Landlords and tenants should make contingency plans together for winter

Landlords and tenants should make contingency plans together for winter

14:34 PM, 22nd October 2020, About 3 years ago 4

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After the first national lockdown period, the restrictions on moving homes in England were removed in May 2020, but what impact did the temporary emergency rules on moving into a new house have on renters?

According to new research by Ome, utilising data from government approved deposit protection scheme mydeposits, lockdown caused a marked decrease in the number of new tenancies.

Restrictions on moving to a new home in England spanned across three months: March, April and May 2020.

The new data reveals that in this three-month period, 61,972 new tenancies were protected. This highlights a 31% decrease in new tenancies compared with the same period last year, when March, April and May 2019 saw 81,055 new tenancies protected by mydeposits.

In England, lockdown is generally seen as commencing on 23 March 2020 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed the public to stay at home and closed many businesses, however, restrictions on “non-essential” travel and advice to work from home were given from 16 March.

Emergency legislation restricting movement was then issued to prevent the public from moving to new homes unless absolutely necessary.

On 26 March 2020, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, was published. It imposed new restrictions on movement during the ‘emergency period.’ These emergency regulations stated that: ‘During the emergency period, no person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse.’

From the end of March up until mid-May 2020, moving homes was prohibited for many. Rules on moving to a new house in England were relaxed on 18 May 2020 as long as suitable safety measures were taken.

According to Ome Co-Founder Matthew Hooker: “As we head into what looks like a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic it is important to reflect and learn from the initial spring period. As the initial impact of coronavirus restrictions hit us the entire nation was having to react quickly to a number of unprecedented changes, and the evidence shows the rental sector was not immune.

We now know far more about the virus and its wider impact on society and the economy than we did at first, however, there is still likely to be a significant period of uncertainty and flexibility required for landlords, agents and their tenants. We’d therefore urge tenants and landlords to start making contingency plans together for the winter just in case the virus rears its head again over the festive period.”


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Comments

russell branch

18:56 PM, 23rd October 2020, About 3 years ago

I’m selling in this environment and would advise against investing in UK property of any sort. The UK government is quite clearly the enemy of the people and intent upon destroying the UK economy. Fortunately I have quite a few DSS and physical therapists as tenants both of which to date have been unaffected by the economic and social evils being inflicted upon the citizenry.

TrevL

15:30 PM, 24th October 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by russell branch at 23/10/2020 - 18:56
I am no fan of this government but it's COVID19 that has caused much of the strife you are referring to.

The simple fact is the economy can no longer support many heavily leaveraged businesses, at least in the short and medium term. And leaveraged landlords are gonna come way down the list for 'help', hell poor kids aren't getting free meals over the winter holidays.

Selling your rentals is probably sensible, particularly if mortgaged, you may even make a profit.

And although I don't know your position, at least be thankful you have a roof over your head....many don't/won't.

Jon D

13:20 PM, 25th October 2020, About 3 years ago

BBC Moneybox last week - a private landlord has spent months trying to remove her tenant, as she needs to live in the house.

She has been unsuccessful due to covid restrictions and tenant protections of various kinds, has lost several thousand pounds and this landlord now living in a shed in her relatives garden.

Sadly political partys look at the polling data every week. The data says protect tenants and hammer landlords, as this is most popular.

TrevL

16:05 PM, 25th October 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Jon D at 25/10/2020 - 13:20
Swing and roundabouts isn't it, I know quite a number of Landlords, myself included, who have made plenty of money from letting, for many years, there has always been the risk that social values and politics move against that.

I've never forgotten that, particularly with my tenants who have wanted to be OO's , I am in effect arbitraging a significant portion of they're salary by holding (so would say hoarding) a limited commodity.

I would not want to be a new entrant to letting now, the margins surely do not reflect the risk associated with a dip in the economy and the anti-landlord politics that have been slowly emerging.

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