Lettings agents who took rent for properties that were never in fact available have been given suspended sentences for money laundering. The agents at Oliver Knights, an online property lettings business, pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering, having knowingly allowed their bank accounts to be used to launder the proceeds of multiple letting frauds …
On 25 October sections 122 and 123 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 came into force. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Commencement No. 11) Regulations 2019 bring into force s.122 and s.123 of the 2016 Act. These provisions do not bring any electrical safety standards into force at present but do permit the …
Many letting agents will be familiar with the Competition & Markets Authority’s (CMA) guidance for lettings professionals on consumer protection law. This post will concentrate on section 5 of the guide, Marketing property: advertising and providing information to tenants and the recent update on page 49. Although the guidance has been around since 2014 the …
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has published a set of interactive resources to help local authorities with enforcement action against rogue landlords and lettings agents. The 2 resources, an interactive learning module and knowledge bank of questions and answers are designed to complement the MHCLG guidance on tackling rogue landlords. Our …
In our earlier post this morning we incorrectly stated that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published guidance for lettings professionals on complying with consumer protection laws and laws about dealing with other businesses. We should have stated that in fact the CMA has updated its guidance despite it still being dated 2014 on the …
Guidance for Lettings Professionals – CORRECTION Read More »
The Competition and Markets Authority has updated its guidance for lettings professional on complying with consumer protection laws and laws about dealing with other businesses, in the context of letting privately owned residential properties. On 3 October a clarification was added to page 49 of the guidance, and to the details section on the page. This …
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched a 12-week consultation on proposals which it hopes will improve support for anyone facing eviction or possession proceedings. The Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS) already offers free ‘on the day’ legal advice to anyone facing possession proceedings, regardless of their circumstances. The scheme includes face to face …
On 16 August 2019 the First Tier Tribunal issued a landlord with a 5-year banning order. There was a long interaction between the landlord and local authority who applied for both a banning order and rent repayment order. For the purposes of this post we will concentrate on the banning order. The landlord had been …
Brent and Harrow Trading Standards have carried out checks on agent’s websites to ensure that they are complying with the Tenant Fees Act and other relevant legislation applicable in the Private rented sector. Having investigated 67 letting agent’s websites in both Brent and Harrow, Trading Standards officers have found that just 14 appear to be …
In a previous post we discussed the case of Bali v Manaquel. However, this issue continues to raise its head in the county courts and appears to be a common defence for a number of tenants facing possession proceedings. In Bali v Manaquel the tenant argued that the Prescribed Information served on him pursuant to …
A number of newspapers have reported that tenants with overseas landlords have received letters from HMRC advising them that they may have to withhold rent to help settle their landlords’ tax liability. We have not seen these letters, but we understand that thousands have been sent to tenants and overseas landlords. The letters are not …
A London landlord who divided his 3-bedroom house into 8 flats without planning permission has been fined £90,000 and ordered to pay a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act of £400,000. In addition to the fine and confiscation order the landlord was also ordered to pay £40,000 in costs. The landlord converted his …
The How to Rent Guide was updated in May of this year to reflect the changes introduced by the Tenant Fees Act. Further minor amendments have followed which we have discussed in previous posts. As a consequence of these updates many people on the Painsmith helpline are asking whether they need to serve the updated …
With the advent of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (2019 Act) many agents have been trying to find ways to manage pets in rental properties. A logical solution is currently receiving a lot of bad publicity but landlords have been left with little or no option. Under the 2019 Act deposits are limited to 5 …
An increasing number of letting agents have agreements with independent inventory clerks for check ins and check outs. However, not all agents, specify the standards that these clerks must meet. Check in and check out inventories are usually compiled by a clerk on behalf of either the agent or landlord. A good check in inventory …
In some local markets in the UK it is not uncommon for agents from different companies to work together to arrange private rental property deals. Essentially one agent will have the property and therefore the relationship with the landlord and the other agent will have been approached by a tenant who will suit that property. …
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