Camden Council has successfully appealed against Foxton’s description of their agency fee in their lettings literature. Foxtons have been ordered to pay a penalty charge of £18,000. Background to case In 2015, the Council’s Trading Standards team undertook enforcement action after establishing that Foxtons was charging an administration fee of £420 for tenants and landlords. …
This is our second post on the Welsh Government’s report on Agent’s fees. Our first post can be read here. In our last post, we advised that the report recommended a ban on agent’s fees along with a number of other recommendations. Given that this ban is very likely to be introduced in England we …
The Welsh Government has commissioned a report to broaden its understanding of the fees charged by agents to tenants in Wales. The Government wishes to understand what fees and charges are applied, at what level and the potential impact on agents, landlords and agents, if the fees and charges were banned. Some of the key …
Painsmith is currently looking to recruit a Paralegal. Experience in the field of civil litigation and landlord and tenant law would be desirable but not essential for the right candidate. The role will entail dealing with all aspects of the firm’s business but with an emphasis on serving notices on tenants and conducting possession actions. If …
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called on the Government to allow London’s boroughs to increase Council Tax bills for high-value homes that are left empty. The Mayor commissioned a report last year and this appears to be the response to that report. Specifically, the report looked into the contribution of overseas investment to …
The Home Office’s latest statistics on Right to Rent enforcement shows that an increasing number of landlords have been fined in what appears to be a new crackdown on illegal immigration. Fines totalling £163,000 were issued to 236 property owners between the start of February 2016 and June this year. That is more than one …
This is the third post on the Money Laundering Regulations, specifically on Risk Assessments. To ensure that agents do not fall foul of the Regulation and actively attempt to protect their businesses from money laundering (ML) and/or terrorist financing (TF) a risk assessment of the business must be carried out. This risk assessment is the …
This is the second post on money laundering checks but with detail on the practical steps to take when carrying out your responsibility to carry out Customer Due Diligence (CDD). This is a secondary step once a risk assessment on the customer/client has been carried out. The average person should fall within the remit of …
In Partridge v Gupta the High Court held that the obligation to obtain permission to issue a writ of possession does not require that the tenant be given notice of the actual application for permission. What is required is that “every person in actual possession of the whole or any part of the land … …
We have recently had an influx of calls on the helpline about lettings agents and their obligations under the new money laundering Regulations. Previous posts on the Regulations can be read here. In summary, the Regulations apply to estate agency work only however, as pointed out before it is not that simple. The reason for …
Newham council has discovered that half its 27,000 landlords have failed to register for self-assessment. Unpaid tax is estimated to be £200m in London alone. Newham Council introduced a compulsory licensing scheme for landlords over 4 years ago and shared the landlord’s names and addresses with HMRC, according to a leading newspaper. HMRC has not …
Under the original 2007 Energy Performance Regulations a landlord or their agent are required to make available, free of charge, a valid EPC to any prospective tenant. There are some exceptions to this rule which included: “a building that is officially protected as part of a designated environment or because of their special architectural or …
Energy Performance Certificates and Listed Buildings Read More »
On June 15th, Newham council extended its additional licensing area. The council exercised its power under section 56 of the Housing Act 2006 which applies to all private rented and occupied Houses in Multiple Occupation. The extended designation will be in force for 5 years commencing in January 2018. A map of the designated area …
Newham Council extends additional licensing area. Read More »
Earlier this year the Government issued a series of proposals around beneficial ownership. This is partly motivated by changes to money laundering regulations due to the passing of the EU Fourth Money Laundering Directive as well as efforts to improve the transparency of ownership of companies and property. The proposals follow on from last year’s …
New register of overseas ownership of UK property Read More »
Newham council has approved plans to rate all of the borough’s letting agents from zero to five stars (where five is the best), and then publish the list in full on the council’s website so that it is available to the public. The council suggests that the list will provide potential tenants and landlords with …
Sadly as we predicted some time ago we are starting to see the impact of the Deregulation Act 2015 on claims for accelerated possession. The accelerated possession claim process is meant to be a quick and easy way of landlords obtaining a possession order when this is all they are seeking. It can be used …
Increase in price for Accelerated Possession Claims Read More »
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