A lettings agency boss and landlord has been slapped with a �40,700 Rent Repayment Officer despite claiming that his failure to licence an HMO was an honest mistake. A First Tier Property Tribunal handed five former tenants the maximum award for the period from September 2019 t
Scotland’s Housing Bill proposes rent controls, winter eviction bans, pet rights & tougher eviction penalties in private sector overhaul.
Bristol has approved plans to extend landlord licensing in Brislington West, Bedminster and Horfield wards in a bid to raise PRS standards. The scheme includes additional licensing - HMOs with three or more unrelated people sharing facilities and selective licensing - privat
Durham County Council's selective licensing scheme covers 29,000 homes, requiring landlords to apply by 31 July for a £350–£500 licence fee.
This is a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman case involving an unnamed landlord (LandlordX or MrX) and Brentwood Borough Council. The case revolves around a common situation where the landlord required possession of the property after serving a valid section 21 notice un
I've been in the property investment business for almost 30 years and during this period opportunities have come and gone but I've yet to discover an asset class that perf
Ever since I started to market one of my commercial buildings around 10 years ago now, I began to doubt the efficacy of the EPC rating system. The guy that came along to do the inspection told me himself he had just completed a 6 week course, or whatever it was, to train to be a
Social and private landlords are to face tougher new rules which make it mandatory to fit smoke alarms in all rented accommodation regardless of tenure, and widen the conditions under which they must be fitted. Revisions to the smoke and carbon monoxide detector regulations also
If you had �50k to invest right now, where would you put it, buy-to-let property or stocks and shares? Certainly leaving it in a traditional savings account, with interest rates as they are at rock bottom, thats out of the question. And with the threat of rising inflation ea
Research carried out by LandlordZONEs insurance partner, Hamilton Fraser Total Landlord Insurance, revealed that the vast majority of landlords, https://hamiltonfraser.co.uk/knowledge/good-landlord-quiz-results/?utm_source=landlordzone&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=lz_november
The move to provide home heating and hot water by this method is part of a Government strategy aimed at making deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonizing the UK's power sector by 2035. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the scheme was designed to bring low-carbon hea
Tenants facing eviction in England are to be protected from losing their homes during the Christmas and New Year period, HM Courts and Tribunal has confirmed. Between 13th December and 10th January no evictions should be s
Some holiday lets owners are gaming the system to claim business rate relief, comments made by the Housing Minister Lord Greenhalgh suggest, who has promised action to clamp down on the practice. In a Lords debate on second homes, peers voiced concerns that second homeo
A company that houses asylum seekers has been fined more than �60,000 for HMO offences in Newport. Clearsprings Ready Homes, which has the contract for operating accommodation for asylum seekers in Wales, was found guilty of letting an HMO in Redland Street (pictured), in the B
The Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings Bill, which aimed to advance the governments energy efficiency commitments, is in doubt following the tragic death of David Amess MP. He was the presentation bills main sponsor in the Commons, launching it at the same time as Lor
However, Carol Lewis writing for the Sunday Times newspaper thinks that holiday let owners should be paying council tax. Given that levelling up is the government's buzzword du jour, it is time to level the playing field and bring holiday-home owners in line wi
Landlords and letting agents hit by the collapse of Ash Residential Property Management Limited (ARPM) have been left struggling to claw back deposits and fees after it ceased trading last month with debts of almost �1.5m. At least 8,000 properties and their landlords are affec
HMRC warns that owners must accurately declare these earnings on their self assessment tax returns or face criminal charges if in default. A boom in bookings The Covid pandemic has stored up excess demand for stay at home Britains under the foreign holiday restrictio
England’s new private rental portal to track landlords, properties, compliance & disputes—enhancing transparency and enforcement.
HMO numbers in England have dropped by 3% during the past 12 months many landlords offloaded their buy-to-let stock instead of negotiating more legislative hurdles. Market analysis by Octane Capital reveals that while there were 511,278 HMOs in 2019/2020, this fell to 497,884 in
Multi-millionaire landlord Fergus Wilson has vowed to appeal against a High Court ruling ordering him to pay �125,000 to Ashford Council for harassing staff. A defiant Wilson tells LandlordZONE that he continues to dispute claims and believes the authorit
Traditionally, contracts for buying and selling property always relied on the old English common law principle of caveat emptor, or let the 'buyer beware'. In other words, the seller did not need to reveal material facts (defects) about the property for sale so long as the buyer, with
Tory MPs are urging the government to cut or scrap stamp duty in a bid to save homebuyers thousands although their proposals dont extend to landlords, LandlordZONE can reveal. Kevin Hollinrake, a member of the Treasury select committee and founder of Hunters estate agent,
There are said to be over a million British houses using wood burning stoves. Some of these are in rental properties and owners and tenants will want to be aware of the law changes on wood burning which were introduced this year. You could be penalised if you own or buy a wood-b
Facebook Marketplace has come under fire once more for helping facilitate rental scams, this time during a BBC One Rip-Off Britain investigation aired this morning. The programme highlighted two examples of rental scams, both of whic
A portfolio landlord and property educator has vowed to keep posting on social media despite receiving hundreds of spiteful troll messages every day. Rick Gannon, who has a �7 million portfolio with 140 tenants mainly around Worcester and also runs a training company which teac
Landlords selling up or re-letting is now the biggest cause of homelessness among renters in England and not rising rents. New Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities data reveals that 31,090 households were threatened with homelessness be
An organised crime group which used a student letting firm as a front for their multi-million-pound empire have been guilty of drug offences.
All short-term lets in Wales will soon have to be registered and licensed under plans announced by the Welsh government.
Mortgage market drama should subside this year, thanks to stable property prices, strong rental demand, rising rents and softening mortgage interest rates.
A new adjudication process for rent controls in Scotland could add further layers of bureaucracy without benefitting landlords or tenants.
A Rent Repayment Order (RRO) is an order that allows a tenant or local authority to reclaim rent or housing benefit where a landlord rents out an unlicensed property such as a house in multiple occupation (HMO). Rent Repayment Orders are obtained through a residential property t
More landlords are being forced to reduce advertised rents in the cost-of-living crisis.
A council plans to buy 65 private rental properties through its housing company in a bid to address the shortage of homes.
Landlords in Middlesbrough have vowed to fight plans to expand selective licensing and a fee hike.
A landlord who failed to remove dangerous mould from a children’s bedroom has been handed a £10,451 fine.
A landlord living in Shropshire’s largest block of flats has vowed to stay put, despite his neighbours moving out during serious flooding.
The Socialist Party has called for rent controls, compulsory control of private landlords and the nationalisation of house builders.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has warned rogue landlords that they will soon have nowhere to hide.
The Military is shunning heat pumps in favour of cheaper to install cutting-edge electric boilers in homes
Landlords are being encouraged to consider adding lucrative short lets and assisted living developments to their property portfolios this year.
Landlords and letting agents have been warned to be more careful when handling tenants’ personal data under GDPR rules.
Steeper fines for landlords flouting Right to Rent rules in England come into force on 22nd January.
Middlesborough Council has launched a consultation into plans to extend a selective licensing scheme in parts of its Newport ward.
The PRS is “broken” according to Shelter, which claims lone parents are bearing the brunt of the housing crisis.
Lobbying group Acorn has issued a statement apologising for incorrectly accusing the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) of ‘campaigning against the abolishment of Section 21 evictions’.
A BTL investment firm has had its wrist slapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for potentially misleading landlords over its prices.
Councillors in Derby hope to get tougher on HMO landlords by introducing an Article 4 direction in the city.
A landlord in Somerset has revealed his highly unusual path to becoming a buy-to-let investor.
More than 144,000 private landlords coming to the end of five-year fixed deals face re-mortgaging at starkly higher rates in 2024.
Nottingham benefits landlord Mick Roberts has blamed the city’s licensing schemes for rising rents and homelessness.
Manchester Council has revealed penalties of more than £86,000 handed to landlords under previous selective licensing schemes to justify expanding it to nine more areas.
