Redbridge Landlord Forum Good Evening & Welcome Welcome & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Redbridge Landlord Forum Good Evening & Welcome

Welcome & Introductions

Richard Blanco Chair & NLA Representative

Opening Remarks

Councillor Farah Hussain

Cabinet Member for Housing & Homelessness

Agenda

1. Welcome & Introduction Richard Blanco - Chair & NLA representative

• 2. Opening Remarks

Councillor Farah Hussain Cabinet Member for Housing & Homelessness

• 3. Minutes of the last meeting

All

• 4. Property Licensing Update

Cheryl Hart LBR Licensing Processing Team Manager

• 5. Enforcement Update

Shamol Mashuk LBR Housing Standards Manager Steve Foster LBR Housing Standards Manager

• 6. Update from Planning Department

Ewan Coke Senior Planning Officer

Networking & Refreshment Break

• 7. Universal Credit Explained

Jasvinder Virdee DWP, Job Centre Plus Redbridge Dawn Cove LBR Head of Benefits

• 8. Update Tenant Services Project

Shamol Mashuk Housing Standards Manager

• 9. Buy sell or hold market analysis

Richard Blanco Chair and Representative NLA

• 10. Any other business

Close 9 pm

Minutes https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/housing/private- rentals/landlord-and-private-tenant-forum Please refer to printed copies of the minutes on your tables

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• Summary

FPNs issued 187 FPNs in pipeline 57 Total FPN's 244 Total Issued £914,250 Total Forecast £130,000 Total I & F £1,044,250

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Intervention: Exposed single brick walls and suspected no insulation (Excess Cold and Damp and Mould). Peak rate heating. There was no fire detection in the property and only

• ne exit (Fire)

Advice given to tenant. Outcome: Referral made to Housing Advice (2 elderly couple) Prohibition Order served. Landlord issued notice to quit.

Networking & Refreshments

Universal Credit

The claimant is not required to provide a new tenancy agreement when claiming UC – merely their original tenancy and subsequent letters from the landlord detailing any variances.

1.Proof of address/residency 2.Liability for housing payments

To be eligible for Housing Costs the claimant must provide sufficient documentation to verify two criteria :

Verification of Housing Costs

No further action required – rent will be included in the award of UC. Work coach clears the rent verification to do.

Yes

Information requested from claimant If housing costs unverified at end of assessment period the housing element is not paid

No

Housing Costs Verified Claimant asked to bring in evidence

• f residency and liability for

payment of housing costs at

ID interview

Verification of Housing

Alternative Payment Arrangements: Managed Payment to Landlord

Key Messages

• Alternative Payment Arrangements (APAs) exist for paying a claimant’s Universal

Credit in ways other than the standard methods. One of these APAs is a know as a Managed Payment To Landlord (MPTL) where the housing element of the UC award can be paid directly to the landlord, minimising the risk of claimants failing to pay their rent.

• When rent arrears occur a landlord can apply for a MPTL.
• Although rent arrears are the most common reason for requesting an MPTL, there

are other considerations that we take into account. These are known as Tier 1 (of which arrears is one) and Tier 2 factors, which are detailed on the next slide.

• Claimant consent is not required for an MPTL request, although the claimant is given

7 days to prove they are not in the arrears necessary for an MPTL, or are in a formal dispute with the landlord (that is registered with the LA).

• A landlord can also apply for arrears of rent to be deducted from a claimant’s UC (a

Third Party Deduction). This can be also made on the UC47 form.

MPTL in payment

You

• Complete the UC47 available from Gov.uk
• E-mail to UC - address provided within the form.

Claimant

• Claimant is given 7 days to respond to a journal entry where

they have opportunity to provide evidence they are not in arrears or are in an official dispute with landlord. (a response/consent is not required to implement the MPTL)

DWP

• A case manager will contact you to obtain your bank details

and any other necessary information.

Applying for an MPTL

Disclosure – Explicit Consent

Explicit Consent

• The claimant must provide explicit consent before information can be

disclosed to a representative they wish to act on their behalf.

• For explicit consent to be effective the claimant must state:
• That they give consent for their personal information to be disclosed
• What information they want to be disclosed
• Why the information is needed
• The name of the third party representative who they want to handle

the issue on their behalf and the name of the third party organisation (where it applies)

What DWP can disclose

• Landlords may ask for their tenant’s rent to be paid directly to them without the need for

explicit consent from the claimant.

• The claimant is informed about the request for Alternative Payment Arrangements

(managed payment to the landlord). The claimant does not need to reply to give their consent.

• Once the APA is in place, the following information can be disclosed to the landlord, if

requested: - The start date of the managed payment and/or third party deduction

• When you can expect to receive the first managed payment and/or the third party

deduction from DWP

• The amount of the next payment of the housing costs.
• If there have been any changes to the UC housing costs, the reason for the changes will

not be provided or discussed.

• The claimants personal circumstances will not be discussed or why an APA was refused.

Disclosure

Other Sources of Information

Universal Credit Toolkit :Covers a range of UC topics including: UC & You, Work Allowances, Information for families, claims with 2 or more children, Self-Employment, Housing Costs, Claimant Commitments and health or disability. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-toolkit-for-partner-organisations Universal Credit Statistics: Provides statistics on: Breakdown by Jobcentre Plus office, age of UC claimants, Employment Status of claimants & Conditionality Regimes https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics Universal Credit & Landlords: Provides information on the following areas: Guide for Landlords, Service Charge Guidance, Housing costs & Disclosure guidance, Rent changes advice for April 18, April 18 rent change https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2 Landlord Newsletter https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-landlord-engagement-newsletters Partnership Managers: Your local Partnership Manager will supply details of local contacts for escalations. However if you do not have details of a local contact then these regional contacts will be able to pass your query on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-partnerships/national-partnership-teams

Claimant Escalation Routeway

Working Age Benefits

(e.g. JSA, ESA, Income Support)

• Call Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 169 0310

Universal Credit

(Digital UC)

• Digitally – via Journal Facility in UC Digital System
• Call the UCFS Service Centre on 0800 328 5644

Partner Organisation Escalation Routeway

• Please note – this escalation Routeway is used to support Partner Organisations/Providers – please do not issue this to claimants

as they will only be directed into the Routeway above.

• For UCFS we need Explicit Consent from the claimant to talk to a provider/partner organisation. The claimant can provide this via the

Journal in their Digital Account or verbally to the Service Centre. They need to include the point of contact & name of organisation they give permission for us to speak to and details of the issue. For more information on disclosure follow this link Universal Credit consent and disclosure of information

General Queries & Questions

For generic queries that may affect multiple claimants e.g. Does somebody need to claim UCFS if they move into this area?

• Contact Local Partnership

Manager Individual Claimant queries

• r escalation

e.g. We are supporting Joe Bloggs who has not received his UC housing payments and is under threat of eviction, can you look into this so housing costs can be paid asap ?

• Contact the local Work Coach

Team Leader for the relevant claimants office and benefit (see Page 2) Complaints

If a claimant has a complaint about DWP they can complain by phone, in person, or in writing

• How to complain

Sources of information on UC for customers & partner organisations (links enabled when viewed in slideshow mode):

• www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk & Universal Credit partner toolkit - useful guides to UC for claimants and partners
• www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Km4IXfVJB1n8SQUmkJD0Q - useful range of videos on UC full service

Jobcentre Plus – Escalation Routeway

District Operations Manager Bindu Surish BINDU.SURISH@DWP.GOV.UK Customer Service Leader Bitu Ubha BITU.UBHA@DWP.GOV.UK Universal Credit Full Service Work Coach Team Leaders Sarah Tanner 0208 271 4951 SARAH.TANNER@ DWP.GOV.UK Billie-Jean Nelson 0208 271 4957 BILLIE-JEAN.NELSON@ DWP.GOV.UK Shelina Ali 0208 271 4931 SHELINA.ALI@ DWP.GOV.UK Tia Ahmed 0208 271 4906 TIA.AHMED@ DWP.GOV.UK General Enquiries Front of House Manager Anish Patel 0208 271 4843 ANISH.PATEL@ DWP.GOV.UK Heritage Benefits Work Coach Team Leader Farangis Hekmat 0208 2714935 FARANGIS.HEKMAT@ DWP.GOV.UK Housing Lead Jasvinder Virdee 0208 271 4843 UCFS.REDBRIDGEHOUSING @ DWP.GOV.UK Partnership Manager Beverley Gayle 020 8210 4865 BEVERLEY.GAYLE@ DWP.GOV.UK

Redbridge Jobcentre plus organisation chart

www.landlords.org.uk

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Buy, Sell or Hold?

Richard Blanco, NLA Representative

State Of The Market

• House Prices (UK House Price Index April 19)

– Up 1.4% nationally, down 1.2% in London – North East & East Midlands strongest

• Rental Prices (May 2019 Index)

– Up 1.3% nationally, up 0.9% in London – Slowly recovering from negative territory

NLA Research

• Landlord confidence in the sector is low

– Own lettings business, PRS, capital gains – Only 20% think tenant demand has increased

• Average yield is 5.8% (6.9% with HMOs)

– Average 10 properties

• 6 in 10 of us use a letting agent
• 10% add to portfolio, 10% sold in last 3 mths

– 18% plan to reduce, 16% plan to increase in next 12 months

NLA Research

• 53% to buy in Ltd Company

– 71% with BTL loan, 26% will release equity

• 92% have good relationship with tenants
• 91% subject to bias and unfair media

coverage

• Only 14% let to tenants on benefits

NLA Survey Of Landlord Voting Intentions

• 69% of landlords say they voted Conservative

in 2017

– Only 25% said they would vote Conservative if an election were called today

• 85% said they would vote against any party

proposing to remove section 21

• 89% said they would vote against any party

proposing rent control

Reasons To Buy

• Prices falling gently – improve yields in London

– Buyers market?

• Infrastructure Improvements In London

– Crossrail 1 & 2, Westfield, HS2, Barking, Battersea

• Choice Of Finance

– Lowest BTL rates on record – Specialist lenders

• Buy in Limited Company

– Falling Corporation Tax

Reasons To Hold

• Where are we in the cycle – further to fall?
• Many sitting on big capital gains/good yields
• Too much uncertainty

– Brexit, Trump, election, Corbyn govt – Reduced migration… but fewer landlords?

• Tory leadership promise tax changes

– Corp Tax 12.5%, 40% tax band to £80k, NIC – SDLT 0% to £500k, 7% over £1.5m (now 12%) – Boris says will freeze all new regulation

Reasons To Sell

• Driven by regulation

– S24 tax changes (don’t affect cash buyers) – PRA changes – Abolition of s21, Licensing, Article 4 Directions

• Sell before prices fall further?

– But market is a bit sluggish

• Sell before Corbyn government?
• Wait until next peak in the cycle?

Inside Property & NLA Podcast

• Monthly podcast

– Expand, Hold or Sell? – Brexit & Investing – Crime in the PRS – Property in the media – Maintenance – HMOs – Design for Let Property – Current Affairs editions

• insideproperty.org.uk & www.landlords.org.uk

www.landlords.org.uk

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Join the NLA

• 30% off using code JULY30
• This month only
• Advice line & Library
• UK Landlord
• Discounts on mortgages,

insurance and other services

• Your voice
• Be a professional
• Over 80% satisfaction rate

www.landlords.org.uk

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Contacts

Your NLA London Representatives richard.blanco@landlords.org.uk yvonne.baisden@landlords.org.uk karen.gregory@landlords.org.uk (for advice, please contact the NLA advice line) To do business with the NLA natasha.mukhi@landlords.org.uk

Any other business?

Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday 6 November 6 – 9 pm, Town Hall

Thank you for attending. Have a safe journey home