Managing Health and Safety for Landlords

Fire and Carbon Monoxide Safety

Gas Safety

You’ll need to get a gas safety certificate if you have any gas-powered appliances, such as the boiler, oven, hob or gas fire. Gas-powered equipment needs to have been installed and maintained by an engineer who’s on the Gas Safe Register, who’ll also need to perform an annual safety check on the equipment. You should give a copy of the gas safety certificate to your tenant before they move in, or within 28 days of the inspection.

Electrical Appliances

If you’re providing electrical appliances as part of the rental – a fridge and washing machine, for example – you will also need to make sure these are safe and in good working order. The same goes for the electricity supply to the property in general, such as sockets and light fittings.

Other Health and Safety Considerations

Having covered fire, gas and electricity safety in your property, there are still a few other health and safety considerations to bear in mind before you rent it out:

• Overcrowding: allowing more people to live in your property than there are rooms or space available for constitutes overcrowding and breaches the Housing Act 1936. Tenancy agreements should name each person permitted to live in your property.

• Smoking: if you let your property to multiple tenants – in a student let, for example – bear in mind that communal areas are covered by the National Smoke Free Legislation and smoking should be prohibited. If you want to ensure that tenants don’t smoke anywhere in your property, make sure it’s written into their tenancy agreement.

• Asbestos: if anyone entering your property – a tenant or otherwise – comes into contact with asbestos, you could be held liable. You should ensure that you have an asbestos risk assessment carried out and make sure that any remedial work is carried out by a competent contractor. Read more about this here.

Finally, no matter how diligent you’ve been about health and safety, there’s still the possibility that something unexpected could happen to your property. Talk to us about landlords building and contents insurance and make sure your assets are covered in the event of the unforeseen.

DEAKIN-WHITE GAZETTE

We are so proud to announce our latest feature, a Bedfordshire lifestyle paper that covers area events, restaurants, attractions, new businesses, and for sale properties. We have estimated readership of 25,000+ and distribute to local businesses and residential areas.

RECORD MONTH

In the month of September we sold a record number of homes. With our stellar team we are set to break that goal for the month of October!

BREXIT 

Many are still wondering, with two years passed since the vote, how fair it is to ask how Brexit has affected the property market.

In 2016, the housing market in the United Kingdom was valued at an estimated £6.79 trillion. This is a figure that is 3.65 times the level of GDP and as such, it is hugely important to the economy. There were negative predictions for the UK property market after the Brexit vote. Yet, house prices have risen since the EU vote. April 2018, the average price of property in the UK was classed as £226,906. This is a 3.9% rise on the April of 2017 figures and it is a 6.6% increase on the figure from the time of the European Union Referendum. In this regard, Brexit hasn’t had too much of a negative impact on the UK property market. UK housing market is in competitive shape, and there is no need for negativity or despair. We officially leave the EU in March 2019, and are hopeful that the outcome will produce even greater results for the housing market.

HIGH STREET RENOVATIONS

What is this? It is a £1 million capital fund, set aside from our Market Town Regeneration Fund, to deliver a high street improvement scheme that will revitalise market towns through improvements to shop fronts and tackling vacant retail units.

The scheme offers grants to high street businesses to make improvements to their business premises to create attractive shop frontages that attract more visitors and shoppers onto the high street. The scheme, which will be delivered from March 2018 takes a managed approach in partnership with town councils and this partnership will be critical to the success of the scheme. Taken from: (http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/business/developments/high-street-improvement/overview.aspx)

We have seen great improvement to some of our favourite places on the High Street. We are focused on the outcome with such a big project, and fully support this endeavor for the town of Dunstable. This scheme will attract new buyers and provide more of a housing market. With such a vast plan in motion, Dunstable will be an even more up and coming town with a beautiful, modern, facelift.

DECORATING YOUR HOUSE IN AUTUMN

October is the perfect month to start decorating for Autumn. With the changing of the leaves, it is appropriate to not only decorate the outside of the house but the inside as well. With this change of season brings festive wreaths, pumpkins, and harvest produce. These items bring a change not only in colour, but in warmth too. Try changing the colour of a focus wall in your house to a deep rust red, or a bright mustard yellow to add a pop of brightness before the winter months. A trendy metal to bring to your home this time of year is copper. With its shiny and bright tones, it adds coloured “heat” and also goes well with other metals. Copper is a reminder that this season constitutes transitions, not only for the weather, but for households to embrace this holiday time of year. Try copper dining table chargers or a nice vase, or a gilded fruit centrepiece. 

Dunstable Fireworks – Friday 3^rd November 2017

Throughout 2017 here at Deakin-White we have been sponsoring Dunstable Town Councils Events for the residents of Dunstable and the surrounding area and the next event is this Friday 3^rd November 2017 and it’s The Dunstable Firework Display and for the first time ever it’s FREE entry to this Firework Display. 

It’s being held at Creasey Park Community Football Centre just off Brewers Hill Road and the gates open at 5pm and the display will start at 7pm.

There will be a funfair and entertainment for all the family from 5pm, so wrap up warm and come and enjoy a great evening with us.

DJ Darren Jones of 1981 Events will be entertaining us on the night with music and there will be a fantastic fireworks display choreographed to music!  

For parking information please check out Dunstable Town Councils Website - http://www.dunstable.gov.uk/dunstable-fireworks-.htm#sthash.d1JCI9Ky.dpbs

We look forward to seeing you all on Friday 3^rd November.  Another great reason to live in Dunstable – a FREE Fireworks Display for all the family.

House Price Update In Dunstable – How Has It Changed?

When it comes to house prices, knowing the latest prices and values is of benefit but there needs to be context surrounding these prices and values. There needs to be other figures so you can make comparisons. This may be prices and values for other areas, if you are considering a range of locations to buy property in, or you may find that comparing current prices and values in an area with prices and values from a previous time will be of benefit. When it comes to considering trends or trying to calculate what will happen in the future, knowing what has happened in the past alongside what is happening in the present day can be helpful.

This is definitely the case if you are looking to find out more information about the property market in Dunstable. This charming market town may be located 30 miles from London but it can seem like a world away. However, it is still the largest settlement in the central Bedfordshire area and it is classed as the third largest area in Bedfordshire, behind Luton and Bedford. These facts are good reasons to consider the Dunstable property market and this means you should be looking for a house price update in Dunstable and considering how it has changed.

Dunstable prices are on the up

As of October 2017, the property value in Dunstable stands at £310,288 while the average price paid for property in the past 12 months stands at £276,922. In the past six months, the average price paid for Dunstable property is £285,952 while the average price paid for property in Dunstable in the past three months stands at £281,750.

It is sometimes not wise to review price changes over such a small time frame because one or two outliers can have a big influence but in comparison to the prices over the past year, there is enough to suggest that prices are rising in Dunstable at the moment. It has been another challenging year in the UK property market but at the moment, prices are rising across the country (well perhaps not in London which experienced a fall in September) and Dunstable certainly looks to be on the up.

For reference, the average price paid for Dunstable property in the past five years is £238,353 and the figure for the past decade stands at £223,411.

Bedfordshire property market has a lot to offer

With respect to Bedfordshire as a whole, the average value of property, as of October 2017, stands at £308,688 and in the past 12 months, the average price paid for property stands at £290,997. This is a sum close to £15,000 higher than the Dunstable average. In the past six months, the average price paid for Dunstable property stands at £301,295 while in the past three months, the average price has risen to £309,744.

The same caveats to studying price changes over a small period of time apply here but there is a lot to be said that the property market in Dunstable, and Bedfordshire on the whole, is on the up.

 Whatever move you are looking to make in the Dunstable property market, this information should be of interest to you and will hopefully allow you to make an informed decision, whatever you decide to. When you need assistance or guidance in the Dunstable property market, be sure to rely on Deakin-White.