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Landlords Raising Rents on Rental Property – Advice on the Tenancy Agreements

By Chris Horne

Letting agents are seeing booming demand for rental property as first time buyers and foreign workers defer buying homes amid continued uncertainty over UK house prices.

Letting agents around London and the south east in particular are seeing up to 25% more activity in their letting business compared with a year ago. Much of this rental demand is coming from young professionals and City workers who are not prepared to gamble and buy property in a weak housing market.

The result of this boom in property lettings activity are fast rising rents in certain areas as strong competition amongst potential tenants bids up prices. Reports show that landlords in these ‘rental hotspots’ are managing to secure significant rent increases.

Lucinda Richardson, lettings Manager at the Westbourne Grove branch of Winkworth said tenants renewing their agreement were typically paying 5-10% more per year, while new occupants are paying 20% more than they would have done a year ago.

Things for landlords to avoid

Therefore if a landlord is lucky enough to own residential investment property in areas of strong rental demand, what should they be doing? Firstly landlords should always be wary of offering a tenant a longer term contract than the standard 6 month fixed term tenancy in areas where rental demand is strong and rents are rising. Glynn Judd, head of lettings at the Surrey Quays branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward reports that he is aware of tenants pushing for 18 month even 2 year fixed term tenancy. This is because once agreed most tenancy agreements do not allow a landlord to increase the rent during this fixed term.

Therefore the initial rent that the landlord agrees may look very appealing at the outset, but will it still look so good in 24 months time? During this time employing a standard 6 month fixed term tenancy a landlord could have legally raised the rent three times. The other alternative to a landlord is to opt for a periodic tenancy.

How can landlords raise their rents

Fixed term tenancy

How a landlord goes about raising the rent will largely depend on the type of tenancy in place. Most landlords use a fixed term tenancy agreement such as the one available on Property Hawk. In most cases a landlord will opt for a 6 month tenancy although it can be longer. This means that without the tenancy agreement you as the landlord cannot put up the rent during this period, unless the tenancy agreement makes specific provisions allowing this. These specific provisions may be by way of an escalator clause for instance stating that the rent will go up by inflation after six months.

The vast majority of landlords avoid such clauses. This is because they are seen as overly prescriptive and inflexible. Most landlords opt to review the rent when they decide whether to re-let at the end of the fixed term tenancy. This way a landlord can judge the prevailing market conditions and work out what the rental market will bare at that particular time. For instance in places such as central London and parts of the south east, rental inflation is running well ahead of general inflation, therefore for a landlord just to track inflation would mean their rents are falling behind the market.

If a landlord decides to opt to re-let to the existing tenant then raising the rent is relatively easy as all they do is create a new assured short hold tenancy with the new rent included.

Periodic tenancies

The other type of tenancy that a landlord might employ is a periodic tenancy. These are tenancies where there is no specific end date. The two types of periodic tenancy are the contractual periodic tenancy in which from the outset there is no end date, or the much more common statutory periodic tenancy. The statutory periodic tenancy comes about when a fixed term tenancy lapses.

In the case of periodic tenancies, increasing the rent is slightly more complicated because the landlord will need to go through the formal procedure as set out in section 13 of the Housing Act 1988. If the landlord wants to increase the rent and intends to keep the tenancy on a statutory periodic tenancy, they can use the special form titled Landlord’s notice proposing a new rent under an Assured Periodic Tenancy or Agricultural Occupancy sometimes known as a section 13 notice. This form allows a landlord to propose a rent increase as soon as the statutory tenancy begins. For a contractual period tenancy a landlord can use the same form to propose an increase which will take effect one year after a tenancy begins. In both cases a months notice of the increase is required for rents paid on a weekly or monthly basis (more if the rent period is longer). With both periodic tenancies a landlord can propose further rent increases at yearly intervals, after the first increase.

Potential snags for a landlord raising rents

There are a number of potential snags for landlords when raising the rent. Not least amongst these can be scaring off perfectly good tenants by making the rent unaffordable. A landlord has to be therefore confident that they their existing tenant will be able to afford the new rent or that they will be able to quickly fill any vacancy and avoid a protracted void period.

Firstly, the snag with section 13 rent increases is generally a landlord can only raise rents once a year. In a fast moving market such as the one being experienced in parts of London and the South-East currently, annual rental increases will not keep pace with market rents meaning that a landlord towards the end of the 12 month rental period will have a rent below the open market value and therefore be missing out on potential rental income.

The other aspect about a landlord with a periodic tenancy who needs to use a section 13 notice is that it entitles a tenant who is not happy with the rental increase to apply to a Rent Assessment Committee for a determination of what rent a landlord could reasonably expect to pay if he or she was letting it on the open market under a new tenancy on the same terms. The committee has the power to agree the rent or set a rent higher or lower. The rent then fixed by the committee is the legal maximum the landlord can charge. The new rent will be payable from the date specified in the landlord’s notice unless the committee considers this would cause a tenant undue hardship in which case it may specify a later date. The landlord can propose that the rent is increased a year after the date on which the rent decided by the committee was payable.

Power of the Rent Assessment Committee

All this may sound quite daunting to a landlord. The reality is it shouldn’t be. Whilst on the face of it the Rent Assessment Committee seems to have a considerable amount of power, in reality they don’t. For a start they can only set a new rent if it is demonstrably unreasonable. The other factors that limits the scope of the Rent Assessment Committee and the tenant in ultimately setting rental levels is that the landlord retains the right to issue a section 21 notice.

This means that providing the fixed term period has come to an end by the time the notice has expired a landlords ultimate response to a rent that is unsatisfactory is to regain possession of their rental property and simply re-let it to another tenant at the rent that they and the market will bare.

What should landlords do?

The simple answer is that landlords should normally opt for a fixed term tenancy such as the free tenancy agreement available within Property Hawk’s Property Manager. A landlord should avoid the tenancy lapsing and becoming a periodic tenancy. They can do this by going through the motions of issuing a section 21 notice for possession even at the start of the tenancy to ensure that a landlord can bring the tenancy to an end. In this way a landlord is in the perfect position at the end of the fixed term to either re-let to the existing tenant at a higher rent, or if the tenant objects, to regain possession and then let their buy-to-let investment property to another tenant at the higher rent.

A word of caution to landlords in less high demand areas. Tenants can be sometimes unsettled by receiving a section 21 notice and therefore a landlord needs to approach the situation sensitivity and explain that the notice is a just a formal procedure and that they have no intention of seeing it through. The reality is for any landlord is that having a tenant paying rent, even if it is not the absolute top rate, is far preferable than having no rent at all!

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liability. The service is totally free to use at http://www.propertyhawk.co.uk

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How to Retain Good Tenants

By Brendan O’Brien

Good tenants are easy to ignore – until they tell you they are moving out. Why are they leaving? Well, it might be because you ignored them. And when tenants plan to move, it’s very, very difficult to get them to change their minds.

The reason you may ignore good tenants is that you spend so much time working on your not-so-good ones; cajoling them to clean up their acts or planning to evict them. When you are always on the phone with Average or Bad tenants A, B, and C, you quickly start thinking of Good tenant D as simply a check that comes in the mail, on time every month, like clockwork. But your good tenants are much more than that. They are human beings who:

• Understand that they are paying good money, and expect good service in return
• Notice when their building seems to be going downhill
• Recognize when they are being B.S.ed or treated disrespectfully or dismissively

On the other hand, YOU may not recognize these feelings in your good tenants, simply because they may be reluctant to share them. The complaints are more likely to come from your poorer tenants, and you may be more likely to dismiss them as a result. The good tenants are more likely to suffer in silence, before deciding to move on.

It’s vitally important that you retain your good tenants, not only because they make your landlording more pleasant, but because they are so hard to replace. Once that unit is vacant, you may not re-rent it for months, and you have no idea how the next tenant will turn out. He could be just bad enough to make your life really difficult, or so bad that he only lasts for a month or two before eviction. Since your good tenants are less likely to contact you, you have to stay in touch with them. Try to get a read on their feelings by calling or emailing at least once a month. Here’s a short checklist of questions:

• Does anything need repairs in the unit?
• Are you noticing any maintenance issues in common areas?
• Do you have any suggestions for me?
• How are your neighbors?

Not only have you learned how satisfied your good tenants feel, you’ve made them feel important and wanted. Now you need to follow up by addressing their concerns, if any, sincerely and quickly. Bear in mind as you do so that you can’t get into trouble for being nicer to your good tenants than your bad ones. If a good tenant’s got a maintenance issue, generally make it your first priority – the only more important issues will relate to safety or potential for very serious problems, such as fire or water damage hazards. If a good tenant’s got a beef with a neighbor, get all the facts and deal with it right away – making sure you get the neighbor’s side of the story before making a judgment. If a good and bad tenant are having a dispute, and neither is clearly in the right, it’s okay to side with the good tenant. While you’re at it, ask your good tenants if they’re thinking about moving. Yes, that’s shockingly blunt. But it’s the only way you’ll ever find out if a tenant is planning to move before he or she actually signs a lease for another unit. Once they sign that lease, they’re gone – and no amount of cajoling is going to get them back.

If a tenant IS planning to move, ask why and press (nicely!) until you get an answer. Hopefully their decision will be based on a problem you can fix. The unit feels kind of old and grimy? Offer to repaint it. It’s too hot in the summer? Get them an air conditioner. It’s too small? Maybe you have a larger unit vacant, even if it’s in another building – and you’ll help them move for free. Some of these fixes run into some serious money. You need to compare them to the cost of finding a new tenant. That is a certain amount of lost income, plus the cost of marketing the unit, plus any necessary renovations to make it re-rentable. If the unit needs paint anyway, then painting it to motivate a good tenant to stay is much better than painting to get a new tenant. If the money looks REALLY serious, ask them to sign a new lease. Point out that they would have to if they moved to a different building anyway.

You should also make sure your tenant recognizes the cost and aggravation of moving. They’ll have to rent a truck, buy or steal boxes, pack everything, arrange for new utilities, physically transport the stuff, and change addresses for all of their mail. Why should they do all that when you can offer them what they want with much less hassle?

On the other hand, they might be moving for reasons you can’t control, maybe because they’re getting married or taking a new job in a different city or buying a house. Thank the tenant for being a great tenant, and ask if they know anyone else who might be interested in renting the unit.

You have to be committed to keeping your good tenants happy. That doesn’t include letting them break rules or pay rent late. Instead, look for little things you can do to be helpful. For example, when tenants move out, they often leave behind one or two objects of some value; bookshelves, portable fans, and so on. I offer these to my remaining good tenants. I also send Christmas cards each year with a gift card to a local coffee shop in each. It’s definitely worth $5 to make a good tenant happy.While you’re at it, invest in a few emergency items you can have available for tenants if they need them. Get a couple of electric space heaters (for use if the heating system breaks) and big coolers (if there’s a power failure). Now if you get a call about a heating problem or power failure, you can offer some quick relief until the issue is resolved.

Brendan O’Brien is the founder and president of Property Master Web™ Software. He is a contributing writer to REIP The Rewards® Magazine and is an active landlord and real estate investor. O’Brien designed Property Master Web™ with a team of 26 real estate investors and professionals to create the most comprehensive property management software solution for everyone, from first time investors to multiple property mangers. In addition to software, the advisory board has written 162 Landlording Tips that are a great resource for any property manager. For more information about Property Master Web™ visit http://www.PCPropertyMaster.com or email Brendan.obrien@pcpropertymaster.com

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http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Retain-Good-Tenants&id=617442

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Should Landlords Look To Sell Their Property Investment?

By Chris Horne

House prices in Britain have risen at an average annual rate at least 10 times higher than in other developed nations, such as Japan and Switzerland, and twice as fast as in the United States. The research by Policy Exchange, a Right-wing think-tank, shows that since 1970, prices have gone up by more than four per cent a year over inflation.

Property prices in Britain have risen for 13 successive years, and in the past decade the increase has been particularly steep. The price of an average home has risen from £70,000 when Labour came to power in 1997, to nearly £200,000 today. In the same period, the retail price index rose by only 30 per cent.

Should landlords sell & lock in gains

This all suggests on the face of it that a landlord should sell now and thereby lock in the capital gains they have made over the last few years on their residential buy-to-let investments.

However, a simple analysis of figures that show by how much the value of an asset has gone up doesn’t always give a clear indication that an asset is over valued. Any investor who has watched the rise in the price of gold in the last few years can verify that. Equally landlords who have watched the value of their property investments double in the early part of the Millennium only to watch them continue to spiral upwards in value all the way to the end of 2007 would have lost out on huge amounts of capital growth if they had taken such a view & sold.

An evaluation of the correct value of housing and residential property investment is far more complex than ‘prices have gone up a lot & therefore its time to sell’.

We as landlords really need to understand the factors that drive the value of residential investments and the housing market.

One key factor is affordability.

Affordability

The fact remains that buy-to-let investing takes place in a housing market which is still dominated by homeowners. Therefore a key factor in setting a price for a property is its’ affordability, particularly by the vast majority of purchasers who are buying a property for owner occupation.

Traditionally, the key metric has been the multiple of average income to property value. Historically this has been about 3.5 times average household income; it now stands at over 6. Some economists argue that this measure is no longer relevant because of a paradigm shift downwards in long run interest rates, making higher multiples more sustainable.

In the 80s interest rates were for most part in or near double figures; in the 90s they probably averaged 6-7%. This is still high by current levels; particularly when the fact that mortgage margins have reduced i.e. the differential a borrower pays above the prevailing base rate. In the 90s it ranged between 1-2%; before the recent credit crunch this had shrunk to in some cases to zero reducing the real costs of a mortgage even further. Even today after the ‘credit crunch’ it is possible to get a lifetime tracker at 6.39% or 0.89% above the Bank of England base rate.

House price “Bulls”

What the housing ‘bulls’ (those individuals that still believe we are in a rising market) argue is that what is more relevant in judging housing affordability is the proportion of household income paid out each month on servicing housing debt. After all they argue, people don’t think of multiples or margins when judging whether they can afford a property.

Their first thoughts are how much it will cost per month and how much income they have got after tax and other vital household expenses. For an indication of this we can go to the statistics provided by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). These stats make interesting reading. The good news for the ‘bulls’ is that the latest figures for interest payments as a percentage of median household income was 18.8% in November 07 which is well below the 27.1% reached in the first part of 1990 at the time of the house price crash of the early 90s.

However it should be remembered that this high rate was prompted by interest rates which reached 15%. What is important is that this rising figure is the highest since 1992 when the housing market was still languishing in the depths of the last housing depression. Whilst these figures are not conclusive on their own; it shows that by any measure the costs of servicing a housing debt are becoming an increasing constraint on future house price rises.

Yields

One measure which has always been popular with property investors is the gross yield.

For landlords with a good memory, they may be able to recall when gross yields on some investment properties were in double figures. It was also up until relatively recently that many landlords could secure a reasonable level of income from their residential investment properties. However, for many residential landlords those days have gone. Small rental increases have not been sufficient to keep pace with rising capital values and rising interest rates.

The result is that the last Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) review showed that gross yields had fallen to less than 5% as a UK average. This falls to 4.6% when taking into account rental voids. If management charges are also taken off, then the net yield is likely to fall below 4%. All this means that many landlords now face a cash outflow, which will remain with them for a number of years whilst rents increase and / or interest rates fall.

Housing ‘fully valued’ so shouldn’t I sell?

In conclusion then it looks on the face of it that UK housing is fully valued. Therefore, shouldn’t a landlord sell up and lock in their profits now? The decision on whether to sell a buy-to-let investment property isn’t quite as straight forward as it might first seem for a landlord. For instance, here are 5 things to consider before a landlord puts their buy-to-let property up for sale:

1 There is the small case of capital gains tax (CGT)

The Chancellor is proposing a new tax regime with a 18% band for all. However, that is still near enough a fifth of any gains a landlord has made. If a landlord has held their property for 10 years or so this is going to be a fairly high percentage of the overall value of their asset, meaning that they will have considerably less assets to reinvest in any alternatives following a sale.

2. Selling a residential investment property is not cheap.

Where an estate agent is involved and including legal fees and the new Home Information Pack (HIP) a landlord is probably looking at a minimum of 1.5% of the value of their property and that could easily increase to 2.5 or 3% in certain cases such as investment properties in London.

3.On top of this a landlord who tries to sell their residential investment property is probably best selling their buy-to-let property with vacant possession i.e. without tenants.

By doing this a landlord’s residential investment property should also appeal to the almost 90% of the residential market that are owner occupiers. This means that their investment property is empty and no rent is received during the sale period. A situation that can be particularly painful for a landlord where they still have a mortgage in place because not only are they missing out on rental income but they are also having to pay out ‘dead money’ whilst the property is being marketed. Even worst, every property speculator come opportunist knows this and assumes that you the landlord is in trouble and has to sell up. Therefore and in particularly at the moment be prepared for silly offers unless you are the lucky owner of a ‘trophy asset’ property.

4. Many landlords also buy a residential property for security.

In a world of increasing family & relationship break ups, having an additional property should the worse happen is seen by many landlords as an insurance policy against themselves or a member of their family being homeless. In addition many landlords have invested considerable time and effort buying, refurbishing and setting up their buy-to-let investment so the outright sale of their buy-to-let investment property is a large step for many landlords to take.

5.The other dilemma for landlords is what to do with any investment funds released following the sale of their residential investment property.

Many landlords have been ‘stung’ by previous investments in other asset classes such as shares. Whist the short-term gains are potentially higher, these investments are far more volatile than investments in a physical asset such as a residential investment property. At the moment cash savings are attracting a good rate of interest in the order of 6%, however most experts predict interest rates to fall throughout 2008 which means that the base rate could be as low as 4.5% by the end of the year reducing significantly the returns on cash investments.

Long -term landlords

The reality for landlords is that it’s not easy to respond quickly to trends in the housing market. For instance to sell up now and then wait 12 months to buy on a low. For a start, on a cost basis, the transaction costs of buying and selling will probably amount to 5% of setting up an investment by the time estate agents fees, legal costs and stamp duty have been factored in. Then there are the practical issues and time of identifying a suitable residential investment property, agreeing the deal and then putting it into a lettable state, not to mention finding suitable tenants. This probably goes a long way to explaining why a recent survey by the Alliance & Leicester revealed that the average period that a landlord planned to hold their investment for was 18 years. This means that most landlords choose to take a long-term approach and thereby ‘ride out’ any short term weakness in the housing market.

Financial sustainability & opportunities

A key objective for landlords now should be to ensure that their residential investment portfolio is financially sustainable. Landlords should focus on their cash-flows and take a conservative view over future property price projections.

The very nature of a property market in a slump, which appears to be the likely outcome for the UK housing market in 2008 is that it will throw up potential residential investment opportunities. Distressed sellers, repossessed buy-to-let investment properties sold at auction all make potentially excellent investments if a landlord has done their research properly, does not over borrow & invests in a ‘cash cow’ using a traditional repayment mortgage. This way a landlord will be sheltered from any down turn in residential values, as the tenant will be paying for any costs associated with these investments. A repayment mortgage will deliver a constantly reducing loan amount that should protect a landlord’s equity even in times of small falls in residential property values.

Therefore, my thoughts are that landlords thinking of selling should think through their decision carefully and make sure they are comfortable that it is the right long-term decision for them. Equally, for some landlords they might want to see the current turmoil in the credit markets and slump in house prices as a long-term buying opportunity. One thing that we are sure about is that landlords can no longer bank on rapid gains in housing values that they may have become accustomed to over the last decade. Whether a landlord decides to buy or sell; they should make sure that their investment strategy adjusts to this ‘new reality’.

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liabilty. The service is totally free to use at propertyhawk.co.uk

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Letting Tips for Landlords Renting Property to Students

By Chris Horne

Here are further tips and advice for landlords letting rental property for students. A potentially high maintenance sector of the property rental market can be made easier for landlords by following these helpful tips.

An Inventory or Schedule of condition is vitally important when landlords let a property to students. Landlords should try and find a free example of an inventory on the Internet and compile a detailed ‘Inventory, Schedule of Condition and Safety Check List’. It is worth landlords spending time on compiling an inventory that records every detail of a rental property, its contents, decoration and condition so that any damage or loss occurred during a tenancy can be claimed back.

The safety section should include: number of smoke/heat alarms, carbon monoxide alarm, make a note ‘all tested and in working order’; Landlord’s Gas Safety Certificate, PAT (Portable Appliance Test certificate of the Landlord’s electrical goods) and the 5 year, electrical certificates all supplied; burglar alarm, include note ‘demonstrated and in working order’ and fire safety equipment has been checked.

Landlords should attach photos, dated and signed by both tenant and landlord on the reverse. They should include photos of all rooms, showing positions of furniture plus key potential problem areas such as inside the cooker, behind kitchen appliances, cleanliness of lounge carpet and the condition of the garden and lawn, if they are maintaining this area.

Landlords should write ‘cleaned to a good standard’ against rooms in the inventory and provide a definition, so there can be little doubt as to what this means, such as: ”No dust or debris behind, underneath and on top of furniture, fixtures and appliances; cookers are clean and virtually free from burnt on grease, particularly on oven racks and trays; fridges, freezers and microwaves are clean and empty; Venetian blind slats, curtains and covers are clean; hard floors are mopped and any mirrors are clean; bins are washed; walls are free from washable marks and blu-tak type stains.’ and so on. A detailed inventory will support claims for damage and cleaning at the end of the tenancy.

Checkout leaflet

Landlords should devise a simple checkout leaflet, outlining the procedures and expectations at the end of the tenancy. Give it to the students at the start of the tenancy. When issuing a Section 21 notice, probably towards the end of the tenancy, remind them about the checkout leaflet.

Duty of care

A landlord’s ‘duty of care’ should include a thorough safety check of their buy-to-let property. A landlord should also provide a ‘Household Folder’, packed with helpful information. Contents could include: Moving and Living in the Premises, Student and Landlord Responsibilities, General Health and Safety, Location of Services in the House and Electrical Safety, Disposal of Refuse, Condensation, Pest Control, Use of Candles, Noise, Nuisance and Neighbour Disputes, Who is Responsible for what Repairs, Cleaning, Visits by the Landlord, Crime Prevention, Fire Safety, First Aid and Useful/Emergency Telephone Numbers. The landlord’s ‘Household Folder’ could also contain the legal certificates, instructions on the use of appliances and the buy-to-let investment’s property’s checkout leaflet.

Avoid the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)

Landlords should stop taking a security deposit and avoid the Tenancy Deposit Scheme altogether. Instead when the contract is signed, landlords should charge each student tenant a perfectly legal, £50 non-returnable administration fee. Landlords shouldn’t bother paying for a credit reference check. Students usually have very little credit history. Instead, landlords should create a separate guarantor agreement, which is usually a parent, for each tenant and include ‘joint and several’ responsibility. Landlords should remind guarantors that if they default ‘you may record this with a Credit Referencing Agency and IDS Ltd, who may supply the information to other credit companies or insurers in the quest for the responsible granting of tenancies, insurance and credit.’ Landlords should give guarantors the checkout leaflet, so they understand the standards expected at the end of the tenancy. Landlords should make sure the agreement is a deed by including the statement ‘This document is a DEED and has been executed as a DEED. This Deed of Guarantee is governed by English Law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.’ Increasingly foreign students rent buy-to-let property and in an extreme case landlords don’t want to end up in a foreign court. If landlords are storing guarantor details, register under the ‘Data Protection Act’.

If you as a landlord no longer take a security deposit; you must not harass students for money for damage and lack of cleaning, instead send a duplicate copy of your request for compensation to the student’s guarantor and they will do the legal harassment for you. Landlords should keep copies of all correspondence.

Insurance cover for a landlord’s emergency plumbing

Landlords should purchase 24-hour emergency plumbing cover. One example of this is British Gas Homecare Agreement for central heating, plumbing, drains and electrics. The British Gas plumbing and drains insurance will cover the replacement of a washer in a leaking tap.

As far as the tenant’s responsibility for replacing tap washers, I would suggest a landlord includes a general clause in the tenancy agreement such as:

‘Replace all defective electric light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, starters, fuses, tap and flexible pipe connections to a washing machine washers and vacuum filters and belts ensuring all reasonable safety precautions are observed.’

Landlords should ensure that all their properties have accessible inline valves in the pipe work, so that leaking taps are easily isolated in order for the repair to be carried out by the tenant, if necessary.

Tenantable Repairs

Landlords should also include the following under the definition of Tenantable Repairs in their modified tenancy contract which aims to shift the responsibility for minor repairs onto the tenant & make this clear from the outset:

“Tenantable Repair” means you are responsible for carrying out safely, day to day small repairs that any home-occupier would normally do e.g. re-hanging a

cupboard/wardrobe door, replacing light bulbs and batteries, tightening screws on furniture and fixtures, refitting a door handle, bleeding radiators

of air, replacing a tap washer, removing mould, refitting a toilet seat or toilet roll holder, tightening or replacing a washer in a flexible water pipe on a washing machine. This list is indicative and not prescriptive of the types of reasonable every day repairs that need to be done to keep the Premises in the same condition as at the start of the Tenancy. This excludes items, which the Landlord has responsibility in law.

How does it work? The tenant either makes the repair. This is easy with inline valves in place or in one particular case they paid for someone to do it for them.

I suggest that it offers a landlord a way of reducing their repair costs. We would suggest that the wording in the clause is slightly amended to include the following sentence as well.

“BUT nothing in this clause imposes on the Tenant any duty placed on the Landlord by:

a. s.11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985; or

b. this Agreement.”

Landlords in interpreting tenant repairs & responsibilities may find it useful to refer to Lord Denning judgment in the case Warren v Keen (1954)

Warren v Keen (1954)

(Court of Appeal, 1953)

In this judgement, Denning LJ stated:

“What does ‘to use the premises in a tenant-like manner’ mean ? ..The tenant must take proper care of the place. He must, if he is going away for the winter, turn off the water and empty the boiler. He must clean the chimneys when necessary, and also the windows. He must mend the electric light when it fuses. He must unstop the sink when, it is blocked by his waste. In short, he must do those little jobs about the place, which a reasonable tenant would do. In addition, he must, of course, not damage the house wilfully or negligently; and he must see that his family and guests do not damage it; and if they do, he must repair

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liability. The service is totally free to use at http://www.propertyhawk.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Horne
http://EzineArticles.com/?Letting-Tips-for-Landlords-Renting-Property-to-Students&id=948253

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Landlord Property Management Software – Evaluation and Analysis of Different Letting Software

By Chris Horne

What is property management software?

Property management software or as it is sometimes known, letting software is software that allows landlords to manage their rental business by enabling them to organise and store the data relating to a landlords letting business. There are a whole range of software companies that produce suites of property management software for landlords, often with various levels of functionality.

What functions can property management software be used for?

There are a whole range of functions that property management software can perform. The main things that property management software is used for in managing a landlords business is as follows:

∑ Recording rental payment from tenants

∑ Providing a financial overview of a landlord’s portfolio in respect of the buy-to-let mortgages secured against the residential investment portfolio and the total value of the residential investments

∑ Enabling a landlord to record key dates such as the dates for the landlord safety certificates or renewal of the landlords buy-to-let insurance

∑ Most landlord software packages will provide the key lettings forms required by the landlord such as: tenancy agreement, section 8 notice, section 21 notice for possession, section 13 notice for increase of rent, inventory.

∑ The landlords and tenants contact details

∑ A means to calculate a landlord income tax liabilities

There is some property management software which offers much more than these basic functions. These ‘high end’ property management software suites are very much aimed at the professional full time landlord who probably has a portfolio of at least 10 residential investment properties and derives their main income from letting out residential property to tenants. The sort of additional functionality available in these property management software packages would be:

∑ Repair monitoring & maintenance schedules

∑ Invoice facility

∑ Preparation of advertising material relating to residential investment properties

∑ Account reconciliation

∑ Creation of a landlords own website to host their rental properties

∑ Financial report writing facility

For most landlords with several properties a basic property management software package is probably adequate to carry out their day to day landlord duties. In fact a more comprehensive property management software suite could be a disadvantage. This is because their complex nature featuring all the ‘whistle & bells’ means that for a landlord to learn how to operate the ‘high end’ property management software will take a landlord many hours if not days to understand and master. It will often mean a landlord having to go on courses and being instructed by the property management software company. This is both costly in terms of the landlord’s time and the overall price of the property management software package.

How much does it cost?

For the basic property management software package landlords should budget about £100. This type of landlord property management software will enable the landlord to carry out the basic management functions relating to their portfolio. For the more advanced facilities a professional landlord would have to pay several thousands of pounds for a full property management software suite. This will of course include full support by the software company and will probably include training on how to use the property management software.

It is also effectively possible for landlords to obtain property management software for free. There is one UK website for landlord’s called Property Hawk that provides within the website the basic functions of landlord software referred to earlier. Technically it isn’t the same as property management software in that it does not sit on the individual landlord’s computer. Instead the landlord’s data is kept on the website’s server. This means that the landlord can only access the data through an internet connection. It does have the advantage that the data relating to their residential investment portfolio is available to the landlord using any computer at home work or any where else they can get an internet connection, rather than only being available on their single chosen PC. It should also mean that should the landlord suffer a hardware failure or loss, that the landlord’s critical property management data is not lost.

What software should a landlord choose?

Landlords should consider carefully the advantages and disadvantages of using specialist property management software. For those landlords with a single property the advantages of purchasing a specialist package of property management software is probably not going to be worth the £100 purchase price given that much of the data recording can be done using a simple spreadsheet. Those landlords with several properties may find the added facilities of property management software useful in organising their residential investment portfolio, particularly if they are unfamiliar with spreadsheets or are not naturally good at organising their lettings business. Those landlords that use the Internet regularly and have good internet access at home, work or even remotely through 3G or WiFi may consider that a web based application is preferable; particularly if it is free to use.

For professional landlords that may employ specialist staff an outlay on ‘high end’ property management software amounting to several thousand of pounds may be justified for their residential investment business. This is because the efficiency savings may allow a landlord to quickly recoup the initial expenditure of the property management software package.

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liabilty. The service is totally free to use at http://www.propertyhawk.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Horne
http://EzineArticles.com/?Landlord-Property-Management-Software—Evaluation-and-Analysis-of-Different-Letting-Software&id=747373

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Landlords Raising Rents on Rental Property – Advice on the Tenancy Agreements

By Chris Horne

Letting agents are seeing booming demand for rental property as first time buyers and foreign workers defer buying homes amid continued uncertainty over UK house prices.

Letting agents around London and the south east in particular are seeing up to 25% more activity in their letting business compared with a year ago. Much of this rental demand is coming from young professionals and City workers who are not prepared to gamble and buy property in a weak housing market.

The result of this boom in property lettings activity are fast rising rents in certain areas as strong competition amongst potential tenants bids up prices. Reports show that landlords in these ‘rental hotspots’ are managing to secure significant rent increases.

Lucinda Richardson, lettings Manager at the Westbourne Grove branch of Winkworth said tenants renewing their agreement were typically paying 5-10% more per year, while new occupants are paying 20% more than they would have done a year ago.

Things for landlords to avoid

Therefore if a landlord is lucky enough to own residential investment property in areas of strong rental demand, what should they be doing? Firstly landlords should always be wary of offering a tenant a longer term contract than the standard 6 month fixed term tenancy in areas where rental demand is strong and rents are rising. Glynn Judd, head of lettings at the Surrey Quays branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward reports that he is aware of tenants pushing for 18 month even 2 year fixed term tenancy. This is because once agreed most tenancy agreements do not allow a landlord to increase the rent during this fixed term.

Therefore the initial rent that the landlord agrees may look very appealing at the outset, but will it still look so good in 24 months time? During this time employing a standard 6 month fixed term tenancy a landlord could have legally raised the rent three times. The other alternative to a landlord is to opt for a periodic tenancy.

How can landlords raise their rents

Fixed term tenancy

How a landlord goes about raising the rent will largely depend on the type of tenancy in place. Most landlords use a fixed term tenancy agreement such as the one available on Property Hawk. In most cases a landlord will opt for a 6 month tenancy although it can be longer. This means that without the tenancy agreement you as the landlord cannot put up the rent during this period, unless the tenancy agreement makes specific provisions allowing this. These specific provisions may be by way of an escalator clause for instance stating that the rent will go up by inflation after six months.

The vast majority of landlords avoid such clauses. This is because they are seen as overly prescriptive and inflexible. Most landlords opt to review the rent when they decide whether to re-let at the end of the fixed term tenancy. This way a landlord can judge the prevailing market conditions and work out what the rental market will bare at that particular time. For instance in places such as central London and parts of the south east, rental inflation is running well ahead of general inflation, therefore for a landlord just to track inflation would mean their rents are falling behind the market.

If a landlord decides to opt to re-let to the existing tenant then raising the rent is relatively easy as all they do is create a new assured short hold tenancy with the new rent included.

Periodic tenancies

The other type of tenancy that a landlord might employ is a periodic tenancy. These are tenancies where there is no specific end date. The two types of periodic tenancy are the contractual periodic tenancy in which from the outset there is no end date, or the much more common statutory periodic tenancy. The statutory periodic tenancy comes about when a fixed term tenancy lapses.

In the case of periodic tenancies, increasing the rent is slightly more complicated because the landlord will need to go through the formal procedure as set out in section 13 of the Housing Act 1988. If the landlord wants to increase the rent and intends to keep the tenancy on a statutory periodic tenancy, they can use the special form titled Landlord’s notice proposing a new rent under an Assured Periodic Tenancy or Agricultural Occupancy sometimes known as a section 13 notice. This form allows a landlord to propose a rent increase as soon as the statutory tenancy begins. For a contractual period tenancy a landlord can use the same form to propose an increase which will take effect one year after a tenancy begins. In both cases a months notice of the increase is required for rents paid on a weekly or monthly basis (more if the rent period is longer). With both periodic tenancies a landlord can propose further rent increases at yearly intervals, after the first increase.

Potential snags for a landlord raising rents

There are a number of potential snags for landlords when raising the rent. Not least amongst these can be scaring off perfectly good tenants by making the rent unaffordable. A landlord has to be therefore confident that they their existing tenant will be able to afford the new rent or that they will be able to quickly fill any vacancy and avoid a protracted void period.

Firstly, the snag with section 13 rent increases is generally a landlord can only raise rents once a year. In a fast moving market such as the one being experienced in parts of London and the South-East currently, annual rental increases will not keep pace with market rents meaning that a landlord towards the end of the 12 month rental period will have a rent below the open market value and therefore be missing out on potential rental income.

The other aspect about a landlord with a periodic tenancy who needs to use a section 13 notice is that it entitles a tenant who is not happy with the rental increase to apply to a Rent Assessment Committee for a determination of what rent a landlord could reasonably expect to pay if he or she was letting it on the open market under a new tenancy on the same terms. The committee has the power to agree the rent or set a rent higher or lower. The rent then fixed by the committee is the legal maximum the landlord can charge. The new rent will be payable from the date specified in the landlord’s notice unless the committee considers this would cause a tenant undue hardship in which case it may specify a later date. The landlord can propose that the rent is increased a year after the date on which the rent decided by the committee was payable.

Power of the Rent Assessment Committee

All this may sound quite daunting to a landlord. The reality is it shouldn’t be. Whilst on the face of it the Rent Assessment Committee seems to have a considerable amount of power, in reality they don’t. For a start they can only set a new rent if it is demonstrably unreasonable. The other factors that limits the scope of the Rent Assessment Committee and the tenant in ultimately setting rental levels is that the landlord retains the right to issue a section 21 notice.

This means that providing the fixed term period has come to an end by the time the notice has expired a landlords ultimate response to a rent that is unsatisfactory is to regain possession of their rental property and simply re-let it to another tenant at the rent that they and the market will bare.

What should landlords do?

The simple answer is that landlords should normally opt for a fixed term tenancy such as the free tenancy agreement available within Property Hawk’s Property Manager. A landlord should avoid the tenancy lapsing and becoming a periodic tenancy. They can do this by going through the motions of issuing a section 21 notice for possession even at the start of the tenancy to ensure that a landlord can bring the tenancy to an end. In this way a landlord is in the perfect position at the end of the fixed term to either re-let to the existing tenant at a higher rent, or if the tenant objects, to regain possession and then let their buy-to-let investment property to another tenant at the higher rent.

A word of caution to landlords in less high demand areas. Tenants can be sometimes unsettled by receiving a section 21 notice and therefore a landlord needs to approach the situation sensitivity and explain that the notice is a just a formal procedure and that they have no intention of seeing it through. The reality is for any landlord is that having a tenant paying rent, even if it is not the absolute top rate, is far preferable than having no rent at all!

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liability. The service is totally free to use at http://www.propertyhawk.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Horne
http://EzineArticles.com/?Landlords-Raising-Rents-on-Rental-Property—Advice-on-the-Tenancy-Agreements&id=1041166

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Advice For Landlords Going To A Court Of Law Against A Tenant

By Chris Horne

Landlords should see going to court as a landlord’s last resort. Unfortunately though, a court appearance is a fact of life for many landlords who are looking at regaining possession of their buy-to-let investment property, or are simply trying to retrieve rent & other monies owed to them by their tenant.

It is almost certain that any case that does go to court involving a landlord will end up in one of the 218 county courts in the country which deal with all but the most complicated civil law proceedings. Each court has Bailiffs who enforce court orders and seek to collect money if a judgment has not been paid.

So as a landlord you have filed court proceedings and the day is fast approaching when you will have to appear. What does a landlord need to do?

Justice

Firstly, a landlord should dispel any romantic notion that a landlord’s court appearance is a mechanism to bring about justice after months of suffering at the hands of a bad tenant. One landlord neatly summarised the legal system governing the renting of property:

“it’s got sod all to do with who’s right and who’s wrong, just who’s filled in the proper bits of paper and knows their bundle of papers really thoroughly.”

This means that even when you as a landlord know that you have done the right thing, this will count for nothing in the eyes of the law. Landlords should realise that going to court is case of proving a set of events against a list of very specific criteria. It is nothing to do with justifying that you the landlord are a good person and that your tenants are bad.

A landlords preparation for a court appearance

Careful preparation is definitely the key to any landlord’s court appearance, particularly if the landlord is representing themselves. A landlord really needs to know what the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR say about the area of law they are taking action over. For example, the repossession of a landlord’s buy-to-let property following a period of non-payment of rent. Civil Procedure Rules (CPR for those landlords that haven’t come across them before are the procedural code that sets out how the court deals with cases in a just manner. Landlords before going to court should be aware of it and in particular the first few parts of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR that deal with how court business is run in respect of paperwork, dates of service, etc.

It’s all about the evidence a landlord can present

As I mentioned previously the secret for any landlord who wants to obtain justice is providing sufficient evidence. Before going to court a landlord will have to submit a pile of documentary evidence. This folder of documentary evidence is known in legal parlance as a “bundle” and it should contain all the evidence that a landlord refers to in their statement. This might be letters that have been exchanged between the landlord and tenant, rent statements, the tenancy agreement, etc. A landlord should prepare their table of contents carefully, giving the date, a name for the entry (e.g. e-mail from defendant to landlord) and a one-line summary of the important point in the document. (For example a defendant states that they have no money available to pay rent). It is important that the landlord numbers the pages in the bundle and that they know what is where in case the judge decides to ask a question about it. A landlord should put post-it notes on the edges of their own copy so that they can find things quickly and simply. A landlord should present the court’s bundle in a ring-binder folder so the judge can easily get to the pages that the landlord refers to (this is a requirement of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR anyway.)

A landlord should establish a clear timeline of everything that has happened to assist the judge in their determination. The landlord should also endeavour to give precise dates and amounts of money.

Finally, in preparing their statement, where a landlord makes reference to letters, e-mails etc, a landlord should make a note in their statement of the exact page number where this bit of evidence occurs in the landlord’s bundle. This will help the judge when referencing the evidence and is also a requirement in the Civil Procedure Rules.

Most importantly a LANDLORD SHOULD BE WELL PREPARED. More importantly, they should be better prepared than their opponent, THE TENANT.

Tips for landlords on the court appearance

1. Firstly, a landlord should try and stay calm. A landlord should present their case in a dispassionate and calm manner. Getting worked up or annoyed will not help a landlord’s case but getting across the facts and evidence will.

2. Court appearances are often brief. Landlords shouldn’t expect an epic appearance. Where the defendant (the tenant) fails to show which is quite common and the evidence provided to the court is clear cut, the whole thing could be over in 5 minutes.

3. It is always useful for the landlord to have the basic facts on a single piece of paper as an ‘aide memoir’ and for easy reference listing the page or paragraph reference in the landlord’s bundle of evidence (the landlord should bring the full details as well just in case)

If for example, the landlord is seeking possession under section 8 grounds the landlord might have the following information to hand:

* Tenancy start date

* Date the Section 8 Notice was served and how (proof of postage if the landlord has it)

* Arrears figure worked out to the set date. I normally do a large print spreadsheet for the judge to see.

4. A landlord should keep their answers to any questions short (yes / no). A landlord should be clear and concise. Landlords will probably find that the tenant will waffle on annoying the judge and digging a deeper and deeper hole for them selves. Remember a landlord can never prove a negative. For instance, that a tenant has not paid rent. Instead, a landlord should ensure that they lodge whatever evidence they hold and then claim that a tenant has not paid the rent; they should let the tenant prove that they have.

Remember all the evidence that a landlord has produced in court should have been submitted beforehand within a landlord’s witness statement. The judge and the defendant will get a copy of this before the hearing.

5. Landlords should be aware that courts and even judges are not infallible. Therefore a landlord should always check any judgement carefully to ensure that the law has been correctly applied. If in doubt a landlord should always seek clarification from the court, or if a landlord is still unsatisfied they should seek professional advice. There have been cases for where the admin staff working at the court have not been clear on the judgement and issued an incorrect judgement or even that a judge has misinterpreted the law!

Chris Horne is an experienced landlord and property professional who now runs the website Property Hawk, a site aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software that enables landlords to track all their financial data relating to their portfolio. It allows users to print tenancy agreements and other forms FREE FOREVER. The site generates a real time rent book for each property as well as calculating a landlords tax liabilty. The service is totally free to use at propertyhawk.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Horne
http://EzineArticles.com/?Advice-For-Landlords-Going-To-A-Court-Of-Law-Against-A-Tenant&id=985959

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