On my weekly NFOPP email I was directed to this article on their website which mentions LACORS guidance on the Cancellation of Contracts Made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work Etc Regulations 2008.
Unsurprisingly LACORS takes the view that the Regulations apply to Estate (and presumably also Lettings) Agents.
What is more interesting is one of the scenarios in the guidance which we have reproduced here:
2.3.3 – During an estate agent’s visit to the consumer’s home, if the consumer has been able to review the information required by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Estate Agents ( Provision of Information) Regulations 1991 and then agrees to the quotation provided by the estate agent and says “Yes” to contracting with the estate agent for his services. The estate agent says “I’ll go back to the office and finalise the contract and send it through” – the Regulations are likely to apply as the contract is made following the offer made by the consumer. The estate agent needs to be careful to give the written notice of the right to cancel at the point the offer is made by the consumer.
This is an interesting view. LACORS is essentially saying that if a verbal agreement is made for business to commence then the notice must be handed over at that stage and cannot wait until the written contract is signed.
This is, of course, quite logical as a verbal agreement concluded on agreed terms is enforceable immediately and does not need to be reduced to writing. However, agents should take care and consider at what stage they are at with a landlord if they are talking to him face-to-face in his own home or place of work. If they are taking away from the meeting that they can immediately start marketing a property and can get th terms signed along the way then they should have handed over a cancellation notice and could potentially be liable to prosecution.
Filed under: Uncategorized , guidance, LACORS, regulations
As most people will know the UK is in the throes of switching from analogue to digital telelvision signals. For many people this will simply involve a change in equipment, such as a new television set. However, some areas will require that a new aerial is fitted to the property to allow reception of the new signal.
For private landlords there will of course be the question of whether there is an obligation to upgrade the installations in their properties. In the case of O’Connor v Old Etonians Housing Association the Court of Appeal considered whether a landlord was required to upgrade a water installation to deal with a drop in supply pressure. It commented that while it would be unreasonable to expect a landlord to provide an installation which coped with any possible change in supply of services there would be times where a technical advance, which was well flagged in advance, would require a change in installations. In these cases the Court felt that it would be reasonable forr a landlord to be expected to upgrade installations to cope with the change. On this basis one would be forced to the conclusion that landlords will be expected to meet the cost of altering installations to make them compatible with the digital signal.
There are a number of sources of further information on the digital switchover although the majority are targetted at block landlords. There is a Chartered institiute of housing good practice guide as well as a range of resources for property managers.
Filed under: Uncategorized , guidance, Utilities and Services
Tessa Shepperson’s blog has a very useful post on telltale signs of drug production in rental properties along with a link to a new booklet on the subject produced by Suffolk Police. More information here.
Filed under: Uncategorized , guidance
LACORS has created new guidance on appropriate standards of fire safety in residential rented accommodation.
Previously there was a requirement for properties to be fire safe under the HHSRS or when applying for an HMO licence but there was little information on what fire safe meant which led to a wide disparity of standards between different local authorities. LACORS has taken best practice and ideas from around the country and combined it into one document.
The standard required depends on the size of the property and its anticipated occupancy. HMOs and larger properties will need to meet a higher standard. For most landlords the main issue that will cause concern is the requirement that all properties should have a mains-powered, battery-backed, smoke detection system.
It should be remembered that the guidance is just that, guidance. Therefore there is no legal requirement for a property to fulfil the standard before it is rented. However, if the property is inspected by the local authority for the purposes of the HHSRS or HMO licensing these are the type of standards they will expect.
More information on the guidance can be found here.
Filed under: Uncategorized , guidance, Housing Act 2004
