Gas Safety Week: Tips for staying gas safe

Landlords are being reminded this week that they are responsible for the safety of their tenants, as part of Gas Safety Week.

The annual event, which takes place 17-23 September, aims to raise awareness of gas safety and reminds us to have our gas appliances safety checked annually by a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer.

A number of organisations across the country will be working together alongside the Gas Safe Register to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances, and responsibility for safety of tenants is something that all landlords should be aware of.

Here are some tips from the Gas Safe Register to keep your tenants safe and warm in your property.

+ Only use a Gas Safe registered engineer to fit, fix and service your appliances. You can find and check an engineer at GasSafeRegister.co.uk or call 0800 408 5500.

+ Check both sides of your engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card. Make sure they are qualified for the work you need doing. You can find this information on the back of the card.

+ Have all your gas appliances regularly serviced and safety checked every year. Make sure are able to provide your tenants with a copy of the current Gas Safety Record, upon request.

+ Make sure your tenants know the six signs of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning – headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse and loss of consciousness. Unsafe gas appliances can put your tenants at risk of CO poisoning, gas leaks, fires and explosions.

+ Check gas appliances for warning signs that they are not working properly e.g. lazy yellow flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks or stains on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room.

+ Fit an audible carbon monoxide alarm. This will alert your tenants if there is carbon monoxide in your property.

Zoopla rental listings are now available to view on Facebook

With the majority of people’s property searches beginning online, most landlords would naturally expect to see their rental properties listed on the main property websites, dominated these days by Rightmove & Zoopla, but how about Facebook?

In a bid to attract the widest possible range of prospective tenants, Zoopla have done just that.

As of the 5th September, the rental listings listed by Zoopla letting agents are now available to view on Facebook Marketplace.

People searching for property on Facebook Marketplace will be able to filter by property type, price range and bedrooms to browse the rental listings provided by Zoopla.

Charlie Bryant, managing director of the ZPG Property Services, which owns Zoopla, said: “This is great news for our agent members who will now get wider distribution of their listings as well as increased brand exposure with people looking for property to rent on Facebook Marketplace.

“This integration extends our position as the best value digital marketing partner in the UK for agents. We will continue to provide our agent partners with maximum exposure for their listings and brands along with the widest range of services to help them generate additional leads and revenues.

“We’re pleased to be working with Facebook and look forward to the value this integration will bring to our partners.”

Cleaning is still the biggest cause of deposit disputes

Cleaning has once again been identified as the most common cause of a tenancy deposit dispute in the private rented property sector, according to new research.

Fresh data released by The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) reveals that cleaning tops the list of reasons why a deduction was made to the tenancy deposit.

Over the past 12 months, 63% of landlords that entered The DPS’ Dispute Resolution Service cited cleaning amongst their reasons for a claim. 

Damage caused by tenants is the second most cause of disputes at 53%, followed by the need to redecorate at 37%, and rent arrears at the end of a tenancy at 23%.

Other costs cited by landlords include gardening (16%), replacing missing items (16%) and outstanding bills (4%).

Julian Foster, Managing Director at The DPS, said: “These statistics give an indication of the types of issues that landlords can face when tenants move out – and of the need for a system of tenancy deposits to protect both parties.

“Many of the problems that lead to deductions can be avoided when both tenant and landlord are aware of their responsibilities and stay in regular communication throughout the tenancy.

“Around 98% of tenancies end without any dispute between landlord and tenant over the deposit, but in the rare occasions they cannot agree, access to a free, impartial dispute resolution process helps ensure that everyone is treated fairly.”

landlords optimistic about the future of the BTL market

Going by press headlines, it would be easy to imagine that buy-to-let landlords in the UK are struggling to keep going and possibly only in the buy-to-let market because they haven’t found a way to exit it.

But in actual fact research shows that over half of UK landlords feel optimistic about market conditions with a further third being indifferent to them. When you look beyond the headlines, there are solid reasons for this.

Legal changes cannot overturn the age-old law of supply and demand

Over recent years, it’s hard to escape the impression that governments have been eager to be seen to be “doing something” in the housing market. As a result, they have brought in measures which may look good to impressionable younger adults, looking to “get on the housing ladder”, for example adding a stamp-duty surcharge to investment purchases, while making it less likely that first-time buyers will pay stamp duty on purchases.

The simple fact remains, however, that the UK housing market, like every other market, is driven by the laws of supply and demand and it is no secret that there is a shortage of residential housing in the UK, both to buy and to rent.

Even if this imbalance is addressed, there is still the fact that the UK has a substantial percentage of people who are natural renters, for example, young adults, which is likely to fuel demand for rental property long into the future.

Brexit may slow housebuilding projects a lot more than it reduces demand

Only a third of landlords cited Brexit as a major concern. It may be that these landlords had their properties in areas where there is a significant population of EU citizens.

Overall, however, it is entirely possible that the main impact of Brexit on the property market will be to reduce the rate at which new homes can be built far more than it decreases the demand for residential property.

Since the A8 accession in May 2004, the UK’s construction industry has become used to having access to labour, both skilled and unskilled, from these A8 countries, later joined by Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. If this pool of labour dries up, then property developers will be forced to work at a slower pace.

Property is an investment class for people who think and act long-term

Perhaps the slew of financial and regulatory changes in the buy-to-let market will actually be of long-term benefit to committed property investors by shaking out people who understand that there’s profit to be made in property, but who don’t really have any great interest in buy-to-let itself. These would include, for example, so-called “accidental landlords” and other casual investors. This has the dual benefit of reducing competition between landlords and making for a more professional environment, which reassures both the public and regulators and could make it easier for landlords to make their voices heard.

At the same time, those exiting buy-to-let as landlords could find other opportunities to invest in the property market, or even continue to participate in buy-to-let through buying shares in companies active in the market.