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
Sunday, November 25th, 2012 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Landlords and tenants need to be aware of the many legal provisions that govern residential service charges, since mistakes can prove costly. Although we have highlighted many of these pitfalls in the past, this article by Natasha Rees of Forsters LLP gives a very useful summary.
Read the full article here
Sunday, November 25th, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In an article in This is Money by Tina Walsh, a spokeswoman for the housing charity Shelter was quoted as saying that changes to the regulations surrounding tenancy deposit schemes mean that, from 6 April 2012 landlords have up to 30 days from the start of a tenancy to put the deposit into one of three official schemes and inform the tenants that they have done so. The penalty for failing to do this will vary from one to three times the value of the deposit. In this article Tina Walsh reports her problems when attempting to evict ‘tenants from hell’ having failed to follow the rules.
Friday, October 5th, 2012 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
In Ragge & Co’s Property Update, it is pointed out that, if the parties to a protected lease cannot agree the terms of the renewal, they will be decided by the court and the burden of persuading the court to change the terms of the existing tenancy rests on the party proposing the change. In addition, the High Court has held that a lease with an all-inclusive rent should be renewed on terms which provide for a separate variable service charge.
Read the full article here
Friday, October 5th, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In an article by Hip-Consultants one particular problem that can occur when the freehold of the block is owned by a management company (particularly one which is not owned by the tenants) is reviewed. If a significant number of tenants default on their service charge payments this can leave the management company unable to settle its debt and force it into administration or liquidation. This can be a major issue for other tenants in the block as it means that the building and grounds are unmanaged and worse, potentially uninsured. This can render all of the flats in the block unsaleable or at best less valuable.
Read the full article here
Friday, September 14th, 2012 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
KPMG has reported a case concerning services provided by a landlord and whether such services are subject to value added tax (VAT) In this case the taxpayer rented offices under a lease which provided for three “rents”, for occupying and insuring the building as well as providing certain services. The landlord did not “opt to tax” and thus was not charging VAT on any part of the rents, including the services. The taxpayer sought to reclaim VAT on the services on the basis that the services for which the “service charge” relates were taxable transactions. HM Revenue & Customs rejected this claim on the grounds that the letting of the property and the provision of the services constituted a single exempt supply. The case was referred The Court of Justice for the European Union for resolution.
Read the full article here
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Sales through the revamped Right to Buy scheme, launched in April, are likely to pick up speed, as it offers 2 million council tenants and 500,000 housing association tenants dramatically increased discounts when buying their home. Writing in 24housing magazine, Emma Duke, associate at Anthony Collins Solicitors, said that both councils and housing associations needed to ensure details on service charges were effectively communicated to avoid potential Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
Read the full article here
Sunday, July 15th, 2012 in Commercial, Landlord, News, Residential
Jon Dickins in his blog ‘Digging the Dirt’ reports that the Office of Fair Trading has launched a consultation on draft guidance to estate agents and property developers, which aims to help businesses handling sales of property and land in the UK to comply with the law on misleading marketing and unfair business practices.
Read the full article here
