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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

Taking in a lodger may invalidate your insurance

Posted on September 20, 2009
This is the subject of an excellent (if worrying) article in today's Observer. Were you aware that failing to make proper enquiries, or taking in students (which some insurers find particularly objectionable "because the lifestyle of students - bringing friends home and perhaps leaving doors unlocked - poses a greater risk" according to the Bank of Scotland), can leave you without cover? "We cannot provide home insurance to lodgers or paying guests because you [the policyholder] are giving access and responsibility for the security of your house to someone you do not know," said a spokeswoman for esure, "If a policyholder takes in a lodger without telling us, their home insurance is potentially null and void because withholding this information counts as non-disclosure...

A company let of a room in a shared house?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Over on the Property Tribes forum, there is a question by a lady letting out a room. Her prospective tenant/lodger told her that as he is self employed, he is going to have the rent the room out through his company. My view is that a company let of a room in a shared house or a room as a lodger, is wholly inappropriate, but having been put on the spot, I can't put my finger on just why! (Maybe its because it is late on Friday evening ...

Fraudsters target student tenants

Posted on September 18, 2009
Most students living away from home will need to find living accommodation. And where better to do this than one of the many online property services advertising properties to rent? There is just one problem though. That property you really love, may not actually exist!There is a growing problem of criminals advertising fictional properties and asking for money up front as a condition of viewing...

DPS - tenant with CCJ unable to claim back tenancy deposit

Posted on September 16, 2009
A tenant recently wrote to me with a sad story:"I vacated my property in February 2009, and due to the DPS not returning my deposit I became homeless. As the landlord and I were in dispute over the return of the deposit I had no option that to pursue the claim through the county court...

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Tenancy deposit protction - now only 30% failure

Posted on September 15, 2009
In July 2008 I did a post called Tenancy Deposit Protection - 62% failure which was based on a survey done by the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), one of the three tenancy deposit protection schemes. This survey said that 62% of landlords were flouting the law and not protecting tenants deposits as they should under the tenancy deposit protection scheme regulations, which came into force in April 2007...

Liberty - Charity of the Month (September 2009)

Posted on September 14, 2009
This year, 2009, is the 75th anniversary of Liberty, formerly known as the National Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934 as a cross party organisation, they have during that time been ?the conscience of a nation, fighting injustice and placing principle above populism?...

Urban Myth - a short let cannot be an AST

Posted on September 13, 2009
This myth is based on reality, and is due to the history of the assured shorthold tenancy (AST). Protected tenancies under the Rent Act 1977When the Housing Act 1988 first introduced ASTs, people were still used to the old Rent Act system of protected tenancies (although protected shortholds had been introduced by the 1980 Housing Act and there were quite a few around)...

Landlord Law Urban Myths

Posted on September 13, 2009
This post announces an occasional new series I am starting, which I am calling Urban Myths. This will highlight and discuss ideas prevalent among landlords and tenants (and even sometimes their advisors), which may be based on misleading versions of the truth, or a hangover from past laws, or sometimes just wishful thinking...

The London Landlords' Show - comments

Posted on September 11, 2009
Well the London Landlords Show is now over for another year. Thank you to all who came along to my talks and clinics. I would also like to apologise to any who came along on the Thursday thinking to see my Dealing with Rent Arrears talk, only to hear me do the Essential Legal Points one - I had no choice though as the organizers decided to change it...

The London Landlords' Show - 9/10 September at Olympia

Posted on September 08, 2009
Just a reminder to people that I will be speaking at the London Landlords' Show tomorrow and Thursday. On Wednesday I will be talking on 'Essential Legal Points for Landlords' at 3.15 pm, and on 'Dealing with Rent Arrears' at 4.15 pm in the auditorium...

Tenancy deposit arbitrations - why landlords keep losing

Posted on September 03, 2009
Reading through the excellent 'Landlord & Buy-to-Let Magazine' today (September/October 2009 issue), I particularly enjoyed reading the landlords diary at the back by Barry Brunton. This gave some interesting background information on tenancy deposit arbitration's, which I thought I would share with you...

4 Ways To Catch A Rental Scammer - guest blog by Dave Dugdale

Posted on September 02, 2009
I run a couple of classified rental sites in America, and while I do not live in England I know from monitoring Twitters search stream on rental scams, that America is not alone when it comes to dealing with rental scammers. It feels like an on-slot of scammers have been using my sites to create bogus listings the past 10 months...

Letting to companies

Posted on September 01, 2009
Most residential lets are to people, real people who are alive and who physically live in the property. However sometimes lettings are made to a limited company. If this happens there are a number of important differences and a few things to watch out for...

Tenancy deposit roundup

Posted on August 30, 2009
A few matters on the subject of tenancy deposit protection which I have been meaning to comment on for a while.The August issue of Legal Action Magazine has two cases on tenancy deposit claims, which go to support tenants claiming against landlords who breach the tenancy deposit regulations...

A whole lot of talking

Posted on August 25, 2009
I seem to have quite a few events lined up for the rest of this year:On 9 and 10 September I will be doing two seminars at the London Landlords Show, and running two sessions in the Landlord Clinic. Those attending my seminars will also be able to download information from an online support resource I am currently working on...

Women on top

Posted on August 23, 2009
There are several articles in the Observer today about a new report out which says what we all knew anyway. There are not many women on the boards of big companies.Its not really surprising. These companies were mostly set up and developed during a time when women either did not work at all, or it was accepted that they did not work in senior positions...

Letting agents going bust - three top tips for landlords to protect your position

Posted on August 20, 2009
Rumour has it that quite a few letting agents (although not all by any means) are in financial difficulties. What does this mean for landlords, and what can they do to protect themselves? Here are some tips:1. Make sure that your agent has payment protection...

My ten top posts on tenancy deposits (as @ 19/08/09)

Posted on August 19, 2009
I have done a lot of writing about the tenancy deposit protection scheme (TDPS) regulations and the problems they have thrown up. You can read them all of course by following the link to the tenancy agreements tag. But which ones are most worth reading? Here are ten suggestions:1...

Defences to possession proceedings - spurious and otherwise

Posted on August 16, 2009
I have been having a bit of trouble recently with one of my section 21 repossession claims (using the accelerated procedure), which should have been an open and shut case. However, irritatingly, things have been held up due to the tenant putting in a defence claiming that he never received the notice...

Case throws up injustices in the tenancy deposit scheme legislation

Posted on August 13, 2009
A very interesting article in the New Law Journal (NLJ) from Laura West, barrister, Arden Chambers and Marianne Rivett, solicitor, Kennedys (currently available here) highlights some of the injustices and inconsistencies in the current tenancy deposit protection scheme (TDPS) legislation...

Twist Stick or Bust? How Landlords should to deal in the Rented Property Market Summer 2009 - by guest author Paul Hajek

Posted on August 11, 2009
Much has been written about the state of the Housing Market in England and Wales during 2009. Over the last few weeks data that has been released has edged towards the positive. Although some opinion is predicting that further falls are inevitable, more commentators such as the Nationwide Building Society and the RICS are predicting an end to the fall in prices, and even a slight rise by the end of the year...

The dogs trust - Charity of the month (August 09)

Posted on August 09, 2009
The Dogs Trust is the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. Visit their web-site for information on dog friendly holidays, plus dog related questions, re-homing and sponsoring. Find out how to help with their work here.

Discrimination against East European workers in rented property

Posted on August 04, 2009
A recent report on the BBC website highlights the fact that many letting agents are discriminating against migrant workers when renting property. In particular against Polish, Portuguese, Latvians, and Lithuanians.This question of discrimination against ?foreigners? in letting property is not new, and is not confined to the UK...

Shoddy HMOs? Don't blame the law, blame the enforcers

Posted on August 02, 2009
A recent article on the BBC news site, complains that landlords are avoiding the HMO licensing regulations by developing HMOs in buildings which do not come within the categories which require licensing, which in most cases requires a building to have three or more stories...

Who do you most admire in property?

Posted on July 31, 2009
Perhaps it is a letting agent who (contrary to the bad press which agents often get) has really looked after your properties well and found you great tenants?Maybe you are a tenant and you think the service provided by your landlord is exceptional?Or perhaps you know of someone who has achieved something incredible, perhaps overcoming adversity to build up a great property business, or whose service has inspired you and others?What about your lawyer? Lawyers are generally only used when people are in trouble - has your lawyer really helped you when you needed it, or does he or she run an exceptional service which gives you great support?Rented properties generally need furnishing...

HMO Landlords fined in Manchester

Posted on July 29, 2009
More and more landlords and agents are being prosecuted under the HMO licensing regulations. For example, a report in the Sikh Daily Times mentions two cases under the HMO legislation in Manchester. In cases heard 20 July 2009 at Leeds Magistrates Court, a landlord, Mrs Ghamar Gill, was fined �1,000 and ordered to pay costs of �1,554...

New blog from DPS director

Posted on July 27, 2009
A new blog has recently been started by Kevin Firth, a director of Computershare, the company behind the Deposit Protection Service. The blog is called The Letting Protection Service Blog. There are only a few entries so far, but one of them has a little video, so it looks as if Kevin will be using videos as well as written posts on the blog...

Advice for landlords seeking to recover commission post OFT v. Foxtons

Posted on July 26, 2009
You are a landlord. You are not a 'professional landlord' (i.e. you do not have a large portfolio and landlording is not your main business). You have paid commission to your agent (who may or may not be Foxtons) in the past, even though they were not managing the property...

Becoming a lawyer

Posted on July 21, 2009
Like many people I suspect, I was concerned to read the recent BBC report about glass ceilings which, the report said, means that "top professions such as medicine and law are increasingly being closed off to all but the most affluent families? However I am not sure I entirely agree with that...

Hating Foxtons, and another case

Posted on July 21, 2009
I was very amused, while surfing the internet recently, to find that there is a whole web-site dedicated to hating Foxtons - www.wehatefoxtons.com. If you are interested in the landlord business and have a spare few minutes, it is worth a look, if only for the amusing spats between those posting (which include landlords, tenants, and Foxtons employees)...

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