industry news


The high cost of evictions revealed


Private landlords claim that local authorities are costing them thousands of pounds by wrongly advising tenants to ignore eviction notices. After surveying their members, the


National Landlords Association has estimated the average cost to a landlord of their tenant being advised to ignore an eviction notice stands at nearly £7,000. The NLA provided the figure when submitting evidence to the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee on the Homelessness Reduction Bill. The Homelessness Reduction Bill has


been introduced by Conservative MP Bob Blackman, as an amendment to the Housing Act 1996. It seeks to expand councils’ duties to prevent homelessness but it is being fiercely opposed by the Local Government Association who fear its impact on councils. The NLA has complained that private


tenants are often advised by local councils and advice agencies to ignore eviction notices served by their landlords – and to wait until they are evicted by bailiffs – in order to qualify as homeless and being eligible for rehousing.


Damaging advice


Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the NLA, said: “We have consistently campaigned on this issue, but despite many warnings to councils and agencies, this damaging advice is still being given out to tenants. “Possession cases can take a very long


time to resolve, and aside from putting an unnecessary strain on everyone involved, not to mention the courts, these findings demonstrate just how costly the advice can be.” The National Landlords Association


revealed that the mean total cost of a tenant being advised to remain in a property is £6,763. In addition, half (47 per cent) of tenants who have been served a section 21 eviction notice by their landlord say they have been told to ignore it by their local council or an advice agency such as Shelter or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB). Mr Lambert continued: “Bad, or incorrect,


advice hinders rather than helps landlords and tenants who are often already in a desperate situation. It will inevitably damage landlords’


confidence in the local authority and tenants may be put at much greater risk of having nowhere to live. “We hope that this Bill will achieve its


aims of reducing homelessness by giving tenants the support they need while incentivising the good work that landlords already do in communities across the country.”


Rentals forecast to overtake sales next year as housing crisis continues


The rental market is booming and lettings could overtake sales next year as home buyers face an on-going struggle to find properties they can afford. The sales market has cooled since the Brexit vote and a shortage of properties being offered


for sale has combined with rising prices to see more new lets than purchases, according to Countrywide, the UK’s largest estate agency. Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide, said “As some would-be buyers and sellers sit on their hands, September saw record activity, with increasing numbers of lets agreed and tenants choosing to renew their contracts. On current trends 2017 could be the first time since the 1930s that more homes are let than sold.” Buying a new home is becoming increasingly difficult for would-be purchasers, with asking


prices rising since the summer and borrowers having to find bigger deposits than in 2015. This has seen homeownership levels fall to their lowest level in 30 years and although recent


figures from mortgage lenders have shown a pick-up in loans being taken out, the actual number of homes for sale remains at near record lows which is forcing prices up.


Changing patterns


In 2015 some 1.2 million properties costing more than £40,000 have changed hands. Morris said that analysis of the number of homes advertised for sale and for rent online showed that over the past five years rental activity in the mainstream was catching up. “The shift between the number of properties being offered for rent and sale has been a long-


term trend, boosted a bit by stamp duty and a bit by the Brexit vote,” he added. Morris said that when informally advertised lets were taken into account, the rental market may have already outgrown the sales market. Further evidence on the changing dynamics in the housing market has come from Rightmove, who said that across six regions of the north of England and the Midlands, the number of homes for sale had fallen by 11 per cent since 2015, giving buyers less room to negotiate on price. In contrast, in the south of England available stock increased by 16 per cent year-on-year, while


sales were down by 10 per cent. Activity in Greater London is likely to have been stifled by affordability problems, with asking prices averaging £645,833 in October, compared with £630,974 in September and a similar figure a year ago.


Insourcing of repairs service completed A


major social housing landlord has extended its in-house repairs service to all its customers in a move to save


money and improve performance. Sovereign manages nearly 40,000 homes in the south and south west. Their properties in Hampshire have been repaired in recent years by Mitie, but when that contract ended they handed the work to Sovereign Response, who will now carry out repairs to all of the homes. In doing so Sovereign have joined a


growing number of landlords to have brought their repairs service back in-house in the past year, as social housing providers seek greater control over the service which has the biggest


20 | HMM November 2016 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


impact on customer satisfaction and usually accounts for most expenditure. Colin Gallaugher, head of operations at


Sovereign, said: “Given the success of Sovereign Response across the majority of our region, as well as pressure on budgets, we felt it was time to review our existing contracts. “This was an opportunity to not just save


money, we also wanted to take control and improve the services our residents receive, getting the job done and to a high quality. “In particular I’ve been excited about building the new team, giving around 35 local skilled tradespeople the chance to make our newest Sovereign Response team a success.”


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