Two unnamed landlords have launched a legal action against a council’s ‘unlawful’ decision to bring in a selective licensing scheme, Teesside Live reports. Middlesbrough Council recently unveiled its Newport 1 scheme which would cost landlords £998 per licence. The scheme would run for five years, and the licence fee has been increased from £820. But […]

Buy to Let by Foundation, a specialist BTL lender, has launched a new limited edition five-year fixed-rate mortgage for landlords. The product is available for both individual and portfolio landlords with a strong credit history, offering a competitive rate of 5.74% at up to 75% loan-to-value (LTV) with a fee of 1.75%. This new product […]

London’s housing crisis could be eased by building on vast swathes of unused brownfield land, according to new research.  The analysis by SBA Property Management, found that the capital has enough derelict land to accommodate at least 414,273 new homes. This brownfield space, defined as previously developed land no longer in use, covers a staggering […]

Tenants moving into new Build to Rent (BTR) developments across the UK will now have the option to avoid the traditional five-week cash deposit thanks to a collaboration between deposit alternative provider Reposit and four major BTR operators. The new partnership will see Reposit’s service offered at Lampton Parkside in Hounslow for the Pinnacle Group, […]

Following on the heels of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Generation Rent is also calling for the next government to bring in a new Renters (Reform) Bill as a matter of urgency. It says this will protect households and families from homelessness – and the organisation wants more social and affordable homes to be […]

Hi, I was granted possession after a wait of over 7 months. Since one of my tenants is disabled, the judge has given them the maximum time to stay. However, I doubt they will leave when the two-week eviction period ends. Should I write to the council to ask them to rehouse my tenants? Even […]

Angela Rayner has promised a Labour government will immediately end Section 21. Ms Rayner claims the Tories “have completely failed a generation of renters” by not passing the Renters (Reform) Bill. Housing charity Shelter met Ms Rayner in Darlington on the general election campaign trail. Labour will immediately end no-fault evictions The Renters (Reform) Bill […]

The buy to let market for landlords is receiving a boost with new offerings from both The Mortgage Works (TMW) and Market Financial Solutions (MFS). The Mortgage Works, a specialist BTL lender, is launching a new tool specifically designed to help brokers working with portfolio landlords. This sector faces growing complexity, making it crucial for […]

Propertymark members say they are concerned about landlords ‘choosing to exit the sector’ despite a surge in tenant demand. The organisation’s latest Housing Insight Report shows that tenant registrations grew from 82 in March, to 90 in April 2024. There are now nine new applicants being registered for each available property – but supply is […]

Despite a national average UK house price rise of 1.8%, research reveals that nearly half (48%) of local authority areas have seen house prices fall over the past year. The analysis by Open Property Group reveals the biggest drops over the past year were concentrated in London and the South East. However, the City of […]

A recent article in The Times, using research from Savills, argued that renting out property in the last 10 years has become less profitable for landlords. Among the reasons given was the price of property increasing from £161,404 to £236,311 – and the average deposit size nearly doubling. Also, stamp duty has gone from 1% […]

Landlords are showing renewed confidence in the buy to let market, with 44% intending to purchase property in the next year, a survey reveals. The findings from Landbay show this is a big jump from 32% of landlords planning to do so in a previous survey. Building a property portfolio is the primary motivator for […]

After seeing five years of hard work in shaping the Renters (Reform) Bill for the private rented sector (PRS) evaporate when the general election was called, the next government must work ‘from scratch’ on a new law. That’s the verdict of Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) writing to […]

Rightmove has outlined a series of urgent priorities it wants to see from the incoming government, including sustainable housing policies and action to force landlords to improve the EPC rating of their properties. The property portal questioned more than 14,000 homeowners and renters – and found most people wanted long-term solutions to a range of […]

Hi, I am a private individual who owns an HMO in the North of England. After a long list of complaints including photographs and video’s documenting the state of said property, which were sent over to said letting agent who just essentially dismissed all the points. I have terminated the contract with the lettings agency. […]

Landlords wanting higher yields are increasingly looking towards semi-commercial properties for investment, research reveals. Shawbrook Bank says that applications for new purchases are nearly double this year compared with 2023. Using its internal data, applications for semi-commercial properties reached 24% in the first half of 2024, up from just 13% in all of 2023. Shawbrook […]

Hi, I have a one bed top floor flat in a converted Victorian house I rent out. The roof has caused many leaks over the past 6 years that I have owned the flat, the Freeholders have always ‘patched it up’ and clearly it doesn’t work. They have obtained several quotes to replace the flat […]

The demand for rented properties in Britain is driving a surge in rents across the board, according to new research by Zero Deposit. The tenancy deposit alternative provider has analysed data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), revealing a national average rent increase of 9.1% over the last year. This growth, however, varies regionally […]

Hi, we have a BTL in an ex-local authority building where the council is the Freeholder. Since 2019 there have been spates of water ingress/floods from the bathroom of flat above culminating in 7 floods through our bathroom ceiling in the last 5 weeks. The flat above houses a single mother who is a council […]

This is purely hypothetical at the moment but just imagine what could happen when Labour introduce their own version of the Renters Reform Bill. Imagine a scenario. Labour have got in to 10 Downing Street, and Angela Rayner decides that all private renters should benefit to the same extent as she has, and landlords can […]

A report by PwC shines a light on the significant contribution of small and medium-sized landlords in England and Wales to the UK economy. It was commissioned by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) and Paragon Bank, and it estimates the economic impact of landlords at a staggering £45 billion annually. This economic contribution, measured […]