Rent Guarantee Agreements
In the current economic climate many landlords are turning to Rent Guarantee Agreements to ensure regular rental payments. A Rent Guarantee Agreement is an agreement between a landlord and a guarantor whereby the guarantor agrees to pay the landlord the rent if the tenant defaults and also agrees to reimburse the landlord for any loss or expense incurred by him as a result of any failure by the tenant to pay the rent. The agreement is supplemental to a Tenancy Agreement and can be drawn up at the same time as the Tenancy Agreement or at a later date, after the tenancy has commenced.
CORGI Becomes Gas Safe Register
CORGI has been replaced with the Gas Safe Register as the official gas safety body. The Gas Safe Register is now the only gas engineer registration scheme approved by the Health and Safety Executive since 1 April under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. All gas engineers wanting to undertake domestic and certain other gas work in Great Britain from 1 April will need, under those Regulations, to be registered with this scheme in order to be able lawfully to carry out any work on gas fittings, which includes gas appliances. Landlords are legally responsible for the safety of their tenants and must ensure that all gas fittings, appliances and flues in the rented property are maintained in a safe condition, that all installation, maintenance and safety checks are carried out by a Gas Safe Registered engineer and that an annual safety check is carried out on each gas appliance/flue. Landlords must give tenants a record of the safety check within 28 days and records must be kept by the landlord for two years.
New Lasting Power of Attorney Forms from October 2009
Following a review of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which introduced lasting powers of attorney in 2007, new forms are to be introduced in October 2009. The new lasting power of attorney forms follow on from the consultation ‘Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005: forms, supervision and fees’ to which the Government published its response in March 2009. There will also be a new fees structure. The consultation was the initial stage of an investigation into the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act. The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) has redesigned the forms to: • be more streamlined with no tick boxes, • be written in plainer English and, • include completion guidance notes in the margins of the forms. Note: The postal address for the OPG has changed and since 5 May 2009 OPG customers should send ALL post to the following address: Office of the Public Guardian PO Box 15118 Birmingham B16 6GX Some of the LPA forms and guidance notes have been updated to show the new address.
Bank Charges
The House of Lords has now granted leave to appeal to eight banks despite the Court of Appeal’s refusal. Bank customers seeking repayment of excessive charges still face a long wait for resolution of their claims as it could take between one and two years for the further appeal to be decided, and if it is refused, the further decision on fairness has still to follow. Consumer groups have accused the banks of dragging out the issue. Which? said people should not be deterred from putting in their claims and taking their place in the queue.