Millions of renters have welcomed a pet or are planning to get one following the Renters’ Rights Act. Data from Simply Business reveals, since the Act came into force in May, nearly half of renters (44%) have taken on a pet. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, private rented sector tenants now have the right to […]

Like many other Renters’ Rights Act policies being introduced, the increase in fines appears to be based on populist belief and emotion. It is hoped the fines will benefit tenants. However, there is a somewhat obvious flaw in this plan, as AI points to most existing fines already going uncollected. AI says: “Between 2023/24 and […]

The government has announced new planning reforms aimed at making it easier to build homes near train stations. Under the government’s new National Planning Policy Framework, there will be a default ‘yes’ for homes within a reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations, alongside new minimum expectations for the amount of housing that should be built […]

Article by Katherine Simpson, Partner at Edwin Coe LLP The government’s language on leasehold reform remains forthright. Ministers speak of, “bringing the feudal leasehold system to an end,” of returning power to homeowners, and of making commonhold the default way to own a flat in England and Wales. The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, […]

Landlords in one local authority area could see locally set housing fines increased by up to 50% where the council finds aggravating factors such as previous non-compliance, a breach lasting more than six months or deliberate offending. It is now consulting on a tougher Housing Services Enforcement & Financial Penalty Policy, drawn up after new […]

An email landed in my inbox describing Cambridge as the worst city in Britain for buy-to-let investors and asking whether Sunderland could now be the smartest place to invest. I can understand why that headline works, because a Landlord Resource analysis, drawing on Zoopla data to September 2025, puts the average gross rental yield in […]

Freezing Local Housing Allowance (LHA) has not prevented private sector rents from rising faster, according to an analysis from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA). It found that average weekly rents increased by 2.5% a year between 2008/09 and 2015/16, when LHA rates rose in line with rents each year. Between 2016/17 and 2024/25, when […]

The Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published on 27 January, intends to make commonhold the default tenure for new flats. The bill represents one of the most significant shifts in residential property law for a generation. Proponents present commonhold as a democratic, owner-controlled alternative to leasehold. Yet while it may fix some problems, it […]

Hi, My long-standing tenant has recently applied for Universal Credit and we have run into a problem over the tenancy paperwork. Her fixed-term tenancy ended on 31 March 2026 and it then became a rolling tenancy. She was sent the prescribed Renters’ Rights information sheet by email and her rent was also increased, with notice, […]

Sellers have cut house asking prices by 2% in August, the sharpest fall for the month since 2018, as a 12-year high in homes for sale gives buyers more choice. Rightmove says the average newly listed asking price fell by £7,360 to £364,999, compared with an average August drop of 1.3% over the past decade. […]

Average void periods across England fell to 21 days in June, three days below the 24-day figure recorded in May following the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act. The May figure was the highest in Rushbrook & Rathbone’s comparison, with the legislation having come into force that month. June’s average was still two days more […]

The government has confirmed further regulation for letting agents as it clarifies deposit rules for agents. In a written parliamentary answer, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage warned that deposit protection scheme membership should not be mistaken for accreditation. The news comes as the government will publish a non-statutory Code of Practice for letting agents later this […]

Buy to let landlords have been handed more choice as Paragon Bank brings back a feature allowing tracker borrowers to move onto a fixed BTL rate without an early repayment charge. Also, Coventry for intermediaries has cut every fixed mortgage rate in its range, with reductions of up to 20 basis points. Paragon’s Track to […]

Buy to let investors are making more aggressive offers as the housing market slows, with landlords accounting for 14.1% of all home purchases in Great Britain during July, above the 12.4% year-to-date average. More than half (56%), of investor offers in England and Wales were at least 10% below the first asking price, the highest […]

Many landlords were told that replacing their personal or partnership mortgages with new borrowing in their company’s name was the orthodox way to incorporate. The recent Property118 Tribunal judgment has now placed a serious question over whether full Incorporation Relief was available in every one of those cases. The possible consequence is not a technical […]

Commercial disclosure: I have personally invested in the type of loan note described in this article. Property118 may receive a commercial introduction fee if a reader subsequently invests. Property118 does not provide regulated investment advice. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are […]

Landlords across the country are facing one dilemma after another. From proposed changes to tenancy deposits to HMRC’s tougher penalty regime, it’s no wonder so many of the landlords we speak to feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Every week, we speak to landlords who believe they have just two choices: wait […]

You must hand it to Labour, though they went hard on how great the Renters’ Rights Act would be for tenants, at least they didn’t promise that rents wouldn’t go up. Well, here we are, 100 days into the one-sided debacle of the legislation and guess what? Rent trackers are pointing out the obvious. Rents […]

Negative portrayals by politicians, tenant campaigners and the media have become the fourth most discussed issue affecting landlord confidence. The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) found that comments about the treatment and public portrayal of landlords have doubled as a proportion of all responses since the beginning of 2025. The issue has moved from eighth […]

A new bridging product from MS Lending Group caught my attention because it tackles a problem many experienced property investors will recognise. You can negotiate a genuine bargain, create equity before completion and still find that the finance calculation leaves a substantial amount of your cash tied up in the purchase. MS Lending Group’s below-market-value […]

The number of buy to let mortgages in arrears and properties taken into possession fell during the second quarter. Data from UK Finance shows 8,390 loans with arrears of at least 2.5% of the outstanding balance, 6% fewer than in the previous three months. These cases represented 0.44% of all BTL mortgages, while the lightest […]