May Newsletter
Two main themes this month: ‘Managing your investment’ and ‘Meeting Local Housing Needs’
On the investment topic, we have articles on tax, section 21 withdrawal and its implications, pensions and our education sessions – places are going fast so do book soon or risk missing out.
Meeting local housing needs is a much more complex topic – the All Party Parliamentary Group on Healthy Homes is making good progress and Portsmouth are developing a strategy to reduce homelessness, please let us know your thoughts on both these items. Additionally, we have updates on the appeals that local landlords have won against both Portsmouth Housing Standards and also, Portsmouth Planning Committee. Our next wave of appeals are next week in Havant – they are public meetings but if you wish to attend (as you may have properties that are currently ‘on hold’ and may need to appeal in future), do let us know as we will need to ensure the court has sufficient space for everyone.
And if you don’t usually read Charlotte’s Blog, we do urge you to do so this month – it appears that HMO’s are being used as micro-hotels across the city and we encourage any members who may be tempted to read Charlotte’s comments and ensure that they only go this route if they can tick all the necessary legal boxes.
Finally: Do you have an ex-local authority property? If you do, could you check the rateable value and let us know please. Rateable values were set by local authorities in 1990-91 and are unchanged since and whilst the banding, which determines the amount of Council Tax paid seems correct, we have examples where the ‘rateable value’ is much higher than comparable properties elsewhere in the city. This is a concern as it means that water and sewerage bills for those living in LHA properties are much higher than they probably should be and this will have a big impact on those who can least afford it. If you can help us with the appropriate evidence, if there is an issue, we can take this up with the VOA and hopefully, reduce the bills for hundreds of those least able to afford them across the city.