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Showing posts from December, 2019

Tyneside Flats – What are they?

They are a property development scheme in Tyneside. The main difference in these to other flats is the responsibilities laid out in the lease. A Tyneside flat appears from the front as a single fronted terraced house. However, there are two or sometimes three flats on top of each other. Each flat has its own separate front and back door and garden areas. Construction of Tyneside flats started in the late 1800s as low-cost housing for a growing workforce. With separate floors and staircases, there is no relation between the lessees internally or externally. The backyard is divided in half. Originally each garden would have its own coal house and private outside toilets. It was an ingenious solution at the time for affordable housing. Now they make for profitable investments for landlords. The land was often sold on the condition that only properties with no more than two households could be built. Who enforces these rules now is unclear. There are complications with the legal stat

Insurance – Do you know what you’re paying for?

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How are landlords/Corporate Companies still ripping off lessees? There was a recent case from a Tribunal regarding the Regis Group.  Leaseholders now have a model example of how to fight excessive insurance costs via a Tribunal against the Regis Group. Jeremy Peachy, a chartered surveyor, challenged the £13,000 insurance costs of a 30 flat site in Northampton. Regis Group/Pier Management owned the freehold. The Tribunal found that the insurance costs were excessive. They ordered to reduce the bill down by at least two thirds to £4,364.00. The Tribunal made a Section 20C order barring the freeholder from putting any of his costs into the leaseholders account as well. The Regis Group which owns over 30,000 freeholds argued that it bought insurance on a portfolio basis, not by individual properties. This is an argument used by many freeholders. The Tribunal made the following statements about the situation: “It is the ability to buy bulk that enables them to earn commissio

Does the tenant type increase my insurance premium?

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When dealing with your insurance it is important to let your insurance provider know the tenant type. It is very different with landlords if you have tenants that may be on either housing benefit or unemployed i.e. on universal credit. You are no doubt aware that the Government has changed payments of housing benefit to universal credit. The whole idea of universal credit is to give tenants the responsibility to pay their own rent. If you are thus receiving money directly from the local authority you will find that this will be swopped over to universal credit and this could affect you. For instance housing benefit rules state that when the tenant goes more than 8 weeks in arrears they will no longer be agreed and you would thus need to ensure what your tenants will be doing in respect of payments and how they will be dealing with it. It would be in your favour with your insurance company because it could reduce your insurance premium if they are now paying you directly. When