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Student landlords urged to choke planners in red tape By Simon Thompson |
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Property lawyers are urging student landlords to choke council planning departments with applications in protest against tightening up planning and licensing controls for shared homes.
A loophole in planning law lets landlords make planning applications at no cost – but council officers are duty bound to produce a report on every application that involves hours of work and administration.
The suggestion comes from solicitors Painsmith, a leading landlord and tenant law firm.
The firm has represented landlords and letting agents in Oxford in lobbying against the council taking on extra planning powers to micromanage student shared homes – termed houses in multiple occupation or HMOs - in the city.
“It should also be noted that Oxford is not permitted to charge a planning application fee for applications made as a result of an Article 4 Direction and one possible way of frustrating the proposals is simply for a large number of landlords to make applications thereby tying up resources,” says the latest Painsmith blog on the topic.
Painsmith also suggests – inline with other planning and legal experts – that article 4 declarations to take on planning powers are probably irrelevant because switching the use of a property from a home to a shared house is not a material change of use that requires planning consent.
The argument is if a large family shares a home, has several vehicles and even if one or more of the occupants is a lodger, this makes the planning use no different from three or four students sharing a house.
“Oxford is stating that they have a shortage of housing and a high demand for HMO accommodation. This might appear to be inconsistent with a policy of increased planning control but Oxford justify the policy by stating that there is a shortage in all types of accommodation and that wholesale conversion to HMOs in all areas means that other areas are not satisfied,” says the blog.
“Planning Policy Statement 3 requires local authorities to adopt planning policies that provide sufficient living accommodation for all types of use. It will be for Oxford to show that their new restrictions on HMO accommodation do not violate this policy statement.”
Oxford City Council licences about 5,000 HMOs and is at the forefront of council action to enforce shared house laws with stricter licensing and planning permission.
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Landlords warned - prepare for more regulation |
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Landlords in England are being warned that they should prepare for more regulation after the government published a consultation.
The warning comes from Tim Miles who is a partner at law firm Clarke Willmott.
He says that the Government is cons |
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Research reveals that 2017’s rents fell in real terms |
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The rents being paid to landlords in all parts of the UK fell in real terms during 2017, research suggests.
The findings from HomeLet reveal that rents in November rose by 0.7%.
That's the 11th straight month that rent increases have fallen beh |
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Rents for the UK’s rental properties rise by 2.1% |
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The average rent for a buy to let property grew by 2.1% in the year to September, an index has revealed.
The figures from HomeLet show that the average rent now being paid is £927 every month.
For landlords in London, rents rose by 1.9% o |
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Landlords start exiting the buy to let sector |
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One leading firm of letting agents is warning that buy to let investors are beginning to exit the sector.
The warning comes from Belvoir who say that while the numbers of landlords leaving is not huge, there is a trend appearing.
The firm's chi |
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Landlord confidence takes a knock |
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Despite the prospect of high yields and profitability, a survey has revealed the landlord confidence around the UK has fallen.
The findings from BM Solutions looked at all the key indicators for the second quarter of 2017.
They say that the lev |
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Landlords 'don't know what tenants want' |
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Landlords in the private rental sector are out of touch with their tenant’s wants and needs, according to new research.
The findings from an online letting agent revealed that tenants are clear most often about what they want and t |
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