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Labour supports ‘Right to buy’ – but not in Wales

2nd December 2022

In an interview with iNews, the Shadow Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy says Labour supports a council house tenant’s right to buy their home. She said: “Under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, Labour had pledged to end the right to buy scheme. But, under Sir Keir Starmer’s stewardship, that’s no longer the case. “Labour supports the principle […]

Rip-off council tax bills for HMO tenants set to end

2nd December 2022

A bid by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to re-band individual HMO rooms for council tax purposes looks set to end after an amendment to a Bill by Conservative MP, Caroline Dinenage. She was compelled to act over growing instances of councils handing individual tenants living in an HMO a council tax bill. Usually, a […]

Tenant looking at EPC on tablet property118.com

Tenants prepared to pay more for energy efficient homes

2nd December 2022

Tenants are willing to pay a 13% premium for an energy efficient home as low carbon homes with sustainable features become more important than the size of the property, research reveals. Legal & General Capital say their findings will help landlords, local authorities, developers and registered providers wanting to invest in environmentally friendly properties. The […]

Rents begin to cool down – but voids start to rise

2nd December 2022

It wasn’t just the weather that cooled down in November as research reveals that rent prices across England also dropped – but voids began to rise. That’s according to Goodlord who point out that while winter is traditionally a quieter time for the lettings sector, rent prices remain significantly up year on year. The firm […]

Property expert warns landlords rushing Section 21 evictions before ban

My ITV News interview with Dan Hewitt

1st December 2022

Hi Property118 readers, Wednesday night in my ITV News interview with Dan Hewitt the main narrative of the story was that tenants are being evicted because LHA rates have been frozen till 2024, so arrears are rising. However, it started off by saying Paul Shamplina is serving an eviction notice 4 weeks before Xmas. What […]

workman improve epc in a rented home holding a display property118.com

EPC policy…the road to tenant hell?

1st December 2022

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Like being obliged to have an EPC to rent a property. So, I’m a landlord and a homeowner. I have in the distant past been a tenant. When I buy a home, I get a full survey to tell me about the structure of it, whether […]

EXCLUSIVE: New renting laws in Wales are a ‘disaster’ for landlords

1st December 2022

From today, landlords in Wales will see the biggest change to housing legislation in decades coming into force with the rules affecting both landlords and tenants. But the new laws have been slammed as a ‘disaster’ for landlords by Janet Finch-Saunders, the Shadow Minister for Climate Change in the Senedd. The Conservative MS told Property118: […]

Shelters warns 941,000 tenants are facing eviction

1st December 2022

The homeless charity Shelter is warning that one in 12 private renters in England is threatened with eviction. The charity says that is the equivalent of 941,000 people. The results of polling, funded by Nationwide Building Society, found that of the renters at risk of eviction, 504,000 had received, or been threatened with, an eviction […]

House price growth slows to lowest in two years

1st December 2022

The UK’s annual house price growth slowed to 4.4% in November, down from 7.2% in October, data from Nationwide reveals. The 1.4% month-on-month fall in prices is the biggest fall since June 2020 – and comes after a 0.9% drop in October. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “The fallout from the mini-Budget continued to […]

landlord at laptop typing comments on blogs property118.com

Landlords – Attack back?

1st December 2022

Hello, I know this will go nowhere. We cannot strike. We cannot ask for more pay. How about – and I’ll keep it short. Every article on the web (excluding offensive material) gets a tag from all landlords. Whatever it is, good or bad, we say it is our fault? Swamp the media with landlords […]

landlord looking at how to calculate his cgt tax bill property118.com

How much landlords will pay under new CGT rules revealed

30th November 2022

Changes to capital gains tax (CGT) announced in the recent Autumn Statement will see the average landlord pay up to £1,764 more if they exit the BTL sector in the 2023-24 tax year, research reveals. That’s according to the London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, after it analysed the capital gains seen on […]

pic of landlord handing key to a tenant rents rising property118.com

Rents will continue rising as landlords ‘withdraw’

30th November 2022

A lack of rental stock because landlords are leaving the PRS and continued tenant demand will continue pushing up rents, researchers reveal. The data from TwentyEA also highlight that the average asking price for rent across the UK was sitting at £1,605 per month in Q3 2022. That is 19% higher than in Q3 2019. […]

Andy Hulme of Hyde Housing Association responding to Housing Ombudsman report

Housing Ombudsman urges social landlords to deal with mould

30th November 2022

All social landlords are being urged to tackle complaints relating to damp and mould – and not blame a tenant for their ‘lifestyle’ as being the cause of the issue. The call has been made by the Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway who is also questioning the handling of legal claims and the tone and communication […]

Close-up detail of engraved eye from British currency representing financial focus and interest rate changes

The Mortgage Market Maze

29th November 2022

To fix your mortgage rate or not. That is THE question of 2022, a year of uncertainty in the mortgage market. Over the past 12 months the Bank Rate has increased 8 times, from 0.1% in November 2021 to 3.0% a year later, the highest level since 2008. This has been driven mainly by the […]

EPC expired with eviction pending?

29th November 2022

Hi everyone, We have a tenant whose EPC has expired (a D) but he doesn`t speak to us, not for any good reason, he just hates landlords (he`s told us) and hates us contacting him about the simplest thing. Notice (S 21) has been issued which resulted in him stopping paying the low rent. We […]

Person researching mortgage options on a laptop while taking notes

Buy-to-let product choice for landlords begins to recover

29th November 2022

Landlords searching for a new BTL mortgage will find product choice within the lending sector is recovering, research reveals. According to an analysis by Moneyfacts.co.uk, the overall buy-to-let product availability, both fixed and variable, has risen by more than 700 options since the start of October, However, there are 300 fewer deals than at the […]

Picture of streets in the UK landlord HMO licensing schemes property118.com -

Councils are ‘trying to catch landlords out’ with licensing schemes

29th November 2022

Licencing schemes are inconsistent across the country with the chair of the Lettings Industry Council accusing councils of ‘trying to catch landlords out’. Theresa Wallace spoke to the Telegraph after the newspaper filed Freedom of Information (FoI) requests with councils. It found that some unsuspecting landlords have been fined up to £45,000 for failing to […]

Agents can access new model Occupation Contracts ahead of Welsh renting law change

29th November 2022

One organisation is providing its letting agent members with access to new model Occupation Contracts ahead of the introduction of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. That’s when agents, landlords and tenants will see the biggest change to Welsh housing law for decades. It is almost seven years since the Act gained Royal Assent and […]

Skipton offers £11m to help landlords with their EPC needs

29th November 2022

Skipton has announced it will give 10 free EPC Plus reports for buy-to-let customers with property portfolios – even if just one property is mortgaged with the building society. At a time when energy costs are rising, Skipton says it is prepared to invest £11m in helping to green the UK’s homes by giving all […]