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'Licencing schemes should be abolished and replaced with annual MOT'

'Licencing schemes should be abolished and replaced with annual MOT'

News

Licencing schemes are a blunt instrument, pointlessly cost compliant landlords hundreds of pounds, are ignored by rogue operators and consume scarce council resources.

Property experts say new EPC target 'impossible to meet'

Property experts say new EPC target 'impossible to meet'

News

A straw poll of building surveyors, recovery experts, private landlords, investors and developers has found that the vast majority deem the government’s EPC C target by 2030 as impossible to meet.

Landlord fined £5,000 after ignoring improvement notices

Landlord fined £5,000 after ignoring improvement notices

News

A landlord has been handed a £5,000 fine after persistently ignoring requests to carry out improvement works on his property – despite being a builder.

EPCs to be replaced by a new Home Energy Model this year

EPCs to be replaced by a new Home Energy Model this year

News

EPCs to be upgraded with a new method of assessment, the new "Home Energy Model", later this year

US rent data firm with UK arm faces legal action at home

US rent data firm with UK arm faces legal action at home

News

A tech firm is being sued by the US government for allowing landlords in America to increase rents and stifle competition.

Eco-upgrade schemes worth £20m for landlords now live across England

Eco-upgrade schemes worth £20m for landlords now live across England

News

Landlords can get free or subsidised advice on eco upgrades from a raft of new government-funded schemes that are now up and running across England.

Solicitor convicted of harassing tenants given suspended jail term

Solicitor convicted of harassing tenants given suspended jail term

News

A landlord in Northern Ireland has been handed a jail sentence of two months suspended for two years.

Report paints grim picture of homeless excluded from private rented sector

Report paints grim picture of homeless excluded from private rented sector

News

Access to low-cost private rented housing across England has become nearly impossible for ‘bottom of the market’ people living in homelessness accommodation and services, according to new research.

Boom in landlords turning to short lets since 2022

Boom in landlords turning to short lets since 2022

News

Most landlords don’t use the agent they bought the property from to rent it out – and are increasingly likely not to market it as a long-term tenancy.

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Rent increases slowing, but tenant demand is still outpacing supply

Rent increases slowing, but tenant demand is still outpacing supply

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News
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The latest data shows that rent increases have been slowing but tenant demand still outstrips supply

Official figures confirm Scotland's PRS is shrinking

Official figures confirm Scotland's PRS is shrinking

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News
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The Scottish government has published new evidence that confirms the country’s private rented sector is getting smaller.

Former Tory councillor banned after poor repairs

Former Tory councillor banned after poor repairs

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News
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A former Conservative councillor has been banned from letting properties for two years after repeatedly failing to comply with improvement notices.

Lib Dem manifesto promises renters a fair deal

Lib Dem manifesto promises renters a fair deal

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News
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The Liberal Democrats have vowed to make three-year tenancies the default and to require landlords to achieve an EPC C or above by 2028.

mydeposits and No Letting Go launch strategic partnership

mydeposits and No Letting Go launch strategic partnership

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News
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mydeposits partners with No Letting Go to enhance inventory management and deposit protection for landlords and agents.

When does a tenancy legally commence?

When does a tenancy legally commence?

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News
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A tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant is just like any other contract, it is legally binding on both parties.

Letting agent's contract renewal email spurs author to write book

Letting agent's contract renewal email spurs author to write book

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News
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A private tenant has been inspired to pen her first novel by a contract renewal email sent by a letting agent - and has even named it after the letting platform involved.

Irony of ironies: Gove 'evicted' from his Ministerial home!

Irony of ironies: Gove 'evicted' from his Ministerial home!

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News
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Housing Secretary Michael Gove faces eviction from his government-owned mansion on 5th July, the morning after the election.

HMO group wins gong for changing official tax policy

HMO group wins gong for changing official tax policy

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News
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HMO Reform Group won a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s annual HMO Awards for its campaigning work to change the law on council tax being imposed on individual HMO rooms.

More pet rights for tenants tops landlords worries over reforms

More pet rights for tenants tops landlords worries over reforms

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News
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Landlords are more concerned about tenants’ right to request to keep a pet than the potential abolition of Section 21, a new poll reveals.

HMRC restarts landlord pilots for its 'Making Tax Digital' scheme

HMRC restarts landlord pilots for its 'Making Tax Digital' scheme

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News
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More landlords can now try out Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax after HMRC paused the pilot last February.

Rise in HMOs pushes BTL yields to highest for six years

Rise in HMOs pushes BTL yields to highest for six years

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News
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Average rental yields have hit a six-year high with HMOs and properties in the North East offering landlords the best returns.

EPCs are misleading, inaccurate and need reform, says Which?

EPCs are misleading, inaccurate and need reform, says Which?

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News
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Consumer organisation Which? says there is considerable evidence that many EPCs are ‘not accurate’.

Landlord fined £528,000 after fence mending work leads to burns

Landlord fined £528,000 after fence mending work leads to burns

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News
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A large landlord has been fined £528,000 after a maintenance crew member repairing a fence post inadvertently struck an underground cable, suffering facial burns.

Landlords slam 'infuriating' licencing rules now driving evictions

Landlords slam 'infuriating' licencing rules now driving evictions

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News
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Landlords in Portsmouth say vulnerable tenants are being unfairly displaced due to the council’s draconian additional licencing scheme.

Rebel MPs demand ground rents abolished for existing leaseholds

Rebel MPs demand ground rents abolished for existing leaseholds

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A group of 30 Tory MPs have written to the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning that they may vote against the Government’s Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill unless ground rents are abolished for both future and existing leaseholds.

Rent controls 'will undermine investment in PRS' says expert

Rent controls 'will undermine investment in PRS' says expert

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News
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Rent controls will undermine investment in Scotland’s PRS unless there is more long-term certainty, according to one leading lettings expert.

London landlord narrowly avoids refunding tenant £32,000

London landlord narrowly avoids refunding tenant £32,000

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News
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A landlord has avoided a £32,000 rent repayment order after a judge ruled his flat was at an address not covered by a licensing scheme, but only just.

Section 21 increasingly being used by landlords to evict as ban looms

Section 21 increasingly being used by landlords to evict as ban looms

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News
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Section 21 evictions reached record highs in 2023, with over 25,000 households facing homelessness, prompting calls for urgent reform.

'Time for bold action with rent controls has come' says mayor hopeful

'Time for bold action with rent controls has come' says mayor hopeful

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News
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The Green Party’s mayoral candidate in London has said she will bring in rent controls saying the time for ‘bold action’ has come.

Landlords promised compensation as huge estate faces bulldozer

Landlords promised compensation as huge estate faces bulldozer

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News
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Landlords have been promised fair compensation by a developer planning to bulldoze scores of homes on one of England’s most deprived housing estates.

Letting agents call for short-lets crackdown in London

Letting agents call for short-lets crackdown in London

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News
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Propertymark has urged London’s Mayor to crack down on short-term lets through licensing in a bid to tackle over-supply in the capital.

Struggling HMO giant sells off more properties

Struggling HMO giant sells off more properties

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News
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Troubled property development company Home Holdings has put another raft of HMOs onto the market in a bid to shore up losses.

Osborne's 3% extra stamp duty is reason for BTL buying slump

Osborne's 3% extra stamp duty is reason for BTL buying slump

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News
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The decision by George Osborne in 2015 to introduce a 3% additional stamp duty levy on landlords has seen a slump in the number of BTL properties bought in the Tory heartlands of Southern England.

'Scotland's fast-rising rents are the SNP/Green's fault'

'Scotland's fast-rising rents are the SNP/Green's fault'

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A leading letting agent in Scotland has laid the blame for the country’s rental supply woes firmly at the feet of former Tenants’ Rights minister Patrick Harvie.

Fugitive Midlands landlord faces long jail sentence

Fugitive Midlands landlord faces long jail sentence

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News
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A rogue landlord and fugitive fraudster who intimidated his tenants is in jail after more than five years on the run.

Landlord fined for 'unlawfully profiting' from London flat

Landlord fined for 'unlawfully profiting' from London flat

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News
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A landlord who used an agreement that tried to undermine her tenants’ rights has been fined a total of £5,800.

Protesters force South West council to evict their business tenant

Protesters force South West council to evict their business tenant

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News
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Financially challenged Somerset Council has capitulated after a concerted campaign by protesters force it to abandon one of its business tenants

RICS survey shows signs of commercial property recovery

RICS survey shows signs of commercial property recovery

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News
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Signs that the market is moving into a recovery phase, though there is still ample evidence that there remains a challenging backdrop. 

NEW:Landlords to face unimited fines if they illegally convert homes into HMOs

NEW:Landlords to face unimited fines if they illegally convert homes into HMOs

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News
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New changes to planning rules mean rogue landlords who illegally convert HMOs could face an unlimited fine.

Scotland's 'rent controls tsar' Patrick Harvie loses power

Scotland's 'rent controls tsar' Patrick Harvie loses power

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News
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The Scottish government has been urged to reverse its anti-landlord policies after the SNP ended their power-sharing agreement with the Greens.

MP's bill forcing private landlords to fix mould delayed AGAIN

MP's bill forcing private landlords to fix mould delayed AGAIN

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Private renters are most in need of Awaab’s Law due to the frequently worse conditions of mould in their homes, says Labour MP Fleur Anderson, who hopes to instigate stricter rules for the PRS.

'Ministers need to let landlords know when Section 21 is going'

'Ministers need to let landlords know when Section 21 is going'

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News
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Figures across the private rented sector including TV star Paul Shamplina have warned that both tenants, landlords and letting agents need to know when the Section 21 eviction ban is going to take place.

Pro-landlord MP explains why he voted against renting reforms

Pro-landlord MP explains why he voted against renting reforms

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Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall voted against the Renters Reform Bill, warning that removing fixed-term tenancies could reduce housing supply.