Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 in News, Residential
Alex Wellman of Inside Housing reports that Westminster Council is to give housing priority to people who have been in employment for more than two years, as it wants to reward those actively seeking work while at the same time discouraging a ‘benefits culture’. Currently residents are given priority according to need including factors such as homelessness, medical needs and young children. People on temporary contracts will have to prove they have been employed continuously for the same time with no more than one month’s gap between contracts. People who have been seeking work for the same period of time will also be eligible for extra points, if they have been engaged with the council’s homelessness employment learning project.
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Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Russell-Cooke has highlighted a recent court case that could cause turmoil for those who manage residential service charge property
It is well known that landlords of residential properties are required to consult with lessees prior to committing to works where expenditure would result in any lessee paying more than £250 and the common understanding was that low cost, low key works did not require prior consultation. In an attempt to avoid what was sometimes perceived as being the tiresome, time consuming and costly exercise of consulting, landlords would sometimes split the cost into separate projects, each of which would be low enough not to trigger the consultation requirements. However, in the case of Phillips v Francis, it was decided that works should not be split, but treated collectively over the service charge year. However the small print of the decision needs to be examined……………
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Wednesday, February 13th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
The recent Court of Appeal case of Campbell v Daejan Properties Limited [2012] EWCA Civ 1503 has served as an important reminder to landlords that there is not a presumption that they should receive full recovery of their maintenance and repair costs from a tenant through the service charge.
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Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
A recent article by Sophie Wilkinson and Nathan Rees of Shoosmiths reports on The Green Deal, which is a government-backed funding mechanism for making energy efficiency improvements to property. For finance under the scheme to be available, energy efficiency improvements need to pay for themselves through resulting savings on gas and electricity bills. Both landlords and tenants can take out Green Deal finance. Landlords may benefit from improved value and marketability (from the perception that the property is more energy efficient), whilst tenants should benefit from lower bills. However, there are a number of issues which landlords/investors, in particular, will need to consider.
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