Rogue landlords are never too far from the headlines. Despite being faced with the harsh penalties if they flout the law, all too often greedy landlords put their bottom line before the needs of their tenants.

Serious Safety Breaches
An Edgbaston Landlord is facing 19 months in prison as a result of a serious catalogue of safety breaches. The four-storey property had two faulty fire alarms, a blocked fire exit, a damaged fire door and incorrectly fitted emergency lighting.

Despite being warned by Birmingham Fire Brigade about fire safety hazards in his property, Cyrus Bassiri was obstructive and aggressive. The court heard how Bassiri tried to threaten the firefighters, who were only doing their job.

“You have been greedy, you have been cynical and you have been exploitative of the occupants of this property in your control,” said Judge Mary Stacey.

“Having failed to address the matters raised by the fire brigade you responded to their attempts to get you to comply with your legal obligations by being aggressive, by bullying behaviour, by threatening to take them to court and expose them to the press.”

Previous Warnings Ignored
Bassiri had previously been warned about safety breaches as early as 2010. New problems were identified in 2013, following a tip-off from a member of the public. Instead of sorting the problems out, conditions at the property further deteriorated, as Bassiri was more concerned about making a profit than spending money on the property.

The message from Birmingham Crown Court is that rogue landlords won’t get away with it – despite what they might think.

Research carried out by the National Landlords Association has revealed that 19% of landlords in London plan to sell their properties in the near future. When compared to the 4% figure from the previous survey, this represents a significant rise in landlords looking to leave the private rental sector.

Changes to Landlord Tax
The NLA and other landlord agencies believe that recent changes made by the Chancellor in last summer’s budget are to blame. New restrictions to mortgage interest rate relief will lead to higher tax bills for many landlords because tax will be calculated on rental income rather than profit. An increase in stamp duty land tax is also pushing many landlords to sell up to avoid being slammed with huge stamp duty bills.

Turnover Tax
Richard Lambert, CEO of the NLA, says:

“Local property markets vary greatly across the United Kingdom, but we are seeing a loss of confidence across the board as many landlords realise they won’t be able to remain in the market.

“If landlords follow through with their intentions over the coming months this could lead to a massive sale of property, as we have previously warned. However, this may not be a straightforward process, especially for those with stock in low demand areas.

“We urge those considering selling up to think about when they will need to do so, and to plan ahead now in order to minimise the risk of losing money as a result of a failure to sell”.

With the average rent in London now more than £1,500 a month, most people living and working in the capital can’t afford to do much apart from pay the rent and bills. It’s an impossible situation for younger people on lower income – they want to have a life and save for the future, but a lack of disposable income makes this task impossible. One young man has found a clever solution to the problem, but as he freely admits, his lifestyle choice is not for everyone.

Life in a Van
Alex Hill, a 24 year old IT worker, is saving hundreds of pounds a month living in his van. He has kitted it out with a sleeping compartment, comfortable flooring and extra insulation. He also has a solar powered generator so he can run a heater and have light.

Alex is free to move around London to be near his friends and he doesn’t have to worry about rising rent costs. When he needs a shower, he has one at work, and the only disadvantage is that he has to be careful not to have a drink after 7pm because he doesn’t have access to a toilet.

It’s Legal!
Alex says it was never his intention to live in the van, but he gave up his flat to go to Europe for the summer and then never bothered looking for another one. It’s perfectly legal to live in a van and parking isn’t an issue in the areas where he stays.

Would you do this? Let us know in the comments!

Two members of the House of Lords, who have been trying to postpone the national rollout of the government’s Right to Rent scheme, have failed in their attempt.

Excessive Administration
Baroness Hamwee was concerned about the excessive administration burden faced by landlords. She pointed out that the government had pledged not to introduce too much red tape, but despite their promises, landlords are being forced to wear the hat of an immigration agent – and if they get it wrong, they face civil penalties and criminal sanctions.

As the scheme stands, landlords must check the immigration status of all adult tenants, and if they don’t, they face fines, as per the Immigration Act 2014. However, the new Immigration Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, will impose criminal sanctions on landlords who fail to make appropriate checks.

As Baroness Hamwee points out:

“Landlords have to make reasonable inquiries as to the immigration status of all the occupants before letting a property. Well, it is not actually that easy. I have been through the material on the Home Office website. The user guide is 39 pages long and there are 12 hyperlinks – there may be more, I may have miscounted – plus a code of practice, plus a short guide. There are 25 types of document which may show immigration status, more if there has been a name change.”

Scheme is Confusing
The whole system is confusing to landlords and tenants, which is causing honest tenants to be discriminated against and forcing desperate tenants into the arms of unscrupulous landlords.

Ryanair is not the world’s most popular airline, but news that it has won a recent landmark ruling is very good news for landlords. The airline went to court to appeal against fees levied against it by the Home Office for allowing illegal immigrants into the UK via its flights. The judge’s ruling found in Ryanair’s favour on the basis that the airline’s staff could not be expected to spot cleverly forged passports when even experienced immigration staff had a problem.

In the ruling, the judge said that the regime whereby airline staff have to check passports “offends the basic concepts of justice and indeed rule of law”. Crucially, this could help landlords in the ‘Right to Rent’ debacle.

Right to Rent
Given that landlords are now being forced under threat of fines to check tenants’ identity documents, the same principle could apply. If airline staff cannot spot forgeries, why are landlords expected to do so?

Cast Iron Defence
This raises the prospect that if a landlord is caught out by a cleverly forged passport of a tenant, who subsequently turns out to be an illegal immigrant, he will have a great defence against any action the Home Office chooses to take against him.

“In light of this case and to save the Government money from losing similar actions brought by landlords, we call on the Government to provide better information to landlords about document forgeries and offer more clarity as to the legal responsibility of landlords duped by forged identify documents,” says the RLA.

Four women lost up to £900 each after they saw an ad for a flat to rent above an empty Chinese takeaway in Southsea. The bogus landlord asked each of them for a deposit and arranged a date for them to move in. Each woman was given a different name by the man purporting to be the landlord. When they eventually moved in with all their belongings, the real landlord showed up and demanded to know what they were doing in his flat.

Fake Landlord Disappears
It soon transpired that the four women had been conned by an opportunistic workman who had been given a key to the premises in order to carry out repairs. He has since done a disappearing act. The women were all given their marching orders, with one of them forced to move in with friends because she had nowhere else to go.

Not a Home for Life
Another of the women didn’t even have friends to turn to, so she refused to move out and is now waiting for the real landlord to evict her.

‘I was homeless and on the streets and my family gave me £900 for the deposit, she told a local newspaper.

‘This was the chance of a home for me. I thought this was going to be the place I would live for the rest of my life. But the real landlord came in and said “What the hell are you doing in my flat?”. I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I have nowhere else to go.”