It’s getting to the time of year when the old problem crops up again. “A” level results are expected soon and students will be on the lookout for affordable accommodation.
Whilst for some lucky students, residency “in hall” may be an option; there is a huge demand for bed-sits, shared apartments or houses. It’s a worrying time for parents and some of the accommodation, particularly in the big University towns, leaves a lot to be desired. Of particular concern are the big, multi storey, buildings occupied by several unrelated tenants and converted into individual self-contained units. Some of these are owned and operated by unscrupulous landlords whose only intention is to pack as many students into as small a place as possible, offering little in the way of comfort or even safety.
New rules are about to alter all that. They will undoubtedly cause problems for the landlords mentioned above, but should help those wanting to join the buy to let market by making these properties more interesting to mortgage lenders, who will see the attraction of well thought out and managed conversion schemes.
At the beginning of this year it was announced that from 5th April 2006 it will be necessary for such properties to be licensed before occupation. This should greatly improve the standard of accommodation. There will be an inspection, concentrating on room sizes, arrangement of accommodation and safety aspects and fire regulations. It will also be necessary for the landlord to produce evidence of acceptable plans regarding the future management and maintenance of the property. The Local Authority will issue the licenses at a cost of around £100 per individual tenant for a five year licence. There will be a fine of up to £20,000 for non compliance. The Licence is to be known as a Licence for Multiple Occupation. It will apply to property that is on at least three floors and is let to several unrelated tenants.
Go to http://www.propertylicensing.gov.uk for more information.
There is another regulation concerning Health and Safety. This is called the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If a tenant is worried that the condition of the accommodation may be affecting their health in some way, they will be able to ask for an inspection to be carried out. Inspectors will be able to demand repairs and to apply fines to landlords of £5,000.
The last regulation is regarding the deposit lodged with the landlord when taking out a tenancy. This deposit is normally refunded, provided the property is vacated in a fair condition at the end of the tenancy. Evidence has shown that some landlords refused carry out these refunds giving various dubious reasons for refusal. This, hopefully, is to be resolved by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which comes into force in October of this year. It is an amendment to the Housing Act of 2004.
It’s proposed that:
· An independent, neutral, scheme administrator is appointed.
· The deposit is held by the administrator.
· At the end of the tenancy, the tenant and landlord have to agree that either the whole or part of the deposit is repayable and inform the administrator of this.
· The scheme administrator must pay the sum/s within ten days, as in the terms of the agreement.
If it has not been possible to come to an agreement and it is necessary for the tenant or landlord to obtain a final court order to decide the proportion of each person’s share of the money, then the administrator will immediately make such a payment.
If an administrator refunds a deposit, interest must be added. The rate has yet to be decided and will be specified by the Government. Additional interest to this will be held by the scheme administrator and used to provide funding for the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
The costs of these improvements will obviously be reflected in the rental prices, however the tighter regulations will be reassuring for investors (and those worried parents!).
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