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by Mick Roberts
14:04 PM, 5th March 2018, About 6 years ago 38
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Sajid Javid wants more houses building, but his other policies are forcing thousands to be homeless with Nottingham City Council’s Selective Licensing.
My Letter to Sajid Javid,
Dear Sajid
I am having to make 350 people homeless this year because of your decision to allow this Selective Licensing.
You have granted Nottingham Council permission for Selective Licensing, but are you aware of the conditions they are imposing of Nottingham Landlords and tenants?
They can only be implemented if we use a Letting Agent. Letting Agents will not take my Housing Benefit tenants along with the internal damage they have caused on doors etc. What do we do?
A simple solution would be to do it on new tenancies, as most things are done when bringing in big changes like this.
I have no problem in the few letting agent tenants I have passing these conditions, but it will be impossible for the rest to comply. I am not a Policeman, I don’t live with them 24 hours a day.
I urge you act quickly & get involved because you granted this permission without realising there are some very different people out there.
I await your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Mick Roberts
COMPLAINT-Last stage before Ombudsman
Dear Nottingham City Council,
Regarding Selective Licensing.
I am having to make 350 people homeless this year because of your decision to allow this Selective Licensing.
I emailed you a lot of letters & questions on the 18 Feb, but you have yet not replied.
I understand you have 27000 homes.
Could u if asked, license all your home’s between April and August this year?
Would you have the funds to spend between £600 and £2000 per house all in 4 months?
EVERY house?
Could u with all your existing current tenants comply with all the conditions asked of selective Licensing?
Would you have the admin staff to do it?
Would you have the builders to do it?
If they you NCH can’t do this, how can I be expected to do this?
You probably have more staff ratio per houses than I do.
But I do manage my houses well as is, and all new boilers, new kitchens, doors, windows etc.
But if you couldn’t do what is asked of Selective Licensing, how can I be expected to?
These are the proposed conditions
https://empo.co.uk/empo-news/proposed-selective-licensing-conditions.html
The conditions are IMPOSSIBLE with my existing current tenants. I primarily have Housing Benefit tenants, I have housed the homeless that the council have sent me over the past 20 years.
You now wish to enforce more stringent than Letting Agent rules on the homeless tenants you have sent me.
I have a problem with a Council house fence next to mine. You told me & my tenant & your tenant they have to wait 9 months, before you start the next schedule of works. Yet the same council is asking me complete a mammoth schedule of works on LOTS of houses within 4 months?
You are seriously going to have to look into my situation. I have gave 10 households section 21 notices already. Approx 50 people including kids to be made homeless.
Housing Aid has asked me to please not issue any more, to see what can be done.
My solicitor has said it could take years for me to evict all my tenants. Due to the sheer amount and workload and court workload etc.
You have asked for the impossible.
You are saying we must have a License.
You are saying we must pay between £600 and £2000.
But you are also giving us the most stringent conditions that will not work with EXISTING tenants that YOU SAME COUNCIL HAVE ASKED US TO TAKE before u bought out these conditions.
I await your reply with urgency as the clock is ticking.
Licensing me to Questions 3 March 18
You asking for Right to rent check. How’s this going to work with Non resident Landlord? Letting Agents are telling me they have quite a few Landlords who live overseas, Landlords from China too.
What about the bloke in Spain that’s renting a house to a family in the UK who are very happy?
They fail the Right to rent, what now?
Are the tenants to be made homeless?
Who is keeping these logs u ask for? He can’t keep them in Spain. Then is the License for the Agent of the Landlord?
What if I was planning to retire to Spain in 10 years? 30 year plan from 20 years ago. Can I not do that now?
Accreditation is only for 3 years? So I have to pay another £840 in 3 years?
Along with the time of the accreditation course?
And the time in inspecting the houses with the Inspector?
Your Licensing fee, including the stringent works you will require:
You want more than the whole annual maintenance bill on ALL my houses together.
You want more than my whole annual mortgage bill
You want 1/3 of my annual rents on the License fee . Where is the money coming from?
Mick Roberts
11:26 AM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Monty,
I think you've now read the Licensing conditions. I'm speaking to Letting Agents this morning, showing them ALL the conditions, they all saying anyone with more than a few houses cannot physically do all them conditions without a letting agent.
You go through the conditions, add up the time with each one, And times it by a fair number of houses, & tell me if I’ve got the time to do that?
Rod
11:26 AM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
I'm sure a lot of this is a way for councils to get money from where ever they can (including huge fines) as they still have to earn their astronomical wage especially those at the top, poor things! I've disliked council for years! What your letters state is so true but I also think that many tenants simply don't pay their rent = homelessnes, hence the increase. If everyone writes to the top people, they'll soon get fed up!
NW Landlord
11:49 AM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
It’s gettin to the point where it’s just not worth it I have incorporated but will still be selling and scaling down have 3 up at the minute and are going to sell off in 3s over the next few years. Just can’t get my head around what’s going on and really believe life is to short to take on all these headaches. I also believe it’s going to get a lot worse nobody wants or likes us for some reason I’ve totally had enough.
Monty Bodkin
12:06 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 06/03/2018 - 11:26
Right Mick, I understand what you are saying, your letter was unclear to me.
You mean its not physically possible without using a letting agent, not that it is a condition of licensing.
The way things stand, you're probably right.
Rod
12:07 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by NW Landlord at 06/03/2018 - 11:49
If Labour ever get in, it'll be time to head for the hills !!!
Rob Thomas
12:08 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 05/03/2018 - 17:10
Hi Ros
I wish you were right about them begging to have us back. But this is what I think will happen. The extra costs and taxes will drive out a lot of landlords, rents and homelessness will rise and politicians and Shelter will blame greedy landlords for putting up rents and evicting 'vulnerable' tenants.
I don't think we can win. Indeed, there may be much worse to come if we get a Corbyn government. Now that a Conservative government has created the precedent of charging capital gains tax at a higher tax on residential property, what is to stop a Corbyn government taxing capital gains on property at 90% or 100%?
My advice to landlords would be to sell if you can and take your capital somewhere else (abroad would be safer). The only people I can see doing well are those providing temporary accommodation because councils are soon to be flooded with people needing to be housed.
Gromit
12:20 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Rob Thomas at 06/03/2018 - 12:08There's a business opportunity. Evict your tenants and then provide temporary housing to local council at 3x the rate.
Oops someone had that idea and has done that before in Peterborough: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/717504/Council-makes-70-families-homeless-to-rehouse-HOMELESS-families
Luke P
12:26 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS at 06/03/2018 - 11:08
It can ONLY be used to administer the scheme...not even enforcement can be funded from it. Make sure you FOI yearly two simple questions...how much did the SL scheme cost to administer? How much have you taken in fees? Any discrepancy has to be refunded plus interest. (We use same legal team as the Brown v Hyndburn case).
Yvonne Francis
12:36 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
As a Landlord with HMO's (They have almost the same conditions as selective licensing) I had to put up with all this since 2004. The only requirement if you self manage in your case Mick is a one day course but if it's the same as me, one has to live within a certain distance otherwise one would need an agent so going to Spain you would require an agent. I though everyone had to go through 'Right to Rent' anyway? Not that I'm defending the Council but in my experience saying is one thing and doing another. They simply don't have time to carry out every bit of all this and as long as I don't get tenants complaining (which I never get), I get on reasonably well. Last inspector left saying 'won't see you for 5 years', also saying 'I think you have a bit of damp under one window (which I didn't) but I'm not going to record this as I can see you are a lady who deals with things'. I don't even send them my certificates, even though I have them and am required to send them as part of my licence, until they ask for them which has been once in all these years. That's because they often loose my application forms so I expect they will loose my certificates too so would be wasting my time.
I fought a court case over HMO status 25 years go and won. However they came back with clearer legislation in 2004. Some Councils like Nottingham are obviously widening the net. Are there not protest groups Mick in your area? As an individual I was able to fight them alone all those years ago as I was singled out as a test case, but these days one needs collective action as I'm sure many landlords are affected.
Daniel Holder
12:47 PM, 6th March 2018, About 6 years ago
This is getting rolled out across the country and together with section 24, reaffirms my decision to sell some properties last year. So glad I did and I remember the old investment saying, if you are going to panic, panic first! A couple of interest rate rises could be the tipping point I expect to see later this year. Some values in towns and particular some streets within towns are going to get hammered if there is a mass rush for the exit due to rates, taxes and licensing etc