Nightmare Landlady - advice needed

regularsaver1

Sounds like the LL should of got their property managed and now she can't cope with the rate increase ect

RHemmings

regularsaver1 wrote:

Sounds like the LL should of got their property managed and now she can't cope with the rate increase ect

Moving the extra person into the dining room does sound like financial desperation. Wouldn't be surprised if she's cashflow-negative.

clutton_2

""The electrics aren't a legal obligation"" - this is a common myth. There are several Electrical Regulation Acts of parliament, plus the various Health & Safety at Work Acts which all cover tenanted properties. A landlord has a duty of care (rather than a specific yearly Gas check) to maintain his/her electrics in a safe manner. Unless they have been inspected and certificated by a qualified Electrician (eg a NICEIC accreditated electrician) how can a landlord prove that he has "cared" for his tenants. Most NICEIC engineers recommend an inspection every 5 years. There are several accreditation bodies for electricity, whilst only one for gas which is CORGI.

It is very easy for folks to die from gas leaks. Children crawling on the floor will be the very first victims in any property which has a gas boiler which is either incorrectly placed or flued, and which subsequenty allows gas exhaust gases to remain inside the property.

i am currently in a serious position with one of my boilers, as a CORGI gas engineer incorrectly signed my Cert last year as being safe, and i only discovered at this years inspection that it is not safe, and has not been safe for the last year.

For the past 2 months, I have had a single parent mum in there with a 4 month old child. I am getting it fixed as we speak, and will only later on decide who is going to reimburse me for the screw-up, if anyone.

In law, i am responsible - but as long as i am seen to be doing my utmost in a timely fashioin to sort it out, i am adjudged to be acting responsibly. This last 2 days have been an utter nightmare, and i do not know how other landlords allow their tenants to live in such danger, and still sleep at night.

There is a £60,000 fine for a landlord whose gas equipment kills a tenant PLUS an unlimited custodial sentence.

Having gone to my landlords forum meeting this week - i was horrified to hear that only 1/4 of the expected Landlord Registration Applications for HMO's have been received by the deadline (end of July) in ONE CITY ALONE. This means there are still several hundred landlords who have either not heard of the Act; or who are choosing to ignore it - in one city. Extrapolate this country wide and there are probably tens of thousands of unregistered properties.

Having said that, i personally neither read, nor heard, nor saw, one single advert telling landlords that the Act was coming in, and that they would have to register. John Prescott's office consistently refused to fund a television advertising campaign to tell landlords of their new duties.

All this lack of compliance gives decent landlords such a bad name, sadly.

mi-key

It is quite sad that there seem to be so many landlords ( and the amateur BTL brigade in particular ) who think they should be able to make loads of money from property, but not actually have to spend out anything to get it.

They dont seem to realise they are running a business, and in business you need to invest money to make a decent return.

They miss the point that just buying some old shed of a flat or house on an interest only mortgage, and never spending another penny isnt going to make them rich.

Funnily enough, the best landlords I have rented from have been people who have either been professional landlords with loads of properties ( who understand the value of keeping tenents happy and the property occupied, and the legal obligations they have ), or have had their own businesses - never had a problem getting work done, something replaced, gas tests sorted etc...

If anything our current landlord is a bit too keen, he's retired now and I think he uses the excuse to come and do bits and pieces to get out of the house !

RHemmings

mi-key wrote:

It is quite sad that there seem to be so many landlords ( and the amateur BTL brigade in particular ) who think they should be able to make loads of money from property, but not actually have to spend out anything to get it.

They dont seem to realise they are running a business, and in business you need to invest money to make a decent return.

They miss the point that just buying some old shed of a flat or house on an interest only mortgage, and never spending another penny isnt going to make them rich.

Funnily enough, the best landlords I have rented from have been people who have either been professional landlords with loads of properties ( who understand the value of keeping tenents happy and the property occupied, and the legal obligations they have ), or have had their own businesses - never had a problem getting work done, something replaced, gas tests sorted etc...

If anything our current landlord is a bit too keen, he's retired now and I think he uses the excuse to come and do bits and pieces to get out of the house !

I wonder if there are quite a few recent BTL landlords who are making less profit than they think because they are storing up problems for later. If maintenance isn't done, or isn't done properly, then that improves cashflow in the short term, but eventually something is going to have to be done. Once there are major maintenance problems such as a roof that needs replacing or a dodgy boiler/central heating, then if they try to sell the house to avoid the problem, the sale price they'll get will be effected.

clutton_2

""then if they try to sell the house to avoid the problem, the sale price they'll get will be effected.""


this is exactly what happened with a house i bought from an amateur last year - he wanted £75,000 for it, 10 months later when no one else would touch it, and 2 mortgages had been refused because of its condition, i paid him £51,5000. Had he fixed his gutters, a few tiles, and a bit of pointing, the house would have not been in anywhere near as bad a condition.

I reckon to make no profit at all for the first 18 months or so after i buy a house - buying costs and refurbing, take care of that - property letting is a long term business, not a short term fly-by-night business.

i have also bought decent properties from 2 amateur landlords who chose their first tenants from hell, and lost money after getting no rent for 6 months, plus court costs to get them out.

Tassotti

Watch out you amateurs, Clutton is circling above. :T

To RHemmings it doesn't matter wether the property was let as furnished or unfurnished, the LL supplied the item and is responsible for its upkeep.

Get them to fix it.

mi-key

Agree with the above posts - I think 95% of people who have become BTL landlords in the last couple of years basically dont have a clue what they are doing ( especially seeing as most of the professional landlords I know sold a lot of their places at huge profit to the amateurs ;0), and have just seen something on TV that says you can make loads of money from property.

Its amazing how many you hear of that dont realise they have to pay tax on any profits, and will also have to pay tax when they sell the place in the future - also the ones who think they can increase the rent because their mortgage payments have gone up !!!

I can see in a few years time ( if certain things happen ) a lot of these BTL amateurs bailing out and losing money, or breaking even if they are lucky - so many seem to be working on tiny returns for the amount invested, that theres no way they are going to be able to set themselves up for their retirement on it.

One of my friends family have been property developers and landlords for years, and they havent bought anywhere in the last few years - they said every time they go to an auction, there are half a dozen obvious amateurs who bid up the houses to prices where theres just no profit left in them.

If the professionals cant make a decent return on their investment, what makes amateurs think they are going to ( and generally they only have one property, so all their eggs are in one basket ).

moneysavinmonkey

spoke to my friends over weekend and think the general tactic is going to be to start looking for somewhere else, reduce the rent they pay in the meantime, and start complaining in writing to landlady direct and the relevent authorities about HMO + overcrowding + gas certificates + entering property + bad DIY + devalue of tenancy (ie no dining room).

As another point we have suspisions that the landlady does not have a proper BTL mortgage as she did briefly live in the property herself when she first bought it... is this an offence/misdemeaner?? How could we pursue it?

clutton_2

why not just inform the local authority that you think this is a HMO and move on - life it way too short for long term revenge !! The HMO officer will call her to order on just about everything, and take her to court if necessary Her mortgage is not your business.

i hope they find somewhere nicer.

bw