Hello, my daughter is about to buy her first property and, unfortunately, due to property prices and mortgage availability, she will have to go leasehold, which is something we have no experience of. We have heard a lot of horror stories of leaseholders being charged many thousands for unexpected improvement works done on the building, […]

Hi, The Bailiffs are coming to evict my tenant (Mr D) on 10th January. However, Mr D has paid his rent for January (well partially, it went up in July, he has never paid the new rent but continues to pay the original rent). I don’t understand why, because the bailiffs hand-delivered the eviction notice […]

Supply and demand remain static in the private rented sector but could soon rise in the New Year. The latest figures from Propertymark’s Housing Insight Report reveal that 25% of letting agents saw rents rise in November 2023. The run-up to Christmas saw more tenants struggling with rent arrears as financial pressures continued to mount. […]

Forget juggling spreadsheets and chasing late rent calls – 2024 is the year savvy UK property investors embrace tech to transform their portfolios into cash flow-generating juggernauts. Picture yourself, a modern-day Medici, commanding your empire from a digital throne, fueled by the magic of property management software (PMS). Ditch the Paper Chase, Embrace the Cloud: […]

A licence for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) is now required by most landlords in Royal Greenwich after a new scheme went live on 1 January 2024. The additional HMO licensing scheme covers properties where three or more residents from different households share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. The council says the scheme is for […]

A council has been urged to improve its temporary housing for residents living in poor conditions in an open letter signed by dozens of people. Written by the Croydon Temporary Accommodation Campaign, the letter calls for ‘change now’ and criticises the council for placing residents in ‘uninhabitable’ temporary accommodation. They say the housing crisis in […]

Hello, We have been residential landlords for over twenty years now and it has gone well. We now want to make a further investment – through an SPV limited company – and are a bit concerned by the increasing uncertainty and proliferating regulations surrounding ASTs. An agent has suggested that we look at the possibilities […]

Hi, Do landlords have a viable political home? It appears not. Historically the Conservative party has been the party of the landlord, permitting the market to control itself to a large extent. This is no longer the case. Why? Because we have a left of centre conservative government (note the small c). The tail is […]

Around 74,000 single-parent households and their children could be evicted and made homeless in England this winter, according to a new survey by housing charity Shelter. The research, funded by the Nationwide Building Society, shows that one in seven lone parents who rent privately are in danger of losing their home. That’s because they have […]

The number of people buying their first home with a mortgage dropped to its lowest level in 10 years in 2023, as rising interest rates and inflation made it harder to afford a property. According to Yorkshire Building Society, only 290,000 first-time buyers secured a mortgage last year, a 21% decrease from the previous year. […]

The housing crisis has sparked a wave of ‘creative resistance’ from renters who are using music, video games and novels to vent their anger and frustration, the Guardian reports. In Manchester, a record label has challenged musicians to create an alternative soundtrack for a promotional video of a luxury apartment block. The original video showed […]

I am considering gifting my annexe accommodation to terminally ill people as a holiday, referred to me by a charity that only does this. This is only a potential issue, as it has not happened yet! What if the charity introduced a person to stay in my annexe and at the end of the week’s […]

Does anyone have experience with mechanical heat recovery ventilation units? I have a top floor flat with 2 bedrooms facing north, and a kitchen and sitting room facing south. The outside walls of the bedrooms mainly the north-facing walls suffer from condensation and the humidity level at the moment is reading about 67 which is […]

A landlord who provides homes to hundreds of homeless benefit tenants says council licensing schemes are making rents rocket and forcing people onto the streets. Mick Roberts, Nottingham’s biggest private provider for this group, told the Nottingham Post that he has decades of experience in the sector but blames Nottingham City Council’s licensing schemes for […]

The government’s flagship legislation for the private rented sector (PRS), the Renters (Reform) Bill, is still in limbo, with many amendments and challenges ahead, says one industry expert. Neil Cobbold, the managing director of PayProp UK, says the Bill, has faced delays and opposition from various parties and is unlikely to become law before the […]

Huddersfield has emerged as the UK’s house price hotspot in 2023, with an average increase of 8.7%, according to Halifax. The West Yorkshire town saw its average property value rise by £22,137 to £253,301 over the year, defying the national trend of slowing growth. Halifax, which based its findings on its mortgage approval data, said […]

Will landlords bail out in 2024 as the Renters (Reform) Bill gets closer or will we stick it out for our tenants? I only ask because this is the time of year to come up with resolutions. I’ve explained at length that the Bill effectively transfers the control of a rented property to the tenant. […]

The last Nationwide House Price index for 2023 shows a fall in the market of 1.8% over the last year with the average Uk house price for December at £257,443 However, outperforming the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland was up 4.5% and Scotland up 0.5% last year. Nationwide’s Chief Economist, Robert Gardner, commented: “UK […]

Nearly all prime housing markets in the UK have experienced an easing in price falls over the final quarter of 2023, Savills reveals. This comes after a turbulent year when prime regional house prices fell by just -0.8% in the quarter, an improvement on the -1.5% seen in both Q2 and Q3 2023. This leaves […]

A homeless charity is urging the Government to unfreeze the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates immediately in a bid to reduce the rising number of homeless people on London’s streets. The Single Homeless Project, the largest charity dedicated to helping Londoners in crisis, wants action to prevent homelessness for up to 17,500 Londoners it says […]

With many renters in the UK struggling to become homeowners, the TSB has unveiled first-time buyer mortgages to help. The lender has carried out research and found that 35% of non-homeowners had no plans to purchase a property ever, and only 29% hoped to do so within five years. The main barriers for renters buying […]