News

As The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) grapples with nearly one million new claimants applying for Universal Credit following the outbreak of COVID-19, Caridon Landlord Solutions, part of Caridon Group, says landlords should educate themselves on the Universal Credit system now so that they can support their tenants and both mitigate the risk of rental arrears.

Landlord responsibilities have increased tenfold over the last few years as the government has introduced a raft of new legislation designed to protect tenants. The difficulty is that the vast majority of landlords are not seasoned professionals, but rather people who purchased or inherited an extra property and use it to prop up their income. This means that many landlords struggle to keep on top of the changes. However, failing to comply with legal obligations as a landlord can be a costly mistake, particularly if the relationship between tenant and landlord breaks down and the landlord seeks to recover possession of the property.

Many landlords contact Caridon Landlord Solutions to see whether they are following the correct procedures when entering into a letting agreement with a tenant, this has increased ten-fold following a raft of changes introduced by the government such as The Deregulation Act, How to Rent, Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, Universal Credit, the list goes on.

Landlords and tenants who do not understand the implications of coordinating the Benefit Assessment Period (BAP) of Universal Credit with the dates of their tenancy agreement are, in some cases, missing out on nearly a whole month rent, according to Caridon Landlord Solutions (CLS). CLS is calling on new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to review the process and make necessary changes.

In 2012, a change in law made squatting in residential property a criminal offence. The inevitable consequence of this was an increase in the number of cases of squatting in commercial premises. Squatting has now become a real issue for commercial landlords and property managers, who need to make sure that they remove any squatters promptly and re-secure the property to prevent them from returning.

Harrogate is the first area in Britain to trial a major new phase of Universal Credit. Up to 3,000 existing benefit claimants in the Yorkshire spa town are being moved to the six-in-one system starting this month, in the first test of “managed migration”.