreements. Demands for double council tax (i.e. on second homes) are also raising questions. There are a few simple rules which will help you define  which category your property falls into.

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) 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. 

Gavin Richardson, Managing Director at Mortgage Finance Brokers (MFB), runs through the key announcements from the Budget and discusses how they will impact your property investments.

On Wednesday, 30^th, October 30th, Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget Statement, the biggest tax-raising budget since 1993.

The key change that property investors will be talking about is the surprise increase to the Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge. 

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.

We have supported the Moving On Project in the past and they are asking for furniture donations to help support vulnerable people who have managed to secure a property. - read on for details

  ..and how attempts to do this naturally increase PRS profits.

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.

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.

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…  

Labour promised change - and the proposed Renters Rights bill will certainly change the private rental sector.

In 1989, the 'Buy to Let' market was created with the introduction of the AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) which gave mortgage companies the confidence to lend as possession could be easily regained and properties valued and sold empty. This was driven by the need to create a private rental sector to balance the falling investment in social housing alongside loss of stock.

The 2025 Renters, Rights Bill will have a similar and equally drastic impact as it seeks to swing the balance back toward the pre-1989 era where a rented property was a tenant's home for as long as the tenant wanted it to be. As a landlord, you will have to adapt or, if you choose not to – you need to sell before the Bill becomes law next summer.

Sarah Goodwin, property professional and PDPLA committee member has been through the small print of the bill and explains what it all means… 

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).

 Labour plans to better protect tenants with its new Renters' Rights Bill, which includes key provisions like abolishing Section 21 evictions and extending the Decent Homes Standard to the PRS. A summary from Jeni at MFB..

We do love an abbreviation in the property world don't we, the most common ones I see on Socials are BRR, ROI, BMV and so on. Cool if you know what they mean, right? But what is the HHSRS? It's something I very rarely see mentioned on socials yet if you own or manage a licensable House in Multiple Occupation (that's an HMO of course), it is highly likely that the HMO has been subject to an HHSRS inspection at some point (or will be), and it's really important that anyone letting ANY type of property in the UK and Wales is aware of the 'system' and its purpose.

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. 

From time to time we are approached by the housing options team in many of our local authoritys, charities, parole groups and others seeking to house applicants who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Each approach varies, but the typical story will be that you are trying to build links with private landlords who are willing to consider referrals, from your charity or service. Normally from either single applicants or families struggling to find housing in the private rental sector (but seldom couples, by the way).  As we see this situation so often - we thought it appropriate to lay out some guidance for all parties.

Given that such tenants are 30x more likely to default, we argue for mandatory rent guarantee insurance paid for the duration of the tenancy by the local authority or introducing agency.

A national survey has placed Portsmouth as the 7^th 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.

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.  

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).

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...

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.  

Jeni Browne of MFB (Mortgage Finance Brokers) has agreed to update us on the world of mortgages each month and this month, she starts with the question everyone seems to want to know the answer to – when will rates come down?

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.  

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..

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.

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.  

 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.

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. 

Do you have an unheated toilet in one of your houses? Beware as in some Licensing inspections, PCC are asking landlords to add some form of heating because of the 'excess cold hazard' in the smallest room.    (This in a 2-storey, 5-bed HMOs that have the benefit of mains gas central heating, double glazing, and other energy efficiency attributes providing an above average EPC score)

The story of the negative impact of Portsmouth City Council's efforts to "improve" housing standards for a number of poor souls it might be assumed were already at the bottom of the heap in terms of both social support and housing...  

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. 

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. 

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  

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.

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.  

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.

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.  

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.

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