Should you evict or wait for a tenant to leave, then sell? Or sell first to find out if you even need vacant possession? In the past, landlords could be forgiven for assuming selling with vacant possession was the obvious answer. After all, an empty property usually appeals to a wider range of buyers and […]

I would be interested to hear from Property118 readers who have experience of selling HMOs, particularly larger portfolios. Over the years, I have built up a substantial property portfolio in the South East, including several HMOs. I have reached a stage where I would like to take a step back from the day-to-day management involved, […]

If you want to understand exactly how the Renters’ Rights Act is going to restrict private landlords of control over their own property, look no further than the story this week about a tenant named Ms A and her pet cat, Marshy. Property118 reports that the tenant wanted a cat in her one-bedroom flat; the […]

Four lenders have cut buy to let prices, with reductions reaching 30bps across standard, specialist and semi-commercial mortgages. Molo has made the largest headline reduction, while The Mortgage Lender, Landbay and Fleet Mortgages have also introduced lower rates or limited-edition products for landlords. Molo has reduced its standard UK resident BTL rates by 10bps. Its […]

An industry body is urging the Home Office to simplify Right to Rent guidance for landlords and letting agents. Propertymark is calling on the government to provide a shorter checklist for landlords, arguing that the current Right to Rent guidance is “too long”. Right to Rent rules were introduced in England under the Immigration Act […]

Hello, My lender is seeking to impose monthly fines for breaching my mortgage conditions, following the local council’s decision that three unrelated sharers now constitute an HMO, even though it’s a modest 3-bed terraced house with no bedroom locks. The previous threshold, when I took out the mortgage, was four. My lender doesn’t do HMO […]

Home buyers could save four weeks and first-time buyers an average of £650 under government plans to overhaul England’s property sales system. The reforms would introduce compulsory sales packs containing information about the condition of a property, leasehold charges and its position in a chain. Sellers and estate agents would be required to provide the […]

The housing minister claims the size of the private rented sector remains stable despite landlords leaving the private rented sector (PRS). In a written parliamentary question, Matthew Pennycook said the PRS “remains stable” and that the government will continue to monitor trends across the sector following the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act. The news […]

Landlords released £2.37 billion from their properties to fund improvements last year, a 60% from 2024’s figure of £1.48 billion. Paragon Bank’s analysis of industry data found the money was released across 14,817 remortgages during 2025, compared with 9,754 a year earlier. It said the increase coincided with landlords preparing for further requirements under the […]

Tenant complaints against letting agents jumped by almost half last year, from 2024’s figure of 2,863 to last year’s 4,220, research reveals. The figures from tenancy platform Propoly, shows that is an annual increase of 47.4%, following a 19.6% rise the previous year. It says there are an estimated 19,051 agency professionals operating across the […]

A council is preparing to own social housing again after a gap of 20 years, although its first proposed purchase amounts to just 18 homes. The council has now been registered as a local authority provider of social housing, clearing a regulatory hurdle so it can build directly owned housing stock. Preston City Council had […]

House prices in some of Britain’s best-known seaside locations have fallen by as much as 38% in a year, research reveals. Seahouses in Northumberland recorded the largest annual house price drop among the locations analysed by Yopa, with its average property value dropping by 38%. Prices in Portmeirion, Wales, declined by 20.2%, while Fowey in […]

The government has corrected its official possession guidance after wrongly suggesting that landlords could have used the sale of a property as a Section 8 ground before 1 May 2026. The error has now been quietly removed. However, it comes as landlords relying on notices served under the old possession system face a fast-approaching deadline […]

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 3.75% despite a volatile market and ongoing economic uncertainty. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 7-2 to keep interest rates unchanged. Two members voted to increase Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 4%. Act to reduce inflation over time The MPC […]

Hello, There appears to be conflicting advice about the notice tenants must give under the Renters’ Rights Act, so I am posting this in case other landlords have received similarly mixed messages. The Act amends section 5 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The new section 5(1ZA) appears to say that a tenant’s notice […]

Form 4A has been live for five weeks. In that time, at least two readers’ questions have appeared on Property118 from landlords who cannot work out what to put in Section 4 of the form. The comments underneath those threads show experienced landlords disagreeing with each other about the correct answers. The frustrating thing is […]

Hello, We are all used to protecting our tenancy deposits by paying a one-off protection fee (If we use an insurance based scheme rather than a custodial one) however that is all about to change. I’ve just received an email from mydeposits advising me that their scheme will be changing to a subscription model. They […]

Manchester’s house prices have risen by 63% in a decade, putting the city at the top of Rightmove’s long-term growth table. London, meanwhile, has limped along with the country’s slowest rate of growth with an increase of just 7%. The average asking price in Manchester now stands at £261,891, compared with £160,422 10 years ago. […]

Landlords saw rent growth slow down again in May, although average monthly payments still climbed to £1,383 across the UK. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show private rents rose by 3.3% in the 12 months to May. That’s down from an annual growth figure of 3.5% in April. Average rents in England increased […]

The government has announced potential changes to the tenancy deposit protection system, including plans to remove insured deposit schemes. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, landlords must place a tenant’s deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme such as the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said […]

Houses now cost 1.7 times more than flats across the UK, as weaker flat price growth and leasehold costs widen the gap between the two parts of the market. The difference between house and flat prices has reached its widest point in 30 years, according to Zoopla. Its latest analysis shows the average UK house […]