A city council that introduced a selective licensing scheme in April has been deluged with 31,000 applications from landlords – but has only issued 104 licenses so far. This has prompted the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) to condemn the scheme as a ‘waste of time’. And, the NRLA has calculated, it will take council […]

Paragon Bank has revealed that it has increased its full-year buy-to-let lending by 18.2% to £1.9 billion on the back of strong demand from professional landlords. The company says that by focussing on specialist BTL lending, in the year to 30 September accounted for 98% of its new mortgage originations. Specialist lending is classed as […]

Hello, As we’ve now entered a tougher period for the prospect of increased rent arrears, what do fellow members feel about stipulating that all enquirers, for example to a self managing platform like Openrent, are to have the necessary resources to put the landlord into a positive cashflow position in advance? Then repeated six monthly […]

The UK’s house prices slipped by 2.3% in November which is the biggest monthly fall since October 2008, the Halifax house price index reveals. The bank’s figures show that the annual rate of house price growth has fallen from October’s 8.2% to 4.7% in November. Halifax says that the average UK house price has fallen […]

The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has been forced to drop mandatory housebuilding targets in a bid to see off a backbench rebellion from Tory MPs. That would see demand remaining strong for the private rented sector (PRS) and Labour says the move shows the Prime Minister is ‘weak’. The move follows a threat from up […]

Buy-to-let landlords are not only facing a tougher time securing finance with fewer mortgages and rising rates, but interest-only BTL mortgages have rocketed by 286.4%. That’s according to specialist property lending experts, Octane Capital, who have analysed the mortgage market for landlords and how this impacts tenants. The firm points out that news coverage of […]

During the meeting, we will have a presentation from Mike Bristow, CEO and Co-Founder of CrowdProperty talking about property development in the 2023 Market. We will then continue on the theme of how you as property investors can move forward in times of uncertainty with an exciting property industry expert guest panel. Mark Alexander, Founder […]

A bid by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) to highlight how private rented student accommodation would be affected by a move to periodic tenancies has been criticised by the National Union of Students. The condemnation of the landlords’ organisation comes after it had written to 22 student unions to explain what will happen under […]

I wanted to share a recent experience I’ve had with Precise Mortgages, which other borrowers/prospective borrowers/IFAs may find of interest. 5 years ago I bought a BTL property with a 75% loan from Precise Mortgages, fixed for 5 years at 3.39%, through our SPV limited company. The product was coming to the end of its […]

Greenwich had an Additional HMO licensing scheme from 1st October 2017 to 30 Sept 2022. No review of the success or failure of that scheme has been published. Despite that they are consulting on a new scheme click here If the first scheme was so successful why would a further scheme be needed? If it […]

Hello, I have a joint tenancy – a couple now splitting up – and one of them has left the house and no longer wants to be on the agreement, since they have to rent somewhere else. Their split was on good terms, and they have been excellent tenants so far (for three years or […]

The Settlers Court supreme court judgement is we believe totally unfair and unreasonable. This decision enables RTM (Right to Manage) companies to only manage their building and not any common parts i.e. gardens etc. This takes away a key reason for RTM to manage their building and surrounding areas some of which may not be […]

A bitter pay dispute has seen more than 600 workers at Shelter start two weeks of strike action. A union rep has condemned the charity’s management as ‘heartless and hypocritical’. Staff at the housing and homeless charity are fighting for a better pay deal than the 3% that Shelter has imposed. Workers complain that their […]

A frustrated landlord has hit out after a council revealed that the housing crisis in their city is so bad that 8,000 households are waiting for a home – but they won’t engage with local landlords to help resolve the issue. Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, the council’s portfolio holder for housing, Toby Neal, said that […]

Hello, I read a lot about Rogue Landlords Databases but nothing about Rogue Tenants Databases. Does any one know of any? It does seem that tenants from hell are at liberty to trash properties, run up huge arrears, obtain tenancies by deception and walk away without being punished yet landlords can be prosecuted for very […]

Three councils have been handed £1.21 million of government cash in a bid to tackle poor quality rented homes over the next two years. The Derbyshire councils have been handed the money by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in a bid to help those areas with the ‘greatest need’. The councils are […]

Hello, I am looking to move away from my current Lettings agency on a number of properties I own as I have become very unhappy with their levels of service. The agency has also just been sold to a large well know London based Lettings / Sales business (beginning with F) and the personal touch […]

The number of middle-aged tenants who are privately renting in England has rocketed by 70% in the last 10 years – that’s more than any other age group. The findings from Paragon Bank highlight that half of those aged between 45 and 64 want to buy a home, but just one-fifth of them are saving […]

Hello, I have excellent long term tenants in Wales. They have two young children and like most people in their position finances are a bit tight at the moment. I’ve kept the rent well under market value and fitted a new boiler a couple of years ago. Does anyone know of any free loft insulation […]

So like many landlords in the UK, I’ve been presented with the Serco offer to house asylum seekers in my houses. They make a pretty good case; large company, strong covenant, high rent paid monthly and up to 7 years tenancy term. Sounds good, right? WRONG! After a full-blown refurb converting a 3-bed to a […]

Most landlords will have spent a lot of time and money on housing tenants, whether it’s in just one property or a massive portfolio. But, has the time come to give all of this up? I don’t know whether we should sell up or shut up. And here’s why. Leaving aside the fact that house […]