Dear all,
Usually on the 20th I mark that day of the month to do the safety check audits and rent arrears phone calls. I am having a little trouble on both fronts. Scottish gas – for their gas safety certificates – have had a change in process and are not sending me certificates through email, if you have received a certificate from your home care agreement could you send it on to me. Also the universal credit contacts seem to be away from their desk or understandably extremely busy!
I will try again next week to contact both organisations, as I have learned that what was correct and procedure at the beginning of the year has changed and there is no point being angry or aggressive about it, everyone is trying their best.
And with lock downs in place and this horrible virus still in the world, our current best is what we can be.
First week back at school for a lot of kids in Scotland, and while there are nervous knots in the tummy about the safety aspect ( mainly from parentls) , the children are back studying and learning so their sponge brains being filled again.
Council tax – You may have already read this in a previous email
Some landlords with student properties were unexpectedly empty as a result of the Corona-virus pandemic.The Scottish Association of Landlords have been lobbying MSPs for a change to council tax legislation to exempt all empty rental properties from council tax during the coronavirus crisis. Unfortunately, the Parliament did not support this however, interestingly the Minister for Public Finance and Migration has written to all council leaders in Scotland encouraging local authorities to use existing powers to defer the payment of council tax where a property is unoccupied due to the impact of the pandemic, and the property owner is struggling to meet their council tax liability. Such deferred council tax can then be paid once a property owner’s financial circumstances have improved, such as when the property in question is let or sold.
SAL is however pleased to report that MSPs did approve a change which exempts properties previously occupied by students from council tax for the duration of the legislation being in force. This exemption applies to properties which became unoccupied on or after 17 March 2020. The exemption will end when the legislation expires on 30 September 2020 although there is provision for the legislation to be extended beyond this date
Under new HMRC rules landlords with a turnover above £10,000 will have to keep financial records digitally and send HMRC quarterly updates on their tax affairs from April 2023. This is under reforms to tax return requirements termed “Making Tax Digital”.Making Tax Digital is a key part of the government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs.HMRC’s ambition is to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. Making Tax Digital is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works – transforming tax administration so that it is:
- more effective
- more efficient
- easier for taxpayers to get their tax right
The Economic news
As you know I have recommended Martin Lewis and his Money Saving Expert emails several times for different reasons such as insurance, energy providers and as the name suggests money saving tips. His recent email started “To few people’s surprise, it was confirmed last week the UK is officially in recession for the first time since 2009. The trigger for a recession is when the economy shrinks in two successive three-month periods – and that’s what happened in the first half of 2020, due to the fallout from the pandemic. It was the scale of the contraction in that period that was shocking – 22.1% – the biggest on record.
Things are improving, as the economy grew by 8.7% in June. Yet that wasn’t enough to avoid a recession, and recovery to pre-Covid levels looks way off.”
Scotland has a different property system to the rest of the United Kingdom and I will advise that the Scottish private rented sector is showing signs of a constant.
https://www.citylets.co.uk/research/reports/property-rental-report-scotland-2020-q2/
if you click the above link you can see that although Edinburgh’s 10 year boom has come to an end, Glasgow is showing signs of stability.
You can download the full report
As with any change that happens things will take time to show the effects, when the Private Rented Tenancy was introduced we saw the effects 18 months later, we have seen that due to the pandemic that statistically the time to let has increased, however the effects of the legal changes I mentioned in previous emails from Glasgow Property Lettings view point have not been seen as yet.
I have already asked some people to write a google review for Glasgow Property Letting and thank you so much for that, I am so grateful. The purpose is to boost our google rankings to try and shorten that time to let. If you could spare a minute to click on the linkhttps://glasgow-property-letting-ltd.business.site/?m=true and that should take you to the google web page where you can see I have been advertising properties there and trying to minimise to void periods.
There are 134 days left of 2020 which has I am sure we can all agree has been one of the more unusual and life changing years of our lives.
Out of interest has any one briefly “forgotten” what is happening? I almost walked into a shop without a mask after having been so diligent about it for over a month and while writing this I was reading about https://scottishlandlords.com/events/scottish-letting-day/ and saw that the November 2020 event was mentioned and wondered if the tickets were available. The fact that the pandemic didn’t flash into my mind worried me.
Complacency is where Covid – 19 lives and like many you you I am all to aware of that.
Thank you for the lock down positives such as :
- Walking more,
- not being in the car as much,
- escaping rush hour traffic,
- Experimental baking,
- home cooked meals,
- spending virtual time with family and friends,
- doing all the little things that there never seemed to be time for,
- The slower pace and the new routines we have developed,
- And my personal one reconnecting and catching up with friends, colleges, tenants and landlords.
As always we are available if you wish to discuss anything about the market, your property and things in general. We have had an issue with the office phone which I hope to have sorted today, but you can call the mobile contacts you have for Colin and myself – just not too late at night, I’m an early riser, but I am sound asleep early!
🙂Take care and we are getting through this by working together,
Kindest Regards
Michelle O’Donnell
Branch Manager
0141 221 3990
17 Elmbank Street
Glasgow
G2 4PB
Registration number LARN1903009
VAT : 174415411
SC345735
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