It looks as if Labour (if they win the election on Thursday, 4 July) will be looking to update the school curriculum. One thing I would like them to consider is basic legal education in schools.

Why some basic law should be taught in schools

Everyone is deemed to know the law, and in most cases ignorance of the law is not allowable as a defence. However, in point of fact many people have only the vaguest idea about our legal system and how it works.

So, surely, our education system should help people understand the legal system and equip them for life.

For example:

• The difference  between civil law and criminal law
• The difference between common law/case law and statute law
• The different courts and tribunals and the work that they do
• The different kinds of jobs in the law (solicitors, barristers, court clerks, etc)

Why housing law is important for young people

In particular I would ask for there to be at least some training in housing law and tenants rights.

Most children, when they grow up, will be unable to afford to buy their own home, and so will either stay at home with their parents or rent.  Students studying at Uni away from home will also mostly live in rented accommodation.

But renting comes with a whole slew of rights and obligations which many tenants are unaware of.

As a minimum, tenants should have at least a vague awareness of:

• The different types of tenancy
• Landlords’ obligations regarding tenants deposits
• Restrictions on landlord’s rights to increase rent
• Landlord’s obligations on keeping property in repair and
• The various certificates that need to be obtained and served on tenants (eg gas safety, EPCs and electricity)
• A bit of guidance on tenancy agreements and the sort of clauses you will find there, and
• The rules about eviction and recovery of possession

It would also be helpful to have some understanding of

• The data protection rules
• Rules about keeping pets in rented properties
• Landlords obligations towards disabled tenants
• The role of letting agents and what they do, and
• How letting agents are regulated
• The duties of Local Authorities towards landlords and their tenants

No doubt there are other issues which I have missed.

And finally

When my son was at school, I remember that as part of his history course, he had to study the history of surgery – which we both thought was a bit bizarre and put him off history for quite some time.

Learning about housing law – which will directly affect many young people when they leave school, would be far more useful.

If any schools or teachers reading this would like a bit of support in developing a teaching course along the lines above, I would be happy to help.

The post Election 2024 – We need more legal education in schools appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Back in the 1970’s when I was growing up, Council housing was the most important rental sector. In 1979 there were some 5.5 million homes.

However, in 1980, Margaret Thatcher passed the Housing Act 1980, which introduced the right for Council Tenants to buy their property.

As the properties were sold at a substantial discount, this proved very popular, and over the 40 years since then, most of the best Council Properties have left the social housing sector.

By 2022, social housing had declined by around a quarter to 4.1 million homes.

Superficially, this sounds fantastic, and indeed, it was wonderful for many ‘ordinary people’ to have the opportunity to own their own home – something they might never have been able to afford otherwise.

However long term it has proved very bad for the economy and the housing sector in particular. For example:

The inability of Councils to replace the properties sold

The rules under which these properties were sold provided for only half of the proceeds of sale to go to Local Authorities and they were required to use the money to reduce their debt rather than build more homes.

This had the unfortunate effect of:

• Reducing the social housing available and also,
• Reducing future rental income for Councils

There is little incentive for Councils to go through the often difficult and expensive process of obtaining planning permission and funding to build new Council housing if it is just all going to be sold off at an undervalue in a few year’s time.

It is also arguable that building social housing only to be sold later at an undervalue is an imprudent waste of public money.

The passing of properties from the social to the private sector

It is believed that some 40% of all social housing sold to tenants has eventually been sold on to private landlords.

This is unfortunate as private landlords charge a market rent rather than the lower rents, charged by social landlords.

This means that housing for families on benefits has become considerably more expensive. Often, benefit payments are insufficient to cover tenants’ rent.

This has also led to overcrowding and more homelessness, as the cost of living crisis has resulted in more tenants being evicted for rent arrears.

The massive cost to Councils of rehousing those in priority need

Councils have a legal obligation to rehouse people made homeless who are in priority need (discussed in my recent post).

However, due to the shrinking pool of properties owned by Councils (due mainly to the right to buy and the inability of Councils to replace those sold), Councils are having to use expensive private sector and bed and breakfast accommodation.

The cost of this is contributing to the current financial crisis being experienced by many Councils, some of whom have already or are about to issue a section 114 notice (effectively the equivalent of bankruptcy).

This is one reason why the Labour Party is determined to abolish no-fault evictions – as it will reduce the obligation on Councils to rehouse those evicted.

What needs to happen

We need to increase the pool of accommodation available to Councils. The two main ways to do this are to

• Stop the haemorrhaging of properties through right to buy, and
• Enable Councils to fund the building of new properties

Assuming there are no major planning issues, new, decent council housing could be built fairly quickly, especially if modular housing methods are used.

The damage that has been done by the sell-off of our Council Housing is generally accepted now, with campaigns such as this one from Shelter to reverse the rot.

What will Labour do?

Labour are expected to win the 2024 General Election (at the time of writing, just under one week away).

Their manifesto provides for

• An increase in social and affordable housebuilding
• Strengthening planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes
• Making changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to ensure that it delivers more homes from existing funding
• Supporting Councils to build more
• Prioritising the building of new social rented homes and
• Reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012, and
• Increasing protections on newly built social housing

I would prefer to see the right to buy removed altogether, as is the case in Scotland and Wales, and my view is that this has to happen eventually. However, maybe this is too much of an ask at the moment.

Reducing its scope would make a big difference.  However, in the end, we should move to a situation where either

• The right to buy is removed altogether, or
• Councils are required to replace every property sold with a new council property.

The former option would be easier to implement.  Which is why I say the right to  buy should eventually go.

Social housing can then take care of low income families and other needy persons, leaving the private rented sector to house those ineligible for social housing or for whom social housing would be inappropriate.

Which is the situation we should be aiming for.

The post Election 2024 – We cannot solve the housing crisis unless we stop right to buy appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Our last Newsround for June, let’s see what housing news has caught our eye here at Landlord Law this week.

Renters are now calling for EPC changes

EPC reform is in the news alot lately and now renters are demanding that action is taken to help make green initiatives more available.

Rightmove has conducted a survey and has determined that 87% of renters are now calling for immediate action for green improvements to help bring their heating bills down and make their rental homes more energy efficient.

Over half of the UK’s housing are an EPC rating of D or lower and these lower ratings can make a difference of thousands of pounds in energy bills. A home with EPC F brings in an energy bill of £4,431pa where the same house with a rating of ‘C’ has an annual energy bill of £1,669.

Nathan Emerson of Rightmove says

We would be keen to see any incoming government construct a wide-ranging package of support to assist with upgrades at the first opportunity.

It’s vital there is a diverse approach of funding, grants, and targeted schemes based on age, condition, and size and that there is robust infrastructure in place to deliver on such ambitions.

Are guarantors the way to go if S21 is abolished?

Tom Entwistle, a recognised writer on residential property explains that now might be the time to take on a guarantor or rent guarantee insurance if section 21 is abolished. A guarantor can protect a landlord against rent arrears and tenancy problems and it gives the landlord some protection.

Having a guarantor mitigates some of the risk of taking on a tenant that looks good on paper but could be on a low income or have a poor credit score. The guarantor will pay the landlord the rent if the tenant cannot, it is universal for students lets.

However, a landlord must make sure that the contract is drawn up correctly and legally if it is to stand up in court. There is no standard form.

At Landlord Law we have a vast array of information concerning guarantors including when a guarantee is invalid, this is all free for members to access. Members can access our full and very detailed section on Guarantees here.

Tenants ongoing struggle to afford rents

TDS Charitable Foundation has produced a new survey which finds that over 2,000 private tenants in March are finding it difficult to afford their rent.

35% of renters fell into this category and this increased to 56% where tenants are not in employment due to long term sickness or disability. 45% of students struggled with their rent payments 43% of those were receiving benefits in some form. Not surprisingly 55% of tenants have cut back on necessary outgoing expenses such food and heating, and shockingly this rose to 72% for single parent renters.

The report also detailed that average rents have increased by 7%, but showed a big disparity between locations.

TDS Charitable Foundation is calling on all parties to deal with the ever growing gap between supply and demand, and that the government unfreezes housing benefit rates.

Dr Jennifer Harris of the Foundation says

Being able to afford a home should be the foundation for anyone to flourish. However, our data paints a worrying picture of the pressures many renters are now under and has implications for landlords with tenants in arrears.

Landlords who want to help tenants who are in financial difficulties should take a look at our Helping Tenants in Arrears Kit.

Another council cracks down on rogue landlord

Haringey Council has issued a total of £41,000 civil penalty fines as it continues to crack down hard on rogue landlords. They served improvement notices on a large HMO dwelling for severe hazards throughout the property, the property was also found to have damp and mould in rooms posing as a severe health risk. The landlord failed to ac,t having been given many warnings, and was fined £13,500 civil penalty notice.

The council also fined a landlord and three letting agent directors £27,500 for failing to hold the correct HMO license for a house in Tottenham. The council also managed to prevent the letting company from declaring insolvency and thus avoiding paying the fine, by working directly with Companies House.

Eubert Malcolm from Haringey Council said

It is imperative that landlords and letting agents adhere to the legal requirements to not only avoid prosecution, but also protect and maintain high housing standards in Haringey.

Making sure a landlord has the correct licenses is imperative as more and more councils are bringing in differing licensing schemes, ignorance is no excuse and fines canbe excessive. Here at Landlord Law we have a comprehensive Local Authority Directory.

Snippets

Landlord to repay tenants £21,500 after Tribunal probe
Scotland’s housebuilding plummets following rent controls
Landlord loses appeal against £35,000 licensing fine
Is the landlord right to claim for rent arrears & damage caused during the tenancy?
General Election: What are Labour’s manifesto commitments for the Private Rented Sector?

Newsround will be back next week.

The post Landlord Law Newsround #345 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.