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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The economy is in a state of uncertain flux and appears to continue to work against landlords. From interest rates and taxes rising in an almost exponential way, inflation and the cost of living rising higher than ever before, concerns mounting over deteriorating rental profits, EPC, EICR regulations and costly refurbs, to the latest, rather […]

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 […]

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been invited by Simon Zutshi to take part in the expert panel at their National pin Meeting on Wednesday 7th December! 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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]