Centre for Cities report highlights NALS Scheme to Regulate Agents

With the prediction of the continuation of high demand for rented homes and as many as 3.6 million tenants by 2021, National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has fully welcomed the findings of think-tank, Centre for Cities which recently launched its comprehensive report on “The Future of the Private Rented Sector” which highlighted the NALS accreditation scheme to regulate agents.

2 July 2008

The Lord Richard Best’s chapter entitled: “Time to Regulate”, the Vice-Chairman of The Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) highlighted the work of NALS, the approved and Government recognised accreditation scheme, originally set up by RICS, NAEA and ARLA together with the Empty Homes Agency.

Referring to NALS, Lord Best said “the National Approved Letting Scheme which accredits lettings and management agents and gives reassurance to landlords and tenants that they are in safe hands. Such accreditation provides the basis for a complaints and redress scheme by establishing the criteria against which standards of service can be judges.”

Caroline Pickering, Chair of The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) said: “With the number of accredited firms growing and with some 1600 lettings agents in the UK currently signed up voluntarily to the NALS scheme we are delighted to receive this recognition by Lord Best. NALS accreditation is imperative to the many hundreds of firms who use the NALS kite mark to demonstrate to consumers they meet an industry standard for customer service.”

Adding further value and weight to the accreditation, in January this year, consumers using NALS agents benefited from a partnership between the OEA and NALS allowing them easier access to independent redress to settle any disputes and seek early resolution to issues.

About NALS

NALS is backed by the Government and the professional bodies in the lettings sector. NALS offers a reliable benchmark for landlords and tenants to compare the standards of service they receive from residential letting agents. All accredited firms commit to providing clearly defined levels of customer service, have client money protection cover, maintain professional indemnity insurance and operate a customer complaints procedure. For more information visit www.nalscheme.co.uk

Top tax man reveals frustrations with the tax system as main reason he no longer gives tax advice

Mark Lee, a past Chairman of the ICAEW Tax Faculty has revealed that his frustrations with the tax system led him to move away from giving tax advice two years ago, despite having reached the top of his profession.

Wednesday, 02 July 2008

In an extended ‘Comment’ article in the current issue of Taxation magazine, Lee, who is a Fellow of both of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, explains that his frustrations were a direct consequence of three key developments in the tax system, some of which Lee felt were in danger of bringing tax law into disrepute.

“The ever increasing complexity of our tax system has caused inequalities and inconsistencies and this is not helped by the ‘doublespeak’ of politicians and civil servants with regards to our tax system. Combine this with the prospect of increased powers for HMRC without adequate safeguards for taxpayers and things become very worrying indeed” says Lee.

But despite his reservations about giving tax advice directly, Lee still retains a passion for supporting other accountancy professionals and last year, at the age of 50, he founded the UK’s first independent specialist tax advice community - the Tax Advice Network. In just over six months the Tax Advice Network has grown to over 1,000 accountants and other registered users, who regularly use the network to source quality and up to date tax advice from tax specialists across the country.

Taxation magazine editor Mike Truman commended Lee for his contribution by saying “Mark is probably one of the few people who can write about this from the inside, because he is no longer giving advice, yet is still closely involved with the tax scene.”

Continue reading Top tax man reveals frustrations with the tax system as main reason he no longer gives tax advice…

Rents Steady as Supply & Demand come into Balance

ARLA Members’ Survey Q2 2008

Marginal falls in rental returns for houses and flats are reported in the latest quarterly survey of ARLA’s member letting agents published today, June 9. This, ARLA believes, is due to the number of new developments coming on-stream. The Association also points out that this demolishes the myth that rent levels are soaring.

Demand for rental property still outstrips supply in some areas, with the proportion of letting agents reporting this imbalance at its highest in Greater London and the South East, followed by Prime Central London and the rest of the country. Overall, the proportion of agents reporting more tenants than there are properties available to rent remains at a historically high level of 39%. However, average weighted rents for houses are down by 7% and for flats by 9%.

Commented Ian Potter, Head of Operations for ARLA, “We are seeing corrections in individual locations throughout the country. The main cause of these is the developments of new blocks of two-bedroomed flats coming on-stream. In many places this has had a positive effect as it has allowed the rental market to provide stability in housing at a time of volatility in the sales market. It also demolishes the myth of soaring rent levels. As before in volatile times, the rental market is proving to be the white knight for housing as a whole.”

Average rents for a house range from £3,000 a month in London to £931 a month outside the South East. For flats, the rental difference is £2,000 a month in central London, £854 in the South East and £585 a month elsewhere.

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VAT Implications on Selling Commercial Property

Kingston Smith Property Alert

Law changes often cause problems, so if you are considering selling a commercial property that is subject to an option to tax, make certain you are aware of the new rules. You should be aware of a VAT law change which affects property from 1st June 2008.

If you are selling a commercial property that might be converted into residential use, the buyer can now serve you (the vendor) a form which removes your option to tax, which could cause you to repay input tax that you had reclaimed for up to ten years. This can also affect you as a vendor if there is a chain of buyers, where the ultimate acquirer plans to convert it.

It is inevitable with new law, especially in this area, that someone is going to get a nasty shock. An option to tax that unexpectedly gets disapplied can cause some difficult input tax recovery issues.

If your potential buyer serves you such a notice before you have fixed the price (such as the exchange of contracts), you can seek to adjust the price of your building to take into account the tax that you will now be required to repay to HMRC, or in extreme cases consider seeking a new buyer. Most importantly, you should seek good professional advice before making a decision.

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What’s all the fuss about Energy Performance Certificates?

Did you know that buildings produce nearly half of the UK’s carbon emissions? Each household in the UK creates around six tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. That’s six times the weight of the rubbish a household throws away in a year. It’s also double the carbon dioxide emissions that the average car produces in a year. The average household could save around 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by making their home energy efficient.

By Paul Robinson, CEO Ezylet.com - 25 June 2008

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) are being introduced to help improve the energy efficiency of buildings as part of a series of measures being introduced across Europe to reflect legislation which will help cut buildings’ carbon emissions and tackle climate change.
By October 2008 all buildings rented out will require one. The EPC gives home owners, tenants and buyers information on the energy efficiency of their property by providing ‘A’ to ‘G’ ratings for the building, with ‘A’ being the most energy efficient and ‘G’ being the least, with the average to date being ‘D/E’.

EPCs only apply to England and Wales (Northern Ireland and Scotland are producing their own regulations) and will be required by law.

Landlords will need to provide an EPC which will be valid for ten years, to prospective tenants, the first time they let or re-let a property after 1 October 2008 while letting agents will need to get EPCs for properties they are marketing to new tenants.

There is no need to obtain a certificate for existing tenants.

Continue reading What’s all the fuss about Energy Performance Certificates?…

Does Your Property Hold An EPC? It Needs To!

As of the 1st October 2008 ALL properties in the social and private rented sector in England and Wales will be legally required, to present an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to new tenants, warns the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS).

In a recent study, the Government discovered that domestic energy accounts for 27% of the UK’s ENTIRE carbon dioxide emissions and with the requirement set down by Article 7 of the Energy Performance for Buildings Directive (2002/91/EC) Energy Performance Certificates will be a mandatory requirement.

Environmental concern and the implementation of energy saving measures are fast-growing in importance, especially in the property sector. There are, however, a few simple, yet effective ways, Landlords can ensure their properties are energy efficient ahead of arranging an EPC. These range from correctly insulating properties; using cavity wall insulation and loft insulation, which is efficient and is a cost effective way of storing energy. Double glazing will also reduce noise pollution and lower overall heating costs, as will replacing a boiler of 15 years or older.

Continue reading Does Your Property Hold An EPC? It Needs To!…

REAL LETTINGS: Connecting Landlords And Tenants

Who…?
• Broadway is a London charity that provides services to over 2,800 people every year who are at risk of, or are experiencing, being homeless. Its aim is to ensure that every single person finds and keeps a home.

• Real Lettings is Broadway’s pioneering social enterprise. Set up in partnership with the Empty Homes Agency in 2006, it has received funding from The London Housing Foundation and the Transitional Spaces Project. Current supporters include: Hammersmith and Fulham, Lewisham, Southwark and Westminster Councils.

Why…?
• Aware of the growing demands made on social housing in the capital, Broadway saw that the Private Rented Sector (PRS) was the only viable option to re-house the people it helped.

• London councils no longer provide leasing services for landlords with one-bed and studio properties. This is due to pressures to achieve social housing targets. Their priority is to house families in larger 2-3 bed properties.

• Broadway has worked with homeless people across London since 1977 and has more than 25 years experience managing properties in the rental sector as well as a waiting list of ready tenants.

• Real Lettings is an innovative social enterprise, which uses Broadway’s existing skills to plug this gap in the market. Landlords with one-bed and studio properties can access Broadway’s property management experience through competitive management and leasing services. Their properties are then used to re-house single people that have experienced homelessness.

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‘Lettings Made Easy’

Although property sales have experienced a marked slow down in recent months the residential lettings market remains buoyant. With many estate agents and established letting agents exploiting this opportunity, an Irish-based software company is set to promote the latest version of its rental management software package, RentPro.

RentPro was developed by K-Point Internet Solutions, located in Warrenpoint, County Down, to streamline the many administrative tasks associated with the day-to-day running of a letting agency, and the application has evolved to reflect the changing needs of the market place. It is currently used by letting agents across the British Isles, cutting their management and reporting administration time from days to minutes.

K-Point recently hosted a seminar at the Canal Court Hotel Newry, County Down where they invited local estate and letting agents to a lunch time event to launch version 2 of RentPro, whose main focus has been making the application even easier to use. The seminar focused on the benefits and features of RentPro and members of the team were on hand to discuss individual needs. The event proved a success and a second seminar has been confirmed to be held at the Mercer Hotel, Dublin on the 2nd July, with further events planned throughout the British Isles.

The RentPro product development involved working closely with new and existing customers to determine where competing products have failed to deliver, as project leader Brian Murphy explains. “Our current RentPro users include local one-person ventures and multi-branch agencies in the Irish Republic and England, and we have gone to great lengths to ensure that the product caters for all their varying needs. Having continuous feedback from these clients during the development leaves us confident that our product is ahead of similar property management products in the UK and Irish markets.” Although primarily aimed at letting agents, a ‘lite’ version of RentPro is available for property investors who manage their own portfolios.

Continue reading ‘Lettings Made Easy’…

CARSBERG REVIEW REPORT – NALS IS THE SOLUTION FOR LETTINGS AND MANAGEMENT AGENTS IN THE PRS

The Carsberg Review final Report, led by Sir Bryan Carsberg, former Director of the Office of Fair Trading, has called for an approved code of standards for all letting agents. There is precisely such a scheme in existence – namely, The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS), which has been established since 1999.

Approved and funded by Government, NALS was set up by RICS, NAEA and ARLA together with the Empty Homes Agency as an entry level standard for all lettings and management agents operating in the private rented sector. It offers peace of mind to landlords and tenants who know that a firm bearing the NALS kite-mark is committed to providing clearly defined standards of customer service.

With the number of accredited firms growing and with some 1600 lettings agents in the UK currently signed up voluntarily, NALS provides the consumer with the security Sir Bryan is calling for.

As an open access scheme it is there to cover all letting agents and enabling those without RICS/NAEA/ARLA qualifications to meet an industry standard for customer service. It has a clearly defined code of standards and processes. And, with the protection of tenants and landlords very much at the heart of its agenda, these standards are underpinned by independent redress in the form of adjudication on complaints against NALS members by The Ombudsman for Estate Agents, whose remit also covers lettings and whose residential Code has OFT approval. In addition all NALS firms are required to belong to a Client Money Protection Scheme ensuring that all client monies are protected.

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Resurgence of fixed-rate loans in April

Fixed-rate loans became more popular in April suggesting that borrowers are looking for security over future mortgage payments, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The proportion of borrowers taking out fixed-rate products increased to 59% in April, from 54% in March. This is the largest proportion since December last year.

Council of Mortgage Leanders - Press Release - 12 June 08

There are clear signs of lenders tightening lending criteria in the face of ongoing funding constraints and a softer house price outlook. The average first-time buyer put down a deposit of 13% in April, which is the highest level in over 3 years. First-time buyers typically took out loans for 3.3 times their income, down from 3.35 in March. The average home mover loan was 2.96 times their income, down from 3 in March.

There was a monthly increase in lending volumes in April, although activity remains weaker than a year ago. Gross lending increased by 8% in April to £26.1 billion, from £24.1 billion in March, after two consecutive months of decline. This was 5% down from April 2007, but this annual rate of decline was lower than in recent months; gross lending in March 2008 was 24% lower than March 2007.

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