Armstrong will serve an 18 month sentence for the theft.

A member of staff from an estate agents in Seaham, Sunderland has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after stealing around £13,000 in tenants’ rent.

Michelle Armstrong, a 48 year old administrative assistant worked for Dennis Dowen, looking after 90 tenants, most of which would bring their rent in cash into the branch.

In 2009 around £1,000 did not appear in the company’s accounts and Mr Dowen challenged Armstrong, who denied any wrongdoing. He then questioned his bank, believing it to be an error on their part. Then in October 2012 she claimed that £7,000 of the company’s money had been taken from her car. When CCTV footage was examined no evidence of the alleged theft could be found and Armstrong was arrested.

Mr Dowen, who runs the 31-year-old business, said: “I feel vindicated on behalf of our customers and for the staff.

“If anything is taken, I’ve got to put that back, so no customers were in debt whatsoever.

“I knew about her personal life and she was a good employee, I can’t say she wasn’t.”

As a company regulated by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), any money lost due to staff infidelity has to be reimbursed to landlords owed rent, with the money made up from Mr Dowen’s own resources. In total Armstrong took £13,450 from the company.

As well as a jail term Armstrong will have to carry out 280 hours of community service and adhere to a 6 month curfew.

The impressive facade of the Scandinavian Hotel will be used in the new student development.

A decision to convert an empty hotel building in Liverpool into 240 student beds was met with anger from campaigners.

The former Scandinavian Hotel which lies at the junction of Berry and Duke Streets will be converted into studio and cluster flats with a glazed communal area on the top floor which will allow for views over the city’s cathedral.

But campaigners have voiced their anger that their views were not considered. For the most part they were worried that there was already too much student accommodation in the city,

Florence Gersten, from the Save Our City campaign group said: “We would be delighted to see a long, neglected site back into use.

“However, we are very concerned about the city being left with vast numbers of empty buildings new and old.”

Planning officers said that although the views of the objecting residents (some 51 in total) were ‘valid’ the old building was “crying out for re-use” which had lead them to recommend to councillors that the plans be approved.

Downing developers no have permission to begin work on the site. The project will make use of the facade of the hotel built in 1859 and Downing will manage the student development.

Landlords will need planning permission to convert homes into Houses of Multiple Occupancy.

As of today Reading landlords will need planning permission to modify buildings to HMOs in some areas of the city.

Last May the Council passed a motion to introduce an Article 4 Direction under the Town and Country Planning Act.

The new regulations apply to anyone wishing to change the use of a dwellinghouse (C3 use) to a small HMO (C4 use) in the areas of Park, Redlands and Katesgrove areas of Reading.

The Council took the move after it received a petition of more than 200 signatures at the start of 2011. It then pledged to investigate where, if at all, an Article 4 direction might work to regulate HMOs.

Today’s new laws will make it harder for HMOs to spring up unchecked, but some are worried that the regulations will just push students into other areas of the city.

A spokesperson for the East Reading Community Group said that “these are the areas that most Reading University students live in.”

Reading joins a host of other UK cities that has used the Article 4 Directive to control student housing.

Councillors are worried that families are being priced out of the rental market.

Sunderland Council have introduced tighter controls on Houses of Multiple Occupancy in the city.

Under new regulations introduced last month landlords will have to apply for planning permission to turn a family home into an HMO. The changes will come into force next year and will apply to the five wards of Barnes, Hendon, Millfield, St Michael’s and St Peter’s.

The measures have been brought forward because the council fears that there are too many HMOs springing up. In a report to the council deputy chief executive Janet Johnson said: “High concentrations of HMOs have become an issue in a number of towns and cities across the county, particularly those with universities.

“High concentrations can have a detrimental impact on the local environment, with impacts on social cohesion and services in an area.”

Until now it was possible for a landlord to convert their property without permission but now the Council has invoked Article 4 of the Town and Country Planning Order (see here for more on Article 4)

However, Nigel Flanagan, a landlord with properties across Sunderland, including in Hendon, believes there are already enough rules in place regulating HMOs.

“There are more professionals seeking homes than ever before,” he said.

“And as long as it meets the right standards, I cannot see any reason why we need any other policies to stop that happening.

“I can understand their concerns, but there’s a growing need (for HMOs) so I don’t know what they are going to achieve.

“Just more regulation? They’ve got that already.”

Students from Sunderland University make up a large proportion of those living in HMOs, and the institution was consulted as part of the proposal.

Director of facilities Phil Marsh said: “Article four is used throughout the country and over the years there’s been a lack of regulation.

“The last thing we want is our students to have a poor experience of the city, or to feel they are having a negative impact on their neighbourhood.

“Our students add a lot to society, but we need to make sure that impact is 
positive.”

Original source: Walton Robinson

Unite’s popular Manor Bank development in Newcastle upon Tyne

Student housing giant Unite has reported a strong demand for its student housing and is predicting that the trend will continue in the coming years.

The company said that some 75% of its accommodation was let for the next academic year, compared to 72% for the same period last year.

“This underpins continued confidence in our rental growth guidance of 3% for the full year,” Unite said in a statement.

In Newcastle upon Tyne Unite owns Magnet Court and Manor Bank which cost between £156 and £170 a week, as well as successful developments in most major red-brick university cities across the UK.

“High occupancy, firm cost control, deepening University relationships and positive rental growth prospects underpin our view that we are on track to grow earnings in line with management expectations this year, while further progress with our development pipeline provides good additional support for our medium term growth targets,” said CEO Mark Allan.

“Meanwhile, steady progress with asset disposals and our refinancing objectives mean that we are continuing to strengthen our financial position further,” Allan said in a statement.

Just because your letting agent has shut up shop doesn’t mean that your tenancy agreement is invalid. The contract between you and your landlord will still stand.

As a tenant it can be tricky to know your rights when a letting agent goes out of business. You have lost your point of contact if you have a worry or issue.

A tenancy agreement is a contract between a tenant and a landlord, the letting agent just acts as the middle man. So if a letting agent goes out of business, the tenancy agreement is still valid for the remainder of the rental period. The only thing that you really need to know is that all responsibility for your tenancy now lies with your landlord.

If the letting agent went out business for financial reasons there’s always the possibility that the letting agent didn’t pass on your rent, or deposits. Your landlord may incorrectly think that you are in arrears, you may have to prove through bank statements and receipts that it is the letting agent at fault rather than you. Legally as a tenant you can ask your landlord to serve you with a Section 48 notice, which is basically a record of an address for the landlord, either their home or business address, or a managing or letting agent. Failure to provide this address means a landlord cannot demand rent from a tenant.

In an ideal world your landlord should either write, email, call or visit to explain the situation and how the tenancy will continue. However, you shouldn’t count on it; he may not even live in the same country as you. There’s no harm in seeking out your tenancy agreement and trying to contact the landlord yourself. If your rent is still hitting his account on time, your heads up may be the first hint he has that his letting agent is MIA.

At the end of your tenancy your landlord will now be responsible for releasing your deposit. It may be that the letting agent has taken all your deposits with him, and that your landlord is actually out of pocket. They are still liable to pay the deposit back to you however, regardless of the situation.

If you have problems getting hold of your landlord, it’s best to write and keep a copy for yourself. If you’re worried about any aspect of your tenancy you should contact the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Large gatherings can cause headaches for local residents and student neighbours alike.

Newcastle City Council have launched a scheme under which they will issue warnings and fines to students for making unacceptable levels of noise.

The maximum fine will be £200 and can be issued to a first time offender.

The new policy began on the first day of the new semester, and works in partnership with Newcastle University to curb anti-social behaviour in the community, a big sticking point for local residents.

The council normally only takes action against an individual after three noise offences, but technically they could all come in the same night if the Night Noise Team is recalled to a property over and over again during the course of an evening.

Some students are angry about the new scheme, saying that excessive noise is not usually measurable, and is down to personal opinion.

Gray said: “It’s the inconsiderate noise we’re trying to tackle where students are putting the TV on loud at two o’clock in the morning and banging doors, the kind of noise that could have been avoided is what they are going to be held accountable for. But if it’s parties getting out of control and huge disturbances to a lot of people then that would be considered much more seriously and go beyond the formal warnings and fines to further academic sanctioning and discipline.”

Complaints against private landlords are up, and so are prosecutions.

A recent investigation by the homeless charity Shelter has found that complaints about private landlords have rocketed in recent years.

The charity made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to all 326 local authorities in England, and received a response from 310 of them.

The reports showed that the total number of complaints made to the local authorities regarding landlords had increased by 27% in the last three years.

In the past year there have been 85,000 complaints made against private landlords, with one in six complaints mentioning hazards in properties such as dangerous gas and electricity provisions and severe damp. Health services were called to deal with 781 cases last year.

Local authorities have identified 1,449 private landlords who have given them cause for concern in the last year.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Despite the significant increase in complaints, we believe that the number of rogue landlords is still under-estimated.

“Some local authorities don’t keep records of complaints and tenants often hold back from complaining out of fear of the consequences or because they don’t believe their voices will be heard, even though such a high proportion of complaints is about life-threatening issues.

“Every day at Shelter we see the devastating impact these landlords have on people’s health and well being. There could be thousands more victims of these operators, trapped in homes that cause misery and, in some cases, put lives at risk.”

The investigation also found that the number of successful prosecutions brought against private landlords had increased by 77% in the past year, meaning that local authorities are becoming more effective at seeking out those responsible for poor quality housing in their area.

The highest number of prosecutions were made in Newham, Leeds, Salford and Manchester, areas which the charity describes as leading the fight against rogue landlords.

The university’s Hendrefoilan student village is to be redeveloped as family homes.

Swansea University has put its student village in Sketty up for sale to raise funds to build a £200m science and innovation campus.

The Hendrefoilan village houses 1,644 students will make way for some 270 homes to be built in two phases starting in 2015. Students will be housed on the new campus.

A price has not been put on the land, but estate agents Savills said that bids will be based on a certain proposed scheme.

Iwan DaviesPro-vice chancellor, Swansea University said ”These are very exciting times for the university as our ambitious expansion plans are now coming to fruition.

“We will be creating purpose-built student accommodation on the new campus and the sale of Hendrefoilan forms an integral part of our sustainable business plan for financing our campus development, both at the new campus and on Singleton Park.

“These developments are also part of our commitment to improving the student experience”

Building work on the new campus is due to start next year on a 69 acre site off Fabian Way, with around 4,000 direct jobs being created during the construction.

Artist’s impression of the planned new Swansea University campus.

Oil conglomerate BP originally donated the land which has outline planning permission. The new campus will involve input fro Rolls Royce, Hewlett-Packard, Tata, Bell Labs and BAE. During the regeneration the University’s Singleton Park campus will also be refurbished.

Oil giant BP originally donated the land which has outline planning permission, while businesses who will be involved in the new campus include Rolls Royce, Hewlett-Packard, Tata, Bell Labs and BAE.

Scott Caldwell, a director of Savills in Cardiff, said “strong interest” was expected from the major housebuilders.

“Whilst the site will not be available until after completion of the student residents at the new campus in 2015, there is a lot of preparatory work to undertake between now and then and the university has decided to appoint a developer to work with in obtaining the best planning permission for the site,” he said.

The oldest part of the student village will be moved first, with the newer woodside flats remaining until around 2019 when the second phase of the new campus is finished.

The only part of the old student village which will remain untouched is the Grade II-listed Hendrefoilan House and stables which currently houses the South Wales Miners Library.