Landlords and industry professionals have been invited to share their thoughts on a new professional standard aimed at helping surveyors provide useful retrofitting advice. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched a consultation on its draft <strong id=""
A contrite landlord has apologised to the tenant he tried to illegally evict after being rapped on the knuckles by Coventry Council. The landlord sent text messages telling his tenant to leave when they told him the rent would be late. He then visited the property and took the t
Section 21 is the biggest headline grabbing element of the Renters Reform Bill but will be the least effective pieces of the legislation. Thats according to letting agent Kristjan Byfield (main picture), co-founder ofhttps://www.baseps.co.uk/"
Shelter has this morning launched a campaign in partnership with the Co-operative Bank to persuade the Government to press ahead with its proposal to abolish Section 21 evictions. The two organisations have launched a PR stunt on Parliament Square today covering it with 172 card
New data reveals the extent of the landlord exodus prompted by the current mortgage rate surge with 36% of landlords polled revealing they plan to sell a property over the next 12 months. The proportion intending to sell some properties was at 30%, up from 28% the last tim
Landlords are increasingly likely to be renting to older tenants in the coming decade with the proportion of renters in private rented accommodation over 65 years old doubling to 11.5%, it has been reported. Letting agency Hamptons says its research reveal
A council crackdown has uncovered four unlicensed HMOs and one being used as a cannabis factory in Kettering and Corby. North Northamptonshire Council joined forces with Northamptonshire Police in a week-long inspection of 76 HMOs, four of which are still being investigated.
HMO owners and associations are being urged to support calls for a rethink of plans to remove licensing requirements for HMOs used as asylum accommodation. Property lawyer at JMW, David Smith , wants the High Court to agree to a judicial review of changes o
The number of available private rental homes has dropped by more than a third since 2019 to a 14-year low. Only 241,000 PRS homes were available last month compared with 370,000 in June 2019, a fall of 35%, according to consultancy TwentyCi which analysed
A landlord couple have paid a heavy price for ignoring their tenant's request to fix a boiler after being fined �3,500. David and Emily Griffiths, of Tickhill Road, Harworth (pictured), Nottinghamshire left the tenant with no hot water or heating for three weeks. D
Landlord Action's Paul Sowerbutts discusses the impact of abolishing Section 21 and upcoming eviction reforms on landlords and tenants.
Energy efficiency improvement costs for most private rental homes work out at between �5,000 and �9,999 (46%), while almost a third (30%) could be improved for under �5,000, according to the latest government analysis. At the other end of the scale, 19% of homes would cost be
Landlords hit by mortgage rate hikes are demanding guarantors from increasing numbers of high earning tenants. Many tenants are seeing a greater proportion of their take-home pay go towards rent so are having to provide the additional security of a guarantor when signing new agr
Landlords should be prevented from serving an eviction notice for at least the first year of a tenancy, in the case of repossession for selling or occupying the property, according to a new report from the Fabian Society. The independent left-leaning
The Governments housing policies are coming home to roost as tenant demand continues to soar but the number of landlords advertising new properties to rent plummets, it has been revealed. RICS says that during June it found significantly more members (a net balance increase o
Landlords in one of London's biggest boroughs now need planning permission to convert family homes into HMOs for three to six tenants. After a year-long pilot and consultation with residents, the London Borough of Hounslow (main picture) has made its borough-wide A
Mortgage troubles spark surge in portfolio landlords selling up—explore what’s driving the exodus and what it means for the rental sector.
Government officials have reassured private landlords that judges will be able to consider a wider range of behaviours before using their judicial discretion in ASB eviction cases. Giving evidence to the Levelling Up Housing and Communities Committee into
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
Scottish landlords have until 2028 to meet energy efficiency standards but can access interest-free loans of up to �15,000 to help them spread the cost. The Scottish government has published its Heat In Building Strategy setting out that, by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from
The so called Pandora Papers is a financial services leak of nearly 12 million documents that reveal an international treasure trove of hidden wealth, tax avoidance and money laundering, by some of the world's richest individuals. The secret files were unearthed by a Washington
High Street lender the Nationwide has launched a platform that will be first of its kind created for landlords by a major financial institution. Called The Landlord Works, it has been developed by a team headed up by Paul Wooton (main picture) who, after leaving its mortgage bro
Councils in Suffolk are embarking on an unusually collaborative approach that’s set to improve the county’s PRS homes and is understood to be the first to go ahead with such a scheme.
Locals in a Norfolk seaside village have voted to ban people from buying second homes in a bid to help locals find affordable properties.
A tax avoidance scheme being marketed to private landlords ‘will not work’ and could lead those who take them paying more tax in the long run, HMRC has warned.
A fire risk assessment is a mandatory requirement for HMOs and some commercial landlords
Rental prices will continue to increase during the next three months, predicts agent Knight Frank which has revised its growth forecasts for 2023 to 6.5%, with a further 5% expected in 2024.
The gloves are off among landlords after NRLA chief Ben Beadle today said figures showing 25 tenants chasing each available rental property are proof Tory policies have been a ‘failure’.
The Scottish government’s PRS reform consultation does not give landlords and agents the ability to get their views across, according to the boss of automated rental payment firm PayProp UK.
Manchester landlords look set to face more selective licencing after the council revealed it was recruiting a project manager to research new licensing areas.
A rogue landlord has been handed the maximum £30,000 fine after 17 people were found living in a four-bedroom house which posed a fire risk to its vulnerable tenants.
Generation Rent has labelled Rishi Sunak’s EPC upgrade U-turn as “cruel, disproportionate and reckless”, forcing many renters to suffer poor health in cold homes for years to come.
Bath has made the unusual decision to ditch its additional licensing scheme because it has done such a good job of improving standards.
A slum landlord in Sheffield has been given the longest banning order ever after being prevented from managing or letting properties for ten years.
A novel rent-to-buy home purchase scheme has been set up to help renters become homeowners.
The full history of landlords is lost in the mists of time, but much of modern property law - throughout the English speaking world - stems from over 1,000 years of English legal history.
Millions of renters living in damp and run-down properties are suffering worsening mental and physical health, new research by homelessness charity Shelter suggests
Three brothers who violently attacked vulnerable tenants at their father’s rental properties in Bedford have been handed a combined jail term of 31 years.
Housing minister Rachel Maclean has confirmed that a proposed housing court for landlords to help speed-up the evictions process is ‘definitely off the table’.
A “bumbling amateur” landlord who imposed restrictive rules on tenants in his unlicensed HMO has been hit with a £27,500 Rent Repayment Order.
A landlord couple have been ordered to pay a Rent Repayment Order reduced by £6,000 but will still have to fork out £21,000 between them in fines.
Housing minister Rachel Maclean has sought to reassure landlords that they will still be able to evict troublesome tenants or those who build up rent arrears during an event at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
Landlords in Scotland can have their say on radical PRS reforms that would bring in rent controls, delay evictions and allow tenants to have pets.
Labour is planning a “devastating” multi-billion pound inheritance tax raid, which could affect family businesses and in particular farming families.
Michael Gove has confirmed that the Renters (Reform) Bill is to get its second reading within the next three months, scotching hopes among some landlords that the legislation might have been kicked into the long grass.
The government has published its latest and legally required How to Rent guide with details on the new Housing Loss Prevention Service.
TV star Paul Shamplina has called on landlords to urge tenants using pay-as-you-go (PAYG) energy services to fit smart meters.
