

A very Merry Christmas to all our readers from the LandlordZONE editorial team.
Are landlords to blame for our housing crisis, or are they on the receiving end of a very raw deal?
Scottish ministers have defended proposals to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector by 2028.
A leading figure in the property world has pinned the blame for the UK’s rocketing rent rises on the Government, claiming that it’s absurd to accuse landlords and letting agents of profiteering from huge demand.
Octopus Energy is launching its first private rental properties in the new year, kitted out with solar panels, heat pumps, and home storage batteries, where tenants are guaranteed to pay no energy bills for a minimum of five years.
The government has given Peterborough Council the green light for its new selective licensing scheme, covering 40% of the city’s private rental properties.
Landlords who are unable to sell apartments because the block they are in continue to suffer from post-Grenfell fire safety issues have been given some additional Xmas cheer.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove has strongly hinted that selective licensing schemes will not be needed when the government’s new property portal is launched.
A landlord looks set to lose his leasehold flat after being caught renting it out on Airbnb by his freeholder.
A West Sussex landlord has been prevented from letting out HMOs after he admitted operating an unlicensed property.
Despite Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s insistence that rents hadn’t increased when standards were raised during previous initiatives, Justice Minister Sarah Sackman has now said there are grounds for “higher market rents”.
A tenant has built up more than £10,000 in rent arrears after the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) refused to accept her landlord’s word that the rent had increased.
Report from digital planning portal suggests public fight-back against HMOs and higher taxes for landlords are beginning to bite.
Radical renting campaigners have written a new book that aims to inspire the end of UK landlords’ “despotic control” over tenants.
The Norfolk seaside town of Great Yarmouth has revealed plans to introduce a five-year selective licensing scheme for rented properties in three key wards.
A landlord who worked as an estate agent assistant has been jailed for stealing more than £167,000 from her employer, it has been reported.
Landlords have been urged to share their experiences of being hit by County Court delays when evicting tenants.
Leaseholders have failed in their attempt to stop freeholders from challenging the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act.
Removing fixed-term tenancies will drive up rents as landlords switch to short-term lets, warns Propertymark.
A landlord with multiple properties in Bootle has been ordered to pay £22,630 for ignoring safety risks that left his tenants facing imminent danger.
A significant number of people seeking properties to rent are finding themselves excluded and forced to live in temporary accommodation, it has been claimed, as landlords be become more risk averse.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has backed calls for better funding of councils’ housing enforcement and stronger selective licensing.
Landlords have criticised the Government’s plan to raise the minimum period of rent arrears from two to three months before they can be served notice to repossess.
The Welsh Government wants landlords to lease their empty properties to local councils in a bid to boost the number of affordable homes within its private rented sector.
Labour MP Florence Eshalomi has promised to hold the government to account in her new role as chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
Auctioneers have urged the government not to increase Capital Gains Tax at a time when confidence is returning to the housing market.
A landlord struggling with an eviction has spoken out against the system which he says is heavily skewed in favour of tenants.
Almost half of landlords have sold a property in the last year or plan to do so, according to the latest sobering industry survey.
Tenants’ groups want the government to also introduce longer protected periods.
Property refurbishments are becoming increasingly important for landlords as the Government prepares to force the sector to upgrade properties to minimum levels of energy performance by 2030.
The majority of landlords (75%) are very concerned about plans to abolish no-fault evictions, labelling it “a catastrophe”.
A fed-up landlord wants the government to legislate for more stringent referencing after being hit by rent dodging and criminal tenants.
Landlords and agents could face fines of up to £40,000 for breaching new rules set to be introduced as part of the Government’s Renters’ Rights Bill.
Nottingham Council has been told to hand back more than £2,800 to landlord Mick Roberts after a court ruled it had overcharged for lease extension surveys.
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate is to leave the homelessness charity next March after more than seven years.
A trade association’s new tech solution aims to help landlords identify and resolve the root causes of damp and mould in rented properties.
Will you be passing on your hard-earned wealth to the next generation before the budget, you don't have long
Reducing red tape for landlords would boost the supply of private rental properties, curb rent increases and create better quality housing for tenants, according to lenders’ trade body UK Finance.
Private landlords face a £21.4 billion bill to bring their properties up to the proposed EPC C rating by 2030.
Rogue landlords face being forced to pay back up to 24 months’ rent as part of a shake-up of Rent Repayment Orders under the new Renters’ Rights Bill.
Aspiring portfolio landlords are increasingly targeting higher yielding multi-unit blocks (MUB) and HMOs rather than traditional flats and semis.
The Welsh government's attempts to persaude second home owners to sell up isn't working and instead is damaging local tourism economies, a leading tourism figure has claimed.
An experienced landlord who has rented a house in London for many years says she is selling the property after the recent and looming changes to the sector have made it ‘too risky’.