In this summer issue we update you with relevant news for landlords
Tenant Angels – deposit screening companies
In our Spring 2023 update, we advised that we were changing the way we process deposits and that we now have software that automatically collects the deposits and registers them at the point of tenancy signing. One of the key reasons for this change was to ensure that there was no chance of human error when it came to protecting deposits.
Earlier this year, we were approached by a company attempting to reclaim 3 deposits plus the original deposit amount due to our apparent non-compliance with the deposit protection process. We engaged our lawyers and successfully rejected the claim, at our cost. The interesting thing was, the tenants had left the tenancy around 6 months earlier so were obviously trying to simply cash-in.
Our lawyers have now informed us that they have been approached by a company called Tenant Angels who run a website offering to pursue deposit claims on a no-win-no-fee basis. They offer the claims to solicitors and require 25% as a fee for themselves. If a deposit is £1500 then the 3x penalty will be £4500 so it is easy to see how this will produce a nice income.
The key thing to remember is that the landlord and the agent are liable individually or, can both be pursued. If you rent some of your properties yourself or use other agents as well as Sulets, we would advise that you check how intact their deposit registration process is, because there are companies that are actively trying to fish for tenants making deposit penalty claims.
HMO fire safety case
We are sometimes asked why we undertake a regular fire inspections and insist on fire doors in kitchens. There is a common misconception that these only apply when you have a HMO that requires a mandatory licence but this isn’t true.
A case reported recently highlights why this is important to get right as it can be very expensive when it goes wrong. In this case the agent was liable as it was likely that a lease existed but in the case of a managed property, it would be likely that the landlord would be on the hook for the bill. Further reading in the link below:
propertyindustryeye.com/agent-ordered-to-pay-almost-500000-for-serious-fire-safety-breaches/
Thinking of selling your property?
Sulets are actively looking for properties to purchase in the following Leicester postcodes:
LE1, LE2, LE3
If you are thinking of selling then please Contact Us for a free valuation.
How are we doing?
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Click here to review Sulets – review.sulets.com
Thanks for your continued support 👍