Akiva worked in the charity sector and property management before joining the legal team at Landlord Action. He has helped countless landlords get back possession of their property from some of the most difficult tenants.”
Alex Nolan, Senior Training Manager at NRLA, provides expert training on HMO management, tenancy processes, and rental sector legislative updates.
Alphaletz is designed to be a simple, cost-effective solution to these problems. Their mission is to free you from the burden of spreadsheets and paperwork, so you can free up time and keep an eye on your profits.
Partner at Xeinadin. Xeinadin is a leading provider of accountancy services and business advice for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals across the UK and Ireland.
Established in 1860 to care for abandoned animals, Battersea aims to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help. In 2023, we helped 2,529 dogs and 2,450 cats across our three centres. Our work means we see day-to-day the many animal welfare issues facing dogs, cats and the people who care for them.
Croydon Council has postponed its additional and selective landlord licensing schemes just before they were due to launch.
Political control does not neatly predict whether a council has an Article 4 Direction or refuses more HMO applications, according to research.
Rising Conservative star Katie Lam has been appointed as the party’s new Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary.
Landlords’ expenses have risen by more than twice as much as their rental income during the past five years, according to HMRC figures.
Leasing Scheme Wales, which allows landlords to rent out properties via their local authority, is to shut down in January.
Private bailiffs in England and Wales will need to be accredited under new laws announced by the government.
The Renters' Rights Act means extra load on an already creaking service. Will the planned changes alleviate the problems landlords are facing?
The NRLA has called for a deferred annual investment allowance that would encourage landlords to provide long-term stable housing.
Section 21 ends: Paul Shamplina and Paul Sowerbutts reveal the rush, mistakes and challenges landlords now face under the new regime.
Build-to-rent landlord Legal & General could face a whopping multi-million-pound rent repayment order.
HMRC will start signing up landlords who it believes should already be using Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from next week.
Renters in the capital have reported that some landlords are encouraging ‘inverse bidding wars’ to get round new rental rules.
Landlord and property developer Rob Stewart is on a mission to prompt a rethink of how to solve the housing crisis.
Landlords blame tax – not regulations - as the biggest barrier to investment, according to the latest poll.
A letting agent has been accused of failing to return the deposits of more than 100 tenants, according to a BBC investigation.
Future-proof your rental with energy upgrades, flexible spaces, parking, outdoor areas and HMO potential to attract tenants.
Rent caps can reduce rental supply, discourage maintenance and leave some families in homes that don’t meet their needs, finds new research.
Landlords and agents are still getting new pet rules wrong, with campaigners warning of unlawful tenancy clauses and costly mistakes.
Tenants’ groups have called on the government to include rent data and details about evictions in the new PRS Database.
A landlord firm that let a historic building fall into disrepair has been told to pay more than £8,000.
Almost half of holiday let owners say profits have risen despite the loss of Furnished Holiday Let tax breaks.
HMO landlords are nearly twice as likely to win planning appeals outside Article 4 areas, according to new research.
If the King can't afford to insulate his cottages, what chance for the rest of us?
Rental listings have almost doubled in Tyne and Wear during the last year, making it the fastest-growing rental market in England.
Landlords who fail to keep their rental properties in good condition could see as much as £30,172 wiped from the value of an average buy-to-let.
A small group of larger landlords now controls a growing share of the Welsh PRS, with rental growth concentrated in Cardiff and Swansea.
Property tribunals are planning changes to the way cases are handled as they prepare for a significant increase in workload.
Landlords have been urged to help stop illegal tobacco being sold from Oxfordshire shops by carrying out proper checks on tenants.
A landlord has had a £7,500 fine upheld after failing to address 21 electrical safety defects at a property where four children were living.
Landlords in Lewisham may no longer be able to rely on waiting for a tenant complaint before problems come to the council’s attention.
Demonstrating that you’re claiming a fair market rent at the tribunal hearing is crucial to winning your case
Burnley Council plans to restrict new HMOs in a bid to deter investors who see the borough as a “high yield investment opportunity”.
The number of landlords hit by rent arrears has fallen to a record low, with most continuing to report profitable lettings businesses.
The government is hiring 1,000 new judges and tribunal members this year to cope with increased demand due to the Renters’ Rights Act.
Landlords in Bolton would face mandatory training as a condition of getting an additional licence under plans agreed by the town council.
The proportion of landlords reporting strong tenant demand has risen for the first time since early 2024.
Tribunal orders landlord to repay £17,475 and criticises her property management style.
Stourbridge wildfires raise a difficult question for landlords: what happens when a rental is suddenly left uninhabitable?
Voice of Landlords Associations has called for an independent review of English councils’ relationships with Justice for Tenants.
More than 100 rental homes on the royal estates fail to meet legal minimum energy standards, an investigation has found.
Periodic, well-documented inspections are not an ad hoc luxury to be disregarded at will, but a necessity in today’s devious world
Buy-to-let investors are using their chain-free position and cash reserves to drive hard bargains, according to Hamptons.
Guernsey’s landlord association has warned that incoming rental reforms will push many older and experienced landlords towards the exit.
The NRLA suggests there’s no clear link between benefit levels and rent increases, as ministers consider continuing to freeze rates.
HMO landlords using letting agents could face an unexpected administrative burden under Making Tax Digital (MTD).
Section 21 claims are likely to break records this year, despite only being legal for the first seven months, predicts Paul Shamplina.
An Upper Tribunal has ruled that a banned landlord's tenants should have been considered when making the order.
Protesting tenants in London turned up at Housing Secretary Angela Rayner’s office to hand her a cheque for £20,001.
An increasingly stressed landlord community feel they are becoming a convenient scapegoat for many of housing problems.
The First-tier Tribunal’s ruled that Property118’s incorporation planning did not need to be disclosed under HMRCs Disclosure of Tax Avoidance
The average rental void period in England has eased since the Renters’ Rights Act came in and now stands at 21 days.
Landlords in Brighton & Hove are getting cash to fund EPC improvements - if they help solve the city’s temporary accommodation shortage.
Section 21 is gone but getting your property back isn’t. Paul Shamplina outlines what landlords need to know about the new Section 8 reality.
Letting agents have started using AI to deal with increasingly sophisticated tenants’ complaints…generated by AI.
The Supreme Court is to rule on a key Section 21 gas safety dispute which could affect scores of landlords’ possession claims.
Leaseholders in England and Wales can use a new tool to find out how much time is left on their lease and to work out the cost of extending it.
Tenants need an annual salary of £74,520 to afford the average London home after monthly rents in the capital climbed to £2,484.
Landlords are being urged to gather tribunal-ready evidence to justify rent increases under the new Section 13 regime.
A tribunal has criticised a landlord who failed to license her rental property, describing her as dismissive of tenants’ concerns.
About 400,000 landlords and self-employed people have failed to register in time for today's Making Tax Digital deadline.
Norwich landlords could soon face new additional and selective licensing schemes after the council agreed to progress proposals.
Fraudsters are using AI to create entire fake tenant identities and slip past referencing checks, reports Goodlord.
Market student rentals early, get renewals in writing, and keep records to reduce voids, disputes and risks under new rental rules.
A landlord has been told to pay more than £4,500 after failing to clear piles of rubbish that attracted vermin from his three rental properties.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is planning a major crackdown on the number and quality of HMOs across the city.
The London borough of Haringey is setting up a renters’ forum as Sadiq Khan invests £400,000 in council enforcement.
Section 21 and the assured shorthold tenancy finally came to an end on the 31st of July. Tom Entwistle comments
Burnley and Scarbrough councils want landlords to have their say on plans to extend selective licensing in their boroughs.
The government has pledged to reduce duplicate data entry in the PRS Database after early testing by landlords.
Landlords who can show evidence of rents actually achieved could be in a stronger position when defending rent increases at tribunal.
After the Section 21 deadline rush, attention turns to whether the new Section 8 grounds and courts can deliver timely possession.
Landlord possession claims surged 28% in July as owners raced to meet the final Section 21 court deadline before new rules took effect.
Property118 wins DOTAS appeal, but the ruling doesn't confirm its incorporation planning works for all landlords.
Ministers have revealed the detailed landlord enforcement data that councils will be expected to hand over from next year.
Overseas renters account for almost two-thirds of Foxtons' tenants, highlighting the referencing challenge facing landlords.
Buy-to-let can deliver rental income and long-term growth, but success depends on choosing the right location and planning costs.
A former letting agency boss has admitted she scammed almost £50,000 from dozens of tenants and landlords.
The build-to-rent sector saw one of the sharpest falls in the number of new starts on site during the last quarter.
Tribunals appear increasingly willing to award compensation for minor issues at unreasonable percentages, says a landlord group.
Landlords are taking advantage of Oxford’s housing shortage to rent out badly maintained HMOs, according to the city council.
Covid devastated the small enterprise section of the commercial property market. Are we at last seeing signs of recovery?
Regional rent controls could move a step closer after Labour’s Bev Craig won the Greater Manchester’s mayoral election.
Another Liverpool City Region is debating proposals to bring in a selective licensing scheme for private rented homes.
The Welsh Government is reviewing the 182-day letting threshold used to classify self-catering properties for local tax purposes.
Eviction specialist Paul Shamplina says it’s been “carnage” this week as landlords try to beat the last-minute rush to issue possession claims.
UK interest rates have been held at 3.75% for a fifth time by the Bank of England.
A group of Thurrock landlords have lost their final chance to challenge the Essex borough’s scheme and must stump up £7,500 in costs.
Tenant referencing has just got a whole lot more complicated and necessary – make sure you get it right
HMO landlords are ahead of the game when it comes to making energy efficiency improvements, according to Paragon Bank.
Landlords in Preston could soon have to pay £1,050 for a selective licence - but the council wants their views on whether to allow discounts.
mydeposits launches new Total Property platform, simpler pricing and cheaper insured deposit protection for landlords and agents.
A landlord whose tenants had to use toilets at work when repairs weren’t done at their unlicensed flat has been ordered to repay £24,480.
Landlords have been urged to conduct pest inspections and ensure tenants understand rubbish etiquette amid a rise in rat infestations.
Landlords paid £104 million in voluntary tax disclosures in the last financial year as HMRC casts its net wider.
Liverpool Council is weighing up the pros and cons of three potential selective licensing schemes which will impact city landlords next year.
Gedling Borough Council wants landlords’ views on whether it should bring in tougher rules for HMO conversions.
A landlord who ignored repeated requests to provide his tenant with hot water has been told to pay £5,600 in fines.
Tenants are now much less likely to search for pet-friendly rental properties following rental reforms, says Rightmove.
Land value tax has a high administration cost; will it ever get off the ground?
New Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has confirmed that the government is not looking to bring in rent controls in England.
An Edinburgh landlord set-up hidden cameras in the bedroom and bathroom of his flat, to film people in bed and in the shower.The cameras were discovered by a young couple, friends of the landlord who allowed them to use the accommodation. The couple found a box on the living room table with a cam
Amongst the ways to agree or ascertain the (open) market rent at rent review or on renewal of a lease, (per s.34-s35 Landlord and Tenant Act 1954), is the use of comparable evidence.At rent review, the market rent for the premises is not what rent the actual tenant would agree or could afford, bu
There are two instances of section 20 notices in property in England, what are they?
Who pays for maintenance and repairs in a residential letting, landlord or tenant?Is it, for example, a tenants responsibility once they occupy my building to look after most of the regular house maintenance items? If the fridge stops working does the tenant or the landlord need to repair it?Y
With commercial property, rent reviews are generally to the open market rent, but sometimes the rent would be adjusted to the Retail Price Index (RPI). RPI is generally considered more favourable to landlords than CPI or other methodologies.There is no link between open market rent and inflatio
Amongst the thorny issues in the relationship between landlord and tenant is the building insurance premium. Unlike residential property where the landlord has a vested interest in making sure the premium is competitive, because more than likely the premium would not be recoverable from the tenan
Theres recently been a spate of press reports and political wrangling about the existence of Zero-Hour Contracts. This has become something of a hot political issue as we approach a general election, and one surprising development is recent attempts to embroil landlords in the issue, as if the
Traditionally, with commercial (business) leases, a contractual provision within the lease specifies the use, or uses to which a property may be put and the uses which are prohibited.The formal classification of Uses� are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 as a
As most Assured Shorthold Tenancies (AST) are by definition, short, there is usually no need for landlords to get involved in processing a rent increase.However, some ASTs run for long periods after the fixed term has ended, i.e., when the tenancy becomes a statutory periodic tenancy, hence there
General Election: Part of Laboursbid to be elected on 12th December is a raft of taxraising measures aimed at buy-to-let landlords and second homeowners. Jeremy CorbynsLabour party manifesto launch last week outlined a n
Condensation andmould : This time of year,as the temperature drops, both new homes and old homes aresusceptible to the formation of condensation and unsightly mould: newhomes because they are effectively a sealed box, and old homesbecause they often lack ef
The colder weather is here again, its that time of year coming; you feel that cold chill in the air, the snow and ice will soon arrive, and you know its time to get out that winter coat, scarf and gloves.You also know that cold wet weather on the way will test your rental properties and tenant
Portfolio Landlords: Buy to let lender Paragons recent research shows that professionaland larger-scale landlords are still investing and are increasing the size oftheir portfolios through more targeted investments. With an average portfolio
New rules that came into force in March allow https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/landlords-sue-cold-damp-homes-law-tenants-renting-housing-a8776671.html" tenants to sue landlords for issues like cold and damp. A broken heating system or poor ventilation that
Commercial Property : A recent High Court decision in Co-Operative Group Food Ltdv. A&A Shah Properties Ltd (2019) relates to an authorised guaranteeagreement (AGA) dispute, in this case an agreement involving a guarantor of theoutgoing tenant. <p id
The Government has announced its intention to scrap Section 21 notices for eviction in an effort to offer tenants more long-term security.
Commercial: A new set of mandatory rules introduced from 1stApril 2019 and though the document itself is titled a first edition, itsupersedes 3 previous editions published as codes of practice. The RICS (Royal Institution of Ch
Security: Renovating a buy-to-let property can be a great way for landlords to increase the rental income
Abandonment: When times get hard the instances of tenants leaving without notice are known to increase. Doing a runner�, skipping� moonlight flitting� walking away� or gone away� and in the words of the immortal song;
Tenancy Deposits: According to TDS (Tenancy Deposit Scheme) less than 1% (0.85%) of tenancies they handle have resulted in a deposit dispute in the year to March 2018, nevertheless its important to get it right when dealing with tenants' deposits.Cleaning was the most com
Viewpoint by Tom Entwistle As winter approaches outside temperatures drop and the perennial landlords problem of winter condensation and black mould rear their ugly heads again.The question is, how do you know if this is caused by the building or the tenant, or is it a co
Landlords' Tax: Internet sites, such as AirBnB, have increased the number of landlords letting to lodgers and to guests on short stays. There are specific tax benefits to this type of letting business which are expanded upon below.Furnished holiday letting</st
Section 21: Most tenancies will never require the service of a Section 21, Housing Act 1988, (eviction) notice. However, on those occasions when it does become necessary, and you just never know, landlords (and agents) will thank their lucky starts they complied with the rul
Asbestos:Asbestos regulations were last updated in 2012 , bringing the UK in line with EU regulations, which means the current regulations have been in place long enough for most
The Application Form You should always use a comprehensive Tenancy Application Form when taking on a new tenant. You need a completed application for each adult tenant in the property.The Tenancy application form is a very important starting point for any residential or comm
End of an AST: Questions: What happens when an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) comes to an end? Will the tenant have to leave or does she need to sign a new agreement? What if a tenant wants to leave early? How long can a periodic tenancy last?When the fixed term (minimum of
Landlords often buy flats which are either Leasehold or Shared Freehold. What are these tenures and what should landlords look out for in these different forms of ownership?Leasehold is one of three forms of tenure (property/land ownership) almost exclusively peculiar to the United Kingdom, thoug
Landlord's Access to Property: Many landlords will have experienced a tenant denying them access to a property - whether for an inspection, viewings or legal duties. Its easy to understand the view of Its my property, I can enter when I want, but unfortunately th
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