Half of the renters who moved home in the past year say they worry about paying higher rents – with their bill rising between £51 and £200 more every month, The DPS says. The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) says that just under a quarter (23%) of the 2,000 tenants it questioned in England and […]

Hello, If it’s time for your re-instatement quote for your block building insurance please learn from our mistake. We have just had our insurance re-instatement done which involved a site visit by the insurance broker. Our block of 7 flats and 1 commercial unit are in Harrogate town centre, North Yorkshire. Imagine my astonishment when […]

The latest rental market report from Zoopla offers tenants little hope that rents will begin falling any time soon – as landlords ‘rationalise their portfolios’ or leave the market altogether. Zoopla says that rent inflation in March has slowed to 11.1% – down from the high of 12.3% that was recorded in the middle of […]

Hello, I have full a full management service with a letting agent who conducts property inspections and sends me a copy of their report, along with any recommendations. However, a few months after their inspection, the council conducted their own inspections and identified six recommendations for repairs that were not included in the letting agent’s […]

“Runaway rents” are crushing the finances of tenants, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. A report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on changes in the PRS from February 2022 to February 2023 has revealed that 51% of properties surveyed had seen a rent increase. The average hike was 10% – up from 7% a year […]

A slowing house market in the first quarter of the year has seen homebuyer activity drop by 22% compared to last year, an index reveals. The homebuyer demand index by GetAgent.co.uk also shows that homebuyer demand slipped by 5.7% in the first three months of 2023. The estate agent comparison site looks at the property […]

Hello, a licenced lodger passed away in January 2023 and left damage which I had to completely replace and his car is in the allocated parking space. He was separated from his wife since 2019 and she is now the executor of his estate. She has cleared the flat of his belongs. Four weeks ago, […]

While the mortgage market might be declining, buy to let investors and those remortgaging have delivered the largest uptick in activity, research reveals. However, Octane Capital says that home movers remain the largest category within residential mortgage lending. Shift in the landscape The lender’s chief executive, Jonathan Samuels, said: “The residential mortgage sector is yet […]

Hi, Last Sunday evening, our lock decided to fail (ERA night latch). All of a sudden, the key would not be able to turn the lock. My flatmates, who were inside, could not open the door either, the latch was simply stuck and would not turn despite countless attempts at it. When it was clear […]

Hello, I invoked a Right of Cancellation for a property management service within the 14 day period, using the method defined in their terms of business and based on the The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 recommendation. I welcome peoples’ view of the defence points raised to my money claim online, […]

Tenants in Scotland could face ‘difficult times’ with the announcement that Humza Yousaf has won the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP and First Minister. One critic says that Mr Yousaf’s ‘negative attitude’ to the private rented sector (PRS) will see higher rents, more tenant evictions and fewer homes to rent. […]

Nearly half of landlords are concerned about capital gains tax changes, according to a new survey. The findings from Finbri reveal that 45% of landlords have expressed concern about the potential impact of capital gains tax (CGT) on their investments. In the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, it was announced that capital gains […]

Hi, I would like some advice from Property118 readers. I would like to know if any landlords have had any issues with smart meters that tenants have had fitted. The tenants have run up a debt and left the property. How easy is it to “reset” a smart meter for a new tenant moving into the […]

Landbay’s Buy to Let Mortgages proposition is new and improved for 2023 and their criteria list below shows why they should be considered a serious specialist lender for the property rental market. Interesting? How many other lenders can offer all of this? Not many at all. H D Consultants and Landbay have an exceptionally good […]

Modern software is saving landlords 50%-75% of their time and Alphaletz cloud-based software has announced today that they are now GIVING AWAY a free plan which allows users to connect their bank account, with full functionality from their desktop and mobile device! You don’t even need to enter a credit card. You’ll also see Property118 […]

A BBC investigation will highlight that council houses that were built to house tenants to protect them from ‘slum landlords’ have been sold under the Right to Buy scheme and are now being let by ‘slum landlords’. Lord Richard Best, from the Affordable Housing Commission, says the housing situation has now gone ‘full circle’. The […]

The Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove says there won’t be a rent freeze or a rent cap for landlords in England this year as part of the proposed Renters Reform Bill. He was speaking on the ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ show when he was asked about the lack of support for housing in the recent […]

Hello, I would like some advice from Property118 readers, If a landlord is permanently unable to maintain an AST due to loss of mental capacity, can their married partner take over if their name isn’t on the agreement? The property is jointly owned but the AST was only in one of their names. Does a […]

Hello, I live a in block of flats where the former freeholder (the company is now dissolved) overcharged the service charges: the percentages we paid added up to more than 100%. The new landlords are fixing the problem but they bought the freehold in 2016. Are they responsible for the earlier overpayments? Our Leases have […]

The government has unveiled plans to give landlords and housing associations the power to evict anti-social tenants who ruin their neighbours’ lives by being drunk and disorderly and persistently noisy. The move follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge earlier this year to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and he says it be treated with the […]

There has been a rise in the availability in chain-free properties in 21 major cities, according to a new report. House Buyer Bureau reveals that chain-free stock availability has increased by 3.4% since June 2022, rising from 36.6% of all available homes to 40%. The biggest stock increase has been reported in Glasgow with a […]