Landlords in England and Wales are taking a stand against rising service charges, with a study revealing a 20% increase in applications to form ‘Right to Manage’ (RTM) or flat management companies.  The research by Direct Line found that service charges for leasehold flats are increasing by an average of 10% per year, with 7% […]

Propertymark is calling for more information from the Labour Party on its recent review of the private rented sector (PRS), which was published last week. The controversial review, led by the Labour Housing Group, proposed five key objectives, including rent controls, a big increase in social housing and the establishment of a compulsory National Landlords […]

Property taxes in Scotland surpassed £623 million over the past year – a slight increase of £3 million over the previous year, one lettings agency says. The analysis by DJ Alexander reveals that the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) generated the bulk of this revenue. The Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), which is a tax […]

Despite the council’s cabinet member for housing recognising that most landlords offer good quality housing, a selective licensing scheme will be implemented in Lambeth. And it will cost landlords a whopping £923 per property. Lambeth says its new scheme will target private rented properties to improve living conditions and tackle criminal landlords. It will also, […]

In a pointed one minute video message, Nottingham landlord Mick Roberts has responded to Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, who has criticised landlords and the Renters (Reform) Bill. Mr Twomey argues that the bill does not deliver on the government’s promise to end Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions. He said: “Everyone deserves to […]

Hi, we have a problem that we are hoping others can advise on please. We are using an eviction specialist to gain possession of our property (tenant has an AST dated 1999). The S21 was served and now we are going for a possession order. When we purchased the property (owned by a corporation) we […]

London boroughs have warned that the government’s plans for regulating short-term and holiday lets could worsen the capital’s housing crisis. The councils, from all political parties, say the government’s proposal could see a new planning ‘C5’ use class being created for properties that are already used as short-term lets. Now London Councils fear that automatically […]

Property investors are shifting their focus away from traditional hotspots like London and towards regions offering higher yields, research reveals. According to Handelsbanken, the East of England is now the most attractive region for commercial and residential investment over the next year (26.5%). Its ‘Property Investor Report’ questioned investors with an average of 35 properties […]

The UK’s buy to let mortgage market is seeing activity from several lenders with announcements of rate cuts, new product launches and simplified remortgage options. Among them is Fleet Mortgages which is targeting limited companies with new 65% loan-to-value (LTV) fixed-rate products. It is offering a zero-fee option at 5.64% and a 5.44% option with […]

A Labour government could bring in rent caps that would empower local councils to restrict annual rent increases by landlords. That’s a similar proposal to Scotland’s Housing Bill which has recently been unveiled. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, made the revelation during a BBC Radio Essex interview. She said that rent controls might be a […]

Greater Manchester is launching property checks to tackle substandard rented housing and to clampdown on criminal landlords. The Property Check scheme is a UK first and part of a £600,000 package aimed at improving rented housing ‘so it works for people, not against them’. The scheme, which could see Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service […]

House prices in the UK have reached a new record high, according to Rightmove, but the rate of growth is slowing. It says the average asking price for properties coming to market rose by 0.8% this month to £375,131, but this is only 0.6% higher than a year ago. The strong performance in May, a […]

Hi, I am currently in process of evicting one of my unpaying tenant using accelerated Section 21 route, I am under the impression that the court does not need a hearing if you don’t claim any unpaid rent. However, I received a notification stating that possession has been granted (with an order to follow), but […]

Hi, I am a landlord and I entered into a long battle with a former letting agent regarding their fully-managed service of my property. Following legal advice, I put in a formal complaint to the agent and followed their complaints procedure, escalated this to the Property Redress Scheme, rejected their early resolution proposal and have […]

In this episode of the Succeed in Property Podcast, hosted by Ranjan Bhattacharya, we’re privileged to have Dawid Dowbusz as our special guest. Dawid shares his remarkable journey from arriving in the UK as a Polish immigrant with just £400, to becoming a highly successful property investor. Through determination and hard work, Dawid built an […]

Tenants renewing their tenancies are seeing rents rise at a faster pace than those moving to new homes, research reveals. According to Hamptons, the average rent paid by a tenant renewing their contract rose by 8.3% over the last 12 months, compared to 6.4% for newly let properties. It says the trend is due to […]

Hi, just read an interesting article on Inside Housing about tenancy fraud see below: English regulator is ‘turning a wilful blind eye’ to tenancy fraud, experts warn A non-executive director at the Tenancy Fraud Forum (TFF) has accused the English regulator of “turning a wilful blind eye” to tenancy fraud and said it has “lost […]

The impending passing of the Renters (Reform) Bill spells trouble for tenants and landlords, warns a legal expert. Ian Narbeth, a commercial property lawyer and BTL and HMO landlord, tells Property118 in a video interview that can be seen below that some Tory MPs have “woken up too late” to the damaging effects the Bill […]

So, another week in landlord land and another slew of stories highlighting how bad landlords are for selling up – but there’s no perspective of WHY landlords are choosing to sell. And there’s a good reason for that. No one, literally no one, cares about the why. They only care about handing control of rented […]

A report commissioned by Labour has called for a major overhaul of the private rented sector (PRS), including the creation of a National Landlord Register and measures to prevent rent rises. There are also calls for Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions to be abolished and a bid to discourage PRS landlords from leaving for the short-let […]

Hi all, I found myself in a difficult situation while trying to evict a tenant during a rolling tenancy. The letting agency collected a deposit from the tenant and transferred it to me and I protected it with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). I provided all documents and my legal team prepared the case for […]