May 23, 2021

Changes to Property Law are afoot: Will they impact you?

May 23, 2021/ Eva Smagacz

The government is introducing changes to property law, and some of these changes will impact leaseholders of Winnals Park, albeit not immediately, and not in a way that will have a major impact.

In January, government announced the plans to make big changes to the property law, and to reform leasehold. Leasehold reform, which started last century, is a long term project supported by all parties to strengthen the property rights of leaseholders, while at the same time restricting rights and privileges of freehold owners, and to make steps to align the property law of UK with that of other parts of the English speaking world.

One change is creation, this year, of Commonhold Council(1), further expanding law related to commonhold (2), which is a form of legal property ownership created by Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. Commonhold gives leaseholders more autonomy over properties in which they live. Leaseholders (or really commonhold homeowners) control the decisions related to their common areas of their homes including grounds, via “Commonhold Associations”. In a way, the way Winnals Park freehold has been structured, is not unlike common hold association, but using the legal framework existing in 1950-ties. One of the major differences is that commonhold does not have a pre - determined term (“length of lease)” and a title is held in perpetuity.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill had its first reading on 12th of May this year (2021) in House of Lords (3). It will create and clarify the rules for valuation of freehold, and for valuation of lease extensions, thus preventing the need for long and convoluted negotiations between freeholder and leaseholder, especially when these negotiations are sometimes taking place within the relationship that is often adversarial and sometimes downright hostile. It will also standardise the rent payable to freeholder by leaseholders under the lease.

One of the future areas of regulatory reform is proposed licensing and regulation of Property Agents, including Management Companies (4). Although some recent law changes, like Client Money Protection Requirements Regulations 2019, went in the right direction, they did little to improve the profound lack of trust that public have in property professionals. Apart from introducing qualification standards, the reform proposes mandatory code of practice. Current code of practice for managing agents: Service Charge Residential Management Code (3rd edition)(5) is obligatory for Managing Agents who are members of professional bodies [like our Managing Agent, Hunters, who is member of ARMA(6)]. Unfortunately, as it currently stands, many freeholders, and property agents, are free to ignore code of practice and codes of conduct that guide their professional colleagues.

The latest changes in Electrical Safety obligations for landlords.

April 29, 2021/ Eva Smagacz

Are you renting your leasehold apartment?

You may wish to check if the law changes in England that came to force last year apply to you (1).

These changes relate to Electrical Safety of Rental Properties.

Law states that the buildings and apartments must have EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report (7)) in place before having new tenancy agreement in place (more about that later)(2). EICR report must be in date, which means that it cannot be more than 5 years old, and all the electrical installations, fixtures and fittings are safe (3).

From 1st July 2021, landlords who fail to conduct an EICR (and any work it recommends) before a new tenancy commences will face a fine of up to £30,000.

Local authorities will be responsible for enforcing the new rules, as specified under the Housing Act 2004 (4). EICR must be conducted by competent person, which in practice means someone who is registered with one of the Government-approved Scheme (5, 6).

The copy of newly obtained certificate must be shared with the tenants in situ, and the old certificate must be shared with tenants and/or local authority if it is requested. If there are issues raised in the EICR report, they must be remedied in 28 days.

Finally, the legal definition of new tenancy has changed, so you may have an existing tenant continuing to live on your premises, and yet you may have entered into new agreement with them, and become liable for a fine.

NRLA, National Residential Landlords Association (8) advises that the law changed three years ago, which means a rolled over periodic tenancy is considered to be a new tenancy when the initial tenancy agreement just lapses into a periodic tenancy.

However, if there is a clause in existing tenancy agreement that specifically states that the existing tenancy will become (contractual) periodic tenancy, in such case new tenancy is not created, and old tenancy agreement remains in place.

Post Grenfell Tower Fire, UK fire safety law is (slowly) changing.

April 12, 2021/ Eva Smagacz

The relaxation of building codes, introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1985, swept away 306 pages of building regulations and replaced them with just 24. Building inspectors stopped being public servants and set up private practices, where they competed on most advantageous (to builder and property owner’s bottom line) interpretation of building codes.

In 2011, David Camerons government set out to slash full half of health and safety regulations that governed all aspects of working environment in which businesses operated.

Health and Safety and Fire Safety in England has long suffered from confusion and lack of clarity when it came to regulations, enforcement and legislative duties of the property owners. This confusion was not helped by presence of Health and Safety Executive that was operating along side Health and Safety Commission (the two merged in 2009).

Lakanal House tower block fire in Lambeth in 2009, where 6 people lost lives resulted in inquest lasting 4 years(2).

The coroner, Judge Frances Kirkham reported, in 2012, that the Building Regulations on Fire Safety were almost impossible to understand and needed to be reviewed (3,4).

This confusion, specifically relating to Fire Safety, has also been clearly identified in in “Focus on Enforcement: Regulatory Reviews: Enforcement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, published by Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in August 2013 (1).

The Grenfell Tower Fire in June 2017, with loss of 72 lives, brought to stark relief the need for much more proactive approach to regulations and enforcement.

Following the fire, Dame Judith Hackitt (an engineer and a longstanding chair of Health and Safety Executive) has been asked to carry out a review. The result was “Building a Safer Future” report which was presented to Parliament by Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government in May 2018. (5)

As a result of the recommendations, and after 3 years of planning, Peter Baker, HSE Director of Building Safety and Construction, have just taken the newly created post of Chief Inspector of Buildings, with the initial remit of establishing a new Building Safety Regulator (6).

The Building Safety Regulator will be established in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by amending the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (7).

Building Safety Bill is currently in works and can be seen in its draft form on government website. Building Safety Bill is specifically concerned with higher-risk buildings, and currently, it is proposed that this definition relates to buildings over 18 meters high (or over 6 stories).

However, reading the Explanatory Notes (8) it is clear other buildings may be brought within the definition in the future. In paragraph 230 there is an example that purpose-built blocks of flats regardless of height may well fall under the Building Safety Bill - the approach to definition of what constitutes a higher - risk building is is based on levels of risk. Indeed, the benchmark spoken about now for many purposes is not 18m but 11m which is fire services access reach from outside.

Specifically, the Building Regulations 2010 (9) Approved Document B: Fire safety, Volume 1 – Dwellings had an amendment added in May 2020 (10), which specifies new regulations for the buildings over 11 meters high: adding of sprinklers inside the dwellings and provision of proscribed signage for firefighters: It does not apply to existing buildings unless there is a substantial alteration to the building or its purpose.

References (if you want to dig deeper):

(1)https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/226938/bis-13-1080-focus-on-enforcement-reviews-of-regulatory-reform-fire-safety-order-2005.pdf

(2)https://beta.lambeth.gov.uk/about-council/transparency-open-data/lakanal-house-coroner-inquest

3) https://www.ft.com/content/bf6bcbd0-5b35-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b

(4) https://www.towerblocksuk.com/lakanal

(5) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/707785/Building_a_Safer_Future_-_web.pdf

(6) https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/02/16/hse-announces-new-chief-inspector-of-buildings/

(7)https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901868/Draft_Building_Safety_Bill_PART_1.pdf

(8)https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901869/Draft_Building_Safety_Bill_PART_2.pdf

(9) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2214/pdfs/uksi_20102214_en.pdf

(10)https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/937931/ADB_Vol1_Dwellings_2019_edition_inc_2020_amendments.pdf

March 26, 2021

Fire Risk Assessment for Winnals Park building in which you live.

March 26, 2021/ Eva Smagacz

According to lease-advice.org, government funded, but independently run website for leasehold properties (like Winnals Park) It is best practice for the freeholder or managing agent to provide an occupant of a building access to the fire risk assessment, on request.

So if you ever felt an un-ease about danger of fire, contact our Managing Agents for a copy of all risk-related assessments carried out on the building in the recent past.

Please note that you do not need to be a leaseholder - the advice relates to occupants, so you do not even have to be formally named on the lease, nor on tenancy agreement.

Government agencies and independent agencies both issued a number of communications acknowledging the damaging impact of Grenfell Tower fire on mental health of people, especially those living in the taller residential structures.

May 07, 2020

VE Celebrations in Winnals Park at 4pm.

May 07, 2020/ Eva Smagacz

Carefully keeping 6ft distance we are hoping to see you all joining our community at 4pm celebrating Victory in Europe day. I hope that scones, cakes, wine and plenty of bunting will be on display. You can choose to remain in the apartment and celebrate through the windows.

In those sombre times let us remember not only a victory over fascism, but also those who gave their lives for us to be able to live our chosen way of life.