Out of Pocket

Deeper rent arrears troubling landlords

There are some worrying statistics being bounced around at the moment. The most concerning being that nearly 100,000 tenants are now in arrears by at least two months: not a good sign for landlords. Hopefully your tenancies are running as smoothly as ever, but it is good to be aware that rent arrears are a growing and significant problem. The official figures from LSL property services are... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on October 12th, 2012 in Evicting Tenants, Property Rental, Rent Arrears

Money

Rent arrears are rocketing: are you ready?

There's plenty of evidence around that rent arrears are on the increase, but what's more troubling is that we have a feeling that the current economic climate things can only get worse. The National Debtline, a charity dedicated to helping people with money worries, says that enquiries related to rent arrears have rocketed by 84% in the past four years. This certainly tallies with other evidence... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on October 14th, 2011 in Buy-to-let, Evicting Tenants, Rent Arrears, Tips for New Landlords, Upad

Council High Rise

Housing benefit to be paid direct to landlords with tenants in arrears

The direct payment of Housing Benefit to landlords rather than tenants is back on the table, according to Welfare Minister, Lord Freud. In a speech to the National Housing Federation conference, he said that landlords will receive benefit payments directly as part of the new universal credit system. If their tenants fall into rent arrears, Lord Freud said that the main aim of this measure was to... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on September 23rd, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Housing Benefit, Property Rental, Rent Arrears, Social Housing

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Judge forces Camden Council to reveal empty property list to squatters

A judge has ordered Camden Council to reveal its list of empty properties to a squatter under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI). Under the terms of the ruling, Camden must publish details on all unoccupied council-owned properties and also information regarding private properties belonging to non-individuals that it knows to be unoccupied. Camden Council have 28 days to comply with the... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on September 8th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Landlord Legislation, Property Rental

rioters-uk-2011

Landlords: We won’t rehouse evicted council house rioters.

In the aftermath of the riots in London, and other parts of the country, we posed a question here on the Upad blog: "should rioters lose their council homes?" We were overwhelmed with dozens of comments and the response was unambiguous. The vast majority answered: “Yes!” Jane spoke for many when she answered, “Of course they should! There are plenty of law abiding citizens on waiting... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on August 26th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Housing Benefit, Property Rental

London Riots 2011

Should rioters lose their council houses?

In the race to be the toughest on law and order, in the aftermath of the riots and looting across the country earlier in the week, the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary have both said that convicted rioters should lose out on benefits and possibly even their social housing. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said in the House of Commons yesterday: "To the law-abiding people who play by... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on August 12th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Housing Benefit, Property Rental, Social Housing, Tenant Rights

bulletproof featured

Landlords: bulletproof your Section 21 notices

Mistakes in Section 21 notices are among the most common reasons for delays and increased costs when a landlord tries to recover possession from a tenant who has an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). Judges are well aware of the complicated statutory provisions that govern such notices. And the slightest mistake, such as an incorrect expiry date, is harshly dealt with, usually resulting in... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on August 3rd, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Landlord Legislation, Property Rental, Tenant Rights, Tips for New Landlords

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Ask Upad: My tenant is keeping chickens.

Q.) I rent a basement flat in a town centre location to a middle aged women. She’s been in residence for three years and whilst a bit eccentric (I call her an aging hippy), she hasn’t been any bother. With the basement flat, there is a small front yard where you might keep bins or the like. My tenant has installed a small run with a coop, that fits the space perfectly and she keeps two... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on May 3rd, 2011 in Ask Upad, Evicting Tenants, Property Management

Police

Landlord suing tenant over marijuana grow-house

An Illinois landlord has sued a previous tenant, who was running a marijuana grow-house in her property. The tenant was accused of growing more than 200 marijuana plants in a sophisticated operation, which included professional lighting and a ventilation system. The complaint by the landlord refers to the damage caused by the tenant during his stay in the property. The tenant had rented the... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on April 12th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Property Rental

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Internet connection

Is a tenant database ethically right?

A husband and wife duo have launched a tenant database, aimed at sorting the good from the bad especially with regards to rental arrears. The Hendersons decided to start up this database in response to the horror stories they have heard over the years. The couple themselves not been without troubles over their 15 year lettings history. The figures recently released by LSL Property Services... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on April 5th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Finding Tenants, Property Rental, Rent Arrears, Tenant Rights

domestic life

How to rent to students…

A student property has different criteria to a standard private rental. Students tend to occupy a property for nine months of the year. They are looking short term and look at each academic year as a separate living period. It is merely a location to base themselves during their studies and is not viewed as a home, but purely as a living space. However when a tenant wants to live in their... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on February 10th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Legal, Property Rental, Tenant Rights

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jekyllandhyde

The Jekyll and Hyde of tenants

The key to avoiding bad tenants is to avoid the places where the quality of tenant is unknown. If your property is advertised on the professional sites such as Rightmove, FindaProperty and Zoopla then the quality of tenant tends to be higher (professional channel, professional tenant). The free sites mean you don’t have to pay out in advertising but you may pay out at a later stage in property... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on February 4th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Finding Tenants, Property Rental, Tenant Rights

1970s Disco Music Party

The good, the bad and the loud

What is an acceptable amount of noise to make as a tenant? There is no decibel count, but there is a sociable line in terms of both volume and time of day. In Brighton a neighbour has had to ensure a nightmare scenario and it is about time such things are dealt with. The neighbour in question was forced to sleep in her car because the tenants next door were making too much noise, far and... Read more

Posted by Simon @ Upad on January 26th, 2011 in Evicting Tenants, Property Rental

shapps

Landlords need proper action on eviction, not tinkering.

The latest from ever-present, effervescent Housing Minister Grant Shapps regards eviction: he plans to give councils and housing associations new powers to help landlords evict so-called “neighbours from Hell” from social housing. It can, apparently, take as much as a year to evict anti-social social tenants. The new powers will include a new “mandatory ground for possession” to speed... Read more

Posted by Dan @ Upad on January 13th, 2011 in Buy-to-let, Evicting Tenants, Landlord Legislation

man with megaphone

Over 2,000 landlords demand change in the law

In their drive to improve the legal process for landlords by making the tenant eviction for problem tenants easier and improving landlords’ rights of access , the campaign, ‘Rebalancing the Law’ – spearheaded by Landlord Action – has gained the support of over 2,000 landlords in just one month. The petition, which will be presented to Downing Street by Landlord Action and Mike... Read more

Posted by Landlord Action on November 1st, 2010 in Evicting Tenants, Landlord Legislation

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