The article reports that HMRC’s updated AML guidance has increased the operational burden on estate agencies, with one analysis suggesting an average branch may need a dedicated full-time compliance officer costing around £45,000 a year. It argues that AML can no longer be treated as an incidental task and now requires formal risk assessments, policies and ongoing checks.
The Supreme Court is set to hear Harker v Hubert, a case testing whether a Section 21 notice can be valid where a gas safety certificate was allegedly not provided at the start of the tenancy and may not have been available at all. The dispute turns on how the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations interact with the post-2015 Section 21 requirements under the Housing Act 1988 and the Deregulation Act 2015.
The Property Ombudsman has said consumers will not be required to declare whether they used AI to draft a complaint. The Ombudsman is also using AI internally to manage rising complaint volumes, while warning that AI-generated submissions can make relevant evidence harder to identify and increase the burden on complaint handling.
The article examines the Government’s planned cap on most existing residential ground rents in England and Wales, moving them to £250 a year before reducing them to a peppercorn after 40 years under the forthcoming Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. It argues the reform may ease sales and mortgage issues linked to onerous ground rents, but could also reduce freeholder income, create fairness concerns between leaseholders, and affect valuation and financing assumptions.
An Employment Tribunal in Sheffield dismissed an unfair dismissal claim brought by a former property manager at a Selby lettings agency, finding that she had resigned rather than been dismissed. The case also involved allegations of improper withdrawals from the company account and tenants being instructed to pay rent into a personal bank account, with a criminal investigation reported to be under way.
The article reports on a London Property Tribunal case in which a letting firm was ordered to return a £125 deposit deduction that had been taken without a proper dispute process. It argues that some landlords and agents still misunderstand or ignore the Tenant Fees Act 2019, particularly around cleaning-related deductions at tenancy end.
