Landlords Defence BLOG
want to be kept up to date?
Landlord and Rental Sector News
Beware councils offering Gifts
19 Jan 2022 Cotswold council, using cash from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is targeting properties that fall below the minimum legal energy performance rating. The authority is offering practical help and support for non-compliant...
Wales changes s21 notice permanently to 6 months making minimum AST term 12 months
18 Jan 2022 A national awareness campaign has been launched to prepare landlords for the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 on Friday July 15. Described by the Welsh Government as the biggest change to the private rental sector landscape in that...
Energy efficiency surveys for landlords offered by local council
18 Jan 2022 Cotswold council, using cash from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is targeting properties that fall below the minimum legal energy performance rating. The authority is offering practical help and support for non-compliant...
Trading Standards to carry out Surprise Inspections at Letting and Managing Agents
17 Jan 2022 A Trading Standards team is to carry out what it calls “unannounced inspections” of lettings agencies in one part of London - but the local council has issued a press release ahead of the visits. The Labour council in Newham, east London, says its housing...
New mortgage product for AirBnB Landlords
17 Jan 2022 We don’t usually publicise the likes of mortgage products on this site. But our Editor thought this looked useful to many of our readership and so here it is! Suffolk Building Society has just become one of the few lenders to consider applications from...
Independent Review of Real Estate Investment Valuations for RICS – the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
14 Jan 2022 Stricter guidelines to be implemented following concern over independence of valuersThe Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is set to strengthen oversight of property valuers after a report published today recommended sweeping rule...
Tax clampdown on letting second homes confirmed by government
14 Jan 2022 Owners of second homes who abuse a tax loophole by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets will be forced to pay under new measures announced by the government today. The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says the changes...
House of Lords says private rental is unaffordable and poor quality
11 Jan 2021 A report from the House of Lords has condemned the private rental sector as being ”increasingly unaffordable” as well as being “by far the lowest quality and by far the least popular” housing tenure in the UK. The report - called Meeting Housing Demand and...
Compulsory landlord register coming down the tracks
10 Jan 2022 The government looks set to clamp down on holiday rentals and will this year formally consult on the concept of a mandatory register for England. Housing minister Chris Pincher has pledged that consultation on a Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme...
Landlords must improve their properties ahead of new legislation
20 Dec 2021 Agents should not wait until regulation and legislation improve the rental sector - they should be doing so voluntarily. That’s the view of the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks which argues that the sector shouldn’t wait for the likes of...
Covid Letter to all Landlords from HM Government
20 Dec 2021 Dear Landlord The COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 was published on 14 September. This plan sets out the Government’s aims to sustain the progress made in tackling the virus and prepare the country for future challenges, while ensuring the...
Revenue hungry councils didn’t see the train wreck coming as landlords flee their persecution in droves
16 Dec 2021 76% of councils report an increase in landlords selling up Councils warned today of a growing crisis in the private rented housing sector, with a sharp rise in landlords selling up or converting their properties into Airbnb’s. The District Councils’...
RICS defies government, insists EWS1 checks to remain on all buildings under 18m
15 Dec 2021 In a statement today, RICS, the architects of the EWS1 process, said it had decided to “pin its colours to the mast” and maintain its current guidance to valuers around when EWS1 checks are needed for medium-rise buildings, despite government pressure to...
Lenders announce Christmas moratorium on possessions
13 Dec 2021 Mortgage lenders have announced a voluntary moratorium on possessions from Monday 13 December until Tuesday 4 January 2022. The agreement has come from members of UK Finance and the Building Societies Association. They agreed they will not seek, or...
Good Read: Property Title Fraud Protection Guide
10 Dec 2021 A guide to help homeowners avoid property title fraud has been released today by the Fraud Advisory Panel, HM Land Registry and the Law Society of England and Wales. Property fraud happens when a fraudster changes the registered details of a building...
19 of worst 20 councils are London Boroughs says Shelter
10 Dec 2021 In London one in every 53 people are homeless – while this rate is even higher in some areas of the city, Shelter research shows. Some 19 of the worst 20 affected local authorities are in the capital, with Newham having one in 22 people, and Kensington...
Councils & Government Slammed. Inadequate support for tenants against landlords
10 Dec 2021 A report by the National Audit Office has sharply criticised the government and councils for not doing enough to help tenants in the private rental sector. A large report out today criticises the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for...
Massive surge in property rental fraud – warning to landlords
08 Dec 2021 The BBC Radio 4 consumer affairs programme You and Yours says 4,746 rental scams have been reported to the police and authorities in the past 12 months costing victims over £7.5m. The problem is thought to have become much worse in the past year because of...
Has Shelter finally realised that Social Housing is not the job of Private Landlords?
19 Nov 2021 Shelter - so often critical of the private rental sector - has instead turned its fire on the government over what the charity claims is inadequate social housing construction levels. It claims that government statistics for March 2020 to April 2021...
How Big a Threat is Build-To-Rent to Private Landlords?
19 Nov 2021 Results have been released of an analysis of over 20,000 Build To Rent tenants in over 15,000 homes across the UK - the latest such study of its kind. Conducted by Dataloft for a group including the British Property Federation - a cheerleader for BTR...
No-win, no-fee solicitors advising tenants to claim compensation against Landlords
11 Nov 2021 A firm of solicitors claims that private and social sector tenants face long delays for repairs to be addressed - and of course suggests they could seek compensation from landlords. Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors surveyed 2,000 UK...
Bank warns EPC “C” will make properties unmortgageable and unlettable
10 Nov 2021 There is a fear that work required to bring rental units up to new Energy Performance Certificate levels by 2025 could render many of them “unmortgageable and unprintable”.…and unlettable” According to the Ministry of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities...
Landlords can you do your part to meet Net Zero by 2050
01 Nov 2021 Climate change is at the top of the political agenda this week thanks to Cop26 taking place in Glasgow in a few days’ time. Back in 2008, the UK committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent in comparison to levels recorded in 1990. However,...
Rental Reform Bill delayed again
29 Oct 2021 The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says the long-awaited Rental Reform White Paper will now not be published until next year. It had long been stated by the Ministry that the White Paper would come out “this autumn” but now...
Shortage of Landlords Blamed on Government Hostility
13 Oct 2021 A number of buy-to-let landlords have exited the sector in Scotland, meaning there could be a shortage of properties to rent this winter, the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) warned. We are just beginning to see some of the consequences of the...
Agents demand funds to clamp down on rogue operators
12 Oct 2021 ARLA Propertymark is calling on the government to properly fund local authorities so they can combat rogue operators in the private rental sector. In its submission to HM Treasury ahead of the Budget and spending review scheduled for later this month,...
Universal Credit cut will worsen rent arrears crisis says NRLA
12 Oct 2021 Today the Government will go ahead with a planned cut to Universal Credit of £20 per week. The level of welfare support had been increased in light of the impact of the pandemic on household incomes. With rent arrears at historically high levels, the...
HMRC discovers huge numbers of landlords avoiding paying tax
11 Oct 2021 A national accountancy firm says HM Revenue & Customs has discovered huge numbers of landlords avoiding paying tax - as many as 14 landlords per 100,000 population in some locations. Landlords leave themselves vulnerable to prosecution and even a...
Winter drawers on…. How’s your tenants’ boiler?
08 Oct 2021 By Phil Turtle, Compliance Director at Landlord Licensing & Defence “Winter drawers on!” was the risqué chorus amongst the women on the shop-floor where I served my engineering apprenticeship, every year, as the weather started getting colder! And that...
Who’d have thought it? Shelter boss praises some private landlords
07 Oct 2021 In an unexpected turn of events at a Conservative party conference fringe meeting, the chief executive of Shelter heaped praise on at least some private landlords. Polly Neate used her introductory comments to tell delegates to the meeting - which looked...
“Landlords bad, Tenants Good” might force landlords out of market admits government
07 Oct 2021 The White Paper on rental reform may still be some time away, with a minister at the centre of its preparation saying he and colleagues “are still in the middle of meetings and consultations”. “We want to get this right. For example if we start...
Yet another fee that cannot be charged to tenants says Tribunal
05 Oct 2021 A leading property lawyer is warning that a tribunal case between a London letting agent and a tenant - involving a charge of £343.54p - has put the industry in a dilemma. The Ludlow Thompson agency has been ordered to return the £343 to a tenant because...
Benefits of scrapping S21 outweigh problems, insists Shelter
04 Oct 2021 The chief executive of Shelter says the experience of Scotland shows that the scrapping of S21 eviction powers produces benefits that far outweigh disadvantages. Polly Neate, speaking on BBC Radio 4, says that Scotland effectively scrapped its equivalent...
Nowhere to hide if you fail to licence HMO
04 Oct 2021 A rogue landlord couple who rented their properties to ‘ghost tenants’ to avoid paying thousands in council fees have been fined almost £190,000. Mohamed Lahrie, 55, and wife Shehara, 51, claimed they were letting six of their staggering 600 properties to...
Labour Party Announces Housing Strategy
04 Oct 2021 In her Labour Party Conference Speech, Lucy Powell, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said that she sees housing as very much a public health issue. Lucy wants to tackle what she perceives as issues of quality, affordability and security in private...
Will VAT be removed from Fire Remediation works?
29 Sep 2021 The G15 has urged the government to remove VAT on fire remediation works as it estimates that its members’ overall spend on building safety will hit £3.6bn by 2036. In the group’s Treasury submission ahead of next month’s Budget and Spending Review, it...
Landlords providing Social Care in “Exempt Accommodation” Beware as Councils begin Retribution
29 Sep 2021 A council has reclaimed millions in benefits from landlords and tenants of exempt accommodation as part of a wide-ranging review of the supported housing sector. Since April 2019, Birmingham City Council has reclaimed a total of £3.6m from the exempt...
Plan Now for death-Bed property taxes
27 Sep 2021 None of us are immortal, so death bed tax planning strategies are important for us all to know about. On that basis I make no apology for what some might perceive to be such a taboo topic. This Case Study is based on a married couple with children, which...
Renamed – The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
21 Sep 2021 Where is the mention of Housing and the Housing Market as a priority? The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now been catchily renamed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as the Government with former Bank of...
Tax on landlords could help pay for social care, says Keir Starmer
13 Sep 2021 Money to pay for social care could have been raised through taxing landlords, Sir Keir Starmer was expected to tell a conference. It comes after Boris Johnson announced plans to raise National Insurance tax on workers and employers in order to pay for the...
Is Conversion of Offices and Retail to Residential the next big thing?
10 Sep 2021 One of the biggest trends during the pandemic from a property development point of view has been a dramatic increase in the number of office/retail to resi conversions, made easier by new Permitted Development Rights which means change of use doesn’t...
Bye bye shopping centres. Hello rental properties
10 Sep 2021 One of the country’s largest commercial and retail landlords - Capital & Regional - is to expand is current programme of building residential homes on existing shopping centres. In a trading statement to shareholders the company - which specialises in...
Is there another cladding-type construction defect crisis on the horizon?
10 Sep 2021 Dr Jim Glockling, Technical Director at the FPA discusses whether, given the pace of construction innovation, enough is being done to avoid another cladding-type construction defect crisis, and what prospective buyers might need to do to protect themselves...
ARLA warns government on cost of pets in rental property
06 Sep 2021 As it begins to look inevitable that the government will legislate to demand pets are allowed in rental property, ARLA Propertymark has waded into the growing controversy. Last week a letter was sent to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick by some 30 MPs. It...
Council launches lettings agency. Is is doomed to fail?
03 Sep 2021 A council has just launched it own publicly-funded lettings agency and wants private landlords to sign up. The 'Your Choice' lettings agency, run by South Ayrshire council, claims to be different from conventional agencies. “Our focus is to help...
Government considering £7,000 grants for heat pumps
01 Sep 2021 Ministers looking at quadrupling funding for existing Clean Heats Grants scheme and extending it by a year Homeowners could be given grants of at least £7,000 to replace their gas boilers with heat pumps under plans being considered by Boris Johnson. The...
Tenant Demand is Highest Ever Says Propertymark
25 Aug 2021 The scale of demand in the private rental sector is now the highest on record according to ARLA Propertymark. The average number of new prospective tenants registered per branch increased in July to 102, from June’s figure of 88. This is the highest...
The Rental Market according to Shawbrook Research
25 Aug 2021 The value of the Private Rented Sector in England, Wales and Scotland grew by 5.8 per cent to a jaw dropping £1.4 trillion in the last year according to a new report from Shawbrook Bank. Since the first national lockdown, house prices have rebounded...
EPC law change likely to create havoc across rental sector
25 Aug 2021 An analysis of new government legislation on energy efficiency suggests it may lead to chaos in the private rental sector. Geospatial technology company Kamma has studied the proposed increases to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards contained in...
Lloyds Bank plan to become UK’s biggest private landlord revealed
25 Aug 2021 Internal job advert reveals that recently launched Citra Living is targeting 50,000 homes by 2030 Lloyds Bank has plans to become a 50,000-home build to rent landlord via deals with UK housebuilders, according to details revealed in an internal job advert....
Exposed by Newspaper – the council that flouted policies to fine more landlords
19 Aug 2021 (and then says it has no legal obligation to follow its own policy!) London Borough of Redbridge Council “secretly and informally” flouted its own policy in order to fine over 100 landlords in just six months. Testimony from...
Landlords Beware – stamp duty probes likely to soar in near future
13 Aug 2021 The many thousands of landlords who have snapped up properties have been advised to be on alert - a tax consultancy suggests HMRC probes are likely to soar. Boodle Hatfield, which describes itself as a private wealth law firm, says the number of Stamp Duty...
Another bank enters rental sector with plan for 2,500 homes
12 Aug 2021 A retail bank has announced the launch of a £500m project to fund the construction of up to 2,500 suburban, purpose-built family rental homes across the North and Midlands. Gatehouse Bank already has two large Build To Rent schemes and this new project...
Tories declare State of Emergency as Holiday Lets decimate rental homes
03 Aug 2021 A Conservative MP says he is to declare a “state of housing emergency” in his constituency because of the loss of stock away from long-term renting towards Airbnb-style short lets. Anthony Mangnall, the Tory MP for Totnes in Devon, has told The Times:...
London Borough of Camden secures ASBO injunction & exclusion zone against landlord
30 Jul 2021 Camden council in north London has become the first local authority to secure an anti-social behaviour injunction against a landlord in order to protect private tenants from illegal eviction and harassment. The council secured the injunction against...
BREAKING NEWS: Change to which Landlords can receive Rent Repayment Order.
Rakusen v Jepson and others appeal upheld and Upper Tribunal Decision Overturned. In what is the most important news for Landlords who find their property has been sublet unknowingly in Rent to Rent Residential to HMO situations. the Rent to Rent company will be held...
HMRC knows where landlords live! Data revealed
29 Jul 2021 HMRC has released data showing how many landlords live in each county, city, London borough and town within the UK. The figures also reveal that the total landlord population now exceeds 2.65 million people. HMRC has released data showing how many...
Lenders should not ask for EWS1 forms on blocks below 18 metres, says Jenrick
22 Jul 2021 Robert Jenrick (photo: BBC) These forms – which were introduced by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors guidance in December 2019 – provide a framework for surveyors to assess the compliance of a building’s facade. Following consolidated government...
HMRC homes in on Landlords using Artificial Intelligence
15 Jul 2021 There’s been a sharp fall in money raised from a campaign encouraging landlords to voluntarily disclose tax owed on rental properties according to an accountancy firm. Like local authorities, HMRC knows more and more about taxpayers and their behaviours...
Letting agents warn of widespread evictions as government fails to support tenants
14 Jul 2021 The UK Association of Letting Agents trade body is warning of “widespread evictions” unless government support is offered to tenants. UKALA chairman Tim Clark says: “The restrictions on evictions during the last year, whilst very appropriate for the time,...
