I sold my flat before the Renters' Rights Bill becomes law

"I would really like to come out of being a landlord," says Patricia Ogunfeibo.

The 61-year-old has just sold a two-bedroom flat in south-east London, one of her nine properties.

She is one of many landlords selling their properties ahead of the new Renters' Rights Bill - one of the biggest overhauls of the private rental sector.

Once the bill becomes law, the government will ban Section 21 "no-fault" evictions, give tenants greater rights to challenge rent increases, and make it illegal to discriminate against prospective tenants on benefits.

Ms Ogunfeibo says "landlords are scared" of some of the changes that are coming into effect.

The government says the bill will provide tenants with "greater security, rights and protections in their homes".

The proposed changes have been widely welcomed by tenants, including Natasha Johnson, who was evicted under the Section 21 clause in 2020 and says it was "traumatic".

Among some of the changes in the Tenants' rights bill the government wants to:

• Ban Section 21 "no-fault" evictions, where landlords can evict tenants without a reason
• Allow tenants to challenge unfair rent increases
• Make it illegal to discriminate against tenants who receive benefits or have children
• Stop bidding wars, so tenants do not pay over the advertised price
• Allow tenants to request pets

Ms Ogunfeibo, who has rented out properties since 1986, says by selling the flat she was "able to get out the money" she had invested in it.

She says she accepts that parts of the law are needed, including a Private Rented Sector Database to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance.

But she is concerned that the bill will ultimately raise rents.

"We need more affordable homes in the UK at the moment," she says.

"What we don't need is the private rental sector being contracted because landlords are scared and they're selling up and they're leaving the sector."

This time last year, the Property Franchise Group, which is behind brands including Hunters, Fine & Country and EweMove, was managing 153,000 rental homes for landlords, but that has fallen to 150,000 at the last count.

Meanwhile, data from real estate agency Knight Frank showed that the number of new lettings properties coming to the London market in the year to August was 8% below the previous 12-month period.

"Whilst landlords will take into account many factors when deciding future investment plans, including tax and energy efficiency policies, the bill will play a major part for many in deciding their futures," says Chris Norris, chief policy officer for the National Residential Landlords Association.

Given this, amid the lack of rental housing to meet demand, it is vital that the bill has the confidence of responsible landlords as much as tenants.

He said it was key that courts had the capacity to process legitimate possession cases swiftly when Section 21 ends.

According to a survey of 821 landlords in May 2021 by the flat rental website SpareRoom, small landlords are more likely to exit the market than professional landlords.

According to the data, four in 10 UK landlords with one to two rental properties say they plan to leave the market, compared with 22% of those with five to nine properties and 26% of those with more than 10 properties.

But according to SpareRoom, so far, supply in the room rental market remains largely unaffected by the Renters' Rights Bill, with January 2025 being the highest month for flatshare ads in four years.

The Tenants' Rights Bill will introduce a new system giving new tenants a 12-month "protected period" during which they cannot be evicted if the landlord wants to move in or sell the property.

Landlords can still evict tenants for other reasons, including criminal behavior by the tenants.

After the first year, landlords would have to give tenants four months' notice to leave, doubling the current time period, and provide a specific reason for ending a tenancy.

The move is "welcome news" for Ms. Johnson, who was evicted with her teenage son from their rental property in 2020 in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

She now campaigns for others in a similar situation through the London Renters Union (LRU).

"No one should be able to go through that," she said.

"We're human beings. Some form of communication, compromise. It was really really traumatic. I wouldn't wish that on my own enemies."

She said she and her teenage son moved from shelter to shelter, and even spent one night on the street.

"The child still needs to go to school, you still need to prepare breakfast. You still need to try and be strong for that person. It eats away at your mindset, your mental health."

The LRU says ending Section 21 is a "big victory for tenants everywhere but soaring rents will continue to force many out of their homes and communities".

Jae Vail, a spokesperson for the union, said: "Every person deserves a secure home where they can build a life without living in fear of eviction for challenging mistreatment or because their landlord seeks higher profits."

However, he said tenants would "not have real security without rent control".

"Rent control would keep prices down and keep communities together," he said.

"Yet the government continues to side with the rich while ordinary people pay the price for our rigged housing system. It's time to put people's lives before landlords' portfolios."

Level the playing field

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said the Renters' Rights Bill remains on track to become law this year.

They said it was a "manifesto commitment and legislative priority" for the Labour government, and the bill's "transformational powers" would be implemented swiftly after it becomes law.

"The bill will level the playing field by providing tenants with greater security, rights and protections in their homes, and including abolishing Section 21 evictions and rightly empowering tenants to directly challenge excessive rent hikes and poor conditions," the spokesperson added.

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• How are renting and eviction rules changing?

More on this story

• Tenants demand rent controls in a demonstration
• Charities warn the bill does not protect renters enough

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Wall Street Hates REITs — Why That Might Be Good News for You

Pariah Capital is very interested in the real-estate sector, for the simple reason that nobody else is.

The latest BofA Securities Global Fund Manager Survey shows that the world's top money managers have largely given up on real estate and real-estate investment trusts as an asset. "Real estate allocation is 22% underweight (vs 21% net underweight a month ago)," BofA Securities reports. "Current allocation is 1.6 [standard deviations] below its long-term average," it adds, which is another way of saying fund managers' allocation to REITs is unusually low.

They've been dumping real-estate trusts for several months, and net allocation has dropped toward the levels seen briefly last year and, more remarkably, in the wake of the famous real-estate meltdown of the global financial crisis.

This is happening at the same time that investors are pouring money into gold, other metals and cryptocurrencies as "real" assets that are "safe havens" from the insanity threatening paper currencies — especially here in Weimar America. Isn't real estate a "real" asset?

Pariah Capital is this column's tongue-in-cheek occasional series about the follies of investment-manager groupthink. We examine what would happen if you just did the opposite of the big-money crowd. Generally speaking, you would do pretty well .

Financial adviser John Coumarianos, a former real-estate analyst and now CEO of Mindful Advisory in Northvale, N.J., believes U.S. real-estate investment trusts, or REITs, now look "reasonably priced," especially when compared with the rest of the stock market.

The sector currently trades for about 17.5 times annual funds from operations, compared with an average of about 15.5 times since 2000, he says.

It says something ominous about the overall state of euphoria on Wall Street that even the sector most disliked by investors is still not especially cheap.

The one caveat is that the sector's composition has changed over the years," Coumarianos adds. "You're not simply getting multifamily, office, retail, industrial, healthcare and hotels when you buy the index now. The index still contains those property types, but in lower proportion than previously because of the rise of cell towers and data centers.

REITs enjoy a tax-privileged status because they avoid U.S. corporation tax on income they distribute to their investors, so long as they meet certain legal and financial requirements. If you, the investor, own them in a tax shelter such as an IRA, you also avoid tax.

A study a few years ago argued that real estate worldwide had produced higher overall average returns, dating back to 1960, even than stocks.

According to data from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, U.S. REITs have earned investors a compound annual return of 9.1% per year since the start of 1972.

But nearly all the returns over time have come from the dividends, not from price appreciation. This means investors should look closely at the dividend yield when they buy REITs. Right now the expected yield on the iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF is 4.2%, according to FactSet data. Meanwhile the bond market is predicting inflation of about 2.4% ahead, so investors might factor in a real yield of 1.8%.

Normally, we could compare that to the real yield on Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, but due to the turmoil at the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the moment, it's not entirely certain that you will be able to depend on official inflation figures, and therefore TIPS real yields, in the future. Only time will tell.

Coumarianos says academic studies raise questions about whether real-estate trusts are truly the portfolio diversifiers many people on Wall Street claim. (This, incidentally, is also true about various other "magic beans" investing products currently being prepared for the public, such as private equity.)

And while REITs typically pay high dividends, those dividends are subject to fluctuations, just like those from other companies. Rolling annual payouts across the REIT sector dropped by almost half during the depths of the global financial crisis, and again during the pandemic.

Doug Ramsey, chief strategist at the Leuthold Group, includes REITs among the seven assets in his clever "All Asset No Authority" portfolio, which spreads its best equally across U.S. large caps, U.S. small caps, international stocks, 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds, gold and commodity futures, as well as REITs.

"REITs are absolutely a valid asset class," he says, adding that they are out of favor, along with other dividend-paying value stocks. "I think there's an opportunity there." (Ramsey says he likes "dividend aristocrats" — companies that have raised their dividends every year for at least 25 years — even more than REITs, but he isn't budging about keeping REITs in the AANA portfolio.)

Investors can go with a straight low-cost REIT index fund such as IYR or the Vanguard Real Estate ETF. Those who specifically want to orient their investment more toward residential real estate have a couple of ETF options, such as iShares Residential & Multi Sector Real Estate ETF, which charges 0.48% a year, and Armada’s Residential REIT ETF, which charges 0.6%.

Whether there is still a strategic long-term case for REITs is a matter of debate. The tactical case for buying some because they are out of fashion looks stronger.

But as always, there are no free lunches.

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"The Conjuring" stars question what comedian Matt Rife's 'intentions are' for buying real-life house: 'I am curious'

"I hope he doesn't have a garage sale," Vera Farmiga quipped.

Just like the rest of us, The Conjuring stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have questions about comedian Matt Rife's decision to buy the former home of the paranormal investigators whose work inspired the blockbuster horror franchise.

"I'd love to pick his brain," Farmiga said in a new interview with PEOPLE , adding that she sent the news to Wilson as soon as she saw it. Since 2013, the two have played spouses and demon experts Ed and Lorraine Warren in the Summoning cinematic universe - roles they reprise one final time in the upcoming The Conjuring: Last Rites .

Prior to Rife's purchase, Farmiga said she had been "so curious as to what was going to happen with that piece of real estate," given that Lorraine died in 2019 and Ed in 2006. The Warrens lived there for many years, and even opened an occult museum in the basement of the property in 1952, according to Connecticut Insider . Now that the stand-up comedian owns it, Farmiga said she just wants to know "what his intentions are."

Her costar agreed, telling PEOPLE, "It's a private little street. There are neighbors everywhere. [The Warrens] lived in the same house for a long, long time, so it's not like some estate on a massive acreage. It's just on a block. It's a normal house on a street in Monroe, Connecticut."

Wilson continued, "So I am curious. I can't imagine the people who live on that street want lines of cars paying money to enter the house."

Joked Farmiga, "I hope he doesn't have a garage sale." (Honestly, same.)

Earlier this month, Rife took to his social media accounts to announce his purchase and explain his unorthodox decision. "I have officially purchased Ed and Lorraine Warren's home and Occult Museum," Rife wrote on Instagram , noting that he had also become "the legal guardian, for at least the next five years, of the entire haunted collection, including THE ANNABELLE DOLL."

Rife further explained that his affection for the Summoning movies inspired his big acquisition. "If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with the paranormal and all things haunted," he wrote. "You also may know the Summoning Films are my favorite horror movies of all time. So I'm incredibly honored to have taken over one of the most prominent properties in paranormal history.

The comedian clarified in a separate video on TikTok that while he does own the paranormal investigators' former house, he does not technically own its various artifacts. "We are the legal guardians and caretakers of all 750 haunted artifacts and items in the Warren Museum, including the Annabelle doll," he said. "We do not legally own the items, but we are the legal guardians and caretakers of the items for at least the next five years."

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Rife also said he plans to open the house for overnight stays and museum tours so fans can experience and learn about all of the haunted history surrounding the property for themselves.

The Conjuring: Last Rites hits theaters Sept. 5.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly

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East Las Vegas golf course transforming into affordable housing development

A city-owned golf course In East Las Vegas, a mixed-use housing development with more than 1,500 units will be transformed, including hundreds of homes for sale at market value and rentals, with a percentage of them reserved for lower-income residents.

The City Council on Wednesday approved the $17.5 million sale of Desert Pines Golf Club and affirmed land-use entitlements for the 95-acre course, clearing a significant hurdle for the project to move forward.

The sprawling community is being developed by McCormack Baron Salazar and the nonprofit Urban Strategies Inc., both operating under Desert Pines Master Development LLC.

We focus on a quality, mixed-income approach," said Vincent Bennett, CEO of McCormack. "Resilient housing is key, but also places where families and children can be resilient.

He said the firm had operated in 24 U.S. states for a half-century.

The vision for the project started to come together in 2022 when "the future of the golf course was in question," Councilwoman Olivia Diaz told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "And all of our minds came together and we started hammering out this vision."

Diaz, who represents the ward that includes the golf course off Bonanza and Pecos roads, said the land will "provide all kinds of housing opportunities for our community."

"It will also provide workforce training and education opportunities," she added.

The community will house a College of Southern Nevada training center and offer 10 acres for recreation, and space for commercial use, according to city officials. An early education campus has also been proposed.

Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong said the project gives her hope for her Ward 5, which includes the underdeveloped Historic Westside.

People are afraid of the words affordable housing," she said. "They think it's going to affect them disproportionately.

Uplift the community

A total of 400 homes will be put up for sale and about 1,100 will be offered for rent, according to McCormack Baron and Salazar, which committed to reserve at least half of the rentals for lower-income residents.

Two-thirds of the project will have two- to three-bedroom units, and the remaining will house one-bedroom homes, said Falcon Groupe President Daniel Falcon, who is partnered with McCormack.

The homes being sold at market value will help protect property values in surrounding neighborhoods, he said. "We want to uplift the community, not just what we're building but (also) what's surrounding."

The community will be divided into parcels and built in two phases, said Dina Babsky, the city's director of economic and urban development.

The first phase, expected to break ground in 2027, will include 10 parcels split evenly between homes for sale and affordable rentals, she said. The final phase is expected to begin in 2030 with completion estimated for 2036.

The affordable housing portion of the development is expected to cost $440 million, according to the city.

The developer has secured a $25 million loan from the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank. Clark County and the city of Las Vegas have invested another $22 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Funds generated through home sales will be reinvested into the affordable housing portion, Babsky added.

The federal government pre-approved $5 million for the training center, she said.

Falcon said the partners were "very very happy to be trusted by the city and the councilwoman's leadership to select us."

Diaz said building the community aims to address a growing affordable housing shortage in Southern Nevada.

"Cost of everything has exploded and rents have skyrocketed, so many people feel like they're one paycheck away from being homeless," the councilwoman said. "I feel like the rentals will help people save some resources to then be able to attain that homeownership dream that so many of us have," she added.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com .

©2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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