We talk to lawyer turned self-managing landlord, Suzanne Smith, founder of The Independent Landlord.blog and co-host of a weekly podcast called Good Landlording.
Nottinghamshire local authority Gedling Council is relaunching selective licensing in its Netherfield ward in the new year after seeing “incredible improvements” to living standards.
Following years of lobbying, Labour has promised to act on what is generally agreed is an unfair UK business rates system
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has hinted heavily that the government will go further than the Tories in its bid to regulate holiday lets.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has confirmed he doesn’t want landlords to exit the market, in marked contrast to comments made by his national Labour colleagues in Parliament.
Hamptons predicts that rents will rise by 17% between 2024 and 2027, outpacing house price growth of 12.5%.
Now is a great time for landlords to look at ways to manage their property portfolios online as wide-reaching legislation change looms, including a new digital Private Rented Sector database.
More than half the rental listings on Facebook Marketplace are likely to be scams, according to an investigation by Generation Rent.
The group, which includes politicians and activists, say the commission is the step toweards rent controls in the capital.
New Rules for Section 21 :Landlords and Agents need to be aware of the changes affecting Section 21 rules and Notices and other changes for the letting of residential properties in England (and in many cases Wales) introduced during 2015 . This article explains the new rules
Many landlords have long suspected that the DCLG approved national calculation methodologies and software programs were seriously flawed when they produced EPC ratings for buildings following energy assessments.So news that new software is being introduced which is claimed to be more accurate is
Serving Notices: Landlords and agents often get confused as to how they should serve Notices on their tenants.Ordinarily it wouldnt matter what method is used, but if you end up in court with a possession or money claim, or some such court action, then what and how you se
Tenant are Consumers: The UK Consumer Protection law applies to letting agents and landlords alike when they advertise a property to let or create a new tenancy. It also applies to most private landlords when they deal with letting agents, unless they operate as a company.
Obtaining Possession Using Section 21 Notices Updated October 2016This article explains how to gain possession of your residential rental property in the most efficient way possible. You may just want your property back for your own use, or to sell, or you may be having prob
Winter Condensation: Its that time of year again, a time when tenants are most likely to complain about the mould appearing in those corners of the property where the walls and ceilings are really cold, and hot air with moisture always rises to the top. If its black mo
Tax Relief: Starting from 6th April 2017, those landlords with mortgages will have tax relief on their buy-to-let mortgage costs gradually reduce over a 4-year period.Many landlords dont have a mortgage (up to 50% it is said), so this change does not affect them, but many
Rent Arrears: At this time of year, soon after the Christmas spending spree, inevitably rent payments begin to suffer. If you are having problems with rent arrears, this article should help.As in most areas of life,prevention is better than cure . To re
Tax Return 2016-2017: As a general rule, and as outlined in the previous articles in this series on tax returns, landlords can claim the expenses of running and maintaining their rental properties.If the rent you charge includes additional services like water, or council tax
A landlord in Liverpool has secured £2.3 million to refinance eight student HMOs within the city and unusually has gone public about the deal.
A letting agent has criticised police who failed to act when vandals threw a brick through one of his tenant’s windows.
The never-ending onslaught of landlords, including the abolition of Section 21, tough EPC rules, and changes to stamp duty, have left landlords fed up and thinking of throwing in the towel.
A tenants’ champion has slammed energy companies for failing to help renters with energy bill problems at HMOs.
Northwood letting agency in Romford has gone bust, leaving angry landlords out of pocket.
Most landlords who voted Labour wouldn’t do it again, a new survey from buy-to-lender Landbay has found.
Surveyors are the latest group to report a cooling rental market in the UK, with a slowing in demand among tenants for the first time since 2020.
Reading Council has given the go-ahead for an additional licensing scheme in the town – and defended the rising costs set to hit landlords.
Generation Rent has urged renters to get more MPs backing amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Rental growth in the UK has dropped to 3.9%, its lowest level in more than three years and down from 9.1% a year ago.
Demand for accessible homes is growing as the tenant population ages, a leading estate agency has reported, calling on Labour to help landlords finance upgrades.
With substantial capital gains gathered within your properties, selling the whole portfolio will probably leave you exposed to a substantial capital gains tax bill
The Welsh Government has followed its counterparts in England and Scotland and raised the stamp duty that landlords buying rental properties must pay, effective from tomorrow.
Landlords may need to prepare for a turbulent and potentially very costly ride once the Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law, a financial expert has warned.
A landlord has been ordered to pay six tenants a whopping £44,358 after failing to provide an excuse for operating an unlicensed HMO.
Tenants heading for retirement age are the fastest growing group privately renting in England, according to new figures.
Tenant group Acorn has protested outside a landlord’s shop after he refused to return a former tenant’s deposit in a dispute over a leak.
Edinburgh Council has responded to accusations of double standards when housing homeless people in 30 unlicensed HMOs by moving tenants out of the properties.
Hyndburn Council wants to deter landlords from making the most of its cheap properties and ‘multiple deprivation’ by clamping down on HMO conversions.
As we approach the festive season of 2024, like many of us, I find myself drawn to Charles Dickens's timeless tale, A Christmas Carol.
Landlords blame upcoming legislation and tax changes for causing 73% of them to feel less confident than they did last year.
Renter groups have called on the government to do more to tackle ‘out of control’ rents, as a government survey reveals that more than a third of landlords increasing rents on new tenancies did so by at least 15%.
Nearly a third of landlords plan to reduce the size of their portfolio in the next two years, with 16% aiming to sell all their properties, official research shows.
The 2019 Tenant Fees Act, which over the past five years has severely restricted what fees landlords and letting agents can charge tenants, has been a success, two academics have claimed.
A partnership has been agreed that will enable landlord who are members of the National Residential Landlords Association and letting agents to better manage tenancy changeovers, for free.
