A New Year means New Legislation for Landlords

On 23^rd January 2023 the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will come into force.

 

These new regulations will predominantly apply to high-rise buildings, specifically those over 11 metres and 18 metres or at least over seven storeys with communal areas. 

 

However, section 9 and 10 does relate to all buildings with two or more domestic premises and communal areas, which would lead us to assume that in addition to buildings with self-contained flats, these regulations will also apply to rooms let on individual tenancies in HMOs.

 

It is also assumed if there has been a conversion and the structure comprises two maisonettes with front doors on the street and no communal area, these regulations will not apply.

 

So what do you need to do if these regulations apply to your type of property

 

Section 9- Fire safety instructions to residents 

 

A responsible person must display fire safety instructions prominently in communal areas. The instructions must include the following:

 

·       how to evacuate a building,

how to report a fire to fire and rescue, and

·       any other instruction that tells residents what to do when a fire has occurred.

 

In addition, the responsible person must provide a copy of the instructions:

 

·       to all residents within the building within 12 months of the start of the regulations;

·       to a new resident as soon as reasonably practicable after they move in; and

·       to all residents every 12 months

 

The regulations also state that these instructions will be provided to the occupant when there is a change and annually.

 

Section 10- Fire doors

 

Requires the responsible person to provide information about the fire doors in the building, whether or not they are within the individual dwelling or the communal parts. That information must include that:

 

·       all fire doors are to be kept closed when not in use,

·       residents or their guests should not tamper with any self-closing devices, and

·       residents should immediately report any fault or damages to the fire doors to the responsible person.

 

This information must be given to all existing occupiers within 12 months of when the regulations come into force (23^rdJanuary 2023) and to all new occupiers as soon as reasonably practicable after that resident moves in. 

 

The information must be given annually as a refresher.

 

The full Act can be viewed Here: 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/547/contents/made

 

 

 

 

  

The Snow On Your Roof can tell you a lot About Your Home

With the recent snow still sat on our roofs looking like a picture postcard we can be forgiven for wishing for warmer weather.

But the snow on your roof can tell you aloe but your property and help you make smart decisions for the future.

Whether the snow on your roof is a perfect blanket, or it has splotches of melting spots, that says something about the insulation efficiency of your home.

A roof that is evenly snow covered means that home’s insulation is doing its job.  Think about it:  during the winter months we put a lot of effort into heating our homes.  However, heat naturally rises.  So, if your home has lots of leaky spots and not enough attic insulation, that warm air is going straight to the attic and out to the roof, melting snow.

If you start to notice big spaces on your roof that aren’t snow covered, you have a problem.  Those are areas where the insulation is not working properly.  Not only are you losing energy and money, but it could have a direct impact on your tenants who pay the bills.

But it’s not all doom and gloom

An even covering of snow on the roof means that the insulation inside is working well.  It also means that your home is receiving an extra layer of insulation against cold outside temperatures.  

Paul Fisette, wood technologist, explains,”…on average snow has an R-value of 1 per inch — about the same as wood. Twelve inches of snow have roughly the same insulating value as a 2×4 wall filled with fiberglass insulation.”

So get your tenants to take a photo of your snow covered roofs and see if your insulation needs topping up

When is an AST NOT an AST…. When Foxtons says so..

The tenant fee ban act has been in place since 1st June 2019, but is it shocking to see how many Property professionals, also known as letting agents, are either not aware of its existence, or believe they can charge a fee as long as they call it something else.

As most of you know, I am fascinated by the total disregard or ignorance of some agents to the existence of the Tenant Fee ban Act (TFBact).

I spend many a dark night reading through the decisions made by the First Tier Tribunal regarding payments taken by agents and landlords alike which breach the TFBact rules.

Mostly, the breaches are lack of knowledge / education.

I have looked at the last 14 cases that were heard by the First Tier Tribunal relating too Tenant Fees Act - Financial Penalties.

Shockingly of these 14 cases only 3 were brought against landlords who were self-managing, the rest were all against letting agents, a number of which where high street National agents who, in my opinion should have known better.

The most common compliant raised by tenants was agents not refunding the Holding deposit, in all of these cases the Tribunal found in favor if the tenant and ordered the agent to refund the tenant in full

This particular case caught my eye simply for its open attempt to sideswipe the TFBact by a National high street agent who lets face it reputation precedes it

The background

3 tenants entered into a joint tenancy agreement for a property in London for a fixed term of 8weeks.

Foxtons charged each tenant a fixed fee of £250 to cover a variety of works depending on the individual circumstances of each tenancy, including conducting viewings, negotiating the tenancy, verifying references, and drawing up contracts and as specified in the 3 Terms and Conditions attached to the Application for Short Let.

Tribunal Decision

The tribunal found that as the tenants were to live in the property as their main or principle home this met the requirements of the Housing Act 1988 Section 1 (b) which requires the property to be the persons main home and that section 19A of the Housing Act 1996 was met as no minimum term in required to establish an Assured shorthold tenancy.

The tribunal demanded that Foxtons return the full £750 to the 3 tenants as this payment breached the TFBact and was a prohibited payment

Let’s talk mediation…

What is mediation and why does it matter?

Mediation is a form of dispute resolution, many people think it is a mamby-pamby approach with a tree hugging mediator asking you to "get in touch with your feelings" and "see things from the other persons perspective"

Mediation isn't like that at all... think of a mediator as a guidance referee, someone who can help two people reach an outcome they are both happy with, while keeping them focused on moving forward.

Mediation gives you more options than court, allows you to control the outcome and helps you resolve many issues

Landlords and tenants are seeing the benefit of mediation as apposed to going to court.

Mediation can help with Rent arrears, access issues, needing vacant possession and much more.

Mediation agreements are legally binding too, so you can rest assured the outcome you agree is sealed in contract between you both.

So don't think of mediation as a waste of time and money, see it as a cheaper option to getting a mutually beneficial outcome.

What is a mediator?

A mediator supports and guides those involved in a dispute to reach their own resolution. 

The mediator does not decide the outcome, but helps the parties understand and focus on the important issues needed to reach a resolution.

Mediators are skilled at sifting through the facts, emotions and individual interests of those involved to get down to the real core issues and what a fair outcome could be for everyone.

The mediator will clarify the issues, assess the strengths and weaknesses of each party's case. 

The mediator also offers creative approaches and innovative solutions, while maintaining an unbiased perspective.

A mediator's duties are:

• To conduct a mediation in a fair and unbiased manner;;

• To help everyone move forward to resolution

• To maintain the confidentiality of a mediation; and

• To conduct the mediation in accordance with the Code of Mediation Procedure and the provisions of the Standards of Conduct for Mediators.

Mediation… it’s not just for the Family

International mediation awareness week has come to a close, but are you still unsure about mediation and how it could help your current situation.

Many people see mediation as pointless and unenforceable, but what a lot of people don’t realise is there are many types of mediation and just how many industries rely on mediation to resolve disputes, from internal workplace spats, customer complaints, right up to corporate mergers and acquisitions

Here are just some of the types of mediation used regularly and the industries that rely on it.

ADR in the Travel Industry

Armed Forces

Conflict Coaching

Conflict Mapping

Construction industry

Consumer Rights

Education

Energy Sector Issues

Family mediation

Group Facilitation

Health Sector Mediation

High Conflict Behaviour

Inheritance Disputes

Intergenerational Conflict

Landlord and Tenant

Mandatory Mediation

Marketing and Promoting Mediation 

Mediation Advocacy

Mediation in times of Conflict and War

Mental Health

Pets

Professional Services Mediation

Property

Psychology and Mediation

Public Organisations

Restorative Justice

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Workplace / employment 

Mediation is designed to prevent the need for court

 I read a very interesting article in The Law Society Gazette, which focused on mediation and the results of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recent call for evidence.

The thing that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was ‘high proportion’ of respondents who were not aware of a dispute resolution processes and cited a lack of publicly available information on this.

I have to agree, in my chosen area of mediation, Landlord and tenant, it does still surprise me how many landlords and tenants do not know that mediation is even available in this specific field and how greatly that service can resolve issues such as rent arrears without the cost of going to court.

Mediation was viewed by many as a token step along the inevitable road to court.

Mediation is designed to prevent the need for court and the only people I know that would want to prevent that is solicitors, because with an early resolution, their payday is much less.

Now I do see many solicitors train to be mediators and do the job well, however, I do hear stories from people who have had a solicitor mediate, that the session itself was biased and the solicitor was still looking for a party to win.

Is mediation about winning?

I believe it is, but I see the outcome as Win Win, both the landlord and the tenant get an outcome that they are happy with and 9 times out of 10 it avoids court.

If you ask anyone that has gone through the tireless stages of court proceedings, they will tell you they wish they would have reached a settlement using another method

Is it really neutral?

I would say yes a majority of the time, I certainly find mediators with no legal background make better mediators than those who do, why? Because the law teaches us to see right and wrong and focuses our mind on having a good guy and a bad guy.

Mediation is not about the law, it is about what is best for the 2 people in the room at that moment.

Yes of course the mediator has to make sure that what is being agreed is legal, but at the same time it doesn’t have to follow the letter of the law.

For example, legally the landlord can pursue a tenant to court to recover all rent owed, at mediation, the landlord has the option to reduce the arrears in order to get a swift move out or offer a financial incentive to the tenant. These options are available in court 

I do think mediation has a huge part to play in the private rented sector and I do believe it gets better outcomes than the court process alone.

Personally I would like to see more eviction specialist companies understand the value of mediation for their clients and that an early resolution, may actually see them increase business flow as they do provide the value of alternative dispute resolution.

As a mediator working within the private rented sector I have helped hundreds of landlords and tenants resolve rent arrears, avoid costly and lengthy evictions and help both parties move on from what can be an emotionally draining situation