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International Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From Tessa Shepperson. Tessa, editor of www.landlordlaw.co.uk, ponders on life, the universe, and residential landlord and tenant law

Post Frequency: 1.7/day

Last Entry: November 25, 2009 at 08:47:00

More tenancy deposit muddle

Posted on April 28, 2009
One of my clients has drawn my attention to an interesting forum discussion on tenancy deposit claims here.It seems from this that many Judges (although not all) are taking the view that the fine of three times the deposit amount should not be awarded if the landlord refunds the deposit before the court hearing...

How safe are you from serious flooding??

Posted on April 28, 2009
I was fascinated to see this map indicating which areas will be flooded if the sea rises, showing the incremental increase in land loss at different levels of sea rise (obtained via a report on The Times web-site). The grey areas show the predicted flooded areas according to the flood level selected by a drop down list at the top left...

Foxtons on Twitter

Posted on April 25, 2009
Having nothing better to do today, while messing around on the computer I did a twitter search on Foxtons. It was interesting to see what came up. - There were a large number of moans from discontented tenants and landlords. - There was the announcement of the Court of Appeal's decision (against Foxtons) in the preliminary point in the case brought by the OFT (see more here)...

Refunds after Foxtons

Posted on April 25, 2009
One aspect of the Foxtons case which I have not seen mentioned is the impact this will have on the status of past payments. To remind readers, a claim has been brought against Foxtons by the Office of Fair Trading, for a declaration that some of the terms in their landlord agency agreements are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (see my post here)...

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Tenancy Deposit Protection ? deposits paid before 7 April 2007

Posted on April 23, 2009
I am obliged once again to the Pain Smith blog for drawing my attention to a new County Court case on the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme regulations.One of the many imponderables of the regulations is whether or not they apply to deposits taken before 7 April 2007, where a new tenancy agreement had been taken after that date...

Tessa?s Travels ? writings on Wordpress

Posted on April 23, 2009
Some of you may have noticed that from time to time I go ?off topic?. This is because I like writing and do not always want to confine myself to strictly legal matters. However I have decided to hive off some of my more creative writing into a new site, which I have called Tessa?s Travels...

Out of season holiday lets

Posted on April 16, 2009
I did some work for a client today who runs a couple of holiday homes in a converted barn near her country home. She sometimes lets these out on short term lets out of season but is now regretting it, or at least the most recent let. This was to a lady who, having moved in on the understanding that she would have to go in May when the holiday makers start coming, has now decided that she is going to stay on, as indeed is her right technically...

Energy efficiency in existing buildings - a new report highlights problems

Posted on April 15, 2009
A new report out from the Economic and Social Research Council and Technology Strategy Board makes interesting reading. The report states that some 27% of emissions come from domestic buildings - twice the emissions of commercial and public buildings and five times that of industrial buildings...

The National Trust - Charity of the month (April 2009)

Posted on April 14, 2009
Over Easter we have enjoyed two visits to National Trust properties - The Elizabethan House in Great Yarmouth, and Ickworth House in Suffolk. We did not have to pay a penny to visit either of them, as we have a family membership. We tend to holiday in England and whereever we go there are always fabulous places to visit, courtesy of the National Trust...

A new landlord scam

Posted on April 14, 2009
A new landlord scam has been highlighted on the Directgov web-site. Tenants answering ads on web-sites such as Gumtree, fish4 of Craig's List are being asked to 'prove that they have enough money' by transferring money to a friend or relative. They are then asked to send a scanned copy of the transaction receipt to the 'landlord' as proof that they have enough money to rent the property...

Increased use of set-off by banks

Posted on April 08, 2009
I am obliged to Sally Chicken to referring me to a blog entry by Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com on banks right of set off. It seems that the banks have the power to transfer money from savings accounts (if they are held by the same organisation) to pay off money due to them by the account holder elsewhere, for example for credit cards or loans...

A day out in Great Yarmouth

Posted on April 07, 2009
Our son Patrick is on holiday from school this week, so we decided to take a day off from work and visit Great Yarmouth. I have always been a bit negative about Great Yarmouth, my memories being mainly made up of the depressing building which formerly housed the Great Yarmouth County Court (now closed), and the seaside Pleasure Beach and amusement complex, which is not really my thing...

Complaints against the DPS - the governments response

Posted on April 02, 2009
There has been quite a bit of discussion below about problems a few landlords have had with arbitration's carried out for the DPS, in particular relating to evidence not being passed over to the adjudicator. One of my landlord members had a similar problem, and she wrote to the Department of Communities and Local Government to complain...

OFT preliminary success in Foxtons unfair terms case

Posted on April 02, 2009
As many of you may know, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is involved in litigation with Foxtons Ltd (the letting agents) regarding Foxtons? refusal to agree that certain terms in their agency contracts with landlords are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCR)...

HMO landlords water rates shock

Posted on March 31, 2009
A long standing Landlord-Law member has written to me informing me of a potential problem for HMO landlords with water rates. He tells me that"I recently had a revised water bill from Thames Water back-dated six-years totalling nearly �8.000 for an eight-studio HMO that I own...

Tenants - the forgotten victims of repossession

Posted on March 29, 2009
I was delighted to read a report that a campaign is being launched to help tenants who get evicted through no fault of their own, because their buy-to-let landlords have not kept up their mortgage payments. You can read more about it on the Citizens Advice Bureau site here...

Datchelor reunion

Posted on March 22, 2009
Had a brilliant re-union with old school friends on Saturday, hosted by Suzanne at the fabulous Teatro Club in Shaftsbury Avenue. So nice to see people again after such a long time.Also of course fond memories of those high fashion garments we so loved to wear...

Essential Legal Points for Landlords talk at the Landlord&Buy-to-Let Show

Posted on March 22, 2009
It was very nice to see people at the Landlord&Buy-to-Let Show on Friday. Thank you to everyone who attended, it was great to see so many of you there, and I am sorry some of you had to stand. I am also sorry that the noise of the conference was a bit intrusive - I hope you all managed to hear me...

Liability of 'let only' agents for the deposit under the TDPS

Posted on March 19, 2009
I have been meaning to comment on the post on the Pain Smith blog recently on tenancy deposits and 'let only' agents. However Francis Davey on the Nearly Legal blog has beaten me to it.It only remains therefore for me to refer you to the original posting by Pain Smith, and the subsequent posting on Nearly Legal...

takeITon seminar

Posted on March 18, 2009
I attended an excellent seminar yesterday, which was provided free of charge by takeITon, a company offering free business IT support and advice to businesses in the East of England. I sat next to Penny Lindop who designs cards and stantionary and who also runs a blog...

More bonkers Legal Services Commission rules

Posted on March 13, 2009
I had a conversation recently with a worker at a legal 'not for profit' organisation (who wishes to remain anonymous) who is in despair about their Housing Court Desk Duty Scheme. She had been using student volunteers in addition to the qualified helpers...

Red Nose Avatars - only �1

Posted on March 12, 2009
If you are on facebook, myspace, twitter etc, do go and get yourself a red nose for your avatar for Comic Relief (our Charity of the Month). It is only �1. Plus there are three fantastic red noses to choose from. You get them at www.digitalrednose...

The tweetometer

Posted on March 11, 2009
As you will know from my previous posts and from the side bar of this blog, I am a twitterer. One of the twitterers I follow is TweetMinster who tweet about MPs on twitter.They have now developed this really cool app called a tweetometer. You can see it in my sidebar...

Comic Relief - Charity of the month (March 2009)

Posted on March 10, 2009
With Red Nose Day this coming Friday (13th - hopefully unlucky for none) it would be difficult to choose any charity other than Comic Relief for this months Charity of the Month. We are not doing anything particularly silly here (apart from the usual) but will be donating on the day...

Mary Datchelor Girls School

Posted on March 09, 2009
If you were at Mary Datchelor in the year that did its A levels in 1975 (particuarly if you were in Miss Traize class in the fifth year) can you get in touch, as a reunion is planned for 21 March 2009. It looks as if the building has now been re-developed into flats - here are some depressing images.

Complaints about the DPS

Posted on March 09, 2009
Despite the comments made in my previous post on complaints about the DPS, I have received a few further emails and blog comments outlining further problems with the DPS service. In one of my comments to this post, I mention the complaints procedure which is referred to in the FAQ on the DPS web-site...

Gas Regs change

Posted on February 27, 2009

Talk to CNS

Posted on February 27, 2009

Twitter Tips

Posted on February 25, 2009
Reading an article about twitter this morning, I suddenly thought ?Why not have some special tips accounts? One for landlords and one for tenants??Well, not being one to mess about (particularly where there is a free marketing opportunity), I have now set these up...

More on drug factories in rented properties

Posted on February 24, 2009
Further to my earlier post on this topic, I have spotted an interesting item on the BBC News web-site. This gives more information about the signs to spot a cannabis factory, and is well worth reading, plus there is an informative video.Generally though landlords need to do regular inspections, and if a tenant consistently refuses to allow access, this should alert you to the possibility of criminal activity...

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