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London Assembly Calls for Longer Term Tenancies

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

At LettingFocus we are pleased to see our evidence to the London Assembly on the private rented sector was accepted and made it through as a key recommendation.

The London Assembly has issued another report on the private rented sector – this time calling for the mayor to intervene in the capital’s private rented sector to “stabilise rents” and encourage longer tenancies.

In the report published yesterday, the Assembly’s Housing and Regeneration Committee calls for a series of reforms to the capital’s private rented sector.

We have had a quick look at the report and whilst I find much in the report I don’t agree with – including “rent stabilisation” (which is actually NewSpeak for the old “rent controls” chestnut) – it’s still really pleasing that one key proposal, which came from us at LettingFocus.com, managed to make the final report and list of recommendations.

LettingFocus.com was invited to give expert evidence to the Committee back in December – along with a few other landlords’ representatives. (We must give the London Assembly credit for doing this much, because so many private rented sector conferences I see being marketed by the governments of the UK, by the housing charities and by councils have no one from the private rented sector actually speaking or even invited to attend).

A key part of our submission to the Committee was that the 12 month restriction on tenancy length imposed by most mortgage lenders along with some lenders’ “no benefit tenant rules” and RBS’s “no lending in areas of selective licences” restrictions acted to badly restrict private landlords letting activities and tenants’ housing options.

Restrictions are Not Logical

I went even further and suggested that, quite apart from the bad PR,  these types of restrictions were often not actually even justified from the business point of view of the mortgage lenders themselves.

The fact that these restrictions existed at all was (somewhat surprisingly perhaps) news to the members of the Committee, to the audience watching and to the journalists who turned up to watch the proceedings.

No Dissensions

We are delighted that this has matter been picked up and ran with – and it seems with no dissensions either. (The Conservative group added a list of dissensions at the end of the report, but they did not dissent on this important matter).

So a key recommendation has gone forward from the Committee that pressure is bought to bear on the lenders to stop these restrictions. This pressure could come from the Mayor and / or others in government.

Of course, since December, the pressure has clearly told (or a more enlightened approach has dawned among lenders) and two key lenders in the buy to let space – Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide – earlier this year stopped their restrictions and now allow landlords to let to people on housing benefit.

Maximum twelve month tenancy length restrictions are still generally in place, though, except among a few more forward thinking lenders.

Missed Point

It is just a shame that in much of the press it has been reported that the Assembly is telling landlords to issue longer term tenancies. Most journalists have just looked at the Assembly’s rather terse and misleading press release and not bothered to read the full report, thereby completely missing the point that the Assembly is actually calling for the lenders to look at this restriction and reverse it.

Tenants want the security of longer term tenancies and many private landlords would like to be able offer them too in the right circumstances. Hopefully the proposal will be supported and all lenders can be made to eliminate these often pointless restrictions.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers.

We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords.

We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Strategy, Buy to Let Mortgages, Housing Strategy and the PRS, Lloyds Banking Group Buy to Let, Longer Tenancies, Longer Term Tenancies, Tenancy Agreement Length | Comments Off

When is a Tracker Mortgage Not Really a Tracker Mortgage and How More Lenders Are Giving Themselves Get-Out Clauses

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

David Lawrenson of private rent consultants, LettingFocus.com explains how mortgage lenders have now set up get out clauses within their tracker mortgage deals which are so wide that the industry could eventually be forced to stop marketing them as tracker deals.

He also predicts that the Bank of Ireland “rate hike” case will result in a victory for those landlords whose letting activities are small enough for them to be afforded protection under consumer protection rules.

Bank of Ireland (BOI) has partly backtracked on its decision to raise mortgage rates for thousands of customers who thought they were on Bank of England base rate trackers for life. The bank now says that about 1,200 homeowners will no longer be hit by the increase.

BOI has highlighted two groups of customers that will be excluded from the rise. The larger group consists of about 1,000 mortgage customers who were actively using the flexible facilities on their mortgage account. BOI says these borrowers “received a specific administrative letter linked to their transactions that might have caused them to believe the differential was for the term of their mortgage”. A smaller group has about another 200 cases affected. But that still leaves over 12,000 customers will still be hit with higher mortgage payments.

Landlord sites, Property118 and LandlordAction are looking to launch their own joint class action – and many affected borrowers have joined up with them.

Personally, I predict that Bank of Ireland will be found to have hidden an important clause in its mortgage contract and that this was a clear breach of the rules on fair contracts in relation to consumers.

Professional Landlords or Amateurs?

However, I also predict that the courts will probably make a distinction between “professional” full time buy to let landlords who would have been expected to have read the small print, and others, who as “consumers”, may not have been expected to have read all the bumpf.

In other words, I predict the judgement will follow the same outcome as the “Foxtons Case”. (In the Foxtons case, repeat letting fees were charged to landlords by many letting agents, despite the existence of such fees being hidden in small print or in separate documents. Foxtons and other letting agents lost and now have to make sure such important terms are flagged up clearly, especially to part time landlords, who could be deemed to be consumers and therefore covered by unfair contract rules).

The Woolwich and Nat West Get Out Clauses

But what has escaped the notice of most personal finance writers is that two big lenders in the buy to let space – Woolwich and Nat West – have always had lifetime trackers that actually follow their own Bank’s base rate, not the Bank of England base rate.

Over many years, these Banks’ own base rates have been exactly the same as that of the Bank of England.

Of course, if their own base rate suddenly diverged from that of the Bank of England’s, questions might be asked about what they were planning next.

Both Nat West and Woolwich owners’ Barclays will be watching the outcome of the BOI case very carefully indeed. Both issued very low lifetime tracker mortgages – many fixed at less than one percent above base rate – and therefore both will be losing a lot of fortune on these existing mortgages.

They would dearly like a way out.

If the judgement goes the way of the Bank of Ireland, I would expect Nat West and Woolwich to raise their own base rates and “financially duff up” their own borrowers who, no doubt, will have thought they were safely on a Bank of England base rate tracker deal. These borrowers will be in for a shock.

BM Solutions and Others Lenders Get Out Clauses

But they may not be the only lenders looking for a way out.

We recently saw a new BM Solutions buy to let Bank of England base rate lifetime tracker mortgage offer where, within the small print, the way appeared to be open for the lender to renege on the tracker for a host of reasons, including changed “competitive conditions” and “funding environments”.

Of course, if these myriad “get out” clauses are to be allowed (which may well depend, in part, on the eventual rulings in the BOI case), then the next question the lending industry may have to answer is how such mortgages can be allowed to be marketed as lifetime tracker rates in the first place.

In the meantime, buy to let mortgage customers – especially those who are deemed to not be consumers by dint of the extent of their landlord activities – should proceed with caution and carefully check the small print on mortgage offers very carefully.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers.

We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords.

We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS: Property Advice

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling personal finance and property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon.

If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy, please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER Mailing which goes to over 3,500 people (as at Jan 2013) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

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Posted in Bank of Ireland, Bristol & West, Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages | Comments Off

Bank of Ireland Mortgage Move Destroys Trust

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com says the move to hike rates on some Bristol and West Tracker Mortgages looks wrong – and destroys confidence in all lenders.

When I speak to people who want to sell services to private landlords (which includes organisations like local authorities and housing associations that desperately need private rented sector landlords to make their houses available to people who have few housing options) the suppliers sometimes ask me “What do private landlords really want from us, the suppliers to the sector”

Well, two things always come to mind.

Communicate What You Offer

First, private landlords need to know what products and services are out there – what do you, the supplier offer? In the case of local authorities, most landlords do not know what the councils can offer them because most have failed to adopt a proper marketing programme online to tell them.

Be Fair

Second, they want fairness in the products and services that are being sold. They do not want to feel they have been misled or confused, whether deliberately by a supplier, or because of poor communication.

Bank of Ireland (BOI) is a good case study of the latter. Private landlords who took out Bristol and West Bank of England base rate tracker mortgage products thought they were getting a base tracker for life.

But alas, it seems there was a clause in the small print that allowed BOI to significantly up the rate in the event of special circumstances (e.g. in the general economy) applying. They have now applied this clause.

Much discussion is now taking place about whether they can do this – including whether doing so is a breach of Unfair Consumer Contract Terms rules and whether it is allowable if such an important clause was not clearly bought to the attention of landlords when they signed up for these mortgages. (Landlords, or at least, most of them are still consumers who are taxed like consumers, and who already won a similar case when Lord Justice Mann ruled in the high court against Foxtons and the unfairness of their repeat letting fees which were hidden in small print).

Class Action

A class action to fight BOIs move has been launched – check online for details.

I guess BOI will have consulted its lawyers about whether their move would stand up in court and they would have been encouraged that another lender, Skipton got away with a similar kind of move some years ago.

However, whatever the outcome, it reeks of unfairness and private landlords and those brokers who advise them will not easily forget this.

In the short term, all landlords should now carefully check the small print in their mortgage terms for both current and future mortgages.

I have always opted for Bank of England base rate trackers, and so have most of my associates. A quick check of the T&Cs in these reveals that, for our loans at least, The Woolwich, C&G, BM Solutions, Mortgage Express and Bank of China, are all stuck with continuing to lend to us on low Bank of England Tracker rates. They have no wriggle room at all and no special clauses to invoke. Thank goodness for that.

Nevertheless, this move by BOI lessens trust in all mortgage lenders at a time when trust in financial services organisations is very low – something that the Council of Mortgage Lenders ought to be concerned about.

Budget

Finally, there was not much in the budget today except for “Help to Buy” and a new mortgage guarantee that will help some people get onto the housing ladder or move up on it, but will likely just push up house prices even more. Sadly, apart from this, there was nothing much new on unlocking housing supply.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS: Property Advice

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy, please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER Mailing which goes to over 3,500 people (as at Jan 2013) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS: Landlords Resources

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Posted in Bank of Ireland, Bristol & West, Buy to Let Mortgages, Foxtons Judgement | Comments Off

Mortgage Loans and Housing Benefit and Why a Selective Approach is the Better Option

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com observes the latest mortgage lender U turn on allowing landlords to let to housing benefit tenants, but says that rather than a “blanket” approach of either allowing or not allowing landlords to do this, a better way would be if lenders “selectively” allowed it – with the decision linked to other variables such as landlord experience and loan to value level. Lenders should also provide more information to landlords.

In last weeks blog, I reported how Nationwide had removed their somewhat short-lived restriction preventing landlords letting their properties to tenants on housing benefit.

The Nationwide move was quickly followed by Lloyds Bank who also abandoned their identical (and rather more long standing) restrictions on those landlords who have loans from their BM Solutions buy to let unit.

Following these lender moves, I received quite a few emails from people in government, housing associations, tenants groups and the media congratulating me on making this restriction more widely known publicly – and leading to these two lenders abandoning the restriction.

One said, “People at the bottom of the housing ladder who find very few landlords will let to them anyway, will today have more housing options, thanks to you.”

It’s quite likely that my talk to the Council of Mortgage Lender’s conference some 14 months ago (as well as my appearance and evidence to the members of the London Assembly’s PRS committee) will have had a part to play in these lenders’ decisions. The media, especially “The Guardian” newspaper and the “Mortgage Strategy” magazine may have done the rest.

A little clarification is required though – because I did not set out to be a kind of “hero of the people” on this issue. Indeed, my work often involves advising mortgage lenders on how to make more of a success (in other words make more profit) from their buy to let mortgage products.

Profitable Market

My position has always been that mortgage lenders should have always allowed some landlords to let to people who are on housing benefit, not just because it is good PR to do so, but because not to do so eliminates a profitable niche market from the landlord and lender.

However, the government’s changes to welfare entitlements over the last 2 years and especially, the looming roll out of the Universal Credit system has made letting to people on housing benefits a lot more risky for landlords than it was before (and hence also for their lenders).

That is why my advice to lenders is yes, you should still allow landlords to let to people on housing benefit (and naturally you will get some good press and hopefully also, even some kudos from government from allowing this). But given the welfare changes that are happening, and the consequential increased risk, it might be better if your underwriting approach allowed only more experienced landlords to do such lets or linked the ability to do HB lets with only those mortgages where the loan to value was lower than the normal level. This would allow lenders to control the risk.  Another way would be to require landlords to have a guarantor for some housing benefit lets.

By allowing all landlords to let to any benefit tenant, these lenders have possibly gone from the frying pan into the fire a little.

Going forward, our view is that as long as the government continues with its current plans for Universal Credit, we would recommend that lenders pursue a more selective approach.

Lenders Lack Control Over What Landlords Do

Of course, the reality is that lenders don’t have much control on what landlords do. Every day hundreds of tenants in the private rented sector will suffer changed circumstances, need to go onto housing benefit and most won’t tell the landlord – most don’t have to and most won’t anyway. And of course a lender will never ask a landlord to end a tenancy where this has happened (for the very practical reason that the PR impact would be dreadful – and rightly so).

So lender control is rather limited anyway, which is why we say that lenders should also provide more helpful advice online to landlords to allow them to manage their lets better or point them to where they could get this advice. Few do this.

David Lawrenson’s book “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” is the UK’s highest selling personal finance book and is a practical guide for landlords.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS: Property Advice

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy, please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER Mailing which goes to over 3,500 people (as at Jan 2013) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS: Landlords Resources

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NEXT SEMINAR EVENTS FOR LANDLORDS: Landlord and Property Letting Seminar

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Strategy, Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages, Housing Benefit, Housing Strategy, Local Housing Allowance | Comments Off

Nationwide Mortgage Works Housing Benefit U Turn

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

David Lawrenson of Private Rented Sector Consultants LettingFocus.com looks at why some mortgage lenders don’t want to allow landlords to let to tenants who are dependent on housing benefit to pay their rent.

Last week, at this blog, I looked at Nationwide’s new policy (for the Mortgage Works) to not allow landlords taking out mortgages or remortgages with them to let their properties to tenants who are on housing benefit.

The story also appeared in a lot of the specialist and mainstream press last week, where the policy was criticised by some.

Then, on Friday, Nationwide did a sudden about turn and said it was allowing landlords to do theses types of lets after all.

We cannot speculate on the reasons behind the change of policy, though we think it unlikely that the government put any pressure on Nationwide. After all, part state owned Lloyds Banking Group and Yorkshire Building Society still have similar restrictions in place. (In my blog piece I had said that Nationwide’s move could be seen as an indictment of the government’s welfare changes, specifically the numerous changes around Housing Benefit/ Local Housing Allowance).

Lenders Concerns

So, why are lenders worried about landlords doing these sorts of lets?

One of the issues some lenders say they have is around a receivership / recovery situation (i.e. where a landlord has defaulted on the mortgage loan and a receiver of rent has been appointed) and where a tenant on housing benefit is still in situ.

The issues the lenders have in such situations are these:

1) establishing what rent is due (if any) and from whom
2) getting that rent paid direct to them (if over 2 months arrears) or immediately if other relevant tenant vulnerabilities exist and
3) concerns that Housing Benefit depts can claim back overpayments of Housing Benefit years later.

At LettingFocus, we think a sensible level of co-operation between lenders, their appointed receivers of rent and the department that pays out housing benefit would solve a lot of these issues. But the mortgage lenders do not seem to be talking to the government to try to solve these issues, and the government seems confused and unable to take the lead either.

This is why we said there seems to be something of a “lack of grip” on the private rented sector by government agencies at present.

Over-reaction

Are the lenders overreacting with such blanket restrictions?

We think they may be.

For example, one would question where is the real risk of a financial hit to the lender in cases of loans where the landlords’ loan to value was low, say at less than 60%.

If lenders have concerns about the three issues highlighted here and if there is a lack of will to solve them, then, in the interim, they could always look to selectively restrict loan to values on buy to let loans for housing benefit lets or make them dependent on other more “positive” variables.

But a blanket restriction such as YBS and state owned Lloyds Bank’s BM Solutions have on new landlords letting to HB tenants seems, to us at least, to be not necessary and clearly not ideal in the current housing crisis, where those dependent on housing benefit are already finding very few landlords will accept them.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS: Property Advice

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy, please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER Mailing which goes to over 3,500 people (as at Jan 2013) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS: Landlords Resources

PERUSE LAST TEN BLOGS BY GETTING THE RSS FEED: Click Here

NEXT SEMINAR EVENTS FOR LANDLORDS: Landlord and Property Letting Seminar

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2013. Please link to us here or quote us. We actively pursue copyright infringements. The blog is updated once a week.

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Strategy, Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages, Housing Benefit, Housing Strategy, Housing Strategy and the PRS, Local Housing Allowance, Yorkshire Building Society and Buy to Let | Comments Off

The Impact of Landlord Regulation on Buy to Let Mortgage Terms, Conditions and Availability

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

Many buy to let mortgage lenders are still not “ahead of the curve” in terms of understanding the impact of legal and regulatory changes in the private rented sector – and this often leaves their own businesses exposed to losses, says David Lawrenson of private rented consultancy, www.LettingFocus.com

In an interesting piece in Joanne Atkin’s “Mortgage Finance Gazette”, Paul Walshe of Moore Blatch observes that mortgage lenders have done little to protect their own interests and that of their buy-to-let borrowers against a rising tide of complex legislation and potential arrears and possessions claims. He says, “Lenders should be doing more to protect themselves and support the army of amateur landlords, those with just one property, whose number is now approaching one million”.

Mr. Walshe advises lenders to establish better processes for checking that landlords have complied with all the legislative requirements in dealing with tenants in arrears. To facilitate this, he suggests that lenders could set up panels of approved suppliers who specialise in tenancy repossessions to cut the timescale for repossessions and therefore minimise the losses to landlords and potentially, (in a landlord loan default case), the lender.

I think this is potentially a good idea too and it is an action that we always recommend to the mortgage lenders whom we advise in our consultancy work.

More Legislation – Impact on Mortgage Lenders

For a long time, at LettingFocus, we have been saying that mortgage lenders could and should do a lot more to advise landlords of what their legal responsibilities are. But most of them, especially some banks and building societies for whom buy to let is just one line of business, still have a long way to go.

This is rather worrying because the amount of legislation that landlords have to comply with has increased markedly since the advent of the buy to let mortgage in 1996.

One especially important piece of legislation and regulation is that which exists around tenancy deposits for assured shorthold tenancies. Failing to protect a deposit could lead to a fine and a longer wait to achieve possession – which will often lead to an increase in the potential losses a lender faces, in the event of landlord default on their mortgage.

Selective Licensing – What Should Lenders Responses Be

The penalties a landlord faces for not complying with selective licensing requirements are stiffer still. £20,000 in fact.

The London Borough of Newham has already put a selective licensing system in place covering all privately let properties in the borough. And until five years or so have passed and we know of these schemes work or not, (see last weeks’ blog post for more of my views on this!), we can only expect more local authorities to jump on the bandwagon and try to set up their own schemes. (Licensing schemes are a bit of a job creation opportunities in straitened times – financed by landlords, but really paid for by tenants in terms of increased rents. Expect more of them!).

Some mortgage lenders, like RBS, have reacted to landlord licensing by seemingly red lining buy to let loans in places where licensing is in place.

This is an interesting move in itself given that RBS is a part state owned bank – but it is one that ought to also be worrying for Newham’s high profile mayor, Sir Robin Wales. (Newham landlords have always argued that licensing could cut supply of stock in the private rented sector in Newham, though few foresaw that it would be the lenders who would turn “frit”*) .

Inform the Landlords but Cut LTVs

A different approach, which is what we recommend for most lenders, would be for mortgage lenders to write to landlords with properties in places where licensing has been applied, to ensure they know that they have to meet their obligation to register for a licence and to tell them they face heavy penalties if they don’t.

We also suggest they may want to review their loans to value levels in these locales too. I will not be popular with Sir Robin Wales for suggesting lenders do this, but it is another unintended (and possibly unforeseen) consequence of landlords licensing.

*Frit – that great Lincolnshire word once popularised by Margaret Thatcher.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE: http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS: Property Advice

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords: Testimonials

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Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy, please ask us for special rates.

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Strategy, Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages, Landlord Register and Licensing, Newham, Newham Licensing Landlords, Selective Licensing, landlord licensing | Comments Off

Buy to Let Mortgages and Tenants on Benefits

Monday, November 12th, 2012

Some mortgage lenders still don’t let landlords who have mortgage loans with them to let their properties to tenants who are on benefits.

Many private landlords are reluctant to let to tenants who are dependent on housing benefits, preferring tenants who do not have to rely on the state for any assistance. There are a number of reasons why:

1. Caps to housing benefits and restrictions on amount paid to the 30th percentile of local market rents make this end of the market unattractive.

2. Even when LHA payments can be made direct to the landlord, payment is in arrears, not in advance and usually on annoying four weekly, not calendar monthly cycles. Where LHA is paid to tenants, this often causes cash flow problems for them when rent is due calendar monthly – leading to rent arrears.

3. LHA claims require lots of paperwork.

4. Housing Benefit departments can be slow to start payments. Awards can stop without warning when tenants’ eligibility changes.

5. There’s usually no deposit to protect the landlord against property damage. And even where a local authority provides a deposit guarantee, many landlords tell us they are hard to claim against and take ages to settle.

6. Constant tinkering with the system of LHA / Housing Benefit / Universal Credit  has led to private landlords getting confused and simply avoiding this end of the market altogether.

7. Insurance premiums are usually higher for lets to housing benefit recipients.

But there is another reason why some private landlords are actually unable to let to people on housing benefit even if they want to.

Some Mortgage Lenders Don’t Like Benefit Tenants

This is because some mortgage lenders still actively restrict private landlords from letting to tenants who are dependent on housing benefits.

A quick survey found two major buy to let lenders still have such restrictions in place.

BM Solutions, part of part state owned Lloyds Banking Group, has within its underwriting criteria a restriction which says landlords cannot let to tenants claiming housing benefit. Accord, a mortgage brand of Yorkshire Building Society, does not allow to lets to “DWP Supported Tenants” or leases to housing associations or local authorities.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Building Society said, “We entered the BTL market with a specific profile in mind – experienced but not professional landlords seeking to purchase properties of reasonable quality, and we shaped lending criteria to meet that market.  We didn’t feel that DWP supported tenants would generally fit in with the profile of landlords or properties that we are looking to lend to. This is mainly due to concerns about poor maintenance and repairs, and that the rental values of the properties we are seeking will not be at the lower end of the scale.”

Lloyds Banking Group said, “We constantly review our policies, however, the current terms and conditions of our mortgage policy do not enable borrowers to let their property to tenants claiming housing benefit. Should the circumstances of the tenant change, we would expect the landlords to consider each case on an individual basis. Landlords do not need our consent to terminate or renew a tenancy agreement.”

The Lloyds Banking Group statement effectively says that the restriction disallowing landlords to let to “Benefit Tenants” is not enforced in practice.

Government Policy and Mortgage Lenders

Government, which has an interest in getting vulnerably housed people housed in the private rented sector, are probably not aware of this. We have certainly never seen the “housing benefit restriction” mentioned in any past government paper.

At the town halls, most of the caseload of those in need of accommodation will consist of people who are dependent on Local Housing Allowance.

But private landlords who have buy to let mortgages with the BM Solutions subsidiary of the state owned Lloyds Banking Group would currently be unable to offer accommodation to them.

The most interesting this about this is that from all the work we have done in this area, we have seen no statistical evidence to suggest that landlords who let to tenants on benefits are any more likely to default on their mortgages than landlords who avoid such tenants.

Lloyds Bank Buy to Let Lending – Something of a Curiosity

All the same, the retail part of Lloyds Banking Group has a rather curious lending strategy – which actively limits mortgage loans across the whole group to no more than three per landlord.

This would seem to make them unique among lenders in that it results in them getting a higher share of the more amateur landlord business, who are the ones more likely to struggle with the demands of letting to people who are dependent on the hopelessly not-fit-for-purpose Local Housing Allowance Housing Benefit system.

This may explain Lloyds Banking Group’s thinking, though I suspect the restriction is more a case of “we’ve always done it like that”.

But we still remain baffled about the strategy to restrict lending to no more than three per landlord – an open invitation to the more inexperienced landlord and the ones more likely to become an arrears statistic on Lloyds Banking Group’s buy to let loan book.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

To read blog posts on related posts use the tags and categories at the bottom of each post (after the list of links), or over to the right of this page – where, you can click on “Select Categories” and use the pull down menu to read all the posts on any Category that interests you.

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE

For our main home page click here:  http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press please click: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS click here: Property Advice

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy at least 50 books please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER and get our latest Newsletter which goes to over 3,000 people (as at December 2011) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS click here: Landlords Resources

Please note we only allow selected advertisers to market their services.

PERUSE LAST TEN BLOGS BY GETTING THE RSS FEED: Click Here

NEXT SEMINAR EVENT FOR LANDLORDS: Landlord and Property Letting Seminar

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2012. Please link to us here or quote us. We actively pursue copyright infringements. The blog is updated once a week.

TWITTER PAGE For my thoughts on property, personal finance, plus a lot of other random things,  see our Twitter page.

LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Strategy, Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages, Government Private Rented Policy Not Joined Up, Housing Benefit, Housing Strategy, Housing Strategy and the PRS, Lloyds Banking Group Buy to Let, Local Housing Allowance | Comments Off

Getting the Best Buy to Let Mortgage Deal for You

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

In this blog post, private rented sector expert, David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com looks at how to get the most suitable mortgage deal.

I’m often somewhat surprised by the fuss folks make about getting a mortgage and some of the wrong decisions they make too. To us it seems pretty simple.

The first question to ask is for how long you expect to own the property – as usually that links to the length of mortgage you should be seeking and any special features it may have. (Some mortgages are portable between properties (for a fee usually) but let’s keep it simple).

Once you know how long you will own the property, then you can look at the best deals available. I always start by looking at comparison sites first. I tend to use MoneyFacts as a start point, but there are lots of other sites you can use.

Set Up Mortgage Fees

The first things to look at are what the up front fees are, what the interest rate is and if there is any Exit (or Redemption) fees.

The mortgage application (or Arrangement Fee) is fairly straightforward, is usually payable when the property transaction completes and can usually be added to the mortgage loan.

In addition, find out about initial Booking Fees and fees for Mortgage Valuations (as these can vary a lot). Usually, information on these is not listed at price comparison sites and you usually have to go to the lender to find this or ask a broker (if you use one).

Initial Mortgage Rates and Reversionary Mortgage Rates

For mortgage interest rates, you should be looking at both any initial rate (if applicable and which may last for 1 to 5 years) as well as finding out what rate you will be paying when the initial rate expires and for the rest of the mortgage term.

This latter rate is often referred to as the lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) or you may see it referred to as the “Reversionary Rate” or even more simply, the “Go To” rate.

Long term readers of this blog will know that I hate SVRs that are not linked to the Bank of England’s (BOE) base rate as in my opinion they act like “an open cheque book” to lenders to hike the rate up at any time they feel like.

Indeed, in the last 26 years as a portfolio landlord, I have never taken out a single mortgage that was not linked to the BOE rate.  This has served me well as today I enjoy some buy to let mortgage lifetime reversionary rates of 0.7% over base. It’s nice to know that people like me are costing the daft banks that did the loans a fortune and kind of makes up for their sins over recent years!

Trapped

If you get trapped on an uncompetitive SVR you will have to consider remortgaging again in the future, for which there be another round of costs. And it could be that mortgage finance in the future will be even more restrictive than it is today, so you may find no deals are available, especially if you have a high level of borrowing – thus leaving you an effective mortgage prisoner – stuck on a high SVR with nowhere to go.

Exit and Redemption Fees

It’s worth asking about Exit Fees, especially if there are any fees linked to Early Redemption of the mortgage. Find out for what period of time these will apply for and be aware that some may extend for a period of time after any initial special mortgage interest rate has ended.

The more you borrow, the higher your mortgage Loan to Value (LTV) and the higher your mortgage interest rate will inevitably be too.

The cheapest mortgage interest rates for landlord buyers come in at 60 or 65% LTV but that requires you to put in sizeable a chunk of deposit or “equity” – thus freezing up capital that could otherwise be used to make other property investments.

Rent to Interest Ratio and LTVs

LTV on a buy to let mortgage is also impacted by the “Rent to Interest Ratio”. Most lenders look for this to be 1.25 times or 1.3 times the interest rate (and be aware that the interest rate the lenders uses for the calculation will tend to be the higher SVR, rather than any “initial pay rate”.)

If the valuer’s assessment of achievable rent doesn’t come in high enough, the amount of mortgage offered by a lender may well fall short of what the borrower hoped, thus reducing the LTV and requiring the borrower to put in more precious equity.

These days, borrowers need to have a squeaky clean credit history and have to be prepared to furnish a lender with lots of documentation, especially if no current banking or asset management relationship with the lender exists.

Mortgage Brokers

It can be worth approaching a good mortgage broker who will know the ins and outs of each lenders particular criterion – what sort of properties and “situations” they will lend on, what type of borrower they like or don’t like etc. They can also sometimes get applications approved that the borrower acting on their own cannot and for higher levels of borrowings they will also know about deals from merchant banks (who do not list on price comparison sites).

Most brokers charge a fee for their services which is addition to the “Procuration Fee” they receive from a lender for setting up the mortgage.

The amount they charge borrowers depends on the type of mortgage, the amount of work involved in setting it up and the potential for other finance and insurance related work from the borrower.

Mortgage Lenders Sometimes Appear Illogical

Be prepared to be frustrated. In the buy to let space, many lenders have rather unusual approaches. For example, many experienced landlords with millions of pounds in equity in their property portfolio, low LTVs and years of experience are often rejected by lenders who would seem to prefer to lend at high LTVs to novice landlords with no experience at all.

If it’s any consolation we can often make little sense of some lenders’ strategies and ways of thinking either.

If you need help with getting a mortgage, please send us an email and we can put you in touch with a broker.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords. We also write for property portals, speak at property events and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

To read blog posts on related posts use the tags and categories at the bottom of each post (after the list of links), or over to the right of this page – where, you can click on “Select Categories” and use the pull down menu to read all the posts on any Category that interests you.

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE

For our main home page click here:  http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general information on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press please click: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS click here: Property Advice

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy at least 50 books please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER and get our latest Newsletter which goes to over 3,000 people (as at December 2011) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS click here: Landlords Resources

Please note we only allow selected advertisers to market their services.

PERUSE LAST TEN BLOGS BY GETTING THE RSS FEED: Click Here

NEXT SEMINAR EVENT FOR LANDLORDS: Landlord and Property Letting Seminar

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2012. Please link to us here or quote us. We actively pursue copyright infringements. The blog is updated once a week.

TWITTER PAGE For my thoughts on property, personal finance, plus a lot of other random things from sport, to 80s and 90s Indy Music, to tsunamis to musings on boardroom pay, plus my (usually) slightly centre left “take” on UK and world politics please see our Twitter page.

LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE

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Posted in Buy to Let Mortgage Terms and Conditions, Buy to Let Mortgages, Mortgage Arrangement Fee, Mortgage Brokers, Mortgage Reversionary Rate, Mortgage Valuations, What Is the Standard Variable Rate | Comments Off

The Private Rented Sector and the Organisations that Supply It

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Last week I attended two big housing related events and an online blog debate.

The first up was “Housing 2012”, the big annual Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) conference, which was being held for the first time in Manchester. I attended as a new CIH member visiting the exhibition.

Later in the week I was back in London, where I was a key note speaker at the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) 9th Annual Buy to Let Conference.

Both events interest me as a consultant as I have corporate clients from both local authorities and lenders.

And from my home office yesterday I was a panelist at an on line Guardian Housing debate on the private rented sector (PRS).

CML Event – An Opportunity Taken

A “no journalist” rule precludes me from saying too much about the CML event except to say that lenders are thinking hard about new solutions, new products and approaches to buy to let mortgage lending.

With Robbie de Santos (Shelter), Ray Boulger (Charcol) and myself challenging lenders to look at new ways of meeting the needs of the private rented sector as well as speakers from the Home Builders Federation, it’s clear that the UK’s mortgage lenders are very willing to listen to people from outside the lending fraternity.

That’s a very good thing.

Long Term Tenancies – Shelter and JRF are now on Board

Readers of my blog will know that I have criticised politicians who call for landlords to issue longer term tenancies without realizing that landlords hands are often tied by mortgage lenders terms and conditions which often do not allow landlords to issue such long term agreements.

I’m pleased to see that my views on this are now being echoed by both Shelter and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Lenders seem to be listening now too. (Readers will recall how Green London Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones re-directed her campaign when I politely pointed this out.)

Housing 2012 – An Opportunity Missed?

At the CIH event, “Housing 2012” issues to do with the private rented sector did get an airing in passing, at the main conference, though it is surprising to me that there was no single debate dedicated to PRS issues over the whole three days.

As this is the year that the private rented sector overtook social housing in terms of the total number of households housed, it was potentially a great opportunity to look at the issues around the PRS.

Perhaps next year?

Private Rent Regulation

And so finally to the Guardian’s on line discussion: “Private Rent Regulation” yesterday.

At the end of the debate the panelists were asked to summarise what we all thought the main points were. Here is what I said:

1. Problems in the private rented sector have their causes in the underlying lack of housing – a direct result of the UK’s rising population. If we are not to address the factors behind rising population then we need to address the lack of housing. This requires us to look at the planning system and confront the powerful vested interests ranged against building on available land.

2. Rent controls, like any price controls of a good or service that is distributed by a large number of suppliers, will not work as all the international evidence shows.

3. The private rented sector is already subject to a large number of different laws and regulations. If the tools available to tackle the operators who ignore the regulations are insufficient, too costly to apply or if the penalties for non-compliance are lacking then we should aim to fix these problems before overlaying any further regulations.

4. There is a lot of cost currently being incurred by local authorities in their attempts to get landlords engaged via a range of different schemes. It is time for a review of their effectiveness.

5. The mayoral race in London revealed a slight lack of understanding among politicians about the private rented sector. Central and local government and other interested bodies must develop a better understanding of the PRS including the constraints faced by landlords. To achieve this we need more senior people in housing with real hands on experience of the private rented sector and we need to see them talking to the private rented sector more.”

The link to the Guardian online debate is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2012/jun/15/live-discussion-private-rent-regulation

Email me to let me know if you agree.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of Private Rented Sector Consultancy and advice.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

We advise a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors and insurers. We help them develop and improve their services and products for private landlords.

We also write for property websites, speak at property events (send an email to david@LettingFocus.com to find out about our next event) and we are regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We also help landlords and property investors by showing them how to make money in the private rented sector using ways which are fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.

HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

To read blog posts on related posts use the tags and categories at the bottom of each post (after the list of links), or over to the right of this page – where, you can click on “Select Categories” and use the pull down menu to read all the posts on any Category that interests you.

THE HOME PAGE OF THE MAIN SITE

For our main home page click here:  http://www.LettingFocus.com

For general info on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to where our comments have been featured in the National Press please click: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS click here: Property Advice

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING”

Our book is the highest selling property book in the UK. Click here to Find Out More and Buy it at Amazon. If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy at least 50 books please ask us for special rates.

TO JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER and get our latest Newsletter which goes to over 3,000 people (as at December 2011) just send an email to david@LettingFocus.com

We do not spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers, though we occasionally  mail landlords about good products from third parties. Please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

OFFERS ON PRODUCTS FOR LANDLORDS and TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS to LANDLORDS click here: Landlords Resources

Please note we only allow selected advertisers to market their services.

PERUSE LAST TEN BLOGS BY GETTING THE RSS FEED: Click Here

NEXT SEMINAR EVENT FOR LANDLORDS: Landlord and Property Letting Seminar

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2012. Please link to us here or quote us.We actively pursue copyright infringements. The blog is updated once a week.

TWITTER PAGE For my thoughts on property, personal finance, plus other random things from sport, to 80s and 90s Indy Music, to tsunamis to musings on boardroom pay, plus my (usually) centre left “take” on politics please see our Twitter page.

LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE

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Posted in Accommodation in private rented sector, Buy to Let Mortgages, Chartered Institute of Housing, Housing Strategy, Housing Strategy and the PRS, Landlord Regulation, London Living Rent, Longer Tenancies, Longer Term Tenancies, Tenancy Agreement Length | Comments Off

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