Goodlord has released an enhanced version of its referencing service for letting agents across the UK. Their offering now includes bank-grade facial recognition technology and fully integrated Open Banking capabilities. 

Robert Bolwell, Senior Partner at Dutton Gregory, which manages the ARLA Propertymark Legal Helpline, answered letting agents questions on Covid-19's impact on the possession process in a Goodlord webinar. Click on a question to jump to the answer or watch the webinar on-demand now.

1. How would you summarise the key changes for people who haven't yet had to use the courts since they reopened?
2. If you have a case that's been stayed, how do you kick start that process again?
3. How long will it take for cases to be looked at if there aren’t significant arrears?
4. When it does mean you're going to be physically in front of a judge if you are pursuing a possession claim together with a claim for rent arrears?
5. If there aren’t any arrears, do you need to provide a Covid-19 statement with the paperwork or only when requested?
6. How much notice does the tenant have to give to the landlord's agents?
7. Do we have to change the wording on section eight notices around the grounds for rent arrears?
8. What do I do if I've got rent arrears now of five months? Do I serve a notice now for six months’ expiration date or do I wait till they go over the six month mark?
9. Can you get ahead of the game by submitting a claim to the courts before the notice is expired?
10. If a section 21 notice has been issued and the tenant has now fallen into a periodic tenancy, and there has been since then a revised TDS certificate. Does that revised certificate somehow revoke the section 21 that happened beforehand?
11. How could the Tenant Fees Act impact payment plans?
12. What do you do if you haven't heard a peep out of your tenant? 
13. What impact do you think Covid-19 might have on the courts if a tenant starts to argue that actually that process has been affecting the tenant?

A legal expert for ARLA Propertymark has said letting agents and landlords should consider serving a second Section 8 notice if rental arrears accrue to more than six months of missed payments, even if their original Section 8 has yet to come into force. This is because of a crucial change at the six months of arrears mark, when the notice period for tenants drops from six months to just four weeks.

The government wants to raise the minimum energy efficiency standards to EPC Band C by 2028 in order to improve the overall energy performance of the private rented sector in England and Wales. UK housing stock is generally older than in the rest of Europe, according to the consultation document, and “the potential for improvement in the energy performance is considerable”. Privately rented properties, which make up 20% of the housing stock, are among the least energy efficient, “costing over £6bn in energy bills in 2018 and producing GHG emissions of around 11 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year”.

The growth in open banking opportunities comes at the right time for letting agents. Landlord costs are rising, with increasing legislation to comply with, changing customer expectations and the impact of the pandemic. Small improvements to the lettings process can go a long way and open banking can offer a more seamless and fast service, to help keep landlords and tenants happy.

“We've wanted to do it for a long time. Covid-19 was the push that we needed,” says Matt Dilkes, Christopher Shaw Residential, on setting up a series of Youtube videos to share latest news and updates with their clients.

The latest Rental Index from Goodlord, which analyses over 20,000 UK tenancies each month, has shown a strong picture for the rental market as voids hold steady and rents only drop marginally across the UK. 

A survey of 2,750 UK renters has revealed that huge swathes of tenants are anxious about meeting their rental obligations following the pandemic. Alongside this, large numbers are considering moving to a new property as working from home becomes the norm and financial situations shift, found our tenant survey for our latest State of the Industry Report. 

E Property Agent has been actively listening to its tenants’ needs during the pandemic, to understand their situations and find the best solutions to suit all parties involved, which has helped them avoid tenant evictions in most cases.

This article was published on 24 September 2020. Although we endeavour to keep our Covid-19 content as up to date as possible, the situation is rapidly changing, so please ensure you refer to gov.uk for the latest advice and information.

A six-month Job Support Scheme will be introduced on 1 November to help protect jobs in businesses facing lower demand over winter and provide support after the furlough scheme ends. The new scheme is one of several measures announced by the Chancellor as part of the Winter Economy Plan to support workers and businesses, which includes extending the grant scheme for self-employed workers, tax payment deferrals, extending applications and introducing flexible repayments for the coronavirus loan schemes.