Category Archives: Cardiff HMO Property Managerment

Why Cardiff Landlords Should Says Yes to DSS

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Yes, we know “DSS” is an outdated term in respect to the benefits system, but it’s still a term that is heavily used by both Cardiff landlords, letting agents and tenants when discussing Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.

So why do we believe as a Cardiff landlord and letting agent its important to say “Yes” to tenants in receipt of benefits. Well for one landlords and Cardiff letting agents should not be proactively discriminating against prospective tenants in receipt of benefits and secondly, COVID-19 is having a huge impact on the economy and people are losing their jobs!

Let’s Look at the latest Unemployment Numbers

  • The UK’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in the three months to September
  • Redundancies rose to a record high of 314,000
  • The number of people out of work rose by 243,000 in the three-month period, the largest increase since May 2009.
  • Unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds is 14.6%
  • It is estimated there are about 2.5 million people on furlough
  • Redundancies are at record levels with 314,00 people made redundant in the 3 months up to September 2020
  • Unemployment in Wales for July to September leapt to 4.6%
  • Wales saw the largest quarterly rise in the jobless rate out of any of the UK’s nations or regions.
  • Wales has also seen the largest drop in the rate of people in employment – down 2.5 percentage points from 74.6% to 72.1%

COVID-19 is creating a worry trend in regards to unemployment across the UK, therefore now more than ever we believe it’s important to understand the Universal Credit system as chances are your tenants may need to rely on it over the coming months

We have been renting to tenants in receipt of some kind of benefit for the last 12 years as a private landlord and Cardiff letting agent whether it be as a vanilla buy to let or our preferred option of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO).

The Positives of Renting to Tenants in Receipt of Benefits

Over these 12 years and countless tenancies we have gained extensive knowledge of the Housing Benefit and of late the Universal Credit systems.  We have read numerous books and government circulars on the subject and studied case law to ensure we understand both systems, their similarities, and differences.

Due to the knowledge we have gained over the last 12 years we have found renting to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit and the Housing Element of Universal credit has many FINANCIAL BENEFITS for LANDLORDS including:

  • Your rent is GUARANTEED by the UK Government
  • Tenants on benefits do not get furloughed so do not ask for a rent reduction
  • Tenants on benefit have seen their income increase during the COVID-10 pandemic
  • Can often receive higher monthly rent than renting to working tenants

How Can We Help?

We can provide the following for Cardiff landlords:

  • Ensure Cardiff landlords are paid the Housing Element of UC direct from day one of a new tenancy
  • If there are rent arrears with an existing tenancy quickly ensure rent is paid direct to landlord and start to recover arrears direct from existing tenants Universal Credit
  • Carry out a rent review to ascertain if there in an option for an actual rent increase
  • For HMOs the potential rent increase could be almost £50/week per tenant

These are just some of the things we can do for Cardiff landlord that employ our fully managed property services.  If you would like to receive a no obligation chat with one of our team, please complete the contact form below

Tenant Fees Guidance for Cardiff Landlords

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Since the introduction of the Renting Homes (Fees Etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 on 1st September 2019 what can and can’t a Cardiff landlord or a letting agent charge a tenant?

The guidance clearly states that a Cardiff landlord or a letting agent can charge a tenant entering an Assured Shorthold Tenancy the following Permitted Payments:

  • Rent
  • Security deposit
  • Holding deposit
  • Payments in default
  • Payments in respect of council tax
  • Payments in respect of utilities
  • Payments in respect of a television licence
  • Payments in respect of communication services
  • Payment for ending a tenancy agreement early
  • Payments for change of sharer
  • Payments for amendment to a tenancy agreement

Anything which is not permitted is prohibited and banned by the Act.

The Act classes the following as Prohibited Payments:

  • check-in fees
  • check-out (or ‘exit’) fees
  • administration fees
  • inventory fees
  • guarantor fees

However, the Act does permit Cardiff landlords and letting agents to charge tenants for Payments in Default, so what is a Payment in Default?

A Payment in Default is a payment required by the landlord or letting agent arising from a breach of the tenancy agreement by the tenant, whether late payment of rent by its due date or some other breach. These are occasions where it would be unfair for the Cardiff landlord or letting agent to be responsible for meeting the cost to them because of the actions of the tenant.

Some examples of types of Default Payments include:

  • Missed appointments
  • Avoidable or purposeful damage to property
  • Replacement keys
  • Emergency/out of hours call-out fees

A Payment in Default can only be charged if there is a specific term in the tenancy agreement allowing for such a payment. If a Cardiff landlord or letting agent try to charge a payment in default which was not set out in the tenancy agreement, then that payment is prohibited.

The Renting Homes (Fees Etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 also advices that Welsh Ministers may make regulations to prescribe a list of payments in default which would be permitted payments under the Act, as well as a limit on what is permitted.

So Yes, a Tenant Fee ban was introduced on the 1st September 2019 by the introduction of the Renting Homes (Fees Etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, but with a well drafted AST there are circumstances when a Cardiff landlord or letting agent is within their rights to request a payment for breach of the tenancy agreement by the tenant.

If you are looking for a Cardiff Letting Agent to manage your vanilla buy-to let or HMO property that is up to date on latest legislative changes in Cardiff and across Wales, then why not complete our contact form to receive a a no obligation call from one of our team:

Cardiff HMO Letting Agent Tenant Attraction

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Cardiff HMO Letting Agent Tenant Attraction

High Yield Property Management Limited have over 12 years’ experience as a specialist Cardiff HMO letting agent managing Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) on a per room basis.

We have wealth of experience of attracting and managing professional, student and tenants in receipt of benefits on a per room, individual tenancy basis. 

In our role as a Cardiff HMO letting agent, we understand the importance of attracting housemates looking for a room to rent in Cardiff and the importance of mitigating void periods for our landlords.

Websites and Apps such as www.spareroom.co.uk have become a dominant force in attracting tenants who are looking for a room to rent in Cardiff, but property portals are only one cog in our well-oiled tenant attraction process.

This year alone online property portals have played a small part in attracting tenants who are  looking for a rom to rent in Cardiff with just over 10% of new housemates coming by way of an online property portal compared to 53% via organic search engines and 30% via our social media channels.

YearSearch EnginesSocial MediaProperty PortalsOther
202053.77%30.10%10.46%5.67%
201931.63%32.11%18.56%17.70%
201840.73%11.45%30.03%17.79%
201728.70%46.18%15.56%9.57%
201633.48%17.06%21.11%28.34%
Where are Cardiff Housemates come from

As a specialist Cardiff HMO letting agent we are continually tweaking our online presence to ensure we consistently rank on the 1st page of search engines such as Google and Bing for search terms housemates use when looking for a room to rent in Cardiff.  It is evident from the table above the importance of search engines in attracting housemates as this year so far over 50% of all new housemates have been a unique enquiry via a search engine. 

Therefore, if you are a self-managing HMO landlord or you are using a Cardiff HMO letting agent who does not rank well for search terms associated with room rentals and room only tenancies you are probably experiencing longer void periods in the current climate.

If you are a landlord with rooms to rent in Cardiff and looking to reduce your void periods, then look to employ a Cardiff HMO letting agent that does not just rely on property portals to attract tenants.  If you would like to employ the services of a Cardiff HMO  letting agent who are continually evolving their tenant attraction processes to eliminate void periods for then contact us using the form below.