Discounted offer at mydeposits.co.uk

Do you take a deposit from your student tenants?

By law you must protect the deposit with a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.

Join mydeposits for just £30 today

University of Manchester have teamed up with mydeposits to offer you a discounted registration fee of just £30 this summer. That’s a saving of over £27 to protect your student tenant’s deposits and comply with the law.

Five reasons to join mydeposits:

Over 60,000 landlords use mydeposits because we are the only deposit protection scheme designed for landlords who want to keep hold of the deposit:

1. You hold the deposit in your bank account for the duration of the tenancy agreement rather than having to hand it to a third party for safe keeping.
2. You have the freedom to discuss any necessary deposit deductions directly with your tenants at the end of the tenancy. We regularly find that landlord/tenant issues over the deposit are resolved simply by talking, giving you complete control without needing to involve mydeposits.
3. If you and your tenant can’t agree on deductions then our dispute resolution service is available to offer a free, professional and impartial conclusion to your dispute.
4. We are a leading government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.
5. 80% of our members use the mydeposits website to manage their account. It’s quick and easy to protect new deposits, manage your portfolio and respond to dispute cases including uploading dispute evidence such as photos and documents, saving you time and money.

 

Join for just £30 using UNI006 promoter code and save £27.

• More information visit http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/landlords/landlord.htm  
• Join now using the promoter code http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/jointds.htm
• Or call 0844 980 0290 to join over the phone.

Council Tax Information

Dear Landlord,

 Manchester Student Homes is working in partnership with Manchester City Council to help update all Council Tax information. The City Council is currently undertaking a review of all student household Council Tax exemptions within its boundaries to ensure that they are still appropriate.

The Council Tax department have asked us to assist them in collecting information regarding student tenancies. Please see the information below and respond accordingly. We recommend that you process this information to ensure that the Council Tax department has the correct details for your property.
To ensure prompt and accurate processing of information relating to new student tenancies, please can we ask that you e-mail the following information relating to your properties to the City Council, as soon as they are re-let?

• Address:
• Postcode:
• Tenant(s) names:
• Tenancy start date:
• Tenancy end date:
• Landlord’s name:
• Landlord’s address:

Plus any other relevant information…for example if you know that the three joint tenants in your property are all second year students at MMU, then please tell us.

E-mails should be sent to “ctax.enquiries@manchester.gov.uk” with the address of the property in the subject header of the e-mail.

Any specific questions about the contents of this e-mail should be directed to “d.holden@manchester.gov.uk” the City Council’s Contracts and Compliance Manager.

Govt scraps plans for further regulation of private rented sector

According to Patrick Clift in the lastest edition of Estates Gazette, housing minister Grant Shapps has announced that the government is to abandon Labour’s plans for regulation of the private rented sector but keep controversial rules on multi-let homes.  

Answering questions in the House of Commons this morning, Shapps said the current regulatory framework for the PRS already struck the right balance between landlords and tenants. He said: “We have no plans to move forward with the previous government’s ideas for further regulatory measures on the subject.”

Shapps also revealed that government would look again at rules governing so-called houses in multiple occupation in “more detail”, but had no plans to overturn them. Under HMO rules, landlords that want to rent a property to three or more unrelated tenants have to apply for planning permission.

The decision to abandon regulation of the PRS, against the recommendations of the Rugg Review into standards in the sector, drew criticism from trade bodies. Ian Potter, operations manager of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents, said: “This move risks seriously hampering the improvement of standards in the private rented sector, the sector’s reputation, and the fundamental role it plays in the wider housing market as well as failing to protect the consumer who has nowhere to go when there is service failure or fraud.

“Currently, any person or organisation can become a letting agent.  Until that is changed via national regulation, unprofessional, unqualified and unethical operators will continue to exist, to the detriment and expense of consumers and the market as a whole.”

Caroline Pickering, chair of the National Approved Letting Scheme, which provides benchmarks allowing landlords and tenants to compare the service they receive from letting agents, said: “There is plenty of evidence that tenants and landlords are at risk because there is no compulsory regulation of the sector.

“It is all too easy for a rogue agent to fleece landlords and tenants of their money, to oversee the letting of properties that are in poor condition, and to damage local communities by leaving a trail of unpaid bills amongst hard working local trades people.”

Summer’s here!

Summer is here, even if the weather suggests otherwise…!

For many students tomorrow (11th June) will be the last day of term until mid September. Manchester Student Homes remains open throughout the summer between our usual opening hours of 9-5, Monday-Friday.

The end of June  means moving in and moving out time for many student tenants. Please contact MSH if you need advice on what needs to be done during this time, whether you’re a student or landlord.

Mid-summer onwards is a very busy time for us, with the release of exam results and late university applications. Around this time and through to the end of September we receive large numbers of enquiries from new students, many of them arriving in Manchester for the first time without a pre-formed group of potential housemates. Landlords may want to consider offering rooms on an individual basis at this time – there are some administrative differences  between joint and several and individual tenancies, so do get in touch with us if you would like advice.

We are running a list of short term summer vacancies. Students can request this list from our office. Landlords, please contact us for details if you are a registered MSH landlord and would like to appear on the list.

Hatch Legal Newsletter

Updates provided by Hatch Legal’s June newsletter:

1. New gas safety website – Landlords’ legal obligations relating to gas safety are now set out on the Health & Safety Executive’s website. To view go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/

2. Student loan interest rates increase – From September 2010, some people currently being charged 0% interest will have to pay 4.4% interest. Detailed guidance is available here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

3. Assured shorthold tenancy threshold raised – The Assured Tenancies Order 2010 (SI 2010/908) will increase the rent limit for assured tenancies from £25,000 to £100,000 with effect from 1st October 2010. The Order will have an element of retrospective effect. You can read more about this and any other story on this post at http://hatchlegal.co.uk/  

 

Don’t bin it – bag it! Help a charity and win a prize!

Landlords – please could you make your tenants aware of the following.

Students – Moving out this summer? Environment on call (part of Manchester City Council) will be delivering green and clear bags which you can fill with unwanted items for collection (bags are also available from students’ unions and will shortly be available from the MSH office). Your unwanted items, such as sheets, clothes, tinned food, pots and pans, will be collected from the kerbside  between now and 3rd July and donated to charity.

Text to win! If you’ve used the green or clear bag scheme, text  zero waste with your name and full postal address to 86099 or email recycling@manchester.gov .uk to be entered into a competition to win a variety of prizes, including tickets to Pangea and a student Stagecoach bus pass for 2010/11. The competition closes on 4th July 2010.

To find out more, visit www.manchester.gov.uk/recycling or contact Environment on call on 0161 954 9000

In addition, there will be extra recycling collections between now and 3rd July.

Students – rooms near Oxford Road and city centre added online

Students – about 200 rooms in private halls close to the Oxford Road campuses and in the city centre have been added to our website today. In addition there are several short term rooms available in private halls over the summer. You can search for private halls here.

There are still a very large number of houses, flats and houseshares available for next academic year – search on our website.

Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership E-Bulletin

This is the first instalment of Manchester City Council’s CDRP e-bulletin, keeping you up to date on all the hard work currently being done by the Partnership.

Click on the links below to read the full stories.

1. Gunman caught thanks to public and police dog

2. Crack house closure in Crumpsall

3. Jail for burglar thwarted by two pensioners – Withington

4. Prolific South Manchester burglar jailed

5. Residents invited to have coffee with a copper

For more information about the Partnership you can click on the following link:

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200030/crime_prevention/720/manchester_crime_and_disorder_reduction_partnership

Students – avoid deductions from your deposit!

If you’re moving out of your privately rented accommodation at the end of June, you might like to attend our next ‘Focus on….’ talk. The talk (1.30-1.50pm, 2nd June in the MSH office) will give you some tips on how you ensure that all your obligations are fulfilled when you move out.  Much of the advice students ask us for over the summer relates to non-return of deposits, however these problems could often been avoided if tenants take the time to ensure everything is done properly at the end of their tenancy. 

If you or one of your housemates cannot make the talk, please contact us as soon as possible for advice on what you need to do at the end of your tenancy. We also advise your landlord to write to you at this time of year with details of what you need to do.

Summer accommodation

Students – Manchester Student Homes are in the process of compiling a list of short term summer accommodation. You’ll be able to collect this from our office or by email. Please contact us for more details.

Landlords – please contact us for details of how your property can be featured on the summer list. Registered landlords should have received an email with details of this service.