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……………
Read the full article here
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.
Read the full article here
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.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
It was reported in Inside Housing that rules relating to service charges were rewritten ahead of the publication of universal credit regulations this week, over fears that tenants and landlords would be unable to claim benefit for up to 13 charges. Draft regulations for the new universal credit, which replaces a host of income-related benefits from next October, were published in the summer listing just three categories of eligible charges. The new draft includes four categories of payments, including payments for the up-keep of communal areas, to maintain a good standard of accommodation, for communal services and for ‘accommodation-specific charges’. The DWP will publish guidance in the next few weeks setting out exactly what charges will be eligible.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
A question was raised in The Landlord Law Newsletter about the effect of a section 21 notice, where the tenants vacates prior to the termination date. Are the tenants required to inform the landlord that they are leaving the property? Strictly speaking tenants ought to give notice regarding the date they intend to vacate, but if the landlord actually wants them to leave, bearing in mind that the tenants are entitled to make a landlord pay to get a court order for eviction (which could take up to six months during which period tenants often stop paying rent), the landlord just ought to be grateful that they have gone. However, the landlord may be entitled to claim rent in lieu of notice, but it may be more trouble than it is worth to do this.
read the full article here
