TSI
Rental redress scheme in UK sees increasing number of complaints
The UK’s Property Redress Scheme (PRS) is seeing an increasing number of consumer complaints being made against lettings, property management and estate agents who are members The PRS is one of three consumer redress schemes authorised by the government whose role it is to provide fair and reasonable resolutions to disputes between members of the public and property agents. By law, all agents must be a member of one of these three schemes. The number of complaints raised with the PRS is increasing month on month. Of the complaints raised so far, 44% were by landlords and 41% were by tenants, with the remaining 15% being raised by buyers and sellers of property. The complaints have varied widely in content, with the top three grievances being unfair or excessive fees at 21%, non return of holding deposit at 18%, and perceived poor service or lack of communication at 18%. Agents are also resolving complaints directly with consumers when they are notified of the issue proving that the PRS is having a positive effect on service offered and that some complaints can arise from simple miscommunication between parties. Grounds for non-acceptance of complaints have included consumers that had not yet attempted to raise a formal complaint with their agent but had instead gone direct to the PRS. Others were declined as the complaint involved on-going court action. An example is a landlord who served notice on her agent two months before the end of the tenancy. The agent acknowledged this notice but pointed out that a charge would be made for withdrawing from the agreement, as per the terms of their contract. The agent claimed that this charge was because they had found the tenant that rented the property. As the initial introduction of the tenant retains value, the agent believed they would be materially disadvantaged if the tenancy was renewed under a different agent and wished to seek compensation for this introduction. This information was supplied to the landlord via email but was only received weeks later when the landlord found in her junk email folder. Her lack of response was taken by the agent as tacit agreement and they proceeded by withholding this fee from the last month’s rent. The landlord contacted the agent to explain that she had in fact sold the property and therefore the tenant was not remaining in the property after the expiry of the tenancy. She debated this fee and made further claims that the terms of their agreement were contradictory. However, the agent maintained they would still be applying what they saw as legitimate charges for the cancellation of the agreement. This resulted in a breakdown of communication between the landlord and agent, with both seeking legal representation to try and resolve the issue. Following a thorough review of all the evidence provided,… Continue reading
Rental home loan deposit scheme for certain employees in UK widened
The UK government has announced wide support for a new rental deposit loan scheme that will become available to thousands of potential tenants. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said that the aim is to create a bigger, better private rented sector through a scheme that offers deposit loans to Whitehall staff looking to take up new tenancies in the private rented sector. The scheme, which works in the same way as a staff season ticket loan, will allow employees to borrow some of their salary upfront in order to pay for rental deposits, which is then repayable from salary payments over up to a year. It is available to be taken up in both the public and private sectors. The Department for Communities and Local Government last October became the first government department to roll the scheme out to its staff, with ministers pushing other parts of government and the public sector to follow suit. The department is working with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to increase availability across the private sector. ‘This move will mean thousands of people will be offered a helping hand to rent privately through season ticket style loans from their employers. I hope to see more employers in the public and private sector joining the scheme in the near future,’ said Lewis. The scheme was created by the homelessness charity Shelter and the Greater London Authority was another public body to introduce the scheme for its staff. The tenancy deposit scheme can be adapted by different employers to suit their needs, but generally employees are offered interest free loans to pay their deposits when they move into a privately rented home, which are then paid back through their salary over the course of up to a year. Continue reading
Latest quarterly figures show house prices up 3.4% in Scotland
House prices continued to rise in Scotland in the fourth quarter of last year taking them to their highest level since current records began in 2003. The data from the Registers of Scotland shows that the average house price in Scotland was £165,197, an increase 3.4% on the same period in 2013. The figures also show that the total value of sales across Scotland was up by 3.1% compared to the previous year to just under £4.2 billion. Moray showed the highest percentage rise, with the value of sales increasing by 21.7% year on year. Edinburgh remained the largest market with sales of just over £656 million, an increase of 2.8%. North Ayrshire recorded the highest percentage rise in average price compared with the same quarter of the previous year, up 17.1% to £124,260. Aberdeenshire had the highest average at £232,331, a rise of 5% while the largest percentage fall in price was in Falkirk, which showed a drop of 4.3% with an average price of £123,180. However, the total volume of sales across Scotland fell by 0.3%, the first decrease in sales volumes since 2012. Argyll and Bute showed the largest percentage rise in the number of sales with an increase of 18.2% and Edinburgh again recorded the highest sales volume but this was down 1.5% on the previous year. The largest percentage decrease was in Stirling, which showed a drop of 14.2%. All property types, with the exception of detached properties, showed an increase in average house price in this quarter, the biggest being in semi-detached properties at 5.5%. With the exception of flats, all property types experienced a decrease in sales volumes, with detached properties recording the biggest decrease of 4.2% compared to the previous year. Property consultancy, CKD Galbraith, said it saw a steady growth in sales throughout 2014 which is continuing into 2015. There was also a 23% increase in the number of viewings against 2013’s figures for the same period. ‘Prices achieved for all properties sold by the firm during 2014 were on average 1.54% over the asking price. The past three months have proved to be busy and productive with buyers hesitancy around the referendum period translating into a surge of activity and successful transactions during the final quarter of the year,’ said Simon Brown, partner and head of residential sales at CKD Galbraith. ‘The momentum has continued throughout January and we expect there to be more movement at the higher end of the market before the stamp duty changes occur in April. Although the general election is likely to cause a slight slowdown in activity, we can say that 2015 looks set to be a promising year for the property sector,’ he added. Scotland’s property market can continue to take confidence from these latest results, according to Peter Grant, chief executive officer of Grant Property. ‘It’s notable that total volume of sales continues to be up and this is reflected by our own business activity,’ he… Continue reading
