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QUESTION Dear News on the Block, The buy-to-let (B2L) culture has taken off and estate agents and property management companies do not wish to bite the hand that feeds them. However, there is real and growing concern with resident shareholders to the B2L market; that it will reduce the effective management of blocks of flats that have ownership of the freehold. If too many flats are bought and let by B2L investors the integrity of the flats falls apart and management is undermined. The B2L investor do

QUESTION I have heard lots of talk about Section 20 Notices - please explain what they are and how they would affect me as a lessee? ANSWER In 2002, new requirements were introduced to protect the lessee should the landlord want to carry out works above a certain value or to enter into long-term contracts for the provision of services. Currently, lessees must be advised if the costs incurred will exceed the amount of £250 per unit. Should works need to be carried out to the building that will excee

QUESTION The people upstairs are extremely noisy, can I do anything about it? ANSWER In most cases the terms of any leases state that noise should be kept to a minimum between the hours of 11pm and 9am and that a resident is entitled to ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their property. If the noise is occurring between these hours then the first thing that I always suggest is to knock on the door and speak to the people in the flat above. It is usually the case that they do not know that they are being noisy

QUESTION How are the service charges calculated, what do they include and how is my share of the service charges worked out? ANSWER It is usual practice for the service charge budget for a building to be calculated using the expenditure incurred last year as a basis for comparison. It should also include any planned works to be carried out within that financial year. It is important to remember that these charges are only estimated and, therefore, are often incorrect. Thanks to Sarah Fisher,

Chairman Alan Ward has announced that the RLA is to set up a technical committee, with other bodies, to examine the technical problems associated with improving energy efficiency of older properties. “With 40 per cent of private rented houses built before 1919, they were not designed to be hermetically sealed with double glazing and blocked up fire-places,” he said. “This often leads to condensation and mould problems - simply because tenants don’t understand the need for ventilation and heating. “Add

The Residential Landlords Association has called for a ‘level playing field’ over housing benefits that discriminate against private sector landlords and favour social landlords. The RLA welcomes government proposals on Universal Credits, but it’s the housing cost element, which will replace housing benefits, that causes concern. At the moment allowances are paid direct to a tenant who may not necessarily pass it on to the landlord, whereas housing associations are paid directly. The former system allow

The Law Society Gazette has reported that research by Hogan Lovells suggests a ‘significant’ rise in litigation within the real estate market in 2011. The rise is expected to be in the area of professional negligence, but with landlord and tenant and insolvency cases also increasing. Hogan Lovells’ expects banks to contemplate professional negligence actions against surveyors and solicitors, in relation to valuation and defective documentation that have left banks less protected than they believe they sho

The impact of reduced public funding for flood defences will demand a more innovative approach to managing flood risk, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has said today.   Spending reviews will see DEFRA reduce its resource spending by 29% and capital spending by 34%, with £2bn allocated to coastal and flood defences over the four year review period, 2011 to 2015. However this is less than the £2.15bn commitment made in the previous three year period, 2008-2011. According to the Environment Agen

Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has been long supporters of minimum housing space standards and welcomes the Mayor of London’s proposed policy of minimum internal and external space standards for all housing developments. TCPA says that these standards provide the basis for high quality sustainable urban development across London as too often, the homes being built do not provide the living space required for a decent quality of life, with enough space for storage, privacy and flexibility of

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has announced it is to join forces with the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA). Under the agreement, the NLA will assume responsibility for management of UKALA and provide advice and information to its member agents. Members of UKALA, which represents more than 500 letting agents, voted at their Annual General Meeting to establish professional links with the NLA. The UKALA brand will remain and its board will be made up of an equal number of directors nominat

The Ringley Group was recognised as Green Champion of the Year for 2010 at The Negotiator magazine awards. Managing Director, Mary-Anne Bowring said “We have pin-pointed the nearest car club to each development, recorded what recycling facilities are on site, put together a dossier on bike rack solutions and started installing bike racks which can be vertically mounted so take very little space indeed. In 2011 we have plans to roll out to composting to larger sites, divert rainwater goods to water buts

Landlord Action commented that the Government may be offering the private sector landlords an option to receive Local Housing Allowance directly if rents are reduced, and only temporarily. For the landlord, this option presents a low risk solution to receiving rent, but would come at the opportunity cost of lower returns on rent. It is uncertain whether it would be favourable to tenants on benefits, however. Landlords could either welcome a steady stream of rental income for a lower return, or insist on