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78 per cent of privately rented properties need work to bring them up to a safe and legal standard
05 Jul 2022 A council claims that a pilot licensing scheme has discovered a very high proportion of rental homes requiring improvement. Plans to extend Gedling council’s selective licensing scheme are now being considered. A final decision will be made on Thursday of...
Is landlord/agent arranged insurance the solution to upcoming tenant-pet-rights legislation?
04 Jul 2022 Landlords typically spend hundreds of pounds repairing properties damaged by pets, but unable to recoup their costs. That’s the claim from industry supplier The Lettings Hub which says more than three in four landlords reported damage by pets but...
Residential and Commercial landlords will both suffer as return to work at least 5 years away
23 Jun 2022 Although this is a story from the “other side of the pond” that wouldn’t normally make it into these pages, they are making a global prediction that we have at least 5 more years of partial working from home. This affects not only commercial landlords but...
Incredible story of violence, drug-planting and extortion of tenants by letting agency
22 Jun 2022 A lettings agency used violence, vandalism and power black outs to extort and illegally evict tenants, a court has heard. One tenant was doused in petrol and had his teeth smashed by a gang of 10 while another was booted out after landlords pinned a bag of...
Survey finds horrific cost of cleaning and damage due to pets
21 Jun 2022 A new survey has painted a daunting picture of how much it may cost a landlord to remedy damage from pets. Amidst the covid pet boom, as many as 3.2m people are estimated to have bought a pet. Home furnishings and fashion company Next has surveyed...
Build-to-Rent operators demand special treatment on Regulation and Building Standards
20 Jun 2022 Possibly the biggest threat to the small Private Sector Landlord, Build-toRent companies - aided and abetted by the Government’s many attacks including s24 tax, the removal of s21 possessions, and the relentless assist stripping by over-zealously enforcing...
Useful energy efficiency guide for landlords
18 Jun 2022 A prominent energy industry organisation has just issued a new guide for landlords to improve their properties. The Energy Saving Trust - which describes itself as an independent organisation ”working to address the climate emergency” - claims...
Disaster or Opportunity for landlords as Gove says he will “seduce” Housing Association to sell off housing stock
17 Jan 2022 Housing secretary says Treasury has agreed to find funding package but not finalised deal Michael Gove has said the Treasury has agreed to develop a funding package for the proposed roll out of a ‘rationed’ Right to Buy to housing association tenants, but...
86% of rental households feeling financially strained – rent arrears likely
17 Jun 2022 The pressure of the constant surge in the cost of living for UK rental households are prevalent, and the effects are starting to show. With recent research done by London rental platform, Rentd, it has been disclosed that rental cost increases have...
Finally Councils to be held to account for their appalling social housing – Gove announces new Bill
17 Jun 2022 Under-performing social landlords could face ‘Ofsted-style’ inspections under a raft of new laws brought in under the much-anticipated Social Housing Regulation Bill. Under the new bill, which will be published today, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH)...
Opportunity for landlords as survey shows ‘pets allowed’ is single biggest reason for moves
16 Jun 2022 The Deposit Protection Service claims the single largest reason why private tenants move is to find properties accepting pets. Around a thousand tenants who moved between October 2021 and March 2022 took part in the DPS survey, with 30 per cent saying they...
Letting portals should police compliance with the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations
16 Jun 2022 The head of the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) has suggested the material listings rules should be self-regulated by the portals. The comments by James Munro were revealed in a discussion published with The Guild of...
Boris’ right-to-buy scheme “laughable”. Will put rapidly shrinking supply of social homes at even greater risk
13 Jun 2022 A selection of property industry figures have spoken out against the government’s latest proposals to extend Right To Buy to housing associations. Council tenants in England have been able to buy their homes at a discount since October 1980, when the...
Are big corporate landlords the government’s cunning plan for the future of the private rental sector?
10 Jun 2022 The John Lewis Partnership has revealed the first three locations where it will build new rental homes. The properties “would offer the trust, quality and service that people expect from John Lewis” according to a statement from the store. John Lewis will...
Landlords should budget £3k each and every year per property for maintenance
10 Jun 2022 Property maintenance remains a vital part of the rental sector as providing legal homes that are comfortable for tenants to live in is the top priority. On average the cost of maintaining a property each year should cost 1% of the property’s value. The...
Surprise Surprise, Government fails to meet housebuilding target by 120,000 out of 300,000 new homes pledge. AGAIN!
10 Jun 2022 I've written this headline consistently for more years than I can remember. Makes no difference if the government is blue or red. Plus ca change! Ed Throughout the years the government has pledged to deliver new homes to make more affordable properties...
57% of rental households have rental shortfall says NRLA analysis
09 Jun 2022 Some 820,000 private rented households in Britain are routinely hit by a shortfall between their housing benefit and their monthly rents according to official data. That’s 57 per cent of private rented households in receipt of the Local Housing Allowance....
On top of insulating rental properties, Government decides Landlords must adapt them for disabled use too
09 Jun 2022 "Although this is only a consultation,” says Phil Turtle, compliance director with Landlord Licensing & Defence "it shows landlords what is probably in the pipeline and which they should start planning for on top of making their rental properties EPC...
Guardian promotes tenants’ right to claim deposit claim compensation against Landlords
08 Jun 2022 The Guardian newspaper has given an aggrieved tenant the opportunity to explain how he and other renters took a landlord to court - and won! Morgan Jones wrote that although he had worked around housing legislation for much of his professional life, he...
Minister confirms NO rent controls for English Rental Sector
08 Jun 2022 Housing minister Eddie Hughes has categorically stated that the government is not considering rent controls in England. In a written reply to a question from Labour MP Rachael Maskell, Hughes - who is steering the upcoming Renters’ Reform Bill into...
Council forgoes civil financial penalty in pursuit of Banning Order
06 Jun 2022 Despite announcing in 2018 that they were now pursuing landlords for failure to licence HMOs and breaches of HMO Management Regulations under the civil penalty regime, (see £16,000 fine given for non-licence HMO”) the local authority has instead...
Demonisation and persecution of Landlords by Shelter, Councils and Government comes home to roost as rental pool shrinks massively
06 Jun 2022 The clearest indication of the rate at which the private rented market is shrinking is revealed in new research by Propertymark.It shows the number of properties available to rent through letting agents in the month of March halved between 2019...
£40k fine for unsafe scaffolding at house
26 May 2022 Kent-based RPS Scaffolding Ltd has been fined following an incident where the scaffolding the company erected collapsed, injuring two workers. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that in August 2020, two workers were injured when the scaffolding they were...
Botched facial surgery and Landlords – don’t be the same
25 May 2022 Why oh why oh why? Many patients regretted the cheap option surgical procedure that went wrong, it was the money they went cheap. Many patients regretted the expensive option as the surgeon was overconfident and overcharging. Many a patient got what was...
Housing market a mess as local authorities and Shelter continue to confound landlords and developers
19 May 2022 Landowners are claiming that the negative stereotype given to private landlords in recent years by government contributes to the overall housing crisis. Scottish Land & Estates, representing landowners, says: Aspirations to improve housing volume and...
Soaring rents, bidding wars, supply drought, as 300,000 rental properties removed form market
19 May 2022 A senior lettings chief says the supply drought is making the rental market as overheated now as at any time in the past two decades. Kate Eales, head of regional agency at Strutt & Parker, says: “In my 20 years in the industry, the current...
The big GDPR breach most landlords and agents are making
18 May 2022 Fresh research shows that in a world where our methods of communication are continually evolving, there is one grey area where the property industry is failing when it comes to GDPR compliance. The study, undertaken by YourBusinessNumber, suggests that...
Landlords exiting HMO market in droves as figures show 13% annual drop in London
18 May 2022 Market analysis from Octane Capital has revealed that the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in England has dropped in the past year. According to the property lending experts, the decline is likely caused by strict new regulations introduced...
Getting electric vehicle charging points right
18 May 2022 In this guest article, Isabel James, head of residential at Connected Kerb, one of the UK’s leading on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging providers, discusses the challenges and opportunities for developers looking to navigate the EV transition. ...
Former care home, social housing, assisted living – does it need HMO license ?
17 May 2022 Q: Landlord asks “I am purchasing a former care home . I will be leasing it to an assisted living operator. Will I need to obtain a HMO license? A: The use of the property will determine if it needs a HMO Licence.Is the Tenant a Registered...
Rents up 18-40 per cent across UK
16 May 2022 A new market snapshot puts the average rental rise across the UK at a remarkable 18 per cent over the past year. The website Home says a major contributor to the high UK-wide figure is the jaw-dropping rise seen across Greater London - now less than 37.1...
Take Shelter – why video was just a cheap PR stunt
16 May 2022 Guest post by Marc von Grundherr, Director Benham & Reeves The property industry has this week remonstrated at the video that housing charity Shelter has published and in which they portray letting agents as dodgy spivs with no conscience. It’s...
Quashing Improvement Notices – It’s a win!
28 Apr 2022 It has been an excellent day today with a council in the Midlands. Improvement Notice issued on massive HMO.Many errors and over-egging, by young aggressive "Enforcement Officers" in the notice. Today, the council's legal department agreed it was over...
Landlords in Glass Houses shouldn’t Throw Stones
26 Apr 2022 As a landlord before you have any disagreement difference of opinion or need to settle differences with a tenant it is important to make sure your house is in order. There is a pattern emerging of landlords and tenants having disagreements and and while...
Rent Controls Forecast to Shrink the Scottish Private Rental Sector
19 Apr 2022 A leading lettings industry figure is warning politicians that they risk shrinking the size of the private rental sector if they implement drastic restrictions such as rent controls. The consultation period for the Scottish Government’s ‘A New Deal...
Shock to Commercial Property Owners – Empty Shops to be filled by Low-Rent Auction out of owners’ control
19 Apr 2022 Newspapers have been told by the government that next month’s Queens Speech will include dramatic measures to bring empty retail units back into use. This applies to shops that have been empty for six months or longer. Councils will have the powers to...
Finally some justice. Anti-landlord and agent campaign group must pay massive damages
11 Apr 2022 An activist group that has staged many protests against letting agents must pay just under £100,000 in costs and damages to a landlord, to settle a legal case for harassment, defamation and breach of data rights. Local media in Yorkshire report that Acorn...
Do HMOs have better capital appreciation? Research Results
08 Apr 2022 The average HMO is worth a third more than a comparably sized house according to new research. The typical HMO now costs £364,508 says Octane Capital, which used government data measured by analytics firm Property Data and the wider market data was sourced...
Proof the National Landlord Register for England is coming
31 Mar 2022 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White paper the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has released a job advert for the role of Policy Advisor – National Landlord Register. Click here The summary of the job states: The Leasehold and...
Landlords lose conclusively against VoA on HMO banding
25 Mar 2022 Landlords whose HMOs are split up into separate units for council tax purposes are losing court challenges, while a lawyer has remarked that their cases are “unwinnable”, The Telegraph reports. ‘Disaggregation’ is where an HMO is charged council tax...
Yet another council want to introduce criminal record checks for landlords
24 Mar 2022 A council says it’s considering introducing criminal record checks on individuals who apply to run HMOs as part of a wide-ranging crackdown. Cornwall Council is asking for views on how it uses enforcement powers to regulate the condition of privately...
Council encourages tenants to get Rent Repayment Order against Landlord
21 Mar 2022 A London landlord has been fined £5,000 for letting an unlicensed HMO. The fine was issued after the landlord ignored repeated warnings from Hackney council to obtain a license to continue letting the property. The landlord appealed the fine to the...
Newspaper campaign to scrap Section 21 and clamp down…
21 Mar 2022 The Mirror newspaper has launched a campaign to “make rented homes safer”. It says its campaign - called Safe As Houses - demands a national landlord register where those who let out properties would be forced to prove they met essential safety...
Will helping Ukrainian refugees lead to thousands of homeowners and renters being prosecuted by councils for unlicensed HMOs
(Like councils prosecuted those who housed the homeless during Covid)? 18 Mar 2022 Thousands of people appear to be being set up for prosecution by un-caring and revenue greedy councils on the back of the UK response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. “Couldn’t...
Local Authorities using Credit Checking to Trap You (and Identify Your Tenants)
10 Mar 2022 Guest post by Des Taylor Casework Director at Landlord Licensing & Defence It has come across my desk from more than one local authority and in multiple cases that the Council is checking information with Consumer Credit Reference Companies as part of...
More Ways Councils Trick Landlords into being “Illegally Unlicensed”
1 Mar 2022 Guest Post by Des Taylor Casework Director at Landlord Licensing & Defence *For landlords every where, SHARE far and wide* Have you ever wondered why a council has an Additional HMO Licensing or Selective Licensing Scheme that expires and there is a gap...
Bank of England may Scrap Mortgage Affordability Test
08 Mar 2022 The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) of the Bank of England has published its consultation on the proposal to withdraw the mortgage “affordability test”, which specifies a stress interest rate for lenders when assessing prospective borrowers’ ability to...
Rent controls will lead to rental stock shortage – research shows
03 Mar 2022 A new calculation suggests London needs almost 85,000 new private rented homes a year to meet its housing needs. And it adds to the evidence that rent controls, as advocated by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, would drive out landlords just as the capital needs...
Landlords switch on to investment potential of upgrading EPCs
07 Mar 2022 New research suggests that some landlords are now deliberately choosing to buy properties with weak EPCs in order to upgrade and benefit from capital appreciation. Research by specialist lender Landbay suggests that seven out of 10 Buy To Let landlords are...
CIEH to Train Housing Enforcement Officers to Prosecute Thousands More Landlords
04 Mar 2022 Poor housing quality is a serious issue affecting the public health and mental health of the UK population, yet 18% of homes in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) fail the government’s decent homes standard. Enforcement is a key part of...
Half of landlords still unaware of upcoming EPC changes. Do you know what you need to do?
24 Feb 2022 Almost half of non-portfolio landlords who took part in a recent survey were unaware of the proposed changes to EPC requirements. From 2025, all rental properties with new tenancies must have an EPC rating of at least C and for existing tenants, landlords...
Gove slammed for “lazy and false” views about landlords
23 Feb 2022 The government has been accused of basing its policy to solve the cladding crisis on the assumption that landlords are Property tycoons. Such an assumption is lazy and false according to the National Residential Landlords Association. The angry response...
New Build Rentals Command High Premium Rents – Research
23 Feb 2022 New build homes command rental premiums of as high as 41 per cent in the current market, it’s been claimed. The Unlatch platform has analysed market data on new-build rental premiums and yields and how they differ across Britain. The average rental value...
Years of legal and regulation changes ahead warns letting agent trade body
17 Feb 2022 A senior figure in an industry trade body says lettings agents are going to have their hands full dealing with legislative changes over the rest of this decade. Paul Offley, compliance officer at The Guild of Property Professionals, says the changes...
Another corporate moves into the rental private market with £2.5bn build-to rent programme
17 Feb 2022 Legal & General’s Retirement Institutional division has announced a massive £2.5 billion investment to deliver as many as 7,000 Build To Rent homes across the country by 2027. LGRI invested over £500m last year on the development of four BTR schemes in...
Call to landlords to house Afghan refugee families
16 Feb 2022 The government is calling on landlords with suitable properties to submit Afghan resettlement offers through a relaunched housing portal. Landlords are being urged to offer homes for families evacuated from Afghanistan to help the national effort to get...
City Mayor plans to introduce Rent controls. Another nail in the landlord coffin?
16 Feb 2022 The mayor of Labour-controlled Bristol council is teaming up with local anti-landlord activists to look at how to introduce local rent controls in the city. At a so-called ‘summit’ on March 2, Mayor Marvin Rees will set out his goals to have more powers...
Architects urge mass-retrofit of interwar housing
16 Feb 2022 Architects are urging the government to launch a national retrofit programme to insulate all Britain’s interwar homes, saying it can no longer afford to side-line the issue of decarbonising housing. The RIBA said to improve all homes that currently have an...
33% rise in landlords demanding guarantors for rental properties
15 Feb 2022 The number of prospective tenants asked to provide guarantors ahead of renting has risen by a huge 36 per cent over the past four years. Goodlord analysed a sample size of 730,000 tenants who took on a rental property between January 2018 and...
A third of your tenants have pets you don’t know about research finds
14 Feb 2022 It’s suggested that almost a third of pet-owning tenants have been hiding their animals from agents or landlords for more than three years. Research from Build To Rent operator Quintain Living, based a survey of over 1,000 private tenants across the whole...
