Gas safety certificates & Section 21 - be compliant or you may pay the price

by Paul Shamplina

Landlords, did you know that if you did not provide a gas safety certificate at the start of a tenancy (be it a first agreement or written renewal after 1st October 2015), before the tenant moved in, you may find that any Section 21 notice served during the term is invalid?

This is not a well-known issue, but one that is starting to gain traction following the Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz case back in February 2018. At the Central London County Court, landlord Caridon Property failed to obtain a possession order, based on their Section 21 notice, because they failed to serve a copy of a current gas safety certificate BEFORE the tenant moved in on the 13th April 2017; it was served on the 26th April 2017, after the tenant moved in....

A Facebook friend, a fake bank transfer…a fraudulent tenant

On tonight’s episode of Channel 5’s “Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords”, two unlucky landlords learn the dangers of advertising a property via social media and how technology can be used to defraud landlords out of thousands of pounds.

Landlord Jessica and her husband Dennis find themselves in a nightmare situation. When they moved to a new house, rather than sell their old home they decided to rent it out temporarily. Never having been landlords before, they put a simple advert out on Facebook. They were quickly contacted by a potential tenant - a single mother who provided all the necessarily documents and passed referencing checks....

Mandatory ‘how to rent’ guide update – remain compliant

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has launched a new series of ‘How to’ guides produced to help support tenants, landlords and letting agents within the private rented sector. In addition, the government’s mandatory ‘How to rent’ guide has been revised.

The most recent update includes a new subtitle in the document and now reads ‘How to rent: the checklist for renting in England’ that is reflective of wording in the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015....

‘Rumble with the Agents’ raises over £16,000 for Cherry Lodge Cancer Care

On Thursday 24th May 2018 ‘Rumble with the Agents’, an annual white-collar charity boxing event held at The Holiday Inn Finchley Central, in association with Landlord Action and sponsored by Hamilton Fraser, raised £16,300 for Cherry Lodge Cancer Care.

The night saw ten property professionals, with little or no previous boxing experience, from companies such as Oscar Knight, Area Square, Happy Tenant Company and Property Redress Scheme, enter the world of white-collar boxing to raise money for charity....

Tenant hoarder’ leaves landlord in a financial mess

Ex-social worker and professional landlord of 30 years, Leslie-Ann Franklin, is facing having to sell the rental property she lives next door to in March, Cambridgeshire, after a complex case involving an extreme hoarder has left her in financial ruin. With her story due to be aired on this week’s ‘Bad Tenants Rogue Landlords’ (Thursday 3rd May, 8pm, Channel 5), Leslie feels the authorities and legal system let both her and her tenant down, and now she is fighting for a judicial review of her case to avoid paying £25,000 in legal fees, on top of the £30,000 she has already spent....

Warning to landlords and letting agents over fake referencing

This week’s episode of “Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords” (Thursday 19th April, Channel 5, 8pm) will serve as a warning to all landlords and letting agents over the dangers of fake tenant references, as landlord Paul Bloom faces a struggle to get his property back from a bogus company let.

Paul Bloom, a professional landlord with several properties in London, let one of his flats in a quiet part of Hampstead, London. The letting agent he used was approached by a third party wishing to rent the property as a company let. After passing referencing, it was understood that an employee of the travel company MSalliance Ltd would occupy the property. ...

Channel 5’s documentary “Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords” launches this week

On Thursday 5th April (8pm), Channel 5 will launch “Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords”, a companion series to “Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords”, which delves into the dark side of the housing crisis and features cases handled by leading tenant eviction company, Landlord Action.

In the first episode, English teacher Muhammad Rahman has suffered from serious financial difficulty as his tenant refused to pay rent for over four months. The situation is made even worse when Muhammad finds out that his single tenant has been subletting rooms in his property....

BBC Panorama to debate Section 21 no-fault eviction featuring Landlord Action

This week, BBC Panorama (Wednesday 21 February at 20:30) investigates the widely debated Section 21 no-fault eviction procedure and whether tenants deserve more protection, or whether new rules would make the housing crisis worse. The show will feature leading tenant eviction company, Landlord Action, highlighting the real reasons landlords turn to Section 21.

Instances of what have come to be known as `no-fault evictions' are reported to have trebled in the last eight years. BBC’s investigative journalist, Richard Bilton, aims to shed light on the difficulties faced by many private tenants in the UK, who have no long-term right to stay in their homes, and can be ordered to leave with little by the way of notice or explanation....