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Duncan Lewis Civil Litigation Director Anthony Okhuma discusses the London Rent Crisis and Property Guardians in the International Business Times (16 July 2015)

Date: 16/07/2015
Duncan Lewis, Housing Solicitors, Duncan Lewis Civil Litigation Director Anthony Okhuma discusses the London Rent Crisis and Property Guardians in the International Business Times

Duncan Lewis Civil Litigation Director Anthony Okhuma featured in the International Business Times on 16th July 2015 discussing the “rent crisis” in London and the rights of live-in property guardians.

With the prices of renting private properties in London on a constant ascent, many London citizens have had to resort to other means of renting to secure a roof over their heads.

One of these means is live-in property Guardians, which in a recent article, the International Business Times investigated.

Property guardians occupy disused buildings on behalf of their owners in a licensing arrangement brokered by agencies. Often a property guardian’s "rent" is actually a licence fee to live in the property, which is usually inclusive of utility bills and therefore much cheaper than in the private rental market.

These schemes are on the rise, as figures obtained by the International Business Times demonstrate. Camelot Europe, one of the largest property guardian firms, told International Business Times it has seen several robust annual increases in the number of London-based guardians on its books. From 2014 to 2015, there was a 25% rise. In 2013 to 2014, this was 15%; 2012 to 2013, 13%; and 2011 to 2012, 26%.

This scheme also brings with it legal issues surrounding the evictions of the occupying Guardians. Residential occupiers of property are entitled under eviction law to be given 28 days notice as minimum if they have to vacate it. Some guardian companies are commonly known to give much shorter notice than as they do not believe that they are subject to the legislation as the occupants are licensees, not tenants, so they do not have exclusivity of the property

Duncan Lewis Civil Litigation Director Anthony Okhuma stated to the International Business Times on the matter:

"My personal view is that the [license] agreement itself is subject to challenge in the sense that what I've seen, two weeks' notice is not compliant with the protection of the Eviction Act,".

"When they raise the issue of the license agreement and [that] there is no exclusive occupation of the property, the property owners do not reside in the property [...] neither do the guardian companies.
"So the fact that they allege there is no exclusivity, the court is subject to various interpretations."


Access to the original article can be found here.


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