Tag Archives: business
New campaign launched to help residential landlords in the UK
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has launched its latest campaign in the UK, Reinventing Renting, which identifies opportunities for landlords to enhance their lettings businesses. The campaign is designed to help landlords transform their businesses into more successful profitable enterprises and it contains useful resources, guides and presentations, including how to choose the right investment, improve financial planning and expand portfolios and maximise gains. It also looks at how to reduce exposure to a range of risks associated with letting property, such as impending interest rate rises, rent arrears and rogue tenants. The campaign focuses on supporting landlords who are struggling to turn a profit by exploring different business approaches and tenant markets, while providing assistance for landlords looking to make their business more profitable. It comes as changes announced earlier this year in the Summer Budget and the Autumn Statement a few weeks ago are set to seriously affect profitability within the sector. ‘As the leading landlord association we’re here to provide landlords with all the tools and information needed to make a success of letting,’ said Carolyn Uphill, chairman of the NLA. ‘Over the next few months, Reinventing Renting will look at some of the key issues for landlords and provide support and tips to improve the way they run their business,’ she explained. ‘The campaign has something for both new and experienced landlords and will be particularly useful for those who are struggling to make things work or worried about how the changes to mortgage interest taxation will affect them in the future,’ she added. Continue reading
Slow broadband can hamper rural commercial leasing, new report says
Slow broadband is a major constraint in the successful letting of commercial workspace in the countryside in the UK and has an impact on rents achievable according to new research. It is also becoming more of an issue in some locations for residential property available to rent, the latest analysis sector survey report from real estate firm Savills shows. The survey reveals that nearly 70% of respondents confirmed slow broadband is a constraint on letting residential property in rural areas and 80% confirmed slow broadband is a constraint on letting commercial workspace. The survey also showed that in many cases a poor speed deters potential tenants from even making an appointment for a viewing and where space is let, on average rents are 16% and 25% less respectively where the broadband speed is slow. ‘Broadband speed is now generally one of the first topics raised by perspective tenants who are looking to rent some commercial office space in a rural area,’ said Ben Knight, director of Savills Rural. ‘Where it is poor vacant periods are often longer and in some cases there is no demand for a building however good the space and other facilities are. And with more people choosing to work from home for at least part of the week it is becoming a more common question from perspective residential tenants,’ he explained. The report suggests that landlords looking to develop commercial space should assess the speed of broadband as part of the viability study and are in cases shelving a project if the speed is poor or taking matters into their hands and creating high speed networks using grant funding where applicable. While the start-up costs are significant around £20,000-£30,000 in the first year, annuity income from those using the broadband is a valuable new income stream and of course the likelihood of finding tenants for the commercial space greatly improves the report says. Two estates which have successfully developed their own broadband schemes are The Alscot Estate in Warwickshire and The Rushmore Estate in Dorset. The Alscot Estate near Stratford-upon-Avon established the network South Warwickshire Broadband in 2014 which has led to a diverse range of businesses occupying premises and a 100 per cent occupancy rate. The tenants all have access to upload and download speeds of up to 36Mb per second plus voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and cloud services. ‘The benefits to the estate of having full occupancy with happy tenants are extremely valuable. Increasingly estates are having to diversify away from agriculture as farm incomes are pressurized by weak commodity prices and former traditional farm buildings provide attractive offices once converted,’ said Knight. ‘At Alscot we were able to immediately connect a gaming business taking one of the serviced offices so that they were up and running within 24 hours, which created a great relationship with the tenant from the outset,’ he added. The Rushmore Estate in Dorset via Wessex Internet is now able to offer residential and commercial… Continue reading
Changes for rental properties lettings in New Zealand announced
Changes in New Zealand mean that every rental property must reach specified insulation standards by July 2019 and have smoke alarms fitted. Housing minister Nick Smith has announced new rental regulations which all landlords must meet. Only properties where it is physically impractical to fit insulation will be exempt. The smoke alarms will become obligatory in July of next year but tenants will be responsible for replacing batteries and informing landlords of any defects that prevent the alarms from working. Smith also outlined new powers to prosecute landlords for breaking tenancy regulations, particularly where there is risk to the health and safety of tenants and the rules will allow tenants to take concerns to the Tenancy Tribunal without fear of retaliatory evictions. Under proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords will need to make sure their rental properties have ceiling and underfloor insulation that meets the new standard.The new requirements will apply from July 2016 for government subsidised social housing, and from July 2019 for all other rental properties, including boarding houses. The regulations will make landlords responsible for installing operational smoke alarms, with tenants responsible for replacing batteries and notifying landlords when there is a defect. This will come into effect from 1 July 2016. The proposed standards require a minimum of one working smoke alarm in a hall or similar area, within three meters of each bedroom door. Help will be available through the Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes projects which provides free ceiling and underfloor insulation for low income households that are at high risk from illnesses linked to cold, damp housing. Funding for this programme is only guaranteed until June 2016. 'The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment will have new powers to investigate and prosecute landlords for breaking tenancy laws as part of these reforms, particularly where there is risk to the health and safety of tenants,' said Smith. 'The new standards are part of the Government's plan to ensure all tenants can live in safer, warmer and healthier homes. Insulated homes are easier to heat, and smoke alarms are proven to reduce the risk of death from fires by up to 50%,' he added. The regulations will also include a new 10 day process to enable landlords to 're-tenant' abandoned rental properties, where the tenant has no intention of returning. The current process can take up to six weeks, and often leaves landlords significantly out of pocket. Continue reading
