The government needs to act fast to prevent a housing disaster, with more people renting than ever before and fewer landlords willing to invest in rental properties, one expert says. Neil Cobbold, the managing director of automated rental payment firm PayProp UK, points to an analysis of HMRC data by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young. […]

The lack of housing supply is creating huge problems in the private rented sector, an industry body has warned. The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (ACII) blames the Renters Reform Bill and energy efficiency proposals for creating “the perfect storm in the rental market.” With more and more landlords leaving the private rented sector, many […]

Hello, I am told that the landlord’s supply for the common parts of a small block of flats (4) needs an EICR every 5 years as that is the law. OK, if a flat is rented then the electricity supply/unit needs to be checked or tested at a max of every 5 years – but […]

Landlords and homeowners could boost their property value by to £28,000 when upgrading its EPC rating, research reveals. Development site finder Searchland has analysed how much value is added and how much it costs to do the necessary work. The firm says that moving from a D to a C rating adds 3% to a […]

According to the latest RICS Residential Market Survey for July, the rental market is experiencing a strong surge in demand, while the sales market is facing a sharp decline. The survey reveals that +54% of respondents reported an increase in tenant demand over the past three months, the highest quarterly figure since the beginning of […]

The UK’s private rented sector (PRS) has seen a significant decline in the number of homes to rent since 2016, one leading real estate advising firm reveals. According to CBRE, it estimates that 400,000 rental properties have been sold in the past seven years, as landlords face increasing costs and higher mortgage rates. According to […]

Hello, my situation is a bit complex and I hope I will get some answers here.  I was leaving alone in my 4 bedroom house and took on some lodgers to live with me. In 2020 I got a job in another country and spent time going back and forth to my house in London. […]

The Times is looking to speak with a cash buyer, who has recently bought a property, to hear about their experience of the buying process. The piece will cover the rise of cash buyers focusing on whether these buyers have an advantage in the current market. Lucy Alderson, the money reporter, from The Times, would […]

Hi, I am facing issues with implementing rent increases. The tenancies are AST that have rolled on to periodic tenancies on the expiry of the initial fixed term. The rents have to go up as costs have gone up and rents have not been revised for over a year. In one of the properties, the […]

The government is unlikely to deliver the one million new homes it promised by the end of this Parliament, according to research. Property developer Stripe Property Group (SPG) has found that an average of 67,500 new homes every quarter will need to be built by the end of 2024 to meet its target. However, the […]

A leading industry body wants to hear from landlords in London about their future plans for investment. Propertymark and the University of Dundee have launched a survey to uncover whether landlords will retain their property investments or withdraw from the sector. The survey is open till the end of August and while the survey is […]

Hello, we are the landlord of a student HMO. The tenancy has been signed for the upcoming year but one of the tenants has now decided to pull out. They have found a replacement tenant but the agents are saying they can only charge them the £50 fee and want to charge us £42 for […]

Like a jack-in-the-box that keeps reappearing with an unwanted message, Assembly Members on the London Assembly are fed up with Mayor Sadiq Khan’s calls to bring in rent controls for the capital’s private rented sector. They say he is distracting attention away from his own poor performance in the capital and he doesn’t have a […]

Hello, does anyone have any experience of letting their property for short-term lets (3 months – 12 months) to business travellers? I have a property which has been refurbed and is empty right now, but at some point in the future, I shall want to move in there myself whilst my main residence undergoes building […]

Hello, I am approaching 70 and I issued my tenant with a letter to vacate the property on the 22nd of February 2023. I did not give a time frame but just to let the tenant know what my intentions were. On receiving the letter my tenant decided that he was going to apply for […]

Landlords face being put out of business with the government trebling the fines for those who rent a home to an illegal migrant. The government says this will be the biggest shake up of civil penalties since 2014. Under the new rules, fines will rocket from £80 per lodger and £1,000 per tenant for a […]

Hello, I’ve been a BTL landlord for over 6 years but in that time we have had tax changes, legislation changes, and now increased interest rates/running costs and possibly stricter letting rules to come. Is it even worth the risk of expanding now or is it best to invest somewhere else in the meantime? In […]

Despite forecasts of a downturn due to rising interest rates, average house prices in Scotland continuing rising, data reveals. Estate and letting agents DJ Alexander, show that average house prices rose by 1.57% between June 2022 and May 2023. House prices in Edinburgh grew by 3.35% with an average price of £334,118 – that’s the […]

The latest data reveals that rents have risen in every region of the UK with the average price now at £1,243 in July – that’s up 10.3% in a year and 1.1% from June. The figures from Homelet also reveal that rents outside of London are now £1,037. But tenants in the capital are facing […]

Hello, I own a 1900 solid brick small workers’ cottage. It’s been fully renovated, new roof, new DG and electric heaters with no mains gas. My EPC is currently an E. I ask the assessor if I put in mains gas central heating how many points would my EPC increase by. He said he couldn’t […]

Hi, According to my agent, my tenants have said they would like to re-carpet throughout at their expense which they say would cost them about £2,500. In view of the expense, they have asked for a guarantee of a long term agreement, although they have not specified a period. At the moment I have no […]