News

• Nov 27

  LEGAL UPDATE 2020

  As usual Training for Professionals will be running their hugely popular Legal Update course for 2020 after the New Year. This year we have made the decision that it is best run a little later than usual and we felt it would be helpful to explain the reasoning.
  
  Obviously we have the general election, being held at an unusual time of the year, with a very uncertain outcome. The new Government will then have to organise itself and decide on a legislative program. There are few changes due by April 2020 and we felt we could provide better quality information by delaying the course a couple of months. Therefore, instead of running February/March time we will plan to start a little later. This will ensure we can include the latest updates and will be more likely to know, for example, if the new government will take the regulation of property agents forward and in what form. There is more chance of having an official response to the Section 21 ban consultation and other legislative plans will have become clearer.
  
  We are aware Money Laundering regulations will change in January 2020 with the implementation of the 5th Money Laundering Directive, having some implications for some lettings agents. However, even these we are waiting for decisions from the Government about the monetary threshold they will choose. We can provide updates on our web site or by email.
  
  All in all it seemed to us that we could provide a more useful and beneficial course by a small delay and just wanted to reassure you that you had not missed your favourite annual training event, it will just be a little later to make it better.
  
  Our Welsh Legal Update courses are set to run mid to late February dates and locations to be announced early 2020.

• Oct 24

  Electrical Safety Standards

  Provisions were made in the Housing and Planning Act 2016, for the Secretary of State to make regulations about electrical safety standards for properties let by private landlords. (Commencement No. 11) brings sections 122 and 123 into force for future regulations to be written.

   

  As of 25 October 2019 the Secretary of the State has the power to make the regulations which will provide the electrical safety standards to be met by all residential landlords.

   

  The Secretary of the State will be looking into enforcing regulations for the standards of electrical installations including appliances provided by the landlord, who is defined as qualified, how often the checks should be carried out, ensure a valid certificate is issued to the tenant or prospective tenant and for the local housing authority to enforce any works or fines that maybe required if the landlord is not compliant.

• Aug 16

  Welsh fee ban guidance

  The Welsh Assembly have released the guidance for landlords for the upcoming tenant fee ban in Wales. It can be accessed here.
  
  Much of it is unsurprising and lays out the basic requirements contained in the legislation in slightly simpler form. However, the language also seems to imply that they will be bringing in the ban without having set a cap on deposits and some other elements we are awaiting for regulations (like default payments).
  
  For those operating in Wales, the biggest danger lies in what you read in the media as this is mainly about the law in England. The Welsh law, while very similar, has some significant differences. For example, Wales has 8 permitted payments, England has 10. Wales has not included variation of the contract and early termination in their list of permitted payments, though the guidance contains some interesting information.

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