LETTINGSnews
legislation – scotland
New Scottish bill to tackle rogue landlords
Unscrupulous landlords could face fines of up to £50,000 under new proposals announced by
the Scottish Government. Communities Minister Alex
Neil (pictured) unveiled new legislation aimed at improving the standard of private rented housing in Scotland where recent figures estimate that there are 240,800 privately rented homes. Unveiling the Private Rented Housing Bill, which would tighten the law on registering private landlords and give councils more powers to tackle rogue landlords, Housing Minister Alex Neil said, “Good, lawful landlords have nothing to fear. The Bill sends a clear message to bad and unlawful landlords that they will not be tolerated.” The Bill would increase the maximum fines for worst
tenancy deposits TDS is ‘back on its feet’
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme, TDS, is on a firm financial footing and will continue to offer the most cost-efficient
deposit protection for agents and their landlords, says TDS Chairman Professor Martin Partington (pictured). He told a meeting of representatives of ARLA that he and new Chief Executive Steve Harriott aim to create a partnership with them that makes the Scheme first choice for deposit protection for lettings agents. “To build this partnership we will remain competitive, be cost- effective and listen to the concerns of agents. To this end we will make
46 NOVEMBER 2010 PROPERTYdrum
no additional charges during the second half of this financial year for registering tenancies under the new £100,000 threshold for Assured Shorthold Tenancies in England and the Steering Group to establish a Members’ User Forum will held soon. At the first meeting, the Group will concentrate on some proposed changes to the Scheme’s rules to deal with time limits for raising disputes,” said Professor Partington. The Scheme’s rules are currently being amended to take account of the new AST thresholds. Professor Partington said that the Scheme has always prided itself on the quality of the disputes service. TDS is achieving an excellent performance in turning
around adjudications quickly and producing judgements that are fair and reasonable. “However, we shall be working with agents, landlords and tenants over the coming months to assess what both sides of the coin really think of our disputes services and we will be feeding the results of this assessment back to the members. “This is in line with the
commitment that I made on my appointment,” Professor Partington continued, “TDS will be more transparent with its members. We are committed to improve our openness and accountability to you and I hope we have already been seen to do this We also want to hear from members how we can improve our business and we need
to get better at explaining what we are doing and why,” he added. The meeting was told that the
TDS will be raising its profile through newsletters, attending conferences, member briefings and training sessions and improving the website. Professor Partington introduced Chief Executive Steve Harriott to the meeting who said, “On this, my second day at TDS, I would like to reiterate that our aim is to be the first choice for deposit protection because we offer real value for money, excellent customer services and an effective and fair adjudication service. I am looking forward to getting around and meeting agents to discuss how we can help each other to this end.”
offenders from £5,000 to £50,000 and the courts will also be given the power to ban convicted landlords for up to five years. Landlords will be required to
provide tenants with information on rights and responsibilities. Councillor Colin Keir,
convener of Edinburgh City Council’s regulatory committee, said there were a small minority of landlords who did “damage the
‘Good lawful landlords have nothing to fear.’
reputation” of the industry. He added, “The council
welcomes the measures proposed in the Private Rented Housing Bill. It will provide added protection for tenants and reputable landlords, and help local authorities to take robust enforcement action when it is called for.”
insurance Rent protection vital for landlords
HomeLet is advising landlords to protect their investment property against inevitable rises in unemployment before it’s too late. The release of the latest unemployment figures (15th September 2010) indicate that difficult times continue to loom for the UK economy, potentially affecting thousands of private landlords.
Whilst the overall unemployment figure dropped slightly in the three months to July, the number of people out of work and claiming benefits actually rose by 2,300 in August according to the Office for National Statistics. Economists now fear that the
UK’s labour market will be unable to sustain the inevitable government cuts which are due later in the year. There is renewed concern that previously safe jobs in the public sector will be slashed under next months spending review, meaning that even those in what were once considered stable jobs could find themselves out of
work in the months to come. HomeLet is urging landlords to consider safeguarding their rental income against their tenants becoming unemployed and unable to meet their rental payments, and to consider purchasing a rent protection policy. The company found that more
tenants are now seeing their rented property as a home, rather than a stop gap, and average tenancies are now getting longer. This has led to there being less homes available for rent, but with more people looking for somewhere to live, in some towns and cities there can be six prospective tenants competing for each property. So landlords, it seems, can afford to be choosy when selecting a tenant. However, HomeLet is urging them to look beyond the reference and make steps to protect their rent. After all, a reference is merely a view on how a tenant has behaved in the past, and can’t predict how they will behave in the future.
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