Welcome to the Landlord's Area.
This area of the website is for keeping MLAS landlords/agents up-to-date with the Scheme and to provide them with easy access to information/forms you may find useful. (If you are interested in becoming a MLAS landlord/agent, please use the other links on the left.)
Members of the scheme are often contacted via email. Please contact the scheme to ensure we have the right email address for you.
Downloads
Continuing Professional Development - as you will be aware, accreditation for Landlords lasts for 5 years. You will be accredited (free) after this time if you can show that you have taken reasonable steps to maintain and develop your knowledge. In order to prove this to us, you need to accrue 50 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points over the 5 years of your accreditation. If you do not manage to accrue 50 points, you will need to attend another MLAS professional development course (and pay the relevant fee), so we can ensure that your knowledge and practice is kept up to date. To download full details of our CPD scheme, click here.
Accrediting Agents Policy - we are now in a position to be able to accredit individual agents, providing that 2/3rds of the staff involved in letting/management of properties have attended a MLAS course, and that they have agreed to abide by our accrediting agents policy (and signed and returned this policy to us). After 1st October 2008, agents cannot claim to be accredited unless they have done this. Click here to download a copy of this policy (including return form).
Sandwell Bugle - Sandwell MBC produce a quarterly Private Landlords Newsletter, to download your copy, click here.
MLAS ezine - to receive the MLAS Newsletter, email us at contact@mlas-online.co.uk; alternatively, to download your copy now, simply click on the month you would like to view.
News
WALSALL COLLEGE SEEKING ACCOMMODATION Walsall College has a brand new multi million pound Business and Learning Campus situated adjacent to the Leather Museum. We are looking to secure high standard, furnished accommodation within a 30 minute travel distance from the College to accommodate a large group of international students who are studying at the college from mid July to 17th September 2010. You may have a property which you currently let to students but is unoccupied during the summer, this would be perfect for our needs. We are interested in unoccupied properties and individual rooms in a shared house
As a landlord accredited with the Midland Accredited Landlord Scheme we would like to invite you to contact the College to include your property in our portfolio of available accommodation. For more information please contact Karen Young or Pamela Twigg on 01922 651120 or email ptwigg@walsallcollege.ac.uk for more information.
HOUSING BENEFIT PHONE LINE FOR ACCREDITED LANDLORDS / AGENTS - Ian Hubball Revenues and Benefits Service Manager, Sandwell MBC is pleased to announce a dedicated Housing Benefit phone line, exclusively for MLAS Accredited Landlords / Agents, is opening on Monday 12th April. The number is 0845 351 0125.
When you call, staff will ask for some identifying details from you to check that the caller is a MLAS member and entitled to use the service. Please use this new number for any Housing Benefit enquiry for any individual tenancy at a Sandwell address. For the flyer, click here.
AST THRESHOLD WILL INCREASE TO £100K IN OCTOBER...AND IT WILL BE RETROSPECTIVE
The Government has informed the National Landlords Association that on 1 October 2010 the Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) threshold will rise to £100,000. The rise will apply retrospectively.
The proposal to increase the AST threshold had been broadly welcomed as an attempt to offer greater clarity and transparency for landlords and tenants. However, the NLA believes the proposals have the potential to be damaging to a significant number of landlords who entered into contractual tenancy agreements in good faith.
For reasons the government has not fully explained, it seems that a quirk of the process means the change will be retrospective and will be applied to existing tenancies. As a result, any tenancy with an annual rent between £25,000 and £100,000 in existence on 1 October 2010 will become an AST overnight.
Landlords and tenants will no longer be able to negotiate individual terms for their tenancy and the rights and responsibilities associated with the Housing Act 1988 will be extended to these higher rent properties.
David Salusbury, Chairman, NLA, said:
"Although we are still piecing together the facts, the retrospective nature of this change is highly regrettable, and it could have a wide-ranging impact on the letting of private residential property. For example, landlords in this higher rent bracket will have to protect deposits for the first time. If they fail to do so by October 1 2010 they could be in breach of the law. We are told the courts are being forewarned.
"The NLA believes the Government is rushing through this change without fully thinking through the consequences. We call for greater consultation to ensure this measure does not have a negative impact on the private-rented sector. We will continue to provide the most up-to-the minute help and advice on the issue to landlords and have published a guide to help landlords comply with the law. The NLA will continue the press the Government for further consultation."
Q&A for landlords: http://www.landlords.org.uk/pdf/free/ASTThresholdQ&AMarch2010.pdf
The NLA is hosting a meeting open to ALL landlords, whether they are members or not, on 22nd April 2010. For further details see our events page.
Birmingham City Council Private Sector Leasing Scheme - Birmingham City Council would like to invite MLAS Accredited landlords to take part in the new Private Sector Leasing Scheme. The scheme is due to commence on 1st August 2010 for an initial period of 3 years. Applications to be added to the tender list must be applied for by 25th March 2010, and completed applications submitted by 30th March 2010. For further details click here.
Selly Oak Safes - this year saw the launch of a new initiative to tackle student burglaries, the introduction of Home Laptop Safes. Birmingham City Council and the Community Safety Partnership would like to thank all those MLAS landlords that played a part by putting forward properties to deploy and house the Safes.
To access a copy of the Safer Selly Oak Landlords and Letting agents newsletter, click here
Building New Relationships with the Private Sector - The Association of Housing Advice Services (AHAS) is currently working on a report on how local authorities currently work with landlords and how things could be improved in the future. In order to get a fair reflection of the needs of landlords they are conducting a nationwide survey to canvass landlord's opinions.
The questionnaire is online and should not take more than 10-15 minutes to complete. Your responses will feed directly into their recommendations into how local authorities can build new relationships with landlords in the private sector. If you wish to take part in the survey please follow the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/77983KL
Discussion Forum - visit our Facebook page to network with other landlords: Midland Landlord Accreditation Scheme
Publicity - please get in touch if you would like us to send you the MLAS logo (for letters etc.), or more MLAS window stickers for displaying in your properties.
The Homestamp Consortium has produced an updated version of their publication 'A guide to Fire and Security Protection in Multi Occupied Residential Property'. To download this document for free, click here.
It has come to our attention that a number of landlords seem unclear about the law around tenancy deposits. You must place all deposits in a recognised tenancy deposit scheme. If you fail to do so, each tenant can be awarded their original deposit back plus three times this amount, and you will face a hefty fine. Find more details here.
We would also like to remind you all that if your property has three or more storeys and has five or more people living in it and sharing facitilies (toilets, kitchens etc.) it will probably need a licence. Again, there are severe penalties for not licensing these houses. Find more details here.
"MYTENANCYDEPOSIT.CO.UK" - MTD Secure Limited trading as mytenancydeposit.co.uk is NOT part of Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited (TDSL) trading as mydeposits.co.uk.
This company does NOT operate a Government-authorised Scheme for the protection of tenants' deposits within England and Wales. The three official Schemes are:
- Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited trading as mydeposits.co.uk
- The Dispute Service (thedisputeservice.co.uk)
- The Deposit Protection Service (depositprotection.com)
These are the ONLY three Schemes where landlords and letting agents can legally protect their tenants' deposits.
The claim that "MTD Secure Limited is a company administering a tenancy deposit protection scheme by Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited under contract from Communities & Local Government" is NOT true.
Any letting agent and/or landlord using this company should be aware that their deposits will NOT be protected. You should immediately use one of the three Schemes above with which to comply with the law. Not protecting with one of the three Government-authorised Schemes can lead to penalties for the landlord.
If you have already deposited funds with this company, you should seek legal advice immediately.
The relevant authorities have been informed.
For further information, please contact Ellie Irwin at mydeposits.co.uk on 020 7840 8925.
Finally, please can all landlords double check that they have gas and electric certificates in place for all of their rented properties, and that any works recommended in relation to these have been carried out. It is our intention to carry out spot-checks with a sample of landlords in the near future.
