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Parliament reconvened after the summer recess on Monday 1st March.. The Renters Rights Bill is not on the agenda for the first week
Coming up in the Commons 1-5 September – UK Parliament
The next stage of the Bill is a debate in the commons and in the Lords to discuss the amendments presented by each house, known as ping pong because the bill will go back and forward from the Commons to the Lords until all amendments have been agreed before the bill is approved and the Bill can go for Royal Assent which means that it is then law.
Long anticipated, once this Bill becomes an Act there remains the questions of what will happen when. Some items will literally change at that moment, the loss of section 21 and all tenancies becoming monthly rolling tenancies are expected to be dealt with in this way. Other items will need more preparation, and they will be introduced individually at the appropriate time, one of those items is expected to be the Landlords Register. This legislation contains many important and major changes, and we must all keep ourselves informed of the progress of the introduction of each item to ensure that we are not vulnerable to penalties for noncompliance and that we are aware of the impact on our business practice. It always shocks me when a landlord says that he wasn’t aware of deposit protection legislation which was introduced 20 years ago in the Housing Act 2004! Since running my Facebook group I have become aware that not only landlords but many agents do not understand the law and even where you use an agent to let and manage your properties you cannot devolve your legal responsibilities to that agent and anything he does or doesn’t do is done on your behalf therefore you must always be aware of what should be done and check that they are doing it. This is hugely important when it comes to documentation and written communication and more so if you should ever need to change the agent or take legal action against a tenant.
There has been a lot of speculation about this Bill and exactly how landlords will be affected, many landlords have made the major decisions to sell up or reduce their portfolio purely based on information that they have read on sources which are not credible, and which go for sensational headlines to get the clicks. If you have been waiting for the end product before making big decisions it’s important to read and understand the facts and also any other changes that are not part of the Renters Rights Bill but which will also impact our businesses for better or worse. My starting point is always –
People will always needs homes and many will need to rent, as long as I remain compliant and offer nicely maintained, safe homes in the right locations I will always have a choice of tenants.
I have hung on through a lot of legislation over the last 52 years by sticking to this and by making certain to understand the changes as they were made. I have made mistakes and these have been a big part of my education as a landlords
as Nelson Mandela said
“I never lose – I either win or I learn”
I’m going to share a list of important things that I have learned, both from my own mistakes and from those of others, because regardless of what the Renters Rights Bill, or any other legislation on the table at the moment, introduces these basic principles will hold good. I expect by the time you are reading this the RR bill may already have become an Act and you can check some of the items on the list against the important changes
- To quote a very knowledgeable landlord
“The best way to avoid having to evict a bad tenant is not to take one in the first place”
Better to have an empty property than to have bad tenants and if you haven’t got the funds to keep your property empty while you find the right tenant you need to check number 2. Gut feelings are not to be ignored but they need to be supported by evidence and that means thorough referencing, credit checks, bank account checks for previous regular rent payments, debt/credit card payments and lack of surplus funds each month. Employment status and, where practical, their current rentals to see how they live particularly if they want to bring a pet into your property.
If you are renting rooms in an HMO consider the other tenants and avoid clashing lifestyles and cultures
- Always have a contingency fund to cover emergencies, rent arrears, unexpected costs (like landlord licensing, evictions etc., ) Don’t pull money out of the income until you have built up that fund and don’t touch it until you need it for the purpose you are holding it. This is not a general maintenance fund for foreseeable expenses, you must have that too. This includes watching for changes in legislation which could mean that you need to spend on the property. A good example of this is the expected change in the minimum Energy Performance levels from an E to a C. Once the change is made we will not be allowed to let a property lower than the new limit, hopefully common sense will prevail and that will actually be a D not a C but we need to wait for the legislation change to come.
- Put EVERYTHING in writing, make sure that your contract allows you to communicate by email and text but do not use a text for important communications like giving notice of an inspection or contractors visit and do not pass on their contact details to a third party without their express permission, it is not their responsibility to organise a contractor its our job to find out what works for our tenants FIRST then book a contractor to fit in with them. It is not their responsibility to supervise a contractor, if we can’t trust the contractor to do the job as we want it done then we must go and supervise them ourselves as we must if the tenant gives permission for the contractor to visit but cannot be at home at the time. We must not expect them to lose time from work or alter their lifestyle, they are paying us, they are not our staff. The ONLY time that a tenant MUST give us access is for an inspection, for a health or safety inspection or an emergency, we must give a minimum of 24hrs written notice/email and then agree a date and time we have no natural right of entry and a tenant can change the locks if they believe that we might try to enter without their permission or give the keys to a contractor. We also have no right to take potential tenants or buyers in for viewings unless the tenant agrees and the law gives them the right to say no. It’s amazing how many landlords do not understand these legal requirements and the tenants “right to quiet enjoyment” doesn’t have to be mentioned in a tenancy agreement it is an implied term in all contracts and any clause which says otherwise is an unenforceable clause.
If you intend to carry out regular property inspections, as the law allows, its best practice to discuss this before the start of the tenancy and agree intervals and times to suit the tenant. This should not be intrusive, and we have no right to comment on their lifestyle unless there is a health or safety issue. A sink full of washing up is a lifestyle choice and will not impact on your property for example We are giving them the opportunity to point out any issues with the property before they become a big job and looking for any damage or deterioration which is not normal wear and tear and which we need to address The only time we have a right to comment on their lifestyle is when they are leaving the property and its not in an acceptable condition and at that point we need a check in and check out inventory signed by the tenant to show any chargeable times, taking into account the life expectancy of the item and the time that it has been their at that point. There is a good guide here
A guide on the life expectancy of rental property products
- Plan for the end at the beginning. The majority tenants are respectful and just want to live in peace in a nice safe home, the problem is that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between a genuine applicant and a tenant who is good at putting on an act for the viewing. None of us would knowingly take a nightmare tenant therefore we must assume that those of us who have, including me, have been fooled at the viewing and nothing in all our checks have shown a red flag (unless we didn’t check them out thoroughly). We need to remember that every time we relet a property and make sure that we put ourselves in a good position to deal with any issues which might arise including disagreements about reimbursement for damages, late rent etc. Landlords who tell me “I’ve never had a bad tenant” get a quick reply “then that bullet is still in the gun” If you’ve managed to avoid bad tenants don’t automatically assume that you are doing something right, I had been a landlord for almost 50 years before I got my nightmare tenant who smashed the house with a pipe bender (he was a plumber with a contract et.,) then set fire to it. Damage to the tune of almost £30,000 without lost rent which was covered by the insurance. He had ticked all the boxes but once I got the stomach to visit my property, I found all the bins full of alcohol bottles and tins, paraphernalia for unlawful drug use and I had suspected none of this
Don’t cut corners on the Inventory – its worthwhile paying for this to be done at move in and move out to give you the evidence you will need to get some of your costs back if there are damages, particularly if you are renting furnished. Make sure to get their signature to the incoming inventory, they may not agree to sign the outgoing inventory, but this is where a third party inventory clerk is you best friend. While on that subject has it occurred to you how you can prove a smell? You can’t without that third party to verify it and in my experience getting rid of smells is one of the most expensive problems at the end of a tenancy, decorating, new carpets, curtains, mattresses and in the extreme an ozone machine (this has saved me thousands)
Make sure that you can claim even with all the evidence we can only claim if there is sufficient deposit left after any rent arrears are taken, if we have a guarantor or if the person is working and we get a money claim/can put an attachment on their earnings.
- Landlords worry about all types of costs, fines, penalties etc., but so many leave themselves open to paying 300% of the deposit to the tenant because they did not protect their deposit as the law requires, as I said earlier this has been the case since 2004 and yet there are No win No Fee companies getting rich from the landlords (and agents) who get this wrong.
“Overview
Your landlord must put your deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme (TDP) if you rent your home on an assured shorthold tenancy that started after 6 April 2007. In England and Wales your deposit can be registered with:
If you do not rent your home on an assured shorthold tenancy, your landlord can accept valuable items (for example a car or watch) as a deposit instead of money. The items will not be protected by a scheme.
They make sure you’ll get your deposit back if you:
- meet the terms of your tenancy agreement
- do not damage the property
- pay your rent and bills
Your landlord or letting agent must put your deposit in the scheme within 30 days of getting it.
If you’re in Scotland or Northern Ireland
There are separate TDP schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Find out about:
At the end of your tenancy
Your landlord must return your deposit within 10 days of you both agreeing how much you’ll get back.
If you’re in a dispute with your landlord, then your deposit will be protected in the TDP scheme until the issue is sorted out.
Holding deposits
Your landlord does not have to protect a holding deposit (money you pay to ‘hold’ a property before an agreement is signed). Once you become a tenant, the holding deposit becomes a deposit, which they must protect.
Deposits made by a third party
Your landlord must use a TDP scheme even if your deposit is paid by someone else, such as a rent deposit scheme or your parents.
Information landlords must give tenants
Once your landlord has received your deposit, they have 30 days to tell you:
- the address of the rented property
- how much deposit you’ve paid
- how the deposit is protected
- the name and contact details of the tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme and its dispute resolution service
- their (or the letting agency’s) name and contact details
- the name and contact details of any third party that’s paid the deposit
- why they would keep some or all of the deposit
- how to apply to get the deposit back
- what to do if you cannot get hold of the landlord at the end of the tenancy
- what to do if there’s a dispute over the deposit”
Tenancy deposit protection: Overview – GOV.UK
- Treat your tenants with respect, even when they aren’t respectful to you. Carry out repairs in a timely manner and do not expect a tenant to pay rent when something that you supplied at the beginning of the tenancy no longer works, when they cannot use any part of the building, when there is major work being carried out in the property, when the local council have told you to do remedial works and this intrudes on the tenants lifestyle. If you are dealing with an insured risk, check to see whether there is cover for alternative accommodation even just overnight, this is easy to find these days with AirBnB etc., Don’t let your tenant be out of pocket because something you supplied let them down, a freezer stops working and food is ruined – provide a shopping voucher, a cooker stops working – they need an alternative for a while, a washing machine stops working – pay for the use of a laundrette. We can’t take the attitude that it wasn’t our fault, this isn’t about fault it’s about getting what they are paying for without more stress than necessary.
Tenant blaming is unprofessional and if damp and mould are reported it needs to be dealt with, rather than telling the tenant to stop drying washing investigate the cause and only when you are certain that it is being caused by lifestyle should you ask a tenant to change what they are doing. I wrote previously about Awaabs Law being applied to private landlords and when it is there will be very serious consequences for any of us who let a property where the cause of damp and mould has not been addressed.
