According to HM Land Registry, the average sold house price at the peak in September 2007 was £190,032. However, as of August 2023 that figure is £291,044. But surely that’s a gain of £101,032 I hear you say! Well, from a tax perspective, it is, and if you had purchased an average property in September […]

Renters in shared housing could save up to £1,000 a year thanks to a campaign by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA). The Government has announced it will reform the way council tax is applied to houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). Currently, some local authorities assess each room in an HMO as a separate unit […]

Can you help? The Telegraph is looking to speak to landlords who have had to use section 21 to evict problem tenants. Have you had any nightmare situations where using it was necessary? How do you feel about the prospect of section 21 being abolished? Please email [email protected] if you would be interested in talking […]

On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 4:29 AM, Consultation Team wrote: Consultation on new schemes to improve the quality and management of private rented properties across the city Dear Resident Bristol City Council is seeking your views on a proposal to introduce two new property licensing schemes in Bristol. Scheme 1 A citywide additional licensing scheme […]

The Mortgage Works (TMW) has announced a series of rate reductions across its buy to let products, effective from last Saturday (28 October). The lender is offering some of the most competitive deals in the sector, with rates starting from 4.49%. The rate cuts apply to both new business and switcher products and cover a […]

Finding a cheap rental home in the UK is a daunting challenge with only 1.9% of the current rental market stock costing less than £500 per month, research reveals. The analysis by Zero Deposit highlights that this is the lowest level of stock of all the rental market price bands they looked at. However, the […]

Higher mortgage rates and cost of living pressures have caused house prices to fall in four out of five local markets in the UK, Zoopla reports. According to its latest House Price Index, annual house price growth has slowed from +9.2% a year ago to -1.1% today, the most dramatic slowdown since 2009. House price […]

The Housing Ombudsman has been slammed by a legal expert after it handed out a fine of £66,441 for poor housing – an average of £2,000 per case – when a landlord in the private rented sector would have been fined more than £2 MILLION for the same offences. The Ombudsman highlighted a range of […]

Investing in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) can be more profitable than non-HMO’s with landlords enjoying nearly DOUBLE the average yield, research reveals. Octane Capital, a specialist property lending company, analysed the cost and return of converting a four-bedroom property into an HMO across England. The research found that the average house price in England […]

The Government’s plans for the private rented sector (PRS) have been criticised by a leading industry figure as confusing and chaotic. Daniel Evans, the chair of the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC), said the Renters (Reform) Bill, which aims to overhaul the PRS, was ‘like a half-baked cake’. The Bill will scrap Section 21 […]

More than 180 tenants of a social housing trust have been overcharged by nearly £500,000, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) says. Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) has admitted its failure to set rents correctly and vowed to reimburse the affected residents. The trust, which owns around 2,600 homes in York, Leeds, Scarborough and Hartlepool, […]

An association is demanding the government give more legal aid to tenants facing eviction. The Law Society warns tenants on low incomes will be unable to afford legal advice if they face eviction. The association is urging the government to invest in the legal aid system and the courts. Access to housing legal aid becomes […]

Nearly a third (32%) of buy to let landlords are planning to buy more property in the next 12 months, despite the challenges posed by higher interest rates, a survey reveals. The research from Landbay also reveals that 43% of landlords are not intending to buy any more property soon. The main reasons for this […]

Students are struggling as soaring rents outpace average maintenance loan, according to new research. A survey by student housing charity Unipol and Higher Education Policy Institute reveals rents for student accommodation have increased by nearly 15% over the past two years. Bristol has the UK’s highest average annual rent at £9,200 per year outside of […]

Hello, S21 has been issued and now in accelerated stage. Awaiting a date from judge. Council has just contacted me about tenant asking the following… When did tenant move into the above address? How much is the rent at the above address? Why has tenant been served with notice to leave his/her accommodation? Did tenant […]

Hello, I have a tenant who on the 25th Oct informed me she would be leaving on the 31st Oct 2023. She is on an AST that started on the 1st May 2023 and would be due to roll over on the 1st Nov 2023. The tenant pays their rent per month and is up […]

Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, has expressed his opposition to rent controls at the National Residential Landlords Association’s (NRLA) national conference. The event was held on the day after MPs debated the Renters (Reform) Bill, which aims to end so-called ‘no-fault’ evictions by abolishing section 21 notices. Mr Gove said that he recognised ‘the invaluable […]

Hello, my daughter and I are in a long-running dispute with Student Finance England regarding income assessment and Student Maintenance Loan. I am asking whether any other landlords have experienced this issue and possible solutions. The issue is that they are taking our Gross S24 Income (artificially inflated rental income including finance costs) rather than […]

Hello, Does anyone know how to find out the detailed crime stats for an area (postcode or actual road)? I am trying to pull together info to prove that selective licencing (SL) has been granted by the Secretary of State, but on the basis that the info presented by the council is factually incorrect and that […]

London’s buy to let investors are turning their backs on the capital and looking for opportunities in the North of England, the Telegraph reports. According to estate agency Hamptons, two-thirds of London landlords who bought properties this year did so outside the capital, compared to just one-third 10 years ago. The North of England has […]

The Liberal Democrats have challenged Conservative MPs who are landlords to reveal if they have ever evicted tenants without a reason. The party wants more transparency from the Tory MPs who may oppose the Renters (Reform) Bill, which aims to ban Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions in England. The Bill was introduced in the Commons for […]