Agents selling and letting property are turning increasingly to short term holiday lettings as tides turn in the property industry. A quarter of the properties advertised by letting agencies through holidaylettings.co.uk have been new business since January this year; an increase of a third in new agent business compared to the first eight months of [...]
First-time buyers are squeezed out while cash-rich investors buy properties free of stamp duty Property developers and house hunters bid for the best price. Judith Heywood, TimesOnline.co.uk – 26 Sept 2008 Oil, gold and repossessed property – these are the safe havens being sought out by cash-rich investors as financial markets around the world try [...]
Furnished or Unfurnished? What is the legal definition? My tenant claims I have not provided what I should have done. In fact there is no legal definition of furnished, unfurnished or even part-furnished in the UK – these are terms which have come about through custom and practice - in reality they have no industry standard so [...]
Squatters – my property has been unoccupied for only a short time and I have discovered that squatters have moved in. What can I do? This is a question that comes up quite often. Most landlords are surprised to learn that squatting in itself is not a crime. Occupying a property without the owner’s consent [...]
I understand that if I let on a license my tenant has fewer rights under the law. Can I simply call my agreement a license instead of a tenancy agreement? Landlords would often prefer to let under a license as it does indeed give the tenant fewer rights under the law. However, this is far [...]
My tenant has abandoned the property, or at least it appears to be the case, since there’s been no sign of him for 3 weeks now. He owes me 2 months’ rent but he has left all his possessions in the property. What can I do? This is a common story and one which we [...]
Graham Beale’s forecast for the housing market The chief executive of the Nationwide Building Society has told BBC News that he thinks house prices could fall as much as 25% from their peak. Robert Peston, BBC business editor, BBC News – 8th Sept 08 This prediction implies that 2.5 million homeowners could be pushed into [...]
The number of people renting a home has soared by nearly 20% during the past three months as the housing market turmoil puts people off buying a property, a survey shows. LoughboroughEcho.net – Sep 9 2008 Around 64% of letting agents outside of London said demand for rental property outstripped the number of homes they [...]
The thing about population projections is that they are usually wrong. Our problem in future may be getting people to stay David Aaronovitch, The Times – 9 Sept 2008 It was a strange conceit, I thought as I listened to their Laurel and Hardy act on the Today programme yesterday, to suggest that if Nicholas [...]
A hairdresser has said she hopes to appeal after a convicted rapist sued her from jail when she cleared out the flat he rented above one of her salons. BBC News Thomas Cope, 55, disappeared eight months after moving into the flat above Melody Goymer’s salon in Hailsham, near Eastbourne, East Sussex. He had been [...]
