Section 21 has been gone since 1 May, and one council has just charged a landlord for forgetting. Don't be next.
The lead: the first Section 21 fine has landed
Gateshead Council has fined a landlord £3,600 for serving a Section 21 notice after 1 May, when the Renters' Rights Act ended them. A 15% discount for paying early cut it to £3,060, which the council received on 8 September. As reported by Landlord Today, the council says other cases are being considered.
A notice of the proposed fine went out first, so the landlord had a chance to respond before the penalty stuck. This wasn't a snap decision.
To end a tenancy now you need a valid possession ground, not the old notice. If you or your agent have served anything since 1 May, check which ground it relies on. If you're not sure, ask before you serve, not after. The fine is the cheap part. The expensive part is a possession case that starts from the wrong place.
Tenant groups want every rent rise challenged
Renters' unions in Oxford, London and Manchester are urging tenants to challenge rent rises, even ones they can afford, according to the Telegraph as reported by Property118. Applying to the tribunal costs £47, the tenant keeps paying the old rent meanwhile, and the Oxford Renters Union puts decisions at five to six months. The NRLA calls it a de facto rent freeze. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has said tenants can refer rises "above the open-market rent".
You can still raise the rent once a year, and plenty of tenants won't bother to challenge. But if yours does, the tribunal decides what the open-market rent is, and that can land below what you charge today (see the number of the day). One review of 24 decided cases found half granted the full rise, per Property118.
Before you send a notice, line up evidence: comparable lets nearby, an agent's valuation and the condition of the home. It's also worth planning for a five-month wait at the old rent.
Skip a licence, repay the rent
A Sefton landlord pleaded guilty to five offences of letting without the licences required in a selective licensing area, and was hit with £13,037.86 in fines, surcharge and costs. On 3 July the First-tier Tribunal also granted the council Rent Repayment Orders on four of the properties: £22,477.02 of Housing Benefit to be paid back. That's more than £35,000 in all, per Landlord Today.
Selective licensing is local. Your council can require a licence for rentals in set streets or whole areas, and Sefton's scheme covers nearly 4,000 lets. Check your council's website or give them a ring. If an agent manages your property, ask them to confirm in writing whether it needs a licence and that it has one.
An £8 tenant check, and what it says about fees
Blinc-UK has launched a digital referencing service at £8 per applicant, according to Letting Agent Today. It covers ID and Right to Rent checks, Open Banking income checks, HMRC income data, credit, CCJ and insolvency checks, and fraud screening. Guarantors are £8 each, with no premium tiers.
That's one supplier, aimed at agents, and the report doesn't say who pays. Agents do more than run a check: they advertise, do viewings and take the call when it goes wrong, and a fair tenant-find fee covers all of that. But tenants can't be charged for referencing in England, so the cost sits with you or your agent.
If your agent charges you for tenant-find or referencing, ask what's in the price and what the check itself costs. A good agent will have a straight answer.
Quick hits
- Budget: the Chancellor's Budget is Wednesday 28 October. The NRLA wants inflation-adjusted capital gains tax and relief based on how long you've held a property, per Property118. Residential gains are taxed at 18% or 24% today. Nothing is confirmed until the Chancellor speaks.
- London rents: Foxtons' own figures, as reported by Landlord Today, show applicant registrations down 21.1% from August to September, with renters spending 98% to 99% of budget. Achieved rents were £610 a week in September, up 0.9% on August. If you let in London, a thinner pool of applicants is worth knowing about. Elsewhere, it's a different market.
- Licensing registers: housing minister Matthew Pennycook said in a written answer that councils must let the public inspect licensing registers but needn't publish them online, per Property118. Don't count on a tidy online list. Ask your council.
Number of the day: £2,400
That's the yearly cost to one Manchester landlord of asking for £50 more a month. The tribunal set the rent at £1,450, against £1,650 currently and £1,700 proposed, after the tenant cited nearby flats at £1,400 to £1,500, as reported by Property118. The lesson isn't to stop raising rent. The tribunal looks at comparables, so you should too.