All lettings agents will soon be required by law to sign up to an approved Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme or face a fine. Almost 9 million households in England’s private rented and leasehold sectors will benefit from stronger protections against rogue letting and managing agents thanks to new government proposals announced . A new […]
Foxtons Ordered to Pay £18,000.00 in the case of London Borough of Camden v Foxtons Ltd [2017] UKUT 349 (AAC) This was the first appeal in this jurisdiction to come before an Upper Tribunal and the crux of the appeal brought by the London Borough of Camden was whether the revised description of Foxtons fees […]
What is Universal Credit? Universal Credit is a monthly payment for people who are either unemployed, or working but on a low income. It will eventually replace all of the following benefits and tax credits: • Income Support • Child Tax Credit • Housing Benefit • Working Tax Credit • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance • Income-related Employment […]
The draft bill on banning agency fees paid by tenants was published last week. The Draft Tenant Fees Bill has not been put before parliament yet thus is yet to be scrutinised by Parliament; changes are likely to occur to the draft bill before enforcement of the new law which is to be cited as the […]
One of the frequently asked question is; my tenants have rent arrears what can I do? The answer to this question is based on the an assumption the property is a residential property and the tenancy in place is an assured shorthold tenancy. If the rent arrears are more than 2 months or if the […]
The local authority Newham Council in London is to launch the UK’s first letting agents’ rating scheme which will publicly name and shame bad agents. Newham Council’s declared aim is to protect residents and landlords from rogue agents. We work with many lettings agents who are reputable companies, we have however had an increase […]
The obligation imposed on landlords to establish that tenants they let to property to have the right to rent under the Immigration Act 2014 is said to be fuelling the black market for false identification recent research has shown. A new BBC investigation has found that many letting agents and landlords are unable to identify […]
Yeomans v Newell, Canterbury court 25 May 2016 This case concerned whether a tenancy deposit was considered as having been returned to the tenant by the landlord when the tenant received a cheque, or whether the tenant would be considered as having received the cheque upon cashing the cheque. The reason the landlord was seeking […]
There is a new protocol that creditors must now follow when pursuing payment of a debt from an individual (including sole traders). This new protocol applies to a creditor that is a business (including sole traders and public bodies) and comes into force on 1 October 2017. For those creditors who may not already know, […]
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 (the Act) introduced a power for the First-tier tribunal to serve a banning order on a landlord or property agent. The purpose of the consultation paper is to invite views and comments on which offences should constitute banning order offences’. A local authority can apply to a First-tier Tribunal for […]