The sixth Duke of Westminster passed away from a heart attack. According to press reports, the duke was the third richest person in the UK and the 68th richest person in the world. Conservative estimates say he is worth around £9 billion, the majority of which will now pass to his son and heir, Hugh Grosvenor.

Prime Property in Central London
The duke had many business interests, but one of the most interesting to us is his vast property portfolio. The family owns a significant slice of Belgravia, one of the most expensive parts of London. He also owns thousands of acres in Scotland and Spain.

The Grosvenor Property firm was formed in the 17th century to manage a very large portfolio of properties in London. Today, it is widely regarded to be the biggest property management company in the UK, at least by value of its assets.

Duke Owns More Property than the Queen
Interestingly, the Duke of Westminster owns more property than the Queen – he owns 0.22% of land in the UK compared to 0.03% in the Queen’s private ownership. Included in the Duke of Westminster’s property portfolio are Eaton Estate, the family seat just outside Chester (the estate encompasses three villages); Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire; and Reay Forest in north-west Sutherland. The Duke also owns 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia, which includes Grosvenor Square, Eccleston Place and Elizabeth Street.

The new Duke of Westminster is now a very wealthy young man.

Pokémon Go is the latest craze to hit the gaming world. One landlord has taken advantage of the interest in Pokémon Go by listing his rental flat as a Pokémon Go gym.

Pokémon Go Gym
The landlord placed an advert on Gumtree in the hope that he would be able to find new tenants for his one-bed flat in Aberdeen. The flat is just down the street from a church, which also happens to be a Pokémon Go hotspot and gym, so he added this important fact to his listing.

“I did it as a laugh really thinking that it might get me a few more hits on Gumtree, and it has actually,” he told the local press.

“There’s a converted church up the road and if you sit down in the living room you can get access to the gym, you don’t even have to leave your house. There was somebody last night that texted me specifically saying they’d like to see the flat with the Pokémon gym. We’ve set up an appointment. I was just looking for something to make the property stand out a bit more. It seems to have done the trick. I’ve had four times as many hits on Gumtree from the previous advert I put up for the flat, just by putting Pokémon in the title.”

Gotta Catch Them All!
So if you want to attract new tenants, check whether your property is close to a Pokémon Go hotspot – and if it is, you could be on to a good thing!

Brent council officers found 17 men living in a 3-bed home in London, which had no central heating and no hot water. The rooms were damp and piled high with grimy mattresses, the bathroom walls were plastered with cardboard, and the backyard was full of old mattresses and rubbish.

Met Officers Join House Raid
A previous raid on the property had been thwarted when council officers were denied access, so this time they took the police along as back-up. Investigations uncovered a scheme whereby the tenants all paid rent to one person at the house, who then passed on the official rent to the landlord.

Unacceptable Living Conditions
“Having to live with 16 other people in these cramped conditions is unacceptable,” said Councillor Harbi Farah from Brent Council.

“We are talking about people’s lives and no one deserves to spend theirs in a grimy, overcrowded house with no hot water or heating.”

Officers from the council’s housing department are in the midst of cracking down on landlords who run unlicensed properties.

“We are in the process of identifying and taking enforcement action against unlicensed properties and I’m happy to see actions including the raid last week, taken against landlords who do not comply with the law.

“Licensing is good for everyone in Brent. It drives up standards in the private sector and ensures a good standard of living for our residents, something we are committed to providing.”

Immigration officers were also present, just in case there were illegal immigrants living in the property.

York councillors are warning that 20% of new homes in the city could disappear if local planning laws are not tightened up to prevent landlords from converting larger family homes into houses of multiple occupation for the city’s student population.

York Local Plan
The Local Plan sets out how many homes are needed in York between now and 2032. It also ring fences the areas of land required for building. The latest draft of the Local plan was debated by councillors, but one councillor is warning that many of the planned new homes could be converted into HMOs, which will reduce the overall amount of housing available.

Student Housing in York
Other York councillors say that student housing needs to be taken into account. Some claim that increasing availability of purpose built student halls of residence and larger accommodation blocks, particularly in the Hull Road area of the city, could solve the issue anyway.

York council leader, David Carr, has given his backing for HMO licensing in the city to be extended to smaller shared houses, including homes less than three storeys high. However, although he is still in favour of that plan, he is not willing to commit to wider planning changes until he has seen more evidence that they are needed.

The draft Local Plan says 841 homes per year need to be built in York. These will include student accommodation for people attending the city’s universities.

Property owners in Berlin can no longer let out accommodation as private holiday rentals. The government has introduced a new law banning private holiday rentals and despite protests, the courts have rejected a legal challenge against the ban.

There is now mounting concern that other European cities, in particular, London, could follow Berlin’s example and place a ban on short-term holiday lets.

The new law in Berlin came into effect on May 1. Home owners can no longer let out rooms or complete homes or apartments to travellers. Homeowners who flout the ban face fines of up to 100,000 Euros.

A Dark Day for Berlin
“This is a dark day for Berlin. We are unsettled by this decision and can’t understand it in any way. We will continue to fight for private holiday lets,” said a spokesperson for one home-sharing website popular with travellers to Berlin.

Why is there a Ban on Holiday Lets?
Websites such as Airbnb have become increasingly popular in recent years. Anyone with a spare room or vacant property can use the website to let it out to holidaymakers. Often landlords and homeowners can make a lot more money letting out properties to short-term tenants than they can if they look for a long-term tenant.

As a result, letting agents have spoken out against the trend, claiming that the rise of short-term lets in some parts of London is fuelling a lack of affordable rental accommodation and pushing property prices up.

The results are in. The majority of the people living in the UK have unanimously voted to leave the EU. Despite last-gasp polls predicting a victory for the Remain campaign, by the time the last vote had been counted, the future was clear: the UK wants out. So what does this momentous decision mean for landlords?

Economic Turmoil
In the short term, there is likely to be a great deal of economic turmoil. Sterling took a huge hit overnight as the financial markets reacted to the news, and although it rallied after the governor of the Bank of England spoke, it seems likely that the UK economy will be wobbly for a while.

The Effect on the Property Market
Uncertainty in the economy will have a knock-on effect on the property market. Many fear that prices will nosedive. If this happens, there will be some bargains to be had, but for those looking to sell, it is not so good. A weak GBP could attract foreign investors to the UK, some of whom will be on the lookout for cheap property. If house prices do fall, new builds will slow down and there will be fewer properties available to buy or rent. This could push rents up.

Economic turmoil may cause another recession, which in turn will lead to a rise in unemployment. Tenants might not be able to pay the rent.

Interest Rates to Remain Low
On the plus-side, interest rates are unlikely to rise any time soon, so borrowing will remain cheap.

Nobody knows what is around the corner, but one thing is certain: we all have to deal with the consequences of voting to leave the EU, good or bad.

Landlords and property owners in two districts of Lincolnshire are being offered cash to bring empty properties back into general use. The cash incentives on offer are part of the government’s Empty Homes Community Grants Programme. It is designed to help landlords let properties that have been unoccupied for a long time.

Do You Qualify?
To qualify for a cash grant of up to £5,000, the property must have been vacant for at least six months and the landlord must be willing to re-let it to tenants for less than the Local Housing Allowance weekly rate. Any work carried out on the property must be completed within 12 months and the property let within that time.

In some parts of the UK, there are a staggeringly high number of empty properties. In total, nearly 21,000 homes are vacant. The worst place is London, where there is £1.7 billion of vacant homes in Kensington and Chelsea. Outside London, just over 4,000 homes are empty in Bradford.

Solving the Housing Crisis
This is a huge waste of property and if just some of the vacant homes were brought back into use, it would go some of the way towards solving the current housing crisis.

The law changed ten years ago and local authorities now have the power to use compulsory purchase orders to seize empty homes. However, many experts believe that not enough is being done to get to grips with the problem of vacant properties, particularly in London, where there is a chronic shortage of homes.

A successful New York City landlord’s high-flying career has come to a spectacular end after he was arrested at dawn and indicted on 20 felony charges. He is now looking at 25 years in jail.

Harassing Tenants
Steve Croman has made a fortune in recent years buying up buildings in Manhattan’s more gentrified areas. As a result of his success, Croman has been mixing with the social elite and enjoying a prestigious lifestyle. Unfortunately, he has now been accused of harassing tenants into leaving their rent controlled homes and inflating his rental income in order to take out fraudulent loans worth millions of dollars, so at this point in time, it really isn’t looking good for Croman.

Rent Controls in NYC
Rental properties in NYC are strictly rent-controlled. Landlords can’t raise rents unless a tenant voluntarily moves out and the property requires substantial renovation. Understandably, this creates a problem for landlords who own buildings with long-standing tenants.

Whereas in the UK, a landlord can put the rent up if market conditions change, NYC landlords don’t have the same freedom. However, there is not a lot they can do about this and quite clearly, hiring a corrupt cop to threaten tenants into leaving (as Croman is accused of doing), is a one-way ticket to a prison.

As the Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said,

“My message to unscrupulous landlords is simple: if you put your own profits over your tenants’ legal protections, we will investigate you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

The two landlords trying to overturn George Osborne’s tax relief changes have launched another funding bid in the hop of raising a further £50,000. Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper have already successfully raised a first tranche of £50,000 via crowdfunding, which has paid for an application to the court for a Judicial Review.

Application Lodged
“Our application to the court for a Judicial Review was lodged in mid-February. A joint response came back from HMRC and the Treasury by way of their Acknowledgment of Service. We worked closely with our lawyers and have sent a robust response to the courts to counter the issues raised. We are now waiting for the court to rule whether we have permission to proceed to a full Judicial Review hearing.”

The campaigners expect the consent process to be concluded soon, but they warn that it could be months before the review is heard and a decision is made.

Spread the Word
The campaign, which has had a great deal of support, contends that the tax relief change written into the Finance Act 2015 goes against fundamental business principles. In a recent statement issued to supporters, the two landlords say:

“With your continued financial backing and support, we plan to take the Government all the way to court and fight the strongest case that we can.

“Please spread the word far and wide amongst your community, especially fellow landlords, tenants, letting agents and others who will be adversely effected by this ludicrous legislation.”

Rogue landlords are never too far from the headlines. Despite being faced with the harsh penalties if they flout the law, all too often greedy landlords put their bottom line before the needs of their tenants.

Serious Safety Breaches
An Edgbaston Landlord is facing 19 months in prison as a result of a serious catalogue of safety breaches. The four-storey property had two faulty fire alarms, a blocked fire exit, a damaged fire door and incorrectly fitted emergency lighting.

Despite being warned by Birmingham Fire Brigade about fire safety hazards in his property, Cyrus Bassiri was obstructive and aggressive. The court heard how Bassiri tried to threaten the firefighters, who were only doing their job.

“You have been greedy, you have been cynical and you have been exploitative of the occupants of this property in your control,” said Judge Mary Stacey.

“Having failed to address the matters raised by the fire brigade you responded to their attempts to get you to comply with your legal obligations by being aggressive, by bullying behaviour, by threatening to take them to court and expose them to the press.”

Previous Warnings Ignored
Bassiri had previously been warned about safety breaches as early as 2010. New problems were identified in 2013, following a tip-off from a member of the public. Instead of sorting the problems out, conditions at the property further deteriorated, as Bassiri was more concerned about making a profit than spending money on the property.

The message from Birmingham Crown Court is that rogue landlords won’t get away with it – despite what they might think.