Research by GetAgent has revealed just how out of kilter the nation’s housing delivery is when it comes to the level of homes required in each area versus the reality of those actually delivered. The estate agent comparison site analysed government data from the Housing Delivery Test 2021, an annual measurement that highlights the need […]

Those of you with long memories will recall the talks I gave 5 to 10 years ago about my ‘shaving foam technique’. It got me hated by the #leaseholdscandal keyboard warriors, who saw it as encouraging developers to fleece leaseholders. It did nothing of the sort, but the #fleeceholdscandal brigade didn’t understand what I was […]

Hello everyone, Isn’t the language barrier the biggest issue at the end of the day? I’ve taken a single Ukrainian lady on in a one bed flat who was fleeing from the war (via reference from Council and charity sponsor). Very good English, educated, eager to settle and start work, so not too difficult. There […]

Hello everyone, My wife and I own a leasehold flat in a block of six. A head leaseholder is named on the lease but the freeholder is unknown. We want to extend the lease, so made every attempt to identify the freeholder without success. We appointed a search agency to find the freeholder, and we […]

Fines for landlords and letting agents in London have increased by more than £1.5m in the last year to more than £8 million. The figure comes from technology firm Kamma who are tracking the Mayor of London’s Rogue London and Agent Checker. They also highlight that fines have increased by £238,000 in the last month […]

Hello everyone, My London (Clapham) Loft flat has become “uninhabitable” and/or “uncomfortable to live in” says my Tenant. She further says it is consistently 4 or 5 degrees higher than the outdoors temperature during our present heatwave. She finds an indoor fan ineffective. She continues “the only common heat reduction solutions seem to be air conditioning […]

Birmingham is the rental property repossession capital when it comes to landlords reclaiming their homes from problem tenants and there are fears that things could get worse with the cost-of-living crisis. A market analysis by estate and lettings agent, Barrows and Forrester, has revealed that during the first quarter of this year, there have been […]

I Have been with Nat West since I left School – over 50 years ago now. I have never let them down or had a problem with them. Out of the blue, with no notice or warning, yesterday they shut down all of my accounts. My Direct Debits have started bouncing already. All of my […]

Hi everyone, I have a £100k cash fund in the bank and it is losing 10% ( ?) pa due to inflation. I also have a Buy to Let interest only mortgage in my personal name on a single-let apartment costing 4% on Sonia standard variable rate term and rising. This mortgage is due for […]

HMRC has revealed that it collected a ‘staggering’ £14.3 billion in capital gains tax (CGT) from 323,000 taxpayers in the 2020 to 2021 tax year. The liability was realised on £80 billion of gains. According to the latest data, the CGT on UK property service was used by 129,000 taxpayers who filed 137,000 returns to […]

Holiday-lets now account for as much as 7% of total homes across 15 of the nation’s most popular staycation destinations, with just one seeing a decline in holiday-let property market prominence, research reveals. The findings come from the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, which looked at active holiday rentals in 15 popular tourist towns, including […]

Hello everyone, I am going to respond to the government’s White Paper consultation. Firstly, there appears to be less support for PRS landlords than we had been led to believe the new Bill would offer. As someone with a small portfolio, and experience of Selective Licensing, we will get less support to deliver safe and […]

Responding to concerns about the application of the Government’s Energy Bill Support Scheme in the private rented sector, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Payments from the Government’s Energy Bill Support Scheme are not due to begin until October. Given this, it is irresponsible scaremongering on the part of some […]

This time last year we saw landlords across the UK in solution mode: paying off tax bills, going through incorporations, the mindset was that of weathering the storm. But a year on, there’s no denying that we’re likely heading for property market realignment. Recession is looming and, with all the regulation changes over the past […]

The UK’s house prices fell slightly by 0.1% in July compared with June – that’s the first fall seen since June 2021, according to Halifax. The lender says that the average home price in July was £293,221 and they are warning that house prices could fall further after the Bank of England raised interest rates […]

Rental reform should be the focus of any debate about property in the leadership race to find the next Prime Minister, the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) says. The AIIC’s chair, Daniel Evans, said: “The latest chaos to surround Westminster could overshadow and delay the introduction of rental reform, leaving the lettings sector in […]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is urging the next Prime Minister to bring in ‘tenant relocation payments’ when a renter is being moved through no fault of their own. He made the comments to the London Assembly during a debate on the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper that has been published by the government. The […]

The proportion of landlords operating in Outer London who have reported increasing demand from tenants has surged since the previous quarter, Paragon Bank reports. The bank says that it has carried out research that reveals in the first quarter of 2022, 79% of landlords who let homes in Outer London indicated that they had seen […]

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 8 – 1 in favour of the Hawks to increase interest rates by 0.5% this month to a Base Rate of 1.75%. This is justified by a near doubling in wholesale gas prices since May, other global commodity price increases and global […]

When landlords need to claim against their insurance, the reasons can be mundane – or simply bizarre, as one landlord insurance firm has revealed. Total Landlord Insurance has released details of six of its most unusual claims. Melissa Choules, a claims specialist with the firm, said: “Sometimes, real life is stranger than fiction and as […]

The housing charity Shelter is warning that the government’s £400 energy rebate may see tenants missing out if their rent includes energy bills because the cash will be paid to the landlord. They say that tenants are at the ‘mercy of the landlord’ on whether they receive the financial support. Shelter’s chief executive, Polly Neate, […]