National Residential Landlords Association

Top tip, don't try to run credit searches manually.

Use automated landlord platforms like OpenRent, the NRLA, Referencing Service, or Goodlord.

For a small fee, these platforms...

Handle the data protection, ping the credit agencies, checking for CCJs, bankruptcies and active credit scores and send you a unified pass fail report.

It's the foundation of a successful, passive and efficient property business.

You check an identity, legal status, affordability and credit and conduct.

You're using automated tools like Open Rent Good Lord and the NRLA to keep costs down and efficiency high.

You're adhering to GDPR and the Tenant Fees Act and current renter's rights rules.

You'll put it into this government funded government scheme, in which case then it's safeguarding that deposit.

And of course, that is a legal compliance when you are letting And some great tools and resources is join the NRLA, the Residential Landlords Association or National Residential Landlords Association, because it is a great, great tool to have.

You can get professional help.

So you can speak to people there who will help you with the legals.

I got there in the end, didn't I? I got there in the end.

So that can help you as well.

So the NRLA, I would say, is a definite good one to join and to be a part of.

You're also going to want to reference your tenants.

Now, once you've got one drawn up, you can use it time and time again.

The likes of the NRLA may actually provide these already, so it's worth checking their website and becoming a member there.

They might already have them, which might save you the money of getting one drawn up, but if not, you should have one drawn up by a solicitor.

And it must be signed by the guarantor in the physical or digital presence of an independent adult witness.

I know it can seem a bit stale, this sort of thing, guarantors and whatever, and it's a bit uninteresting, but this stuff is what protects your cash flow, protects your yield, so you need to get on top of it as an investor.

So if you need to read more into it, there's plenty of...

I'd suggest going to the NRLA website, and they have sections on that.

Maybe join up with them.

Get yourself educated.

For example, the NRLA, so the National Residential Landlords Association, they're running courses

So whereas previously a landlord who ended up with a difficult tenant could usually wait for a fixed term to end and use section 21 to regain the property without giving a reason, now that route no longer exists.

Removing a problem tenant now means using a section 8 ground, such as serious renter is, which as we've seen takes longer and requires evidence.

Councils can require documents and information, and separately it is an offence to give a council officer information that is false or misleading, whether knowingly or recklessly.

But... you should definitely tread carefully here because responding quickly or informally before understanding what's actually being investigated can create a record that's used later, even when nothing was ultimately found.

The safer approach is to get advice, either from a solicitor or a body such as the NRLA, the National Residential Landlords Association, and you should do this before engaging directly with a council inquiry rather than after.

This applies even when the request seems routine or minor You have been warned Everything we've discussed so far carries extra weight for landlords managing property from overseas.

It involved tenant unions, it involved landlord organizations.

Um, so for instance, we have, um, Chris Norris from NRLA actually sits on our board-

Mm

... and has been involved, um, with Andy Burnham from like, you know, really early days, um, of the consultation.

And I think because that hasn't been done, that's added to the landlord panic, unfortunately.

But the court system needs to be much more efficient, which is an issue, landlords especially not getting your rent called yeah I agree I mean we work with the system we've got so Paul one of the Achilles heels we're seeing at landlord action and which I've been calling out a lot in the in the press is bailiff wait times we have a bailiff shortage I think there's about two hundred fifty three hundred bank accounts called bailiffs in this country I've been working with the High Court Enforcement Association With Propertymark and the NRLA, we were looking at doing a campaign so that landlords, if they went to court and they had severe rent arrears, they should have the mandatory option of using a High Court Enforcement Officer to carry out an eviction.

And to carry out quicker evictions, you know, we waited 15 months for an eviction date at Clerkenwell County Court.

If you're a landlord, and bear in mind, the average rent arrears now case in London is £12,000 a year.

If they can self manage and carry on and embrace and understand the change and put time and energy into education.

I think that's needed more than ever.

You know, becoming the NRLA, understanding where they can get advice.

And I will say to landlords, have a power team behind you.

Teresa Wallace from the Lettings Industry Council will explore this issue with us.

Hannah Kenyon is here to give her regular briefing on what you have been calling the NRLA advice line about.

But first, it's been hot in some parts of the UK, very hot, with the Met Office declaring that the climate we had in the 20th century has now gone and temperature records already being broken this year.

We turn our attention to overheating homes.

So I'm not sure how much tenants would like the higher bills.

But let's bring in our guests.

We've got Henry Davis, who is a developer and NRLA trainer, and Matthew Scott, policy manager from the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Let me ask you first, Matthew, who is at risk from excess heat and are particular buildings more prone to it? I'm conscious that I think there were 1,500 excess deaths last year because of heat.