Most readers will have seen the coverage of the new £7,000 penalty for Category 1 hazards. What has had far less attention is how the penalty is actually decided once a council officer has been through the property, and what the government’s new landlord and agent guide, published on 23 June 2026, actually asks of […]

The government has hinted that the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Ombudsman could take into account previous cases of inadequate conduct by landlords. In a written parliamentary answer, housing minister Matthew Pennycook claimed the Ombudsman is not designed to ‘punish landlords’ but can consider evidence of repeated poor conduct. The news comes after Peers previously warned […]

The latest agreement between Gleeson Homes and Lloyds Living will deliver another 104 private rental homes across two developments in the Midlands. The properties will be built at Hollinwell Heath in Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Watermills in Apedale, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, with a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom houses intended to appeal mainly to couples and families. […]

Average private rents across the UK rose by 3.3% to £1,388 a month in the year to June, while house price growth in England slowed sharply, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports. The annual increase in rent was unchanged from May, with tenants in England paying an average of £1,446 a month, up 3.4%. […]

Landlords across Slough could face new licensing fees and conditions under proposals covering nearly 17,000 privately let homes. Slough Borough Council has opened a 10-week consultation on selective and additional licensing schemes that would extend across the borough. Selective licensing would apply to privately let properties occupied by one person, a single family or no […]

Annual house price growth has become the exception rather than the rule, with fewer than one in seven homes rising in value in each of the past five years. That’s according to Zoopla, which found that 14% of homes, equivalent to 4.2 million properties out of 30 million, recorded consecutive annual increases between June 2021 […]

Landlords have been offered more buy to let borrowing options after four specialist lenders announced changes to their mortgage ranges and lending criteria. Fleet Mortgages has broadened its criteria for joint applications involving foreign nationals, while YBS Commercial Mortgages has launched a tracker mortgage for larger multi-unit freehold blocks. Hampshire Trust Bank has introduced lower […]

Hello, Yesterday, I received an invitation to go online and try out the ‘dummy’ version of the new Landlord Database. Already having a one Gov I.D it was easy enough to register as a landlord. The problem came when I started trying to register my properties, in particular gas and electrical certificates. I don’t hold […]

To the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Dear Commissioners, We are writing to ask HMRC to revisit one sentence in paragraph CG65715 of the Capital Gains Manual, which deals with the meaning of “business” for the purposes of incorporation relief under section 162 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. The sentence […]

Landlords could face a rent freeze as Andy Burnham considers urgent measures designed to give households relief from the cost-of-living crisis. The new Prime Minister confirmed that rent freezes were among several options being examined with the Treasury, alongside lower energy bills and caps on bus fares. However, while speaking with reports after his Downing […]

Andy Burnham could hardly have chosen a more appropriate housing priority for his first days as Prime Minister. His Government has announced an urgent national drive to end rough sleeping, supported by an additional £340 million, while he has also promised a substantial increase in council housebuilding. That commitment deserves support. Nobody should have to […]

With the government announcing phase two of Awaab’s Law, social housing landlords are still struggling to meet the response times set out under the first phase of the legislation. A government research report into the rollout of Awaab’s Law for social housing found that its early implementation has been hampered by a number of barriers, […]

More renters support rent controls to tackle high rents as they claim renting is becoming unaffordable, according to new data. Findings by SpareRoom reveal that 77% of renters strongly support rent controls, while in the past 12 months, 32% of UK renters and 35% of London renters said they had been forced to move because […]

Landlords looking to strengthen returns may find the latest regional rental yield figures interesting. Paragon Bank’s lending data shows the average gross yield reached 7.02% by the end of June, up from 6.96% at the close of the first quarter. Its Q2 2026 Buy to Let Yields report records a longer rise from 5.84% in […]

The government has claimed it engaged with the student sector while developing the Renters’ Rights Act, despite industry experts warning the reforms could leave students worse off. In a written parliamentary answer, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the legislation was developed following “extensive” engagement with the sector. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, all fixed-term tenancies […]

The controversy surrounding HMRC’s recent rewrite of BIM45690 and BIM45700 initially appeared to concern a relatively narrow question: whether a landlord can refinance a property business, withdraw capital and continue to obtain tax relief for the interest where the money withdrawn is then used for personal purposes. The implications may be considerably wider than that. […]

Angela Rayner has returned as housing secretary less than a year after resigning from the post over the stamp duty paid on her £800,000 flat in Hove. The appointment brings her back to the department under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, with Ms Rayner saying she is ‘delighted’ to resume the role. Ms Rayner resigned as […]

Landlords have warned that police are not doing enough to tackle rental sector fraud, with criminals using fake IDs to secure tenancy agreements and causing thousands of pounds in damage. BBC Panorama investigation There’s a Gangster in My Flat found that fake passports are being used to deceive landlords and letting agents. All landlords in […]

Landlords face renewed questions over rent controls, licensing and property standards after Andy Burnham entered Downing Street. The government’s new prime minister replaced Sir Keir Starmer after becoming Labour leader last week, making him the seventh person to hold the office since 2016. In his first Downing Street speech, Mr Burnham announced that he would […]

Efficiency You Can Measure: What Greening a Website Taught Us About Energy Standards By Dave Fuller, Managing and Technical Director, Accent Design Group Ltd For more than fifteen years, we at Accent Design have built and maintained the Property118 website. We created the brand, developed the site and the internal software that runs behind it, […]

An international real estate firm is warning that landlords in the prime rental market are selling up due to higher mortgage costs and an increasing tax burden. A report by Savills reveals landlords are also concerned about the Renters’ Rights Act, with almost half (48%) of Savills agents in London saying it is the primary […]