The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, currently still making its way through the House of Lords, includes provisions that will make the act of trespassing with the intention to squat (using the building for accommodation), a criminal offence.

In recent years there have been a number of high profile cases where properties have fallen into the hands of squatters. This will make squatting less attractive as those doing it will know it is criminal. The proposed penalties include prison for up to 51 weeks and a fine of up to £5,000.

The new law will only apply to residential squatting but will include situations where one squatter “allows” another to enter the building. Let’s hope this change makes squatting less of a problem.

Following a series of court cases the coalition Government have passed legislation that changes the rules. The Localism Act 2011 has been used to amend tenancy deposit protection legislation and, make no mistake, the changes are not for the better for landlords and agents across the land.

Most of the Localism Act is about transferring powers from central Government to Local Government. Most widely reported are the changes to planning law with the abolition of top down targets for building to be replaced by incentives for councils who build new homes.

Buried deep within the act in section 184 is a single section making changes to deposit protection. Small it may be, but it is also very significant.

As drafted the legislation allowed landlords 14 days in which to protect the deposit and to give the prescribed information. The penalty of three times the deposit was carefully drafted to make sure the penalty was not attached to the time span, but to the failure to protect or give the prescribed information.

The changes that will come in through the Localism Act as passed will change the 14 days to 30, in itself good news. However, whereas the previous wording attached the penalty to the failure to carry out the action, the new wording attaches the penalty to carrying out the action within the specified time scale.

This will mean that if for any reason the deposit is not protected or the prescribed information is not given within the 30 days, the tenant will be able to apply to the court for a penalty and if the facts are true the court have no discretion and have to award a penalty. Considering the potential for errors in the prescribed information, this is a truly shocking situation that will cost the unwary thousands of pounds.

The current rules say the penalty has to be three times the deposit, however when the Localism Act comes into force this is amended to not less than the value of the deposit and not more than three times the deposit. Any flexibility is good news but even a penalty equal to the deposit would be a sizable loss for what could be a totally innocent oversight or misunderstanding.

Following the Gladehurst Properties v Hashemi case the court decided that once the tenant had left the property they were not able to seek the penalty from the landlord. The Localism Act addresses this very directly by adding in a clause clearly stating that the tenant can apply for the penalty even after they have left the property.

Whilst undoubtedly introduced with good intentions, these changes have the potential for serious consequences. If over a period of years a piece of information was omitted from the prescribed information, every past tenant could claim a penalty of three times the value of their deposit for each tenancy and renewal. The sums involved could be seriously eye watering!

Christmas Opening Hours

Our Christmas open hours will be as follows:-

23rd December    - 9am - 4pm

24th December    - Closed

25th December    - Closed

26th December    - Closed

27th December    - Closed

28th December    - 10am - 3pm

29th December    - 10am - 3pm

30th December    - 10am - 3pm

31st December    - Closed

1st January        - Closed

2nd January        - Closed

3rd January         - Open as normal 9am - 6pm

Please note our staff will work a shift pattern during this period so not all staff will be available on these days.

More people than ever are trying to find properties to rent in the UK, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).

It says the number of tenants on agents' books has reached a record high.

A year ago, one in four agents say demand was higher than the number of properties available but that's now tripled to three quarters.

They say it's down to more people being forced to rent as they can't buy.

It means people are spending months trying to find a home and end up taking places with high rents or somewhere they don't want to live.

High demand has resulted in a very busy month for all our offices, we are currently running low on stock of rental properties. If you are considering letting your property contact your local office as soon as possible as we have people waiting for good quality properties to let.

We are currently looking for an administrator to be based from our Colchester Office.

The job will involve general office duties, interacting with clients over the phone and face to face

The candidate must have a smart appearance, be able to work to a strict time schedule, be motivated and want to progress through our organisation.

Office experience is preferred and good computer skills are essential.


Please apply in writing with a CV to jobs@thelettingshop.uk.com

The government has finally introduced measures to help prevent tenants from being evicted from their property without any notice by the mortgage company. This has been causing untold misery and inconvenience to families up and down the country. In brief this will give the tenant the same right as if they were being served notice under Section 21.

In this age of austerity the number of possession orders granted for private rented properties by mortgage lenders in 2009 was a small but significant share of the 40,000 repossessions in 2009.
The problem for tenants, local councils and letting agents was that many families were being made homeless, through no fault of their own, at a moment’s notice. From October 2010 the Government have therefore introduced the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010.
This provides tenants who have not been authorised by the mortgage lender, with the right to request a delay to eviction of up to two months. If a landlord falls into arrears with the mortgage payments and the lender commences possession proceedings, the tenant can now apply for a delay to the possession date.
This puts an ‘unauthorised’ tenant on a level playing field with ‘authorised’ tenants holding an assured shorthold tenancy. It is not intended to grant ‘unauthorised’ tenants any greater rights than they would have if they were ‘authorised’ tenants.
The term ‘unauthorised tenants’ refers to those tenants who are renting a mortgaged residential property from a landlord who has let the property without the knowledge or consent of the lender, and in contravention of the mortgage agreement

Such a tenancy is known as an ‘unauthorised tenancy’ because the tenancy agreement is unenforceable against the lender.
When letting a mortgaged property on which there is a residential mortgage, the borrower should obtain consent from their lender. Tenants whose landlord has such consent are ‘authorised’ tenants and this legislation does not apply to them as they have comparable existing rights.
In addition to this, the lender must follow a set procedure in respect of notifying the relevant parties which will now also include the local council. They must, within five days of hearing of a court date, send a notice addressed to the tenant or occupier detailing the following:

• state that a possession claim for the property has started
• show the name and address of the claimant, the defendant and the court which issued the claim form and
• give details of the hearing
This new act will obviously not stop repossessions being sought by lenders but will give ‘unauthorised tenants’ the same time that ‘authorised tenants’ have in respect of finding suitable alternative accommodation.

We are currently looking for an Negotiator/administrator to be based from our Braintree Office.

The job will involve general office duties, interacting with clients over the phone, face to face and completing property viewings.

The candidate must have a smart appearance, be able to work to a strict time schedule, be motivated and want to progress through our organisation.

Experience in this line of work is not necessary as training will be given. However, good computer skills are essential.

A clean driving license is a must.

Please apply in writing with a CV to jobs@thelettingshop.uk.com

Britain is home to a generation of renters who are giving up on buying their own home, an in-depth new report has revealed.

If these attitudes become reality, the shape of Britain's housing market will be fundamentally changed within a generation.

According to the report, the most in-depth research into the attitudes and behaviour of young people toward home-ownership since the credit crunch, 77% of all non-homeowners still aspire to owning their own home.
However, despite this aspiration, nearly half of 20-45 year olds say Britain is becoming more like Europe where renting is seen as the norm and predict Britain will become a nation of renters within the next generation.

The perception that banks are not lending, the size of mortgage deposits necessary, and a fear of the application process has prevented "Generation Rent" from making any significant attempts to buy a home. Longer-term, only 5% of this group are making sacrifices to save for a deposit. 95% say they have no spare cash, no interest in saving for a deposit or were trying to save but failing to do so.

The report revealed widespread pessimism about lenders and the mortgage application process:
* 84% say first-time buyers are put off by a belief that banks do not want to lend to them and find excuses to turn them down;

* 92% see it as hard for first-time buyers to get a mortgage, with 60% seeing it as very hard or virtually impossible;

* 67% believe there is a general perception that everyone is rejected by lenders so there is little point in applying;

* 61% say that first-time buyers do not want to go through the stress and anxiety of applying for a mortgage.

The Government are producing regulations to change the rules for Energy Performance Certificates. The changes are not vast but will clarify and extend some of the requirements. There is concern that non compliance may be due to a lack of clarity, when in reality it is probably more down to apathy!

Firstly the regulations will create a new look EPC. The main EPC will become a two page document. They will be registered on a central website much as before. However, reports on air conditioning systems will have to be lodged as well.

Probably the biggest shake up of EPCs are around the commissioning of the EPC. The current legislation varies between sales and rentals. In both cases the EPC must be available at the first of the following list of events:

• The point the contract is entered into.
• A viewing of the property.
• Giving written particulars

Obviously it will be fairly rare to achieve a letting or sale without a viewing or giving written particulars but it can happen. The revised wording will require the EPC to be produced at the earliest opportunity but definitely before a viewing or providing written particulars. The original EPC for the sales market was part of the Home Information Pack. When HIPs were abolished, this would have left the sales market without any legal requirement to provide an EPC. This problem was addressed by adding in a new regulation 5A into the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. This section starts with the observation that the section applies when a “residential property is to be sold”.

The regulation then goes on to allow for marketing without physically having an EPC for a period of up to 28 days. This period of 28 days will be reduced to just 7 days under the new regulations.

This may have some relevance in sales but in many situations in letting the first viewing could easily have taken place. Some property could even have been let within that 7 day period.

Currently written particulars need to have the asset rating attached (the coloured bar chart, if there are two out of photos, floors plans and room dimensions).

This obligation to attach the asset rating is being withdrawn and it is being replaced with the requirement to provide the complete two pages of the first part of the revised EPC instead. Since this could apply to advertising as well, it will be interesting to see how the advertising market adapts to deal with this change.

There are a couple of technical changes around enforcement but subject to the regulations being passed, most of the provisions will start from the 1 July 2011. The requirements in respect of written particulars starts 1 Oct 2011.

There have been several important court judgements on the issues of tenancy deposits in recent months. In the Universal Estates case the court was asked to consider if it mattered with an insured scheme if the deposit was protected later than the 14 days in the Housing Act 2004.

They decided that as long as the deposit was protected before the court hearing, the penalty could not be awarded.

This was followed shortly by the judgement in Potts v Densley where the High Court had to consider if a deposit could be protected after the tenancy had ended. They decided, following the Universal Estates case, that as long as it was protected before the court hearing, there was no penalty.

Barely was the ink dry on this decision when the case of Gladehurst v Hashemi hit the Court of Appeal. This case essentially looked at the same issue of the situation that exists after the tenancy had ended.
In this case the Court of Appeal decided that the tenant was not allowed to take court action for recovery of the deposit after the tenancy had ended.

Their decision is a serious blow to tenants and significantly reduces their protection. This may trigger a legislative change to replace the protection in this situation.