Dear all,
Its been a year since the pandemic set the wheels in motion that we would be working from home and we would be keeping in touch through a weekly email!
I sometimes wonder if it feels like a year, or have gotten to a point that I have adapted to this being the new normal.
The world of lettings seems to have been stable for a few months. There have not been major changes in legislation, but the smaller changes that are sensible.
On 14th January regulations were laid in the Scottish Parliament to extend the temporary ban on eviction orders. Subject to review every three weeks to ensure it remains necessary to protect against the spread of COVID-19, the ban will now remain in force until 30th September 2021. The ban applies to all evictions in areas subject to level 3 or 4 restrictions, except cases of serious anti-social behavior, including domestic abuse. The Scottish Government stated that the move will provide renters with safe homes during the pandemic, as well as reducing the burden on local authorities – who have a duty to rehouse people made homeless through evictions – and making it easier for people to follow the guidelines during the current lockdown. For further information visit www.gov.scot
The notice period tenant have to give remains minimum 28 days on the private rented tenancy agreement and for landlords it is at least 6 months notice with no mandatory grounds for eviction. There are currently 2 exceptions to the 6 month notice period.
One is should you wish to move back into the property and use as your principle home, that is 3 months notice and
Notice served on the grounds of anti social behaviour which was reduced from 6 months to 28 days. Which makes sense. This notice is used if we think a tenant has absconded from a property and if the tenant, or the tenants friends are making a nuisance of themselves.
As when we are applying for a deduction from the custodial scheme where the deposit is held, proof is needed when serving a notice. It would be a different world if things were as easy as just asking a tenant to leave because the neighbour have heard stories about them or take £25 from the deposit for a lamp, but that is not the world we live in.
Proof is key and to serve notice on a tenant, especially at this point in time we need proof that the property is being sold, or that the neighbours are upset or that a business is being run from the property without permission.
I stress that I am not thinking about any property is particular and I don’t live in a gloom and doom mindset, but I have been working in lettings for almost a decade and I try to be prepared.
With that in mind, as you are aware, and should be able to access from your landlord log ins, we use Pinstripe Inventory to carry out our inventory and check out reports.
Inspection – Due to the pandemic not been carried out, however the tenants have been submitting self assessments;
https://live.pinstripe.services/generate/preview/report/e13886cb-7042-406f-8604-82978fba092b
Inventory;
https://live.pinstripe.services/generate/preview/report/e154eee0-348a-49dd-88bc-73b8e66cfaf2
Check out;
Attached to the email as a PDF
The means that an independent third party has been out to the property to look over it at the start and end of the tenancy, someone that the tenants haven’t dealt with through their tenancy, who can’t be accused of being prejudice because of dealing through the lease, or that it was all done in house so rushed through to make things simple.
It also means that if there is a claim to be made from the deposit it is a very straight forward process and since we have been using pinstripe we have not had a deposit go to the dreaded arbitration process, which can take 7 weeks to conclude.
Hopefully I have not Jinxed things…..
https://www.citylets.co.uk/research/
Rental property search remained buoyant in Q4 2020 as Scotland moved onto a tiered approach to the coronavirus restrictions. The creeping inevitability of stronger measures grew throughout the quarter as evidence of a second wave began to build, however the property market was allowed to remain open and once again many tenants were minded to think carefully about their domestic environment and suitability for home working. Traffic to Citylets platforms outperformed seasonal norms by a material 50%.
Property to rent in Scotland, on average, rose 3.6% over the quarter to stand at £826 per month, less than the 5.4% reported in the previous quarter with material drag now exerted by falling rents in Edinburgh for the first time.
Glasgow and surrounding Local Authority regions of South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire posted the largest year on year rises as a systemic imbalance between demand and supply tightened. Rents in Glasgow rose 5.7% to stand at £848 on average with a TTL of just 20 days. 75% of properties to rent in Glasgow let within a month. The reported figures for the Greater Glasgow region add further countenance to conjecture that the pandemic was leading to widespread exodus from cities. Should the vaccine programme be delivered on schedule and to effect, Scotland’s urban rental markets may emerge relatively intact.
Despite the acceleration to full lockdown at quarter end, the rental market is likely to remain buoyant throughout as the need to choose home environments to suit some degree of home working continues for many. Edinburgh however, primarily due to increased supply, will likely see rental values fall further
I don’t remember if I mentioned this in previous email, I am sure I must have that I have always found it strange that landlords are in with the antisocial behaviour department in the government, it is the anti social behaviour the landlord registration emails come from.
When restaurants re open, they will be going to the food safety or health and hygiene and environmental health departments for their certificates, should the premises have inhabitants of inspects and vermin it will be public and environmental health but landlords we go to the antisocial behaviour part of the government!
Don’t get me started on “what is a dwelling?”
But I will ask
What lives in a tiny house all alone with no doors or windows?
The answer to the ‘what lives in a tiny house all alone‘ riddle is an ‘Unborn chick in an egg’. The eggshell is the ‘small house‘ that the unborn chicken lives in. The shell has no windows or door and the chicken is trapped inside until it is ready to be born
Hopefully that left you with a smile and a thought to share,
Take care, stay safe, please email into admin@glasgowpropertyletting.com with any questions or queries and the landlord is 0141 221 3990.
Kindest Regards
Michelle O’Donnell
Branch Manager
17 Elmbank Street
Glasgow
G2 4PB
0141 221 3990
Registration number LARN1903009
VAT : 174415411
SC345735
The information in this e-mail is confidential. The contents may not be disclosed or used by anyone other than the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Glasgow Property Letting Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this message as it has been transmitted over a public network.
We will no longer retain emails from you as per GDPR legislation. This means when you send us an email you should keep a copy for your own records if you will need to refer to it at a later date. You can dispose of your own copies according to your own GDPR retention policies.