Rent Renewals
When we negotiate a Tenancy Agreement for our assignees, we also seek to cap and rent renewal at 5% or RPI which ever is the lower. However, with the RPI at 12.3% we are seeing many landlords, or their Managing Agents, simply ignore the cap and apply the full RPI rate.
When we challenge them, many will push back saying that either our assignee pays the new rent amount of they will not agree to renew the tenancy and seek a new tenant.
Clearly not all Landlords adopt this aggressive approach to increasing the rent to existing tenancies, but enough are that we wanted to bring it to your attention.
It is still a Landlords market, and with Mortgage rates rising rapidly and many on interest-only mortgages, they will use any opportunity to increase their income to cover increased costs. Managing Agents like increased rents too, as their percentage-based fee increases as well.
Options are limited
HR could ask for another Home Search and then relocate the employee for the additional period of their assignee’s stay; they can terminate an assignment early and hand-back the property on the tenancy end date, or if it just a matter of a few weeks extra, move them out into Serviced Accommodation. Please discuss the options with your HCR Relocation Consultant to find the the best route to take.
Rent legislation changes
RIGHT TO RENT:
The ability for Letting Agents & Landlords to do Facetime or other virtual checks ends 30th September 2022. Checks will have to be done online for overseas visitors using a ‘sharecode’ provide as part of the immigration or settled, pre-settled status process. The use of Biometric cards as evidence is no longer allowed.
For more information and detail go to: https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents
CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS:
Legislation is finally catching up with our best practice and new regulations requires every private rented property to be fitted with both smoke and CO alarms by 1st October 2022. The regulations do not say whether they should be hard-wired or battery powered. If they are battery powered, then the tenant is responsible for ensuring they work. Enforcement is through Local Authorities.
For more information go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarms-explanatory-booklet-for-landlords/the-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-england-regulations-2015-qa-booklet-for-the-private-rented-sector-landlords-and-tenants