Greater Nottingham Landlords Electronic Newsletter - www.nottslandlordinfo.co.uk Partner logos

Issue 4 - October 2007

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Greater Nottingham Landlords' Newsletter


Contents

  1. Attention student landlords
  2. Amendments to prescribed standards relating to bathing and toilet facilities
  3. Gedling Borough Council's deposit guarantee scheme
  4. Landlords - renting your property has never been easier!
  5. East Midlands Property Owners working in the community on your behalf
  6. Ways and Means Report from the Chartered Institute of Housing.
  7. Model Landlord Development Manual
  8. National Landlords Association top ten tips on how to be a successful landlord
  9. Finally

Attention student landlords

Unipol Student Homes is opening a new accommodation bureau service in Nottingham to provide services to students and landlords. Unipol is a national charity working in student housing, and has existing services in Leeds, Bradford and London.

A new website will provide a centralised advertising service for students at both universities and colleges in Nottingham. Landlords with smaller properties (fewer than 15 bed spaces per building) will be able to advertise for free until 31 July 2008. The website is already up and running at www.unipol.org.uk/Nottingham, and landlords can register to advertise online.

Unipol will be opening two new offices from early October. A staffed site on Cut-through Lane on the University of Nottingham Park, where students will be able to search for accommodation and landlords can get help and advice on advertising their properties, and an un-staffed site at Nottingham Trent Student Union where students can also search the website for properties.

As part of the new centralised service, Unipol will also be taking over the Greater Nottingham Student Accreditation Scheme, providing one point of contact for current members and those interested in joining. Unipol will be providing preferential and exclusive advertising opportunities to accredited landlords, such as a housing tabloid newspaper that will be distributed to all students in Nottingham. Unipol will strongly promote accredited landlords to students through all of its publications and website. Unipol aims to build membership of the scheme significantly over the coming year, and in consultation with landlords will also be up-dating the scheme in 2008. Membership of the accreditation scheme is free, and Unipol will be carrying out inspections of new and existing members over the next year.

Unipol is pleased to be working in partnership with the University of Nottingham, University of Nottingham Student Union, Nottingham Trent Student Union and Nottingham City Council, who will be recommending Unipol to all students as the preferred method to find accommodation in the private rented sector.

Local authorities will now no longer be inspecting existing or proposed new properties, as Unipol will be arranging to inspect 1 in 5 properties within its first year in operation.

The inspections will be carried out under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, and should category one hazards be found, the local authorities will be informed so that action in accordance with the enforcement concordat can commence to eliminate/reduce the hazards found.

For landlords with properties in the Broxtowe Borough area, should you have queries over properties that are currently accredited please do not hesitate to contact Tina King on 0115 917 7777 ext 3420. In Rushcliffe call 0115 9148322; in Gedling call 0115 9013901; and in Nottingham City call 0115 9155555.

If you have any questions or would like more information about Unipol services, please visit the website at www.unipol.org.uk/Nottingham or contact Vicky Loverseed on 0115 846 8590 or email info@nottingham.unipol.org.uk

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Amendments to prescribed standards relating to bathing and toilet facilities in houses in multiple occupation

Amendments to the Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006 No. 373) came into force on the 1st October 2007.

The prescribed standards for bathing and toilet facilities have been amended. In Schedule 3 of the Regulations paragraph 2(1) and (2) have been substituted by:

"2 (1) Where all or some of the units of living accommodation in an HMO do not contain bathing and toilet facilities for the exclusive use of each individual household-
(a) there must be an adequate number of bathrooms, toilets and wash-hand basins suitable for personal washing for the number of persons sharing those facilities; and
(b) where reasonably practicable there must be a wash hand basin with appropriate splash back in each unit other than a unit in which a sink has been provided as mentioned in paragraph 4(1), having regard to the age and character of the HMO, the size and layout of each flat and its existing provision for wash-hand basins, toilets and bathrooms"

These standards are less specific than the original standards and enable the Local Authority to determine what is deemed adequate/appropriate in each individual HMO.

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Gedling Borough Council's Deposit Guarantee Scheme

In March 2007 Gedling Borough Council introduced a Deposit Guarantee Scheme to assist people who are threatened with homelessness to access private rented accommodation. The scheme provides landlords with a written guarantee for a deposit, up to the value of one month's rent.

Finding a property
Gedling Borough Council will be able to assist the applicant in finding a suitable property if they are unable to identify their own. Once a property has been found the applicant will complete a "pre-tenancy determination form" which is sent to the Rent Service. They then determine the maximum rent payable by Housing Benefit. If the actual rent is no more than £10 per week greater than this valuation then it is likely that the application will be approved. Any application where the rent charged is more than £10 per week greater than this valuation will be refused.

What are the benefits?
The landlord will be able to contact a named officer within the Housing Department of Gedling Borough Council should they have any queries. It is hoped that landlords will offer a subsequent tenancy of the same property to the same tenant when the initial agreement has ended. If this is the case an extension to the guarantee can also be made (subject to no problems from the initial agreement). The scheme is legally binding and an agreement is signed by both parties thereby providing the landlord with the security of a guarantee. It is hoped that both landlord and tenant will benefit from continuity of tenancy and avoid the costs incurred by both when a new tenant or new property is required.

If you require any further information on the Deposit Guarantee Scheme then please contact:

The Housing Options Team
Gedling Borough Council
Civic Centre
Arnot Hill Park
Arnold
Nottinghamshire
NG5 6LU

Tel: 0115 9013674

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Landlords - renting your property has never been easier!

Join the First Lets scheme and benefit from the skills and expertise of a partnership between the three Borough Councils of Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe to help more people access private rented accommodation.

Receive professional support and advice, landlord accreditation, a tenant referencing service, guaranteed income, £50 towards gas safety checks and FREE ADVERTISING!

For further information:
visit www.firstlets.org.uk,
email: firstlets@rushcliffe.gov.uk
Or telephone: 0115 914 8511

Details of our landlords accreditation service can also be found on the website.

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East Midlands Property Owners working in the community on your behalf

Bins off streets
Many of you will be aware that councils are taking tough action to ensure bins are no longer left permanently on the streets. They are unsightly and are a potential hazard. Nottingham City has introduced a £100 fine for persistent offenders. I believe the first fines have been issued. On three occasions now we have carried out our "Bins off Streets" campaign in partnership with Neighbourhood services and the enviro-crime unit. The areas covered were Glentworth Road Radford, the Drives off Derby Road and the Lenton Triangle again off Derby Road. The idea is to get the bins off the street, give out the correct message to the occupants and save them from being fined.

Our next "assault" is on the 17th October in the Lenton Triangle area and on this occasion we will be joined by the Nottingham University Students Union. You can help us by getting that message across to all your tenants when they move in. Fines will only turn tenants off living in your houses.

Rubbish collection charge removed
Nottingham City Council's Services Director for Street Scene and Waste Management, John Robinson agreed to remove the £12 per item clearance cost following an EMPO meeting. For this we are grateful. You can now have up to 6 items cleared at no cost. In return we should try ever harder not to just dump items anywhere but work with the council to keep the neighbourhoods cleaner and smarter. It will benefit us in attracting and keeping our tenants and ensuring good neighbourly relationships.

Street Audits
Often accusations are levied at landlords on various issues. To find out the truth I have introduced street audits on behalf of EMPO and all landlords. The first issue was complaints about the number of "to let" and "for sale" signs. I undertook a survey of The Drives in Lenton. The results were helpful and proved that there was not a serious problem. At the same time every street was looked at for environmental problems. I found only three out of over 800 addresses, non serious, so again dispelling false accusations. During the Bins off Streets campaign we carry out street audits was well. Again there were only limited problems. We will carry this on into next year.

Tom Glancz
Director
EMPO
www.empo.co.uk

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Ways and Means Report from the Chartered Institute of Housing

The Ways and Means Report considers the tools available to local authorities when they are working with the private rented sector, and discusses how authorities are using these tools. It contains research findings and guidance on good practice which will be of interest to landlords, local authority staff and councillors. It also presents recommendations for ways in which government could improve how councils work with the private rented sector.

'Ways and Means: A guide for landlords' has been published by the British Property Federation.

The Ways and Means report is available in traditional report format and as an interactive website which has been designed so that you can access relevant sections quickly and easily as you need them. You can visit the website or download a full copy of the report.

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Model Landlord Development Manual

The Improvement and Development Agency and the Accreditation Network UK have produced a model landlord development manual. This manual contains the basic level of knowledge required for a landlord. It is intended to benefit a range of landlords and letting agents. It is not designed to be specific to any locality or for landlords of particular types of properties. It covers property standards, management and landlord and tenancy matters.

Rushcliffe Borough Council have a limited number of hard copies of the report available. Call 0115 9148322 to get your free copy.

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National Landlords Association top ten tips on how to be a successful landlord

David Salusbury, Chairman of the NLA has identified the following as his top ten tips:

  1. Treat tenants as clients, ask them what they think and stay in touch with them
  2. Deal promptly and sympathetically with tenants' concerns
  3. Make yourself aware of relevant regulation, law and taxation
  4. Keep detailed records
  5. Devise a maintenance programme and stick to it
  6. Keep a pair of rubber gloves handy
  7. Whenever possible, take and check references
  8. Do a little often rather than a lot infrequently
  9. Ask for a little below market rent rather than a little above
  10. Join the NLA

To join the NLA visit www.landlords.org.uk

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Finally

We hope you have enjoyed this newsletter and found the contents useful and interesting. If you have any suggestions for future articles or questions, please contact us.

If you know someone who would be interested in the contents of this newsletter, please send us their email address and we will add them to our distribution list.

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please send the word 'cancel' to us and we will remove you from the next mailing.

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