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Most tenants fail to get all of their deposit back, new survey finds
The majority of people who’ve rented a property in the UK in the past five years have failed to get their full deposit back after vacating, new research has found. Some 52% of deposits were fully or partially withheld over the past five years, equivalent to more than 400,000 deposits per year and overall 80% of tenants had some degree of trouble getting their deposit back. The survey by London removals company Kiwi Movers also found that cleaning and minor repairs are the most common reasons for withheld deposits, however, 28% of respondents said their landlord delayed returning their deposit despite not making any deductions. Of those who said they experienced difficulties with their landlord when it came to the return of the deposit, 6% lost their entire deposit, the equivalent to 252,000 deposits being fully withheld over the past five years, and 46% lost part of their deposit. Some 20% said they got their full deposit back without any problems while 28% said they managed to get their deposit back in full only after a dispute with the landlord or letting agency. London is the deposit dispute hotspot, with residents in the capital almost twice as likely (11%) as the survey average (6%) to lose their whole deposit, while tenants aged between 18 and 24 living with friends, as opposed to living with a partner or spouse, living alone or with people they didn’t know prior to moving in, are most likely to lose their full deposit. ‘We've seen an increase in customers hiring professional cleaners before checking out of a rented property. It seems to be the only way to counter what they see as the inevitable attempts to withhold part of their deposit,’ said Kiwi Movers director Regan McMillan. ‘Our customers tell us they feel vulnerable unless they have paperwork to prove that they left the property in an acceptable state. Moving is stressful enough without having to worry about having your deposit unfairly withheld,’ he added. Amy Williams, a digital producer from Southampton took her London landlord to court and won after he withheld her deposit. ‘It was only a six month contract and the landlord tried to make us pay for problems that were in the flat when we moved in,’ she explained. ‘The court said it was wear and tear, ordered the landlord to return our deposit and told him that wear and tear was something he’d have to get used to. The landlord also choose to hold the court session not in London but on the south coast. But luckily because we won he had to pay for our train tickets too,’ she added. Daniel Zambas, a Manchester based musician, also took successful legal action against a former landlord. ‘The agent told us the landlord wasn’t going to return our deposit. We successfully challenged this and once we’d had our money… Continue reading
UK gross mortgage lending showing signs of picking up
Mortgage lending in the UK is still down on a quarterly basis on what it was a year ago but there are signs of a pickup, according to the latest figures to be published. Estimates from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that gross mortgage lending reached £16.5 billion in March, some 21% higher than February but lending for the first quarter is 12% down on the final quarter of 2014 and 3% down on the first quarter of 2014. However it is up month on month for the month of March, some 7% higher than March of 2014 and CML chief economist Bob Pannell said that the underlying lending picture is stabilising. ‘Sentiment and activity are showing early signs of improvement, and should be further supported by the effects of stamp duty reform. We expect to see lending strengthen over the next few months, albeit from a relatively sluggish start in 2015,’ he said. But buy to let lending is stronger. Data from the Bank of England shows that gross lending for buy to let purposes was £27.4 billion in 2014 and over the past five years the share of total buy to let lending in overall mortgage lending picked up to 15% in the fourth quarter of 2014 Q4, higher than in the pre-crisis period. The Bank’s network of Agents noted that the rental market had continued to grow strongly in recent months, supporting continued steady growth in buy to let activity and gross buy to let lending has grown faster than overall gross mortgage lending in recent years. Gross buy to let advances for remortgaging have also increased in recent years. As a share of the total it grew from 32% in 2002 to 52% in 2014, with the share of gross advances for house purchase at 45%. According to David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, buy to let is not subject to the nerves and jitters of this spring’s home owner mortgage market. ‘Election uncertainty might be putting some people off buying a home, but in the meantime millions of tenants still need somewhere to live and landlords are investing in new properties, as buy to let mortgage rates reach new lows,’ he said. ‘Underpinning this, rents are picking up on the back of a strengthening jobs market, supporting yields while steady price growth is still providing an additional bonus of capital growth to many landlords,’ he explained. However he pointed out that there are uncertainties on the horizon. ‘The latest noises from the Bank of England indicate how the powers that be seem as unsure about the future path of interest rates as the man on the street. However, when rates do rise, or if the economic recovery does slow, landlords will be in a better position to stand up to headwinds than a year ago as their tenants’ financial health improves,’ he added. In general the mortgage lending market is improving, according to… Continue reading
Scottish house prices see biggest monthly jump since 2007
Scottish property prices increased by 1.7% in February, the biggest monthly jump since the 2007 taking the average value to a new record high of £169,742. The latest data from the Your Move Scotland house price index also shows that the annual price growth has now reached 6% and there was a spike in sales of homes worth over £1 million, probably due to the introduction of the new property tax in April. The annual growth is the strongest it has been since August 2010 and Stirling experienced the fastest increase in property values across Scotland during February, with house prices soaring 5.3% while Aberdeen, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Angus all set new house price peaks in February. The index data also shows that overall sales were up 14% month on month but they are still 4% below the same levels seen in February last year. Christine Campbell, regional managing director of Your Move, explained that the monthly growth was much higher than in England and Wales where it was just 0.4% in February. ‘The impressive rise in house prices in February has been influenced by the introduction of the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in April, as high end buyers sought to complete expensive purchases under the old stamp duty rates,’ said Campbell. She pointed out that 15 properties priced at £1million or more were sold in Scotland during the month of February, compared to just six the previous month. ‘Tactical tax considerations have helped foster price growth in the Scottish housing market, and are likely to play a significant role in the months to come too,’ she said. ‘Now that the LBTT has come into force, we expect to see a temporary drop-off in the number of properties sold above £750,000, now liable for the top rate of tax, similar to the impact we’re currently seeing in London among £2 million properties in light of December’s stamp duty changes,’ Campbell added. She also pointed out that typically in the housing market cycle home sales ease back in February, in the aftermath of the costly Christmas period but this February moved against the seasonal grain, with completed home sales up 14% on January levels. A breakdown of the figures shows that over the past three months, completed home sales have fallen in every local authority area of Scotland on an annual basis, with Midlothian seeing the sharpest 31% drop. ‘However these year on year benchmarks have been artificially propped up following the extraordinary headway in sales activity over 2014, and as well as having to recalibrate onto a steadier course, the housing market this year also has an upcoming general election to contend with,’ said Campbell, who added that the slowdown in Scottish sales activity is being mirrored south of the border, as all across the UK political uncertainty is infusing home buyers with a new hesitancy. ‘But as soon as there is a… Continue reading
