x

Mike Culliney

646 Profile Views

About Me

my expertise in the industry

Mike's Recent Activity

As a member of safeagent I find their current proposals ludicrous. If the government are concerned about homelessness they must not make the landlord responsible by withholding their right to evict a tenant for rent arrears when the government can easily rectify the problem by guaranteeing the rent. The idea that you should involve mortgage lenders who would happily give a mortgage holiday whilst adding on the additional interest is stupid, as is this idea of payment plans which everyone knows will amount to nothing if the tenant does not have the money. Let me make it very clear MRC operate a charity whereby we give support to the homeless, but this does not entitle anyone to make a landlord responsible for tenants rent arrears or to ask agents to carry out additional administrative duties with payment plans and thereafter chasing money tenants do not have. Also, any money for rent paid in the form of Universal Credit must be used for rent otherwise it is fraud and should be treated as such as it is out of the public purse

From: Mike Culliney 24 August 2020 11:11 AM

As a letting Agent for 25 years I would welcome a discussion with Generation Rent to ascertain exactly what their proposals are and how they would like the issues of non payment of rent dealt with. If they would like to contact me - Mike Culliney - mike@mrc-property.co.uk

From: Mike Culliney 23 July 2020 10:42 AM

I totally agree with the view that the industry is changing and becoming more client focused. I do not object to these changes as long as they are balanced. I listened to the reporting of this subject on BBC and the presenter said that the legislation was to stop tenants losing their home for no reason. I believe this is where the problem lies. We have been using s21 notices for rent arrears when we believe there is little chance of recovering rent arrears and because it was also a faster route. The problem with this is that there is no factual record of the scale of the rent arrears problem as there is nothing on a s21 to distinguish why we are asking tenants to leave and, therefore, providing the ammunition for people like shelter to beat us with. I would like to propose that we all support this new change in the law but would ask for the following. A designated housing court to hear possession claims within 2 weeks at a nominal cost to the landlord. It is no good saying we can recover cost from the tenant when in most cases where tenants are on low income we are not able to recover cost. A simpler document for possession that can be completed by Landlord or Agent and the automatic right for both the Landlord or Agent to attend court without a solicitor where the criteria for possession has been met. We should not pretend that tenants will not take advantage of any loopholes around this legislation. Also, a code of conduct for local authorities in how they deal with the potential homeless and what advise they give and a clear undertaking that they will accept responsibility for re-housing the tenant from whenever possession is given without the need for bailiffs. A guarantee that any benefit claimed by the tenant that is subsequently found to of been claimed either in error or fraudulently can not be recovered from the person to whom it is paid(either landlord or agent) unless it can be proved the the landlord or agent was complicit and clearly was aware of the wrongdoing. I believe all of the above is fair and balanced and only in cases where landlord's are selling their property or there are rent arrears would we need tenants to give up their home. I believe both of these reasons are quite legitimate

From: Mike Culliney 16 April 2019 10:12 AM

MRC recently had a situation whereby the council found out that a tenant was claiming HB that they were not entitled to. As the benefit was paid direct to ourselves due to the tenant being in arrears on many occasions, the council calculated that the over-payment was £16,000.00. The council then informed us that they were going to claim this money back from MRC, as, under the current legislation they can claim the money back from whoever the money was paid to. The government know that agents collect this money on behalf of the landlord and it is obviously perverse to try to make Agents responsible in this way. MRC have sent letters and copies of all documentation to Heather Wheeler, NALS and our local MP to highlight the reasons why Agents and landlords may decline to accept HB payments. I think it is fair to point out that we appealed this decision and was successful, however, as the law stands there is no absolute laid down ruling that a landlord can use if the council decide to pursue the Agent or landlord. I would also point out that Heather Wheeler has not yet responded to my correspondence and NALS have been no use whatsoever other than offering sympathy

From: Mike Culliney 05 March 2019 10:42 AM

Should we not wait to see the format of the proposed Housing court, including costs, waiting times etc. I cannot see this present government wanting to make it any easier for any landlord to make anyone homeless

From: Mike Culliney 22 January 2019 10:22 AM

Breaking News