

It's that time of year when many people in the property profession give their opinion as to what to expect for the coming 12 months.
Warwick Council has handed out its first banning order, to rogue landlord Grzegorz Surminski who sub-let a dangerous and unlicensed HMO.
A landlord has failed in a bid to overturn his banning order on the grounds that his convictions were spent by the time it was imposed by a First Tier Property Tribunal.
Nottingham council has launched a city-wide ‘good landlord’ accreditation scheme and offered those who join the scheme a 10% reduction on fees for its private sector licencing schemes.
A director of the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) who defrauded her elderly landlord out of £30,000 has been jailed for six months.
Two selective licencing schemes operated by Wirral Council in and around Birkenhead have been renewed with a further two schemes about to be launched following a consultation.
Landlords in Brighton and Hove face a £500 charge if they are handed an improvement notice, as part of a council crackdown on failing properties.
One of the key arguments used by housing campaigners to criticise the private rented sector and its landlords has been contradicted by the latest English Housing Survey.
A tenant who stole almost £2,000 of furnishings from his elderly landlord has been handed a suspended jail sentence
A Utilita study shows 25% of UK households pay up to four times more for heating by using electric heaters instead of gas central heating, with added CO₂ emissions of 34 kg per year.
Empty homes should be targeted by the Government, rather than punishing the short-let sector, a holiday let firm has argued.
Less than one in ten rental properties currently on the market are pet-friendly, new research has revealed.
Tenants lodged an estimated 47,405 disputes across the PRS in 2024, a 13% increase on the previous year and the highest number in the past five years.
The Government has vowed that “seismic reforms” in its new Planning and Infrastructure Bill will help get families out of temporary accommodation.
Rents in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) continue to outpace HMOs, with foreign students particularly bolstering their growth.
First-time buyers are paying 20% less a month on their mortgage payments compared to what tenants pay in rent, new figures have revealed.
Nottingham benefits landlord Mick Roberts has slammed Barclays after it sent letters to 22 of his tenants, listing his monthly payments and erroneously alerting them that he is in mortgage arrears.
A rogue landlord duo has been fined more than £90,000 for safety offences that led to the death of one of their tenants in a fire.
Two letting agents in the South West has claimed that landlords are leaving the private rental market in droves.
The Scottish government has backtracked on plans to force the private rented sector to meet energy efficiency deadlines by 2025.
A First Tier Property Tribunal has criticised Barking and Dagenham Council for failing to support a landlord who mistakenly failed to get a selective licence.
A new Online Fraud Charter aims to thwart property rental scams including fake accommodation listings on Facebook Marketplace used to lure in unsuspecting tenants.
Landlords have been warned that a Court of Appeal decision issued late last week will mean that in future they will have to settle their differences with tenants via an ombudsman before going to court.
New licensing application software introduced by Portsmouth City Council has been slammed for being badly written, hard to use and too demanding.
A serving fire officer whose tenants were at risk of dying in a fire in his unsafe HMO has been fined more than £15,000.
The UK's leading property trade association has warned MPs that the Renters Reform Bill contains measures likely to make the PRS increasingly hostile to landlords.
A London landlord has been ordered to repay his tenants nearly £10,000 in rent following a Property Tribunal hearing.
Commercial tenants, with the landlord's consent, not to be unreasonably withheld, can assign their lease (transfer it) to a third party (a new tenant).
Liverpool City Council has launched a new taskforce to go after criminal landlords who exploit vulnerable tenants.
The government has signalled that it will bring in more leasehold reforms for flat owners following the introduction of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Leaders Romans Group (LRG) has called for a landlords’ reform bill to protect landlords and safeguard the housing sector.
Coventry has gone ahead with a huge new scheme to prevent properties being converted into HMOs without full planning permission.
This was a question answered during a recent appeal case covered here by Tom Entwistle In the Prempeh v Lakhany (Oct 2020) appeal the tenant claimed that a Section 8 notice was invalid because it did not contain the la
Paul Shamplina has won Seminar Speaker of the Year at the National LIS Awards 2023, the third time in a row the Landlord Action founder has received the honour.
A letting agent has been found to have blatantly broken the law by refusing to hand back a holding deposit.
Landlords have been warned that they will have to work much harder with their letting agent to ensure property adverts for their homes to rent include all the ‘material information’.
One in five landlords hit by rising costs are considering selling up, with a stark divide between those with properties in the north and south of the country.
Scotland’s housing minister has defended the country’s policy of rent and eviction controls despite new figures showing rents continuing to rise.
A landlord couple could face jail after admitting a string of offences which led to the death of one of their tenants in a fire.
Disputes between landlords and their tenants will soon be handled by the social housing ombudsman, it has been confirmed by Government minister Jacob Young.
What is Abandonment? Abandonment is when a tenant leaves the property (usually without notifying the landlord or agent) before the tenancy has ended.