Hello, my tenants are on a periodic tenancy, only because they refuse to sign a new Tenancy Agreement. Recently I served a section 13 to increase the rent up to the current market value, but the Tenant only offered fifty pounds, which I declined. Now he has gone to the Tribunal, and this is what […]

Hi everyone, I am a guarantor on a 3-year AST ending this month, I would like to understand my liability after the contract ends. Unfortunately, the tenant has accumulated arrears and stopped paying in the last 6 months and also stopped any contact with the landlord and the agency. When I asked the tenant about […]

Shelter has attacked Section 21 evictions as the leading cause of homelessness.  Chief Executive, Polly Neate, has highlighted the 143% rise in ‘no fault evictions’ recently revealed by new government figures. Up from 792 households between Oct and Dec 2021 and 1,924 between Oct and Dec 2022. The figures on repossession and evictions released by […]

The Housing Ombudsman has seen a massive 60% increase in heating and hot water complaints in Social housing, according to a new report.  The Housing Ombudsman report noted a significant increase in heating and hot water cases with 1,491 complaints already received in 2022/23 in the social housing sector. This year the Housing Ombudsman has […]

I’ve been very foolish. During a time of family stress, I allowed a couple, at viewing, who then became a couple and a friend when we started the paperwork, to rent a lovely 2-bed flat. I am 6 months into the 12-month tenancy. I have had letters from the HMO licensing, yes we are article […]

We are considering renting out our property through social housing after we previously rented it as a single let to a family who refused to pay rent for two years racking up over £30,000 in rent arrears, causing us considerable financial strain. We had to face the stress and the agony of going through the […]

We recently had a new EPC done on our 5-bed student rental, which initially downgraded it from a D (65 points) on the previous EPC to an E (53 points) although nothing has changed. After complaining, the assessor agreed that he hadn’t looked in the roof (he said it was inaccessible) and after I climbed […]

I hope a Property118 member will know how this problem can be dealt with. Our managing agent of well over 20 years has failed to pay rents received and answer queries or solicitors’ requests for a year now. I have asked the tenants to pay me directly but still inform the agents of any issues. […]

Once upon a time, selective licensing only affected landlords of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and the rest were spared the red tape – and extra cost. Until that is, Tony Blair’s government managed to persuade Parliament to enact the Housing Act 2004 which created an option for every council to impose a landlord licensing […]

Just because I’m selling several (but not all) of my properties doesn’t mean you should. There are several reasons you might be selling your rental properties, here’s a list of the ones I hear most often: – I’ve had enough of landlords being vilified by Governments, so-called housing charities, and much of the mainstream media […]

Will the mass exodus of landlords wreck the livelihoods of professionals and stakeholders in the private rental sector? Landlords have sold 400,000 properties since 2019, when the total number of private rental properties peaked at 4.9 million. Shockingly, the downward trajectory looks set to get worse according to a recent landlord survey by Simply business, […]

More than two-thirds of landlords say they would be less likely to purchase a property if it has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of below C, according to new research.  The findings, carried out by Foundation Home loans, also revealed that landlords were more likely to sell a property rated D-E over the next […]

The number of available rental properties fell by 7.8% last year, compared to 2021, and by more than 25% since 2019 as growing numbers of fed-up landlords leave the private rented sector (PRS), research reveals. The survey from TwentyEA points to tax, regulatory and cost environments ‘becoming less enticing’ for the exodus. And the lack […]

New to the market, this new SPV Ltd Company Buy to Let mortgage product is designed to support existing, and would-be landlords, who are looking to maximise their borrowing potential. It will also benefit those who wish to grow their portfolios through the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle, which will be dedicated to managing […]

I have said it before – probably this time last year – and I’ll say it again the only way to get PRS Landlords fair treatment, and recognition of taking up the social housing mantle – which many of us have done, and done for years – is for ALL of us to issue s21 […]

In a case that could have implications for landlords across the country, Leicester City Council is appealing against a First-tier Tribunal decision that substantially reduced a civil financial penalty they had imposed for an HMO licensing offence. The case concerns a small two-storey HMO on the outskirts of Leicester which was let to four individual […]

Hello, In today’s unusual economic climate we (and many other landlords) have started having guarantors for every lease, as tenants may either lose a job, become ill and unable to work, or otherwise be unable to pay a rent that was previously no trouble for them. Whilst this can be done for new tenancies, what […]

Hello to All, I’m hoping that the clever clogs amongst the community might be able to offer a view on whether I can legally obligate my tenant – by means of a clause in an AST – that they HAVE to communicate with me as the landlord via the web and app based management portal […]

Nearly two in three student tenants in the UK are struggling to pay rent and two in five say that they have considered dropping out of university due to high rents, a survey reveals. According to the research from the money advice site Save the Student, the proportion of students struggling to keep up with […]

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has welcomed reform recommendations in a report from MPs for the private rented sector (PRS). Among the recommendations, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee’s report calls for the development of a specialist housing court to tackle anti-social behaviour and rent arrears cases. Other recommendations include introducing tax […]

Hello, I issued a Section 21 Notice to my tenant in December 2021. A consistently bad payer, he had until February 2022 to vacate. He chose not to, knowing full well he could appeal. The appeal was heard at Willesden County Court. I, foolishly as it turned out, thought I could represent myself. It was […]