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    NOTICE PERIOD CHANGE FROM 1ST JUNE TO TENANTS

    NOTICE PERIOD CHANGE FROM 1ST JUNE TO TENANTS

    If there is one thing that has kept letting agents busy over the last 3 to 4 years, it is the continuous changes within legislations.

    COVID-19 has also had a massive part since March 2020, with how much notice a landlord can give a tenant to gain their property back. In normal times, (pre-COVID) a Section 21 (Form 6a) notice would be given to the tenant giving 2 months notice to vacate. However, the Government extended this notice to 6 months, which in some circumstances across the country caused absolute mayhem. This being particularly difficult for landlords whose tenants were already in serious rent arrears. If there was ever a time for a landlord to have a rent guarantee in place then this was and still is the time.

    From the 1st June, the notice period is being reduced to 4 months and then to 2 months notice from the 1st August 2021.

    Notice periods for the most serious cases that present the most strain on landlords will remain lower:

    1. Anti-social behaviour (immediate to 4 weeks’ notice)
    2. Domestic abuse in the social sector (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
    3. False statement (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
    4. 4 Months’ or more accumulated rent arrears (4 weeks’ notice)
    5. Breach of immigration rules ‘Right to Rent’ (2 weeks’ notice)
    6. Death of a tenant (2 months’ notice)

     

    Bailiffs are also able to carry out evictions from June too.

    If you would like help in managing your rental property then please contact me on sharon@moveon.biz

     

    Remember a good agent is worth every penny when you know you can sleep peacefully at night.

     

    Blog Articles

    £30k FINE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ELECTRICAL…

    £30k FINE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ELECTRICAL CERTIFICATE

    LANDLORDS! If you are with an agent or self-managing, please, please, make sure you have an electrical certificate on your rental property.  This became a legal requirement on the 31st March 2021.

    I was shocked to receive a call from a landlord whose property was being managed by another local agent (they will remain nameless). She was ringing me to ask if she could transfer over to me, as she was not happy with the service she was receiving. In these conversations, I also ask them to check their terms of business for giving notice and then go through details of their property. During our chat, she advised she had received an email that week (middle of April) to let her know an electrical certificate was due on the property, I nearly fell off my chair. Why was the agent notifying her mid-April when it should have been done by the end of March 2021? I then had to advise her that they had opened her up to a possible £30,000 fine by not having one in place. She was NOT aware of this!

    Needless to say, we are taking over the management and ensuring she is legally compliant.

    If you are not sure, (you should have received a copy of the certificate) please email/phone your agent today and make sure it is in place and if you are self-managing, please get it done IMMEDIATELY! If you have not been able to gain access because your tenant is shielding, then as long as you have a paper trail of this, you should be okay, but you do need to prove this if you get a knock on the door!

    If you would like a friendly chat, then please email me on sharon@moveon.biz with your contact details and I will happily ring you back.

     

    Remember a good agent is worth every penny when you know you can sleep peacefully at night.

    Blog Articles

    THE DEBT RESPITE SCHEME – 4th May 2021

    THE DEBT RESPITE SCHEME – 4th May 2021

    The pandemic has had a huge impact on people, their finances and their mental health. The government have looked at this and are introducing from the 4th May 2021 ‘The Debt Respite Scheme’.

    The respite is 60 days breathing space to help sort out the debts that have accumulated. The condition of this is that you must sign up with a debt advice provider authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

    If you have a tenant who has fallen behind in their rent and is struggling to keep up with their arrears, then this may help them. As a landlord you will not be able to contact them about their arrears or serve any notices during the 60 days. They must provide proof of the debt advisor and the tenant must have been accepted under the scheme. You can of course still contact them for other things such as Gas Safety Certificates.

    It is important to note that the tenant must still continue to pay their rent during the 60 days, the respite is there for them to work on a payment plan on their arrears. The tenant can only sign up to this once a year.

    If you would like more details on this, then please email me on sharon@moveon.biz.

     

    Remember a good agent is worth every penny when you know you can sleep peacefully at night.

     

    Blog Articles

    40% of Tenancies Not Correct

    When it comes to claiming on tenant deposits, Tenant Voice recently claimed 40% of tenancies are incorrect, which often will lead to not only the tenants being awarded in their favour but also resulting in landlords being out of pocket.

    I have worked within the industry for over 30 years and owned Move On for 15 years. When you have been around for this long, there are rules we learn in books and training days, etc. and there are many things you learn through experience. I have got to where we have today due to the rigorous systems put in place. Those systems have been adapted over the years from experience.

    It always fascinates me that no matter how diligent our systems and checklists are, when we recruit a new person, something else will slip through. It does not concern me too much because we just simply add it to our checklist. All our tenancies are triple-audited by three separate pairs of eyes, prior to paperwork going out to be signed. I have often had staff ask me: “Do we have to do so many checks?” and my answer is…

     Yes, always.

    We are not perfect as humans, we are an extremely busy office and it is very easy to be distracted by a phone call or someone walking into the office, so triple-checking has to be done. To get a date wrong, a term wrong or have paperwork missing can result in the landlord not being able to claim through a rent guarantee warranty or in an eviction process as well as thousands of pounds of fines to the landlord and us as an agency.

    Deposits not protected or incorrectly prescribed information will find the landlord out of pocket of up to 3 times the deposit plus the deposit back.

    Renting out properties without the correct license will have the landlord not only fined/banned but also a rent repayment order of up to 12 months of rent.

    There are many agents out there, please don’t go for the cheapest, go for the one that gives you confidence that they absolutely know the law! In the end, the cheapest never ends up being the cheapest when it goes wrong!

    Keep safe,

    Sharon

     

    Remember a good letting agent is worth every penny when you know you can sleep peacefully at night.

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