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BTL landlords welcome landmark ruling from the Supreme Court

Buy to Let

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has welcomed a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court which provides vital clarification about the responsibilities of so called ‘rent-to-rent’ companies.

The ruling in the case of Rakusen v Jepsen will have important implications for the private rented sector as a whole.

In the case, the landlord, Rakusen, agreed to let a flat to a rent-to-rent company. The property required a licence, but the company did not apply for one.

As a result of the failure to be licenced, the former tenants of the flat sought a Rent Repayment Order against Rakusen rather than the rent-to-rent company – even though he had not received rent directly from the tenants.

Rent-to-rent companies take over the running of a property for a landlord.

At an initial tribunal it was ruled that the Rent Repayment Order could be applied for against Rakusen. The Court of Appeal however later overturned the decision and ruled in Rakusen’s favour.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court has ruled that where rent-to-rent companies take over the running of a property, they cannot shirk responsibility and expect to leave the landlord to pay for their legal failings.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said: “This case has never been about whether legal obligations should be met, but about who should be responsible for them in rent-to-rent cases.

“We therefore welcome today’s ruling which accepted many of the arguments made by the NRLA and provides important clarity for landlords and tenants alike.

“The ruling makes clear that it is the responsibility of rent-to-rent companies acting as a landlord to ensure that relevant legal requirements are met, since it is they who receive tenants’ rent. It is simply not right that such companies can take money from people without any responsibility for the property they are running.”

Original Post from propertyindustryeye.com

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A Thriving PRS is Vital to A Vibrant Economy

Exclusive new research commissioned by the NRLA shows a vibrant PRS is vital to the social and economic wellbeing of the country.

Here, in his regular column for Property Notify®, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, explains the importance of the findings – and what the Government needs to do next.

Soaring costs, rising interest rates and the promise of yet more regulation up ahead make this a difficult time to be a landlord and as a consequence, a tenant.

The gap between the supply and demand is growing, with latest figures from property platform Zoopla showing supply has fallen by 38%, while demand is up 46%.

At the same time more and more landlords are planning to sell off at least some of their properties – just over a quarter according to the NRLA’s latest survey.

This is bad news for everyone – especially tenants.

We commissioned Chris Walker, of economics consultancy form Chamberlain Walker, to produce a research report going right back to basics, examining what the PRS in this country looks like, what its function is and who lives in it.

Chris, a former Head of Housing at thinktank Policy Exchange and ex-Government economist, concluded the sector is playing a vital role in supporting labour markets and providing much-needed homes for people who are actively choosing to rent, as well as those for whom home-ownership is out of reach.

The findings

The resulting report, ‘A housing market that works for everyone: Rethinking the role of the private rented sector’ proves the PRS is a tenure of choice for many renters.

Of the 2,000 renters interviewed, while many agreed they would like to own a home one day – 76 per cent, just 17% of that figure said that – given the option they would have already taken that step. The remaining 83% per cent want to be there.

This confirms what we at the association already know. That rental homes fill a vital need. People rent for all kinds of reasons.

They may want to strike out and try out life a new town or city, move in with a new partner for the first time, flat share with friends after leaving university.

Without the PRS their only option would be to take on a mortgage they neither want or need.

And, contrary to the messages in the media, we found the vast majority are satisfied with what they pay, with 80% of private renters that consider their rents fair, good or excellent.

For those who cannot afford to buy their own home – and are not eligible for social housing the PRS is their only option.

Yet they are the very people the Government, in its blinkered attempt to boost home ownership by punishing landlords, is hurting the most.

Fewer landlords mean fewer properties to choose from and higher rents.

This is turn makes saving for a deposit even more challenging.

The PRS should not be treated as a poor relation to owner occupation, and in fact often acts as a springboard to home ownership, a stopgap for many, between leaving home and buying their own place.

What happens next?

The findings of the report, which can be accessed in full here will inform NRLA campaigning for pro-growth policies from the Government to encourage landlords to remain in the sector and continue to invest.

This includes the reversal of Section 24 changes to mortgage interest relief.

Chris concludes that a high quality PRS is ‘likely to be a good thing both socially and economically’, and I couldn’t agree more.

The report makes clear the positive and vital role the rental market has to play in the economic and social life of the country.

  • Copies of the report have now been forwarded to Government officials in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, HM Treasury and Number 10, along with invitations to discuss the findings.

Original Post from propertynotify.co.uk

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Farewell radiators? Testing out electric infrared wallpaper

Look carefully and you will notice there is something slightly different about Kris Bilski’s house in Hull.

It has no radiators.

Yet even on a -2C winter’s day, it’s nice and warm inside.

This is because Kris is an early adopter of electric infrared wallpaper.

Thin, metallic sheets are hidden behind the plaster of his walls, which are connected to the mains electricity of his house.

These sheets emit heat by infrared waves.

Heat camera

Radiators in a central heating system heat rooms by what is known as convection heating, warming up the air in rooms, which then circulates.

This infrared technique warms up solid objects in the room directly, including us humans.

It also means you can easily choose to heat only one room at a time, using an app. Why also heat the bedroom, for example, when you are going to be watching Happy Valley in the sitting room for the next few hours?

Kris, 31, runs a video production company and lives at the property with his wife. He heard about the technology through a colleague, and as a tech enthusiast he decided to become an early adopter.

He ripped out his gas-powered radiators before fitting the wallpaper. At the moment the new method of heating his home isn’t any cheaper, but he plans to install solar panels on his roof to power the wallpaper, which he thinks will make his home greener, and save him money, in the long term.

“It makes me happy that I don’t rely on gas,” says Kris. “It’s a new technology that should help us as a country.”

The wallpaper system that he is using was made by a local firm called iHelios. As well as being available for private installation, the company is currently trialling the technology with landlords that provide social housing in Hull, and also housing groups in Wales. These organisations want to save money and meet green targets.

iHelios paper

Around 23 million homes are currently connected to the gas grid in the UK. But the government wants all homes in the UK to have phased out gas-fired boilers by 2035. Homes currently account for about 17% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this fossil fuel-based way of heating our homes is responsible for much of it.

As well as not requiring gas, electric wallpaper is also thought to produce better air quality in properties. It doesn’t dry out the air so much and generates less mould, for instance around windows. Poor air quality has been linked to health problems in some social housing properties.

Philip Steele is future technologies evangelist at Octopus Energy. Part of his job is to test out new gadgets, and he has been looking at another version of the wallpaper, made by British company Nexgen Heating .

“Electric wallpaper is a really good way of heating your home,” he says.

“It has two copper strips down each side of it and then a graphene layer, and when it’s powered [with electricity] the graphene emits infrared, which is like the heat you get from the sun.”

The graphene material he refers to is a thin layer of carbon atoms that can conduct electricity, first discovered by researchers at Manchester University. The version in Hull, which has also been used in other parts of Europe, like Scandinavia, uses a carbon paste layer to similar effect.

With the aid of a thermal-imaging camera you can see the hidden wallpaper, warming up and in turn heating up other objects in the room. It can heat objects within a range of about 2 to 3 metres.

Of course homes also need hot water for washing up and showers. In homes that use exclusively electric wallpaper, this can be provided by an electric immersion heater.

So is this potentially a greener and cheaper way to heat our homes?

Dr Tina Fawcett of the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute is not so sure.

“It could certainly be greener, especially as we use more renewables [like solar and wind power] to generate electricity,” she says. Currently gas is used to generate a significant proportion of our electricity supply.

“But I think the running costs could be quite high, as electricity costs three to four times as much as gas,” she says.

She points out that air source heat pumps are a more efficient way to use electricity to heat the home.

Heat pump

However, these pumps come with higher upfront costs than electric wallpaper and are not always straightforward to install – there can be issues with planning permission, for instance.

Some versions of the electric wallpaper, on the other hand, can be fitted while a tenant is still living in the property, making refurbishment easier.

 

The cost: Electric wallpaper or air source heat pump?

An electric wallpaper system would cost around £4,000 to install in a typical three-bedroom home, according to Nexgen Heating, a British manufacturer of the paper. However, you also need to factor in the costs of removing the existing central heating system and investing in an electric immersion heater for hot water.

In comparison, an air source heat pump would cost on average around £8,000 to install in a typical three-bedroom home, according to Octopus Energy, though depending on your type of property and the area where you live, it could be significantly more. However, you may be entitled to a £5,000 grant towards that from the government. In some cases you may also need to invest in bigger radiators to make the system work.

New-builds, of course, can be purpose-built for these systems. The housebuilder Redrow recently announced it will switch to air source heat pumps in its new developments, while Barratt has trialled electric wallpaper in its show homes.

Presentational grey line

Individual homeowners as well as councils, providers of social housing and developers will have to take all these factors into account.

This infrared, electric wallpaper technology may not be particularly glamorous or visible – but it could potentially have a big impact on the UK’s carbon footprint and ability to meet climate targets.

Original Post from bbc.com
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NEW: Gove sets sights on scrapping leasehold ownership

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has promised to scrap most leaseholds in England this year.

The government will make it much easier for leaseholders in flats to take over their buildings and bring them into common ownership, avoiding high management fees and ground rents.

It is also preparing to scrap rules that prevent owners from buying the freehold to their property if a small part of the building is given over to commercial use, including shops.

Speaking on Sky News, Gove said it planned to introduce legislation in the final parliamentary session, later this calendar year.

He explained: “The fundamental thing is that leasehold is just an unfair form of property ownership. In crude terms if you buy a flat, that should be yours. You shouldn’t be on the hook for charges which managing agents and other people can land you with.”

Feudal system

Gove described leaseholds as “an outdated feudal system” following growing criticism of the rules after the Grenfell cladding scandal.

Many homeowners have faced crippling bills and cannot sell their properties after buying leasehold flats that the freeholders refuse to make safe.

The government tasked the Law Commission to study the sector in 2020, which had, “far too many problems including disproportionate costs to extend leases; poor value property management; and a slow and costly sales process”.

Its subsequent report proposed an overhaul of the right to manage process and suggested that landlords’ legal costs should not be passed to leaseholders, blaming costs as the prime reason why applications fail.

Since then, solicitors have reported a rise in the number of enquiries from leaseholders about taking over their freeholder’s management functions under The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, better known as right to manage or RTM claims.

Original Post From landlordzone.co.uk

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Mortgage guarantee scheme extended: initiative to help buyers with small deposits will run until December 2023

The mortgage guarantee scheme — the initiative designed to turn generation rent into generation buy by helping first-time buyers get a foothold on the property ladder — has been extended for 12 months, the Government has announced.

Launched in April 2021, the scheme protects lenders against losses when lending to first-time buyers and movers with low deposits.

It enables buyers to put down five per cent of the total value of a home worth up to £600,000 as a deposit, while the remaining 95 per cent is covered by a mortgage.

The initiative, launched during the pandemic as lenders cut back on low-deposit loans, is designed to help households with good credit who are struggling to save for high deposits. It offers a financial guarantee to lenders on a portion of the mortgage.

The scheme was originally due to run until the end of December 2022 but ministers have now delayed closure until the end of 2023.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen said: “For hard-working families facing today’s challenging economic conditions, it is right that we continue to help them secure their first home or move into their dream house.

“Extending this scheme means thousands more have the chance to benefit, and supports the market as we navigate through these difficult times.”

The Government added the scheme has helped over 24,000 households get on the property ladder so far, with 85 per cent of buyers being first-time homeowners.

Trinity Finance advisor, Amit Patel said: “This is a much-needed policy announcement that will enable buyers with a smaller deposit to get onto the housing ladder in the turbulent times we are going through. It would have been naive to withdraw the scheme given the dip in housing activity and the prevailing sentiment that house prices will drop in 2023/2024.”

Original Post from standard.co.uk

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Hot water bottle vs electric blanket – which is cheaper to keep warm?

Hot water bottle vs electric blanket – which is cheaper to keep warm?

 

It may be getting colder, but with high energy bills at the forefront of our minds, households are staying away from putting the heating on and instead reaching for the hot water bottle or electric blanket to keep warm. But in a bid to slash costs wherever possible, we compare which one is cheaper – hot water bottle or electric blanket?

With energy bills over double what they were this time last year, keeping energy costs low is a no-brainer, and one of the biggest ways to do it is to refrain from putting the heating on as often as you might like.

So we put hot water bottle vs electric blanket to the test to see which is cheaper to keep warm.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE A HOT WATER BOTTLE?

The cost of using a hot water bottle relies on how much it costs to run a kettle.

According to Uswitch, it costs 1.56p to boil 300ml of water (a large mug full) and 7.8p to boil a full kettle of water (1.5L).

The actual costs will vary depending on what kettle you’re using and your electricity tariff.

The average hot water bottle is 2L in size, but you shouldn’t fill it to full capacity for safety reasons.

So if you were to fill the hot water bottle with 1.5L of hot water, that would cost 7.8p to boil that water.

Let’s assume you used a hot water bottle twice a day, then it will cost around 15.6p per day and around £1.09 per week.

According to Hugo Energy App, a hot water bottle stays warm for three hours if you put a cover on it.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

It’s important to use your hot water bottle safely. Here are some top tips from thehotwaterbottleshop.com.

  • Do not pour boiling water into your hot water bottle as it can damage the rubber; instead, leave it to cool a little and put in ‘hot’ water.
  • Always take the air out of the bottle when filling it up to avoid it bursting.
  • You should use your hot water bottle to warm up your bed for around 20 minutes and not ‘hug’ it.
  • Don’t apply too much pressor siture  on a hot water bottle.

 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE AN ELECTRIC BLANKET?

Consumer savings expert and co-founder of Raisin UK, Kevin Mountford told our sister site Goodto.com: “If you are using your electric blanket (100W) for an average time of two hours every day during the week, over a week you would be using 1.4kWh. That equates to 39.2p a week, and over a year would cost you £20.38.”

Turning it down by just 1°C can actually save you £80 a year, making up for the heated blanket already.”

But every electric blanket will vary in cost depending on how powerful it is- they can range from 50 watts to 300 watts.

Rather than putting the full heating on around the house, an electric blanket is a great, money-saving substitute to keep you warm at night.

Octopus Energy says electric blankets cost around £40, but they are worth the investment in the long run as you can save around £300 per year, over putting the heating on overnight.

They found heating a full home can cost £4 a day, whereas an energy-efficient electric blanket can warm you up for just 2p to 4p an hour.

Before you purchase an electric blanket, look out for the following:

Make sure it has the UK safety standard mark (the kitemark) so you know it’s safe to use.
Check if it is energy efficient. They might cost more to purchase but will cost less to run.
See how powerful it is- the more powerful, the more it will cost. But it should also suit your needs.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Here are some safety precautions you should follow from The London Fire Brigade to stay safe whilst using an electric blanket.

  • You should store your electric blanket in a particular way- either rolled up, flat or loosely folded to prevent internal wire damage.
  • Don’t buy a second-hand electric blanket.
  • Check for wear and tear on a regular basis and replace it at least every 10 years.
  • If the blanket gets wet, never switch it on to dry it.
  • Never use an electric blanket if you have an airflow pressure relief mattress, or use emollient creams. You can ask for a non-flammable alternative.

THE VERDICT

Overall, it is cheaper to use a hot water bottle than an electric blanket.

It costs 7.8p every time you boil the kettle to fill a hot water bottle with 1.5L, which can last up to three hours. It costs 2p to 4p per hour to keep the electric blanket on.

If you do opt for an electric blanket, there are ways of cutting costs. For example, do not leave it on all night and switch it off from the mains once you’re done with it. It’s also worth picking an an energy-efficient one.

But whichever you opt for, remember they both come with big safety warnings to follow – the major one being to never use a hot water bottle and an electric blanket together.

 

Blog post from themoneyedit

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Failure to repair water leak lands landlord in hot water

Failure to repair water leak lands landlord in hot water

 

A landlord and property owner who failed to repair a serious water leak in a private rented property in Lewisham have been fined £4,000 after their tenants’ bathroom ceiling collapsed.

After the tenants got in contact with Lewisham Council in November 2021 to complain about the leak from the bathroom ceiling, housing officers served the landlord and property manager with a formal notice requiring them to take action.

Two weeks later, despite several warnings from the Council, no repairs had been carried out to address the leak, resulting in the collapse of the bathroom ceiling.

The collapse made it impossible for the tenants to enter the bathroom and also cut off power to the lights in the flat, forcing them to be moved into temporary accommodation.

The landlord, Felicia Ifeobikwu, and property owner, Michael Okoroafor, appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court last month. The pair pleaded guilty to not complying with the original repair notice and a £4,067.83 fine was issued.

Cllr Sophie Davis, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Homelessness, said:

“We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law. Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”

Councillor Sophie Davis, cabinet member for housing management and homelessness, said: “We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law.

“Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”

s winter and in the winters to come,” she said.

Blog post from propertyindustryeye

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Insulation: Households could save £300 in new insulation scheme

Insulation: Households could save £300 in new insulation scheme

 

Households could save around £310 a year through an expanded scheme to insulate Britain’s draughtiest homes, the government has said.

It will spend £1bn from next spring on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands.

Households will need to contact their energy supplier or council to see if they are participating, it said.

But critics questioned why the funding would not be available over winter.

The Department for Business, Energy, Industry and Skills (BEIS) said households who currently did not benefit from any other government support would be able to upgrade their homes under the ECO+ scheme.

The grants will help households to fund low-cost measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation, with the average cost per household expected to be £1,500.

A new £18m public information campaign will also offer advice on how to reduce energy use in the home, “without sacrificing comfort”, BEIS said.

Some of the government’s tips include:

  • Turning the “flow temperature” of your boiler down from 75⁰C to 60⁰C (which is different to turning down your thermostat). It is often done by adjusting a dial on the front of your boiler. It will make no difference to the temperature a room is actually heated to but may mean it takes longer for your rooms to heat up.
  • Turning down radiators in empty rooms
  • Reducing heating loss from the property by draught-proofing windows and doors

Mr Shapps said the ECO+ scheme would “enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets and creating jobs across the country”.

Without insulation, indoor temperatures are difficult to maintain, and homes can lose up to 45% of their heat, according to the Energy Savings Trust.

In a typical three-bedroomed semi-detached house in the UK, the Energy Savings Trust estimates that installing draught proofing measures plus cavity wall and loft insulation could save £555 on an average annual energy bill.

Insulation measure savings and costs

“We’ve spent around £6.6bn on improving millions of homes so far,” Mr Shapps told the BBC. “This is actually a scheme for people who have been left out thus far because their homes haven’t qualified.”

But shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the measures were “so late when we should have been doing so much more for so many years previously”.

He also accused the government of a lack of ambition when it came to plans to end the country’s dependency on fossil fuels.

An already existing ECO scheme is targeted at people in social housing, on low incomes or who are fuel poor.

However, under the expanded scheme, people whose homes have an energy efficiency rating of D or below can get help, whether they are in private, rented or social housing. Energy efficiency ratings run from A-G, with A being the best and G the worst.

Applicants will have to live in properties covered by council tax bands A to D, according to reports.

If you are eligible for support, your energy firm will do a survey and pay for the improvements.

Despite targeting middle earners, the government says about a fifth of the new £1bn of funding will be reserved for the most vulnerable households.

Fuel poverty campaigners welcomed the measures but said more needed to be done to help those most in need.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, said the “scheme is not designed to reach the most vulnerable, it’s designed to reach people who haven’t been able to benefit from previous schemes”.

“We believe government focus should be on the worst first, helping people in the greatest risk, the greatest jeopardy, more of this money should be going to help them.”

UK lags behind

The UK is often described as having some of the oldest and least energy efficient housing in Europe.

Two years ago, BBC research found 12 million UK homes were rated D or below on their Energy Performance Certificates, which means they do not meet long-term energy efficiency targets.

Currently 46% of homes have an energy efficiency rating of C or above, up from 13% in 2010, according to BEIS.

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a new target, to reduce energy demand by 15% by 2030.

BEIS said this target would be backed by an additional £6bn investment after 2025.

Mr Hunt said the ECO+ scheme would help “hundreds of thousands of people” to improve the insulation of their homes.

Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Georgia Whitaker said nearly seven million homes were suffering fuel poverty, while 19 million homes in England and Wales are badly insulated.

“This is a drop in the ocean compared to what people actually need to stay warm and well this winter and in the winters to come,” she said.

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‘Government acts to protect tenants’ says Gove in landlord clampdown

‘Government acts to protect tenants’ says Gove in landlord clampdown

 

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has made an announcement overnight that “the government will always act to protect tenants.”The claim comes as part of an announcement giving cash to seven areas to clamp down on rogue private landlords. At the same time there is to be a cash squeeze on failing social landlords, as a result of the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has revealed overnight that £14m is to be given to seven areas with high numbers of poor privately rented homes “to crack down on rogue landlords and test new approaches to driving up standards.”
Projects include £2.3m for Greater Manchester – including Rochdale and surrounding councils – to increase the use of fines where a landlord is found to have committed an offence; £678,000 for Leeds to use behavioural science to change culture among landlords, improving knowledge and skills; and £1.14m for Cornwall to create a database of private rented accommodation in the area and record standards to target better enforcement action.Meanwhile the social landlord at the heart of the Awaab Ishak case – Rochdale Boroughwide Housing – will now not receive its expected £1m funding from the Affordable Homes Programme or receive any new AHP contracts for new homes, until the Regulator of Social Housing has concluded its investigation and it can prove it is a responsible landlord.Gove says the government will also continue to monitor housing standards of RBH tenancies closely, working with the Regulator and Ombudsman, to ensure that tenants have appropriate housing.As part of a wider crackdown on poor standards, Gove adds that he will also block any housing provider that breaches the Regulator’s consumer standards from new AHP funding until they make improvements. Gove will also consider stripping providers of existing AHP funding, unless construction has already started on site.

The move comes after Gove wrote to all councils and housing associations last weekend, saying they must raise the bar dramatically on standards and demanding urgent action where people complain about damp and mould.

Gove says: “RBH failed its tenants so it will not receive a penny of additional taxpayers’ money for new housing until it gets its act together and does right by tenants. Let this be a warning to other housing providers who are ignoring complaints and failing in their obligations to tenants. We will not hesitate to act.

“Everyone deserves the right to live in safe, decent home and this Government will always act to protect tenants.”

Want to comment on this story? If so…if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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Investors scramble to dump UK property funds as valuations dive amid widening Kwarteng mini-budget chaos

Investors scramble to dump UK property funds as valuations dive amid widening Kwarteng mini-budget chaos

 

Following last week’s bond market turmoil, which sent shockwaves through the City, investors are now scrambling to exit UK property funds.Since the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, presented his Mini-Budget at the end of September, the pace at which investors are pulling out of UK commercial real estate funds has accelerated.In the 10 days following Kwarteng’s presentation, more than £100m alone was pulled from a range of property funds that are monitored by fund trading provider Calastone, according to a Financial Times report this week. This was reportedly eight times the outflow of the previous three weeks together.

City analysts now warn that the scramble to flee property funds may lead to property being offloaded at depressed rates.

Commercial property markets are already suffering from higher borrowing costs and given the fact that deal-making has slowed makes it harder for key players to determine realistic evaluations.

“One way or another those assets are going to have to be sold into a down market,” said Zac Gauge, head of European real estate strategy at UBS in the FT.

Gauge and other property analysts expect sales property to change hands at up to 25 per cent less than earlier this year.

Roger Clarke, head of IPSX, an exchange for property, said in the FT that there is a crucial flaw in the structure of funds that usually allow buyers the opportunity to exit at just a day’s notice.

“The funds are forced to sell their best assets.”

Roger Clarke

“The redeeming investors are then getting their redemption at the expense of the rest of the people in the fund [if valuations decline],” he told the paper.

“So the rational investor puts in a redemption request,” said Clarke.

Fire sale

The turmoil in the property market follows other reports that, in a near-unprecedented rush by British pension funds to raise their cash holdings, Goldman Sachs and a range of other investment giants are planning to snap up UK assets at discounts of up to 30 per cent.

Since Kwarteng’s disastrously received mini-budget at the end of September, UK pension funds are rushing to improve their cash holdings by selling liquid assets.

Kwarteng’s mini-budget caused outright panic in the gilts market, which forced the Bank of England to step in.

Despite the Old Lady’s intervention, pension giants are now planning to put a range of illiquid assets on sale, including private credit, property and stakes in buyout vehicles, according to various reports, including the Financial Times.

“We’re seeing discounts of 20 to 30 per cent for a high quality portfolio [of stakes in private equity funds],” Gabriel Möllerberg, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told the FT.

“It’s absolutely an opportunity,” Möllerberg stressed.

In addition to Goldman Sachs, other investors, including Blackstone, have the fire-power to buy pension fund holdings trading at below face value prices.

City A.M. understands Blackstone currently have no plans to do so.

Wave of takeovers

The transactions are usually negotiated and agreed privately and may take up to several months to close but investors are convinced the City can expect a wave in the final months of this year, the FT wrote.

“In these market conditions, you get very attractive buying opportunities,” according to Ross Hamilton at Switzerland-based private equity firm Partners Group, which buys pension schemes’ private fund stakes.

“We’ve got dry powder of over $9bn . . . it’s an exciting opportunity for us,” Hamilton told the paper.

Most British pension funds zoomed in on illiquid assets as they were keen to pump funds into investments that returned higher yields.

Many pension funds moved into illiquid private markets in search of higher yields during a decade of low interest rates. However, that tide turned drastically earlier this year.

“There’s a cold wind blowing for more illiquid assets,” concluded David Lloyd, fund manager at M&G, in the FT.

He stressed pension schemes are bracing themselves for cash demands from buyout groups whose funds they used to finance takeovers in recent years.

Blog post from propertyroad