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.”

Airbnb is a popular short-term rental portal. Owners and landlords can advertise their properties on the site where people looking for a place to stay for one night or more will see the ad and (hopefully) make a booking. In busy tourist areas it is a useful way of making money on the side if you have a spare room or a vacant home for a few weeks, but there are a lot of landlords who use the site to let multiple properties out on a short-term basis.

HMRC on the Warpath
Accountants are now warning landlords that HMRC are about to target anyone making extra money from letting out properties via Airbnb. Any money earned from property is classed as income and must therefore be declared to the tax man. If you are letting out properties via Airbnb, you run the risk of a fine if you don’t declare this income.

“HMRC are under tremendous pressure from the government to increase the tax revenues collected and if they believe that you are deliberately withholding information about a source of income they will look to penalise you,” says Chas Roy-Chowdhury from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Taxable Income from Property
If the rent you receive is a secondary income, you will probably have tax to pay on it, but if you are not sure whether it is taxable or how to go about declaring it to HMRC, it is a good idea to consult with a qualified accountant.

Subletting a property without permission from the landlord is forbidden. Most landlords include a clause in the tenancy agreement to discourage a tenant from doing this, but it doesn’t always stop the practice from happening, particularly in areas of high demand. In the UK subletting a property can cause all kinds of problems, not least property damage, but in the U.S., subletting is often illegal.

A New York City landlord is suing his tenant after she sublet his apartment without permission and he was fined $61,250 by building inspectors for turning the unit into an illegal hotel.

Landlord Liable for fines
According to local law, the landlord is strictly liable even though the tenant has caused the violation and the landlord was unaware of the problem. In his defence, the landlord says he had no idea the tenant was advertising the unit on Airbnb and because the apartment building didn’t have a doorman, it was difficult to monitor who was going in and out of the unit.

Checks Carried out by Building Inspectors
Short-term renters were found in the apartment numerous times when checks were carried out by city inspectors. The tenant claimed they were friends and family, but at least one group of five said they had found the rental on Airbnb.

The landlord is hoping to claim back $300k to cover his fines and legal fees. He also wants a court order in place to stop the tenant renting out the apartment again.

Thames Valley Police are urging landlords to help them tackle the issue of modern slavery. They estimate that there are around 13,000 victims scattered across the UK and very often hidden in plain sight. Anyone trafficked into slavery in the UK has to live somewhere, so landlords and letting agents are in a prime position to be able to spot the signs.

“We know victims of modern slavery are often forced to live in accommodation with others – frequently in large groups which causes overcrowding,” says Victoria Butler from Thames Valley Police Modern Slavery intelligence unit.

Signs of Modern Slavery
• Frightened and withdrawn occupants who show signs of physical abuse
• The occupants of a property are not those who signed the tenancy agreement
• Occupants of the property don’t have identification documents or a passport

Modern slaves tend to be more prevalent within minority communities, but they may also be classed as vulnerable adults or people living on the fringes of society. Children or adults may be trafficked into domestic servitude, sexually exploited, or forced to work for very little money. They will usually have very few personal effects, be unable to travel freely, and be in a poor physical condition.

Contact the Police
Victoria Butler from Thames Valley Police says: “I would ask any landlord or letting agent to ensure they know exactly who is renting their premises. If they have any concerns about the welfare of those living and working there, or suspicions about the financial arrangements, they should contact police.”

A survey carried out by leading insurance provider has revealed that 43% of tenants would be willing to pay more rent if their landlord gave the green light to more personal decorative schemes. On average, tenants said they would pay an extra £149 a year, which equates to £530 million in extra revenue for the private rental sector.

Keeping it Neutral
Currently, only 2% of tenants are allowed to decorate their property how they like, but with so many living in rental accommodation for more than three years, it is perfectly understandable that they want to be able to personalise their home. In many cases, landlords opt for neutral colours when decorating buy to let properties, so tenants have to settle for boring magnolia and cream.

What Else Can’t Tenants Do?
There is a long list of other things landlords stipulate tenants can’t do, including hanging TVs on the wall, fixing pictures and mirrors using screws, and using blue-tack to stick posters up. Interestingly, although only 28% of tenants ask their landlord if they can redecorate, 76% of landlords agree they can, even when it is explicitly forbidden in the tenancy agreement.

“Landlords who allow tenants to personalise their property could be favoured over those who don’t and may be able to command a higher rental price,” says David Hadden from Endsleigh.

“If tenants feel at home in their property they may also have longer tenancies.”

So, would you let your tenants decorate if they were happy to pay extra rent for the privilege?

Police in Yeovil, Somerset, have raided a series of private rental properties believed to have been used as brothels. So far so good, but one surprising outcome of the raid is that the police apparently think landlords are responsible for what tenants get up to inside their rental homes.

Police Raids on Landlord Properties
Following the raids, which took place on November 2nd and included a full contingent of police riot vehicles, members of the local fire and rescue, environmental health officers, and numerous bodies on the ground, a spokesperson from Avon and Somerset Constabulary released a statement to the local media:

Landlords Responsible for Their Premises
“Landlords need to take a degree of responsibility for insuring that their premises are safe. They’ve got to make sure that their premises are up to a certain standard.

“This means that all appropriate taxes are being paid by tenants. It also means ensuring their premises are being used for the reasons they’re being rented out for. If it’s a domestic property it shouldn’t be used for a business. Landlords need to make sure whatever is happening is legal.

“We’re taking an approach to say that landlords need to take a degree of responsibility for what is happening. This multi-agency response came after events last month. We used those events to gather intelligence, to check other properties and to check they are being used legally.”

So if that statement is taken at face value, landlords are now expected, amongst other things, to check whether their tenants are paying their taxes?