Never mind the market showing signs of Green Roots and recovery in the property sales sector, what happened to this proposed Green paper? We at rentright.co.uk recently reported that The Government was to produce a green paper regards legislation of Private Landlords.

Well where is it?

We in the Industry know the importance of dealing with legitimate businesses and would welcome the change in practise so that this newly proposed system could “weed out” the unscrupulous Landlords. Maybe the Government has been too busy “weeding out” a little closer to home, given the non-stop news regards all the MP’s expense claims. (And don’t get me started on that)

Well now that we seem to have got that out of the way (or have we?) and various ministers have resigned, perhaps we could get back to the business of running our house efficiently and get on with the job we are supposed to be doing – which is delivering what we said we would!

Seriously though, this is something that is long over due, and given that ARLA have tightened their belt to tackle problem Landlords, we await with bated breath the overdue paper. Also on a more positive note, the extra revenue The Government raises could go some way to paying back the vast sums of money some MP’s have claimed on renting second homes and other incidentals.

For letting your property, look no further than Rentright Property Portal and any MP looking for a second home, visit rentright.co.uk for all Rental Property throughout the UK.

Research has come out that indicates the Buy to Let landlords are suffering hard with the credit crunch. In terms of repossession indications show that over 3 times as many investors are losing their properties than normal home owners. Research also indicated by the council of Mortgage lenders that there were 1700 buy to let properties that were repossessed in the first three months of 2009. (source bbc.co.uk)

There are obvious problems for the tenant when a landlord has the home repossessed and it can be a very worrying time. However there is good news if you find yourself in this position as there is a process called receiver of rent. This is where the tenant can remain in their home and they pay their rent to the bank or the repossession company. There are two good points to this, firstly if you are the tenant this gives you some time to find a new property to live in, this is especially the case where the lender is likely to sell on the property. Secondly, the lender can buy themselves more time to decide how they want to proceed with the property in terms of sales process.

This problem has arisen where the landlords were paying too much for their buy to let properties, and having problems covering the rent either by not being able to find tenants for the property or a short fall in the rent. When this is the case it is very easy to fall in arrears with the mortgage and never be able to recover. If you are a tenant or a landlord and are looking for property to rent or advertising then you need to ensure you use services such as Rentright a UK wide Rental Property Advertising site. If you are renting via a letting agent then make sure the agent is using services such as Rentright to gain maximum exposure for your property.

Rental property without tenants in will be losing money.

The Government will introduce a Green Paper by mid-May that will require all Landlords in England and Wales to be licensed. It should be noted, that in Scotland, the registration system for all buy to let landlords is already in place; during the first year only 15% of landlords registered, but tougher regulations were introduced, which meant that landlords failing to meet the requirements could face legal proceedings.

The plan is that all Landlords will be expected to pay a licence fee of around £50 in an attempt by the Government to stamp out poor Landlords. With the easy access of buy to let mortgages over the last decade, prior to the current property slump, buy to let mortgages were all to easy to obtain. There is currently an estimated one million private landlords letting out some 2.6 million properties and Government ministers will be looking to introduce this paper to try and stop some of the unscrupulous landlords exploiting their tenants.

There is also some talk of the Government introducing a statutory regulator for Letting Agents.

Although the paper has yet to be introduced it is widely believed that one option is that each landlord would be given a licence number that would appear on all documents related to the letting. This could make it easier for the Inland Revenue to identify tax evaders.

Makes you wonder if the green paper is more for their benefit in catching tax dodgers’ than the interest of the Tenant?

The system would have to be monitored by an independent body to adjudicate tenant’s complaints; the theory being that if the complaint was upheld the landlord could lose his or her letting licence. Landlords would be able to appeal against the body’s decision, but if they lost it could be years before they are allowed to rent out property again.

In addition to the Government trying to tackle the problem of dodgy Landlords, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has launched a licencing scheme that requires members to abide by a new code of practice. As of 5^th April 2009 all ARLA members will need to be licensed as part of their membership, which includes the following implications:

· Each individual member will hold a gold standard professional qualification relating to lettings

· All members must undertake Continuing Professional Development

· Agents must ensure they have client money protection schemes in place to protect all tenant and landlord funds held by their office

· All clients’ funds require having an annual independent audit

· Agents must have professional indemnity insurance in place

· Agents must sign up to an independent redress scheme

· Agents must abide by a strict code of practice.

None of the above is compulsory for letting agents as standard at the moment.

Its licencing lead will be followed by the National Association of Estate Agents, which is in the process of developing its own scheme, due to be launched later this year.

Speaking on behalf of HCR (www.hcr.co.uk) the UK’s largest independent relocation company who specialise in the rental market, Adrian Leach, Director of Business and Marketing commented:

“We applaud the work being undertaken by ARLA and the NAEA to improve standards. In contrast we are concerned that the Governments motivation might be revenue generation rather than a genuine desire to improve tenants rights”.

For all your Letting Agent searches, search online at www.rentright.co.uk

The latest report by Christopher Hamer, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OAE) shows a massive 200% annual increase in letting-related complaints, highlighting the need for the public to be acutely aware of rapid changes in the property letting industry

Ian Wilson, Managing Director of Martin & Co, the UK’s largest dedicated letting agency, with over 160 offices across the UK, said, “The Ombudsman’s report illustrates a dangerous phenomenon that should be of concern to anyone letting, or thinking of letting their property.”

“As properties fail to sell, we have seen a sizeable increase in the number of new (and sometimes reluctant) landlords entering the market. These are the very people who need protecting from the unscrupulous, uneducated or inexperienced letting agent who claims to be able to represent their best interests. However, there is also a corresponding increase in the number of estate agents entering the lettings arena as a way of bolstering their dwindling sales revenues – with potentially disastrous consequences.

“Not only is the continual-service role of the letting agent surprisingly different to the quick-fix function of an estate agent, but there are also over 100 pieces of letting-related legislation in which to be conversant. Indeed, these are so critically important that the Martin and Co Training Academy has an extensive ongoing nationwide training programme for our franchisees and their staff (delivering “best practices”), as well as the 200 or so new staff we expect to recruit (using our internal recruitment team) during 2009 to cope with the 40% year on year growth of our business.

“Knowing how intensively letting agents need to train, and the pressure they are currently under to deliver ambitious results without compromising customer service excellence, it is not a job for the fainthearted. Landlords should be extra vigilant when choosing a letting agent. Martin & Co clients have peace of mind knowing they are dealing with a business that agrees to meet defined standards of customer care, and has a published complaints procedure.”

It always amazes me how many landlords get the simple things incorrect, and I will here post some of the simpler tips that can help everyone, not only Landlords looking to Rent out their investment property but also tools that can be used for sellers to sell there properties.

There has always been a debate over which is the best way to rent out your property, on your own or with a letting agent.  There are of course pros and cons for any way and it ultimately comes down to what you feel comfortable with or have time for.   Many people forget that when you rent out a property you are not just claiming the rent each month, you also have a tenant and a tenant has demands and properties go wrong and require maintenance.

If you do not have the time to dedicate to your rental property then you must choose a local letting agent to take on your property.  If you feel you have the time then be prepared to do the job a letting agent undertakes, and this can include the following and more:-

• Rent Collection
• House Repairs
• Advertising and Marketing
• Tenant Vetting and Referencing
• Property Inspections

If you do rent out your property then it has to be done as a business, the income generated is taxable and has to be declared to the inland revenue, there are special property insurances that need to be taken on the house and importantly a buy-to-let mortgage has to be taken out with the bank.  If you want to take the strain out of renting a property it is advisable to hand over to a letting agent for a small fee they will undertake the complete process for you and this will allow you to focus on buying more rental property to expand the portfolio.

At the current time if you are not already in a homeowner property then it would be a good idea to keep on renting.  Over the next year or so the prices of sales property are set to go down even further and the current estimate by leading bankers is by another 10%.  This means if you bought your property now you could find it is worth less than you paid by some considerable amount.  It makes sense to bide your time and make your move when the time is right and do not pay more than you need to for a property when you buy it.

The beauty of renting property is you can take your time and wait for exactly the right moment to make your move and get onto the property ladder.  If you are looking for a new rental property then you need to take a look at the Rentright website which has thousands of new property added to the site on a regular basis.  Throughout the UK there are lots of rental property and there will be something in the area where you are looking to rent.

TOP TIP – RENT INSTEAD OF BUYING

Its always difficult to tell a landlord that they are being unrealistic about how much rent they can expect to get from a property and therefore its a good idea to have tools at your disposal to show much in reality a particular property can be rented out for.