We have installed some code which should assist in finding the bug and importantly determine which members get the emails in error and which don’t.

We would be soooooo grateful if you could email us if you get an automated reminder about your subscription but you are pretty sure you have paid whether by the website, telephone or post. This will be really helpful because we’ve only had a small number of members mention this problem and we need more to generate a pattern and figure out the problem.

We are sorry to ask this of you and many thanks in advance for your help and patience.

Anyway, after suspending the service for a short while, we have had a recommendation from one of long standing members (so if this fails, I know who to blame!)

We are therefore very pleased to announce the launch of our all new debt collection service (again). Hopefully we will get some good results.

The debt collection service operates nationally and has been designed with tenants and guarantors in mind (although it can be used for any debt). The cost is slightly more than previously (20% for Guild members) but I hope this will give good incentive for the company to chase the debts.

Services in brief:

• No up front fee – no annual fee – no admin fee
• 20 years experience in debt collection
• Charge 25% 20% exclusively for Guild members of any money collected
• First hand knowledge of the landlord, student/tenant market
• Tracing facility to relocate past tenants. Charge £10-£40

With a no collection- no fee service you have little to lose.

Read more about the debt collection service

LG Group has worked alongside local authorities, private sector landlords and management agents, housing and environmental health professionals and fire and rescue services to produce this guidance.

This sector-led guide has been developed by and for the housing sector and enforcing authorities to provide specific advice relating to purpose-built blocks of flats.

The guidance gives practical, comprehensive and proportionate advice across all housing sectors. As sector-led guidance, it does not introduce any new standards or regulations but clarifies a number of complex issues around risk assessment and fire safety management. This is to ensure that the residents of these buildings get appropriate advice from their landlords on what to do in the event of a fire.

It is intended to meet the needs of housing providers and enforcing authorities for guidance tailored to purpose-built blocks of flats. These buildings are only a small part of the scope of other guidance documents.

This document is intended to assist responsible persons to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Housing Act 2004 and it is expected that enforcing authorities will have regard to this guide.

The guidance has been funded by Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Electrical Safety Council and produced by CS Todd and Associates.

The guidance complements existing fire safety guidance made available by DCLG and Local Government Regulation (formerly LACORS).

LG Group fire safety guidance for purpose-built blocks of flats

Property is usually the most valuable asset people own. It can be sold and mortgaged to raise money and is therefore an attractive target for fraudsters. The properties most vulnerable to fraud are usually empty, tenanted or mortgage-free. Individuals at a higher risk of fraud include owners who are absent for whatever reason; for example because the owner may live abroad, buy to let landlords, the elderly not living in their properties because they may be in long term hospital or residential care, and where a relationship has broken down.

Land Registry’s top tips to help owners protect their property from fraudsters are:

• First of all make sure your property is registered. If you become an innocent victim of fraud and suffer a financial loss as a consequence, you will be compensated.
• Once registered make sure your contact details are up-to-date so we can reach you easily.
• You can have up to three addresses on the register; email addresses or an address abroad can be used. The more information you provide, the more chance we have of reaching you if we need to.
• Owners who feel their property might be at risk can have a restriction entered on their property which is designed to help prevent forgery by requiring a solicitor or conveyancer to certify they are satisfied that the person selling or mortgaging the property is the true owner.

From 1 February 2012, there is no Land Registry fee for home owners to register this restriction, as long as they do not live in the property they wish to protect. Owner occupiers will continue to pay a small fee.

Malcolm Dawson, Chief Land Registrar said:

“Today’s launch of our ‘Top Tips’ shows how important it is to let home owners know what simple steps they can take to protect their property – one of which is now the ability for those at greatest risk to have a free restriction entered which might prevent their property from being targeted by fraudsters and stolen unawares.

“We have introduced a range of additional safeguards in the last four years and we also work closely with other organisations to do all we can to tackle fraud and identify and take corrective action when it has happened. But home owners must also be vigilant and play their own part in protecting their properties against fraud.”

People who own empty properties might include those living abroad and the elderly in long term hospital or residential care. In 2010, 30 of the 71 claims paid out by Land Registry for fraud and forgery were by non-family members. Of these, 23 involved properties with an absent owner and amounted to £2m out of the total £7.3m paid for fraud and forgery claims.

Home owners who do not live at their property or their conveyancer can submit a request for the restriction to be entered on the register free of charge using form RQ which can be downloaded from www1.landregistry.gov.uk/property-information/property-fraud The completed form should be sent to the Land Registry Birkenhead Office, Rosebrae Court, Woodside Ferry Approach, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 6DU.

Owner occupiers can complete Form RX1 http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/upload/documents/RX1.pdf with the Form LL restriction. There is a £50 fee for this service. The completed form should be sent to the Land Registry office serving the area where the property is located. The wording of a restriction is very important and it is advisable to seek advice from a solicitor or conveyancer if protecting property in this way.

In particular, the Energy Act 2011 enacts the following:

• Green Deal
• Landlord not to refuse reasonable request for energy efficiency improvements
• Landlord not to let property unless meets minimum energy efficiency

Green Deal

The green deal is to be a new financing model to enable the provision of fixed improvements to the energy efficiency of households and non-domestic properties, funded by a charge on energy bills that avoids the need for consumers to pay upfront costs.

In addition to defining what a green deal plan will be and requiring the secretary of state to produce framework regulations, the act outlines the various aspects necessary to it’s operation.

How it will work

In essence, the energy companies will become “green deal providers” and will employ qualified assessors. A property will be inspected by an assessor and energy efficiency improvements recommended. The green deal provider will then provide an estimate of the savings on the energy bill if the works were carried out and offer to carry out the works based upon instalments added to the energy bill. The amount and length of the instalments will be determined by the framework regulations which are currently being consulted on. [section 4 Energy Act 2011]

The instalments will be paid by “the person who is for the time being liable to pay the energy bills for the property” and “will be made to the relevant energy supplier through the energy bills for the property” [s.1(6)]. As tenants are in most cases the bill payer, it will be tenants who pay the instalments by way of their energy bill.

As it is the tenant who will ultimately pay the instalments for the works, there are provisions allowing regulations to determine what permissions must be obtained before improvement works are carried out and presumably those same regulations will determine what happens if consent cannot be obtained from the bill payer.

There will be a code of practise governing the workmanship of improvements carried out by the relevant persons [s.7]

Documentation and landlord / agent duties

Once improvements have been made, the green deal provider is under a duty to provide documentation which will contain information about the plan (e.g. amount and length of instalments etc.) [s.8(4)]

It will be a requirement that the seller or prospective landlord of a property which has a green deal plan to:

• Obtain the document mentioned above or, if the green deal provider has not produced the document yet, to produce a document containing the same information in connection with the green deal plan as that document would have contained, and
• Provide the document free of charge to any prospective buyer, tenant or licensee at the specified time.

This only applies if the prospective tenant or buyer is to pay the energy bills. [s.12].

A person becomes a prospective buyer, tenant or licensee in relation to a property when the person—

• requests any information about the property from the seller, prospective landlord or licensor or an agent for the purpose of deciding whether to buy or let the property,
• makes a request to view the property, or
• makes an offer, whether oral or written, to buy or let the property.

[s.12(4)]

Tenancy agreement

The prospective landlord (or agent) must secure that the contract for tenancy or licence agreement includes an acknowledgment by the tenant or licensee that they will be liable to make payments under the green deal plan and that certain terms of that plan are binding on the bill payer. [s.14(2)]

The form of words is to be made by regulations and is currently undergoing consultation. Draft regulations though suggest the following term might be used:

“The [buyer/tenant/licensee/other*] acknowledges that, as a person who is, or may become, the person who is liable to pay the electricity bill at the [property/premises/other*], the electricity bill payer is:

(a) liable to make payments under a green deal plan; and

(b) bound by the terms of that plan that are stated to bind the electricity bill payer.”

For the avoidance of doubt, these are draft regulations only. The authors experience of draft regulations is that the real regulations often bear no resemblance to the draft.

It is too soon to speculate what the penalties would be if a tenancy is granted without such a term however, the act allows regulations to be made which can require landlords to pay compensation to a green deal provider.

Commencement

It is suggested that the green deal will commence from December 2012 but this is not certain yet.

Private rented sector

One of the more significant parts of the Energy Act to affect private landlords (and agents) is chapter 2 which applies to the private rented sector in England or Wales (chapter 3 applies to the PRS in Scotland).

Tenants request to carry out energy efficiency improvements

Section 46 requires the Secretary of State to make regulations whereby a tenant will be able to request consent to have energy efficiency works carried out and the landlord will not be allowed to unreasonably refuse consent.

The request will only be reasonable if the works can be: (highlights added)

• wholly paid for pursuant to a green deal plan
• provided free of charge pursuant to an obligation imposed under the Gas Act 1986 or the Electricity Act 1989
• wholly financed pursuant to a combination of such a plan and such an obligation, or
• financed by such other description of financial arrangement as the regulations provide.

The request for consent is only available to tenants where the property is let:

• under a tenancy which is an assured tenancy for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988,
• under a tenancy which is a regulated tenancy for the purposes of the Rent Act 1977, or
• under a tenancy which is specified for the purposes of this subsection in an order made by the Secretary of State

[s.42(1)]

The regulations must come into force no later than 1 April 2016. [s.46(5)]

Minimum energy efficiency standards

Section 43 of the act provides that the Secretary of State must make regulations to secure that a landlord of domestic property which has an energy performance certificate which falls below such level of energy efficiency (as demonstrated by the energy performance certificate) as is provided for by the regulations, may not let the property until the landlord has made to the property such energy efficiency improvements as are provided for by regulations.

“… Private rented properties must be brought up toa minimum energy efficiency rating of ‘E’. This provision will make it unlawfulto rent out a house or business premise that does not reach this minimumstandard.

This requirement is subject to there being no upfront financial cost to landlords.Therefore, landlords will have fulfilled the requirement if they have eitherreached “E” or carried out the maximum package of measures funded underthe Green Deal and/or ECO (even if this does not take them up to an ‘E’rating)” [source: Department of Energy and Climate Change Energy Act 2011: Private Rented Sector]

“Energy efficiency improvements” means if the works can be: (highlights added)

• wholly paid for pursuant to a green deal plan
• provided free of charge pursuant to an obligation imposed under the Gas Act 1986 or the Electricity Act 1989
• wholly financed pursuant to a combination of such a plan and such an obligation, or
• financed by such other description of financial arrangement as the regulations provide.

The regulations must take effect no later than 1 April 2018 [s.43(6)] and almost identical provisions apply for non-domestic properties [s.49]. The act allows regulations to be made to impose sanctions upon landlords who let property contrary to the rules [s.45 & s.51].

Energy Performance Certificates

Section 74 of the Act allows the Secretary of State to make regulations to allow disclosure of information held on the national register of all 7 million EPC’s throughout England and Wales (section 75 allows the same for Scotland) to green deal providers. This will allow the energy companies access to the data for the promotion of the green deal.

Other parts

The reminder of the Energy Act 2011 makes a number of necessary amendments in particular to the Electricity Act 1989 and the Gas Act 1986. Additional burdens are placed on energy companies to promote the reduction in carbon emissions and home-heating costs [Part 1, Chapter 4] and further measures are introduced for the security of energy supplies [Part 2].