Private sector landlords are urging support from MPs in a last stand to save the future of renting to students and young professionals.

Nurses, teachers and a generation of young workers could be hit by a government plan to prohibit areas of shared housing for groups of unrelated tenants.

The legislation comes into force on 6 April when new powers will allow planning legislation to be used to control the renting of shared properties to people who are not families or related tenants.

“Landlords throughout the UK need to make their voices heard – urgently,” says Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association – whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

It will be the biggest mass landlord lobby of local MPs ever organised – with some 40,000 landlords receiving an email to contact their MPs, as well as the government, and make their protest heard.

“The government’s change to planning Use Classes Orders,” says Alan Ward, ”is bad not only for landlords but for the whole private rented sector not to mention the local economies that have traditionally grown around existing areas of shared housing.

“After 6 April planning permission will be needed if a landlord wants to rent what has been a family house or flat to three or more unrelated people such as nurses, students, young professionals, immigrant workers, a family with a lodger and even the elderly. It could wreck the private rented sector.

“And all because the Secretary of State, John Denham, will not listen to the combined voices of landlords, tenants, students, letting agents, local retailer organisations and bodies like the RLA, British Property Federation and National Union of Students – who are all against this.

“Everyone against this sorry attempt to use planning laws for social engineering purposes – to dictate who is allowed to live where – should make their voice heard by asking their local MP to oppose this very damaging and impractical proposal.

“The whole issue – often referred to as ‘studentification’ was stated in the government’s own commissioned ‘Rugg Report’, 17 months ago, to be a minor issued not requiring legislation. But, for some reason, the government has over-ruled this independent report and thinks it knows better.”

• The Residential Landlords Association is a leading national organisation with members owning over 100,000 properties in the UK’s professional private rented sector. The range of members’ services – on www.rla.org.uk – includes legal advice, insurance, financial services, credit referencing and training.

Plans to make it illegal for rental properties that do not have loft and cavity insulation to come on the market have been dismissed as blatant electioneering.

Estate Agent Today – 8th March 2010

The ban suggested by the Government could come in as early as 2015. At the same time, EPCs would have to be shown on all letting adverts.

The plans are part of the Household Energy Management Strategy published last week by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. This sets out how homes will contribute towards a reduction in carbon use over the next decade.

Other proposals include a roll-out of ‘smart’ meters in every home, and RICS valuers having to take account of the energy efficiency of properties when making their valuations.

The document makes much of the fact that private rental stock is not nearly as energy efficient as social housing stock.

However, as the document itself says, this is because 40% of private rental stock is pre-1919, whereas social rental stock is much newer. Even so, private rental properties are acknowledged as being more energy-efficient that the average owner-occupied house.

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The first in a series of seminars on the Local Housing Allowance system given by Landlord Action, a company who specialise in tenant eviction, has proved a great success with a considerable number of delegates attending the event held at The Holiday Inn, London Kensington Forum on Friday 26th February.

The seminar, held in response to an increasing number of calls received by Landlord Action from frustrated landlords regarding issues with Local Housing Allowance tenants, was the first in a series offering advice on how to get housing benefit rent paid quicker, protocol for managing claims, the role of the letting agent and the latest updates on Local Housing Allowance.

Paul Shamplina, Director and co-founder of Landlord Action was delighted with the numbers, commenting, “Although primarily attended by letting and managing agents and Housing Trust representatives, there were also a percentage of private landlords. For a first event, and with the subject being so specific, we tried to strike a balance between being informative whilst not overloading the delegates with unnecessary information and, from feedback received so far, we achieved just that.”

Paul was joined by experts Alan Elborough, who has previously held a senior position in a London local housing authority, and Jim McLaughlin who has held a senior position within the housing sector, both currently with Settled Housing Solutions and who were on hand to answer questions.

Delegate Sailesh Shingadia, Procurement Manager, Commercial Services for Notting Hill Housing found the seminar both educational and instructive, “although we already work with the new Local Housing Allowance regime, there were certain parts of the Local Housing Allowance workings which I was not fully aware of. The content of the day, together with the interaction and question answering session, was excellent and I will definitely be looking for the rest of my team to attend this course in the near future.”

Victoria Brewerton-Owen from Belvoir Lettings in Northampton agrees, “Dealing with Local Authorities can be confusing and time consuming so it’s useful to have the rules and regulations in black and white. This seminar would be beneficial to any landlords who are unsure of the process and benefits to the system.”

Future seminars are planned for 14th May at Crowne Plaza, Manchester City Centre; 11th June at Crowne Plaza, Birmingham NEC and 2nd July at Holiday Inn, London Kensington Forum.

Further information can be found on www.landlordaction.co.uk/LHA or by telephoning Landlord Action on 020 8906 3838.

Landlord Action is a UK based tenant eviction trouble shooting agency, focused on helping landlords with bad tenants, problem tenants and tenant evictions.

Landlord Action was set up by landlords for landlords, offering Landlords fixed fees to evict bad tenants nationwide, with a free advice line. Landlord Action have successfully evicted 15,000 bad tenants since the company started in 1999.

Paul Shamplina is co founder and co director of Landlord Action and has more than 20 years experience in the legal field, originally working as a clerk, private investigator, debt collector and certified bailiff. He has appeared regularly on TV and radio and travels the country speaking, giving advice and presenting “How to avoid a bad tenant” seminars. He believes passionately in the rights of the landlord and is always available for comment on any landlord/tenant related matters.

Landlord Action website www.landlordaction.co.uk free advice line 0800 856 7878 to landlords

For many buyers contemplating a move and seeking reassurance, the tabloid headlines and conflicting research reports issued in February will have done nothing to steady nerves and provide a clear and concise view of the property market, according to the latest Monthly Market Review from property search specialists Garrington.

PropertyTalkLive.co.uk – Thursday 4 March 2010

Garrington said it had witnessed a widening gap last month between “on the ground” market activity and quantitative data issued in reports which analyse historical trends.

Latest market data issued by Nationwide’s House Price Index reports a monthly fall of 1% in February, bringing nine months of consecutive growth to an end.

This reported fall in values comes days after the news that Gross Mortgage Lending declined to an estimated £9.1billion in January, a 32% fall from £13.4billion in December and a 21% fall from £11.5billion in January 2009, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Garrington said it believed the fall could be explained by the spike in market activity in December, which in part was bolstered by purchasers wanting to complete their transactions before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday. A proportion of these transactions would have, under normal circumstances, rolled into January and Garrington said this factor, together with the adverse weather conditions, compounded the loss of momentum in the market in early 2010.

Despite this, the latest Land Registry data released in February (which covers all market transactions) reports that the annual house price movement continued to move in a positive direction standing annually at 5.2% during the reporting period up to the end of January.

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An ageing population will have a significant impact on UK residential property market, report shows
UK retirement property sector.

PropertyWire.co.uk, Thursday, 04 March 2010

An explosion of grey hair has significant implications for the future of retirement properties in the UK and the wider residential real estate market, it is claimed.

Retired people form the country’s fastest growing demographic group and older households will represent half of all household growth between now and 2026, according to the Retirement Housing Report 2010 from consultants Knight Frank.

It points out that it is important the development, construction and care industries recognise the trend as thinking and practice in the UK retirement sector has long lagged behind innovation in Australia, Scandinavia, the US and New Zealand.

‘Retirement villages have been popular for decades in these countries. However in the UK, there are still relatively few implying there are strong prospects for growth as the concept becomes better understood,’ said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank.

‘The growth in popularity of retirement villages stems, fairly obviously, from our increasingly ageing population and the growing assets its holds, but also from a growing tendency for older people to place a positive emphasis on the need for security, socialising opportunities and convenience. The need to release equity through a downsizing move may also impel a greater shift towards specialised retirement housing,’ he added.

In the UK, the majority of the over 65s, some 89%, live in mainstream housing. Just 6%, that is some 500,000 households, live in specialist retirement housing and 5%, 400,000, live in institutions for example residential care or nursing care accommodation.

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