David Says...

Law can be very complex and a superficial reading of it can be dangerous. For some months we have been working on the effect of the Deregulation Act 2015 when we get to October 2018. Section 41, dealing with the transitional provisions, states that section 33-38 and 40 come into force for pre-October 2015 tenancies from 1 October 2018. This is what we are all expecting.

However, it is not as simple as this. Section 33 and 34 deal with retaliatory evictions, and these will come into force on the 1 October 2018 for tenancies created before 1 October 2015.

Section 35 deals with the periodic notice not needing to expire at the end of a period of the tenancy. This will come into force for all assured shortholds from 1 October 2018. Section 36 deals with not serving in the first four months and though technically it will apply, it will have no practical effect.

Section 40 deals with the requirement for a pro rata rent refund if the section 21 notice expires part way through a period for which rent has been paid. This will apply to pre-October 2015 tenancies from 1 October 2018.

Section 41, the transitional provisions, specifically exclude section 39 from ever applying to the pre-October 2015 tenancies and as this is the requirement to give the How to Rent Guide, this makes sense.

The tricky bit is sections 37 and 38 as both of these are "prescribed" items. 37 is the prescribed form, Form 6A, and 38 is the prescribed legal requirements (currently gas and EPC). The important thing with these is that the regulations that prescribe these two things start by saying the regulations only apply to post October 2015 tenancies, therefore excluding all the pre-October 2015 tenancies. We have been in dialogue with MHCLG about this for some months, even suggesting how to edit the Form 6A (which specifically says it doe snot apply to pre-October 2015 tenancies), and how they might edit the regulations. With Parliament in recess and little legislation being passed in September when the party conference season is on, time was running out to resolve this. We have now been told that there is no intention that the Form 6A and gas/EPC requirements will apply to pre-October 2015 tenancies come October 2018. This is something of a change in understanding and will bring its own confusion. Much as many agents are expecting the changes to apply to pre-October 2015 tenancies from October 2018, so are many solicitors and probably judges too. It will be important for agents to be able to explain why they do not apply (because the regulations say they don't apply) if it is questions in court or by the local authority.

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Training for Professionals is the largest provider of lettings legislation training across England and Wales. We aim to help and support Letting Agents and Landlords alike with advice on how best to navigate the constantly changing property management landscape. Whether it’s through training courses, consultancy, or model documentation, TFP aims to make property management safer, easier, more compliant and cost effective. Want to know more?

News

Aug 29

New Autumn courses

We have uploaded our Autumn series of courses to the web site. We are looking at how your business can survive the tenant fee ban. We will start with providing you an update on the legislation as there have been some significant changes since the first draft we explained on the Legal Update 2018 course, including a section 21 ban.

The main focus of the course will be helping you devise a plan, tailored to your business, about how you can replace the lost tenant fees and build a thriving business.

If you want to see more details click here or click on the "Training" link at the top of the page and then view the "Building Profitable Business" course. It is in 16 locations around England and Wales and can count as 6 hours CPD too. Due to the activity during the course each event will be strictly limited to 25 delegates, so book early to secure your seat.
Aug 22
New Court Forms

All landlords and agents should be aware that there are new N5B, N5 and N119 Court forms on the Court service web site. The update seems to be about now containing a data protection statement with information about their use of personal data.

Whilst the change may not be considered significant in the content of the form, there is a very real risk that if you use an out of date form your case could be rejected. Always use the latest forms available from the HMCTS web site.

The new forms say they were uploaded 13 August 2018 and carry the date 0718 in the footer of the first page. Looking at the update history for the N5B is says the following:
1. 13 August 2018Updated N5B Form.
2. 10 August 2018Updated form N5B.
3. 6 August 2018English version updated
4. That is a pretty interesting revision history if they have uploaded four versions over 16 days.
5. The N5B for a property in Wales has not been updated as of today (22/8) and neither has the bilingual version of the N5B for houses in England (contains English and Welsh side by side).
6. The N325 (application for a bailiff) has not been updated, but this is possibly because long before you come to enforce a judgement you will have issued the N5B so they will already have the privacy information.
Aug 06

Client Money Protection

If you have not already done it you might be interested in reading the draft client money protection regulations. The requirement to belong can be found here and the rules for the schemes can be found here.

Agents would be well advised to study this legislation as it contains some interesting provisions. For example, it comes into force on the 1 April 2019 and agents will have to pay any interest earned back to the owner of the client money, this may make insured deposit schemes much less attractive.

Scheme members will have to have a written procedure on client money and this will have to be displayed in the office and on the web site.

Not being a scheme member carries a maximum penalty of £30,000 and not displaying membership carries a maximum penalty of £5,000. The penalties can be used by the local authorities for general enforcement work in the private rented sector.

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Your questions answered

Find out more

We have a tenant from abroad who seems to have gone home for the holidays but has not returned. All their goods are still in the house. What should we do? The tenant is now 2 months in arrears.

What is the legal position if a landlord decides that he will not rent to a non-EEA persons?

A tenant advised that a rent payment would be delayed due to an emergency. However, the rent payment has been processed by the bank. The tenant has contacted us demanding the return of the money. What are our obligations?

David Says...

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Client Money Protection

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