In April 2011

The LHA rate for 5 bedroom properties was removed to a maximum level of 4 bedrooms

•  There are absolute caps on the LHA and these cannot exceed:
•  £250   1bed
• £290   2 bed
• £340   3 bed
• £400   4 bed

The £15 weekly excess was removed

In October 2011

• LHA rates are set at 30^th percentile of the Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) rather than the previous median level, or 50^th percentile.  This is applicable to new claimants with immediate effect and from the anniversary date of the claim for existing claimants.

CHANGES TO LOCAL HOUSING ALLOWANCE (LHA) IN 2012

From January 2012

The ‘shared accommodation’ rate will apply to those under 35 rather than the previous age limit of under 25.

This will directly impact on new claimants who will receive less allowance from this date

The weekly LHA applicable to individual BRMA can be obtained at https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

The Office of Fair Trading has produced a Draft Guidance to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 expressly aimed at estate agents.  You will be aware already that these Regulations are in many ways more far reaching than the Property Misdescription Act.

The OFT have been conducting a consultation programme on this guidance and GKJ Consultants Ltd have been involved in this process.  The final version of the Guidance is due out early in 2012 and we will keep you informed of developments on this document.

The Localism Act 2011, which was passed last month, contains
some amendments to the law relating to the protection of tenants deposits.  As you are probably aware, the original
legislation (in the Housing Act 2004) that came into force in April 2007 has
had some problems due to  interpretations
placed upon it by decisions of  various
Courts. The result has been that it has not functioned as it was intended to.  The changes in the Localism Act are designed
to correct the faults in the original legislation and make some changes to the
timescale available for protecting the deposit and the penalties for
non-compliance.

Bribery Act 2010

 The Bribery Act 2010 will finally come into force on 1^st July 2011.

 It applies to all UK companies and organisations and to any offence committed worldwide.

 The Act introduces four main offences:

• Offering, promising or giving a bribe. This is ‘active’ bribery
• Receiving a bribe. This includes requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting a bribe. This is ‘passive’ bribery
• Bribing a foreign public official (with the intention of obtaining or retaining business or an advantage in the conduct of business)
• Failure by a commercial organisation to prevent a bribe being paid for on its behalf

 Definition of Bribery

The Act defines it as ‘the receiving or offering of an undue reward by or to any person whatsoever in public office or in a business capacity in order to influence his behaviour and include him to act contrary to the known rules of honesty and integrity’.

 A bribe does not have to be actually paid for an offence to have been committed: merely the promise will be sufficient. This does not need to be deliberate but may be accepted unwittingly.

 A commercial organisation can be convicted of failing to prevent bribery by its representatives acting in the course of their business.

 Recent guidance published by the Ministry of Justice suggests that the law is not intended to make the acceptance of apparently harmless gifts (e.g. a bottle of alcohol) or the provision of normal corporate hospitality  offences under the Act. This guidance suggests that a risk-based approach should be adopted.

Corporate hospitality therefore should be reasonable, proportionate and not excessive.

 However it must be remembered that this is only advice and is not binding on Courts. Until the Courts have made rulings any employee must be wary of accepting, offering, or agreeing to accept any gift.

 Penalties

• The maximum penalty for an individual is ten years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
• The maximum fine for an organisation is an unlimited fine

 Defence

 The only defence is to establish that adequate procedures were in place to prevent any contravention of the Act. Senior management can be held personally liable and ignorance is not a defence.

 The advice from the Ministry of Justice suggests six principles to be adopted

• Risk assessment – assess where the problem areas may be
• Top-level commitment – senior management should be involved and concerned
• Due diligence
• Clear, practical and accessible policies and procedures
• Effective implementation of those policies
• Monitoring and review

 What should you do?

 Hopefully principals, partners and directors will already have procedures in place to prevent wrongdoing by staff but it may be helpful to consider other aspects of your procedures

• Staff training on the implications of this legislation and clear guidance on what they are and are not allowed to do
• Changes or amendments to your Code of Conduct to reflect this new legislation
• Amendments to your Contract of Employment, again to reflect any changes in procedure you may introduce.

All agents should be aware of the new Equality Act which is being introduced in phases with the first phase already having been introduced on 1^st October this year. This applies to Great Britain but not Northern Ireland.

 Essentially the Act aims to bring all the existing discrimination laws and regulations under the one heading and the intention that the other laws such as those relating to sex, racial and disability discrimination will be repealed.

 The Equality Act introduces the concept of a ‘protected characteristic’ and the definition of discrimination is now standardised and defined as ‘less favourable treatment because of the protected characteristic’. These protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity.

 An important element of this legislation is that the concepts of discrimination by association (i.e. direct discrimination against someone because they associate with someone with a protected characteristic –for example  a carer) or discrimination by association (i.e. direct discrimination because it is thought someone has a protected characteristic – for example the belief that someone is gay).

 Agents need to be aware of this legislation on two levels. Firstly they need to be aware of the implications of this on their own employment and recruiting practices. Secondly they also need to be aware of the implications when dealing with applicants and tenants, and taking instructions from landlords and vendors.