It would seem that there are even more issues for landlords to get to grips with as new energy efficiency rules for properties in England and Wales come into force along with client money protection regulations, then the fees ban later this year.
There is concern that agents and landlords may be unaware that the Statutory Instrument to bring in the new energy efficiency regulations went through in the middle of March setting out the new requirements to be in place from 01 April 2019.
An amendment made has introduced a new self-funding element for residential landlords which takes effect if landlords are unable to access third party funding to improve any rental properties with F or G ratings.
This element is capped at £3,500 including VAT per property. It means that a landlord without funding must spend up to this amount to improve the property to a minimum E rating.
Landlords with properties that have an energy performance rating of F or G will be expected to pay up to £3,500 from 01 April, in order to improve the energy efficiency rating of the property.
Many landlords will already be compliant and the National Landlords Association (NLA) has been urging members to be ready and pointed out that landlords with properties which require an EPC cannot start new tenancies in England and Wales in properties with a rating lower than E. From April 2020, all existing tenancies which require an EPC will need to have a minimum E rating.
The NLA said that landlords who have a current exemption should make sure that they know whether this will be affected by the new regulations, and seek a new exemption if appropriate after 01 April 2019.
From today (01 April) it is also obligatory that letting agents, and landlords who let direct to tenants, need to be part of an approved Client Money Protection Scheme (CMPS).
David Cox, chief executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) said agents who have not joined an approved CMP scheme will be operating illegally and risk facing large fines.
Deposits, along with fees are two of the biggest issues for tenants and a new survey from Your Move has found that over half of those polled are interested in an alternative approach to tenancy deposits which includes zero deposit schemes where the tenant may pay a non-refundable fee of one weekís rent to move in, rather than an upfront deposit.
The study report explains that the fee acts as an insurance guarantee for the landlord that, should the tenant be responsible for any loss or damage, the scheme will pay the landlord compensation for this and recover the costs from the tenant directly.
This does emphasise that change is something that landlords need to embrace and accept and it is more important than ever that they take a business-like approach. This also means looking at trends, finances and market predictions.
For example, a new piece of research suggest that Cambridge has the highest level of demand for rented homes in the most populated towns and cities in the UK, followed by Basingstoke and St Albans.
Overall, the London commuter belt dominates the top 10 locations for high rental demand while Aberdeen has the least demand for rented homes, according to the analysis from lettings inventory and property compliance firm VeriSmart.
Another piece of research found that for the first time, the South East of England has overtaken London as the region with the most buy to let purchases in a calendar year. It refers to data from specialist buy to let broker Commercial Trust but it is worth considering to build up a picture of trends.
It is well documented that yields are higher in Scotland than in England, London in particular, and that the North West, with cities like Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool having higher yields too.
All this is the kind of information that should be taken into account. You may be a landlord with a single property and not looking to shop around in terms of location, but knowing what is happening in the area where you are letting is important and there are local trends to be taken into account too.
