Issue 20 - June 2010
Welcome to the June 2010 edition of the Greater Nottingham Landlords' Electronic Newsletter.
Contents
- Nottingham City Council Landlord Resources - As an Environmental Health Officer I speak to a number of landlords in person...
- National Landlord Association Update - Following, what seemed like endless negotiation the Country has a new Government...
- HSE's One Stop Shop gas safety website for landlords - On Monday 10 May 2010, HSE launched a new web based ‘One Stop Shop’ for guidance to help landlords...
- National Landlord Association - FOCUS: On the Housing Minister - After three years as shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP will now be in the novel position...
Nottingham City Council - Landlord Resources
As an Environmental Health Officer I speak to a number of landlords in person, on the telephone and via email about ensuring properties are safe for habitation including the relevant legislation and guidance documents available.
Some landlords have been in the business of letting properties for many years and others have just set up in this line of business, therefore knowledge and experience varies greatly.
Landlords do comment that legislation changes quickly and ask where further information and guidance can be sort. Therefore I shall attempt to pin point useful documents and websites.
Although there is not necessarily a 'one stop shop' for all of the information required - the DASH website hosts a vast amount of information including fire safety and the Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). The web address is www.eastmidlandsdash.org.uk
The guidance documents and training that is available is based on legislation with one of the main pieces of legislation being The Housing Act 2004 which includes HHSRS and Licensing. The Office of Public Sector Information holds all legislation that has been sanctioned. The Housing Act 2004 can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/pdf/ukpga_20040034_en.pdf
The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 places duties on the manager of the HMO which includes taking safety measures and maintaining living accommodation. Failure to comply with these regulations is a criminal offence. In addition, the Regulations place a number of duties on the occupiers of an HMO. This can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/uksi_20060372_en.pdf
The Landlord Handbook is available from www.anuk.org.uk/Information/LandlordHandbook/Landlord_trainingmanual_web.pdf and is a useful guidance document which covers tenancies, landlord responsibilities and legislation.
If you prefer to refresh your knowledge and understanding or to gain further knowledge and understanding on any matter with regards to letting out properties a number of training courses are available.
DASH offer courses on HHSRS Rating and Fire safety risk assessment for more information visit: www.eastmidlandsdash.org.uk
UNIPOL offer courses on hazard management, LACORS fire safety and what is a tenancy? www.unipol.org.uk
EMPO also offer a range of courses. www.empo.co.uk
National Landlord Association Update
Following, what seemed like endless negotiation the Country has a new Government. As a result it is all change on the housing policy merry-go-round.
It is still early days for the new administration, but the Coalition has now announced their programme for the forthcoming Parliament in the form of the Queen's Speech. Although landlords will be relieved to hear that there is no 'Housing Bill' for 2010, there are a number of proposals which may impact on landlords in the coming months and years. (Please note that at the time of publication details of the following legislation have not yet been published.)
Decentralisation and Localism Bill. This bill proposes to abolish regional spatial plans, return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils, devolving greater power to local residents via referenda, and to create trusts to enable communities to provide more homes for local people.
Welfare Reform Bill. This is intended to reduce the scope for fraud and costly errors in the benefit system and to simplify the benefits system, removing barriers to returning to work.
Energy Bill. This aims to implement the 'Green Deal' to incentivise energy efficiency at home, utilising a 'pay as you save' approach. It also proposes the creation of a Green Investment Bank to support and drive investment in low carbon projects.
Aside from the primary legislation the first housing measure implemented by the new housing minsters was to suspend Home Information Packs (HIPs) - while retaining Energy Performance Certificates.
Following on from the State Opening of Parliament the first Conservative Budget since 1996 is scheduled for 22 June. Treasury officials are, as always, sworn to secrecy about details of the Budget Statement but thanks to the Lib/Con coalition agreement changes are expected to the Capital Gains Tax system to bring rates into line with income tax bands.
Such changes could have an enormous impact on the housing market, and more than 2,600 landlords have already joined the NLA's CGT campaign.
HSE's One Stop Shop gas safety website for landlords
On Monday 10 May 2010, HSE launched a new web based 'One Stop Shop' for guidance to help landlords understand what they need to do to comply with their domestic gas safety duties.
The new website www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/index.htm has been developed to provide a single source of relevant information for landlords. The aim is to improve awareness of gas safety requirements and to make it easier for landlords to find the information they need to carry out their duties for gas safety.
The Gas Safety - Installation and Use, Regulations 1998 place specific duties on landlords for the maintenance and repair of gas appliances, pipe work and flues in domestic rented accommodation; to have appliances and flues checked annually for safety and to provide information about these checks to tenants.
The site will be part of HSE's gas website and is in four key areas - repair/maintenance duties, annual gas safety checks, record keeping and dealing with tenants. Information has been gathered from many sources, on both duties and good practice, to provide landlords with one comprehensive information point.
Working together with the National Landlords Association (NLA) on the development and evaluation of the website, we have received excellent feedback from those who took part. They were generally positive about the 'one stop shop' concept and recognised the value of being able to get 'bite-sized pieces of information' in one place.
You can also subscribe to a new gas eBulletin which provides a free, regular update for gas issues from HSE.
National Landlord Association - FOCUS: On the Housing Minister...
After three years as shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP will now be in the novel position of having to take decisions about housing which can actually be implemented. Given how long he's had his housing brief, how knowledgeable he is about the sector and the issues he is likely to face over the next few years, it will be interesting to see what direction housing policy will take under his guidance. It will also make a refreshing change to work with a housing minister who is able to point to a degree of job stability, following constant change which has characterised the last few years.
Just before the General Election Shapps published a collection of speeches on housing yet they singularly lacked any mention of the private rented sector or landlords. Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that the Housing Minister will no-longer be invited to attend Cabinet as his predecessors were. Hopefully this change is not representative of a downgrading of housing issues.
Despite this he has been supportive of the NLA over the last couple years. He attended our joint reception at Conservative Party conference with the housing charity Crisis last year. He's also expressed this support recently by signing a parliamentary motion just before the last election calling on the last Government to revoke legislation which requires landlords of shared housing to obtain planning permission for new houses in multiple occupation.
Governing is always more difficult than Opposition and only time will tell how Grant will deal with the many competing housing issues that will come across his desk.
Hopefully this time the Housing Minister will have enough time in the job to tackle them.
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