One of our landlords has a licenced HMO located in a restrictive dwelling conversion ward. With an Article 4 Declaration in place, no new planning permission is being given for use as a C4 HMO. Not a problem except that this landlord converted the property into 8 unauthorised studio flats and has now been found […]

In Newcastle upon Tyne the local council wish to renew their expiring licensing schemes. After 5 years you would imagine that they would have solved any of the problems that they stated that Landlords were responsible for. Apparently not. I have seen no evidence. In the 5-year period, I have seen no reports on progress […]

The Government has launched an online checker for tenants titled ‘Check how to get repairs done in your rented home.’ Click here to view the page and use the software. The page says: Use this checker to find out: – how to get something fixed by your landlord or letting agent – what to do […]

My letting agent has just worked out that my tenant (A) returned to Romania last year after catching Covid and is still very unwell. He is not returning to Scotland. His brother (B) has been living in the flat, paying the rent and also paying the rent arrears left by the tenant. We only found […]

Hypothetical scenario prompted by another post earlier on Property118: After issuing a S21/S8 the tenant becomes ‘at risk of homelessness’. The Local Authority then has a duty to assess this person’s need once the person asks for help. Is the tenant obligated to tell the Local Authority though that they are now at risk of […]

A Limited-Edition buy-to-let range has now been launched to assist portfolio landlords (landlords with 4 or more properties) with both re-mortgages and new purchases. For single-unit houses and flats, 2 Year Fixed Rates are now starting from 2.75%  and 5 Year Fixed Rates now from 3.10%. For HMOs and Multi-Unit Blocks, 2 Year Fixed Rates […]

The latest NAEA Propertymark  Housing Report for May indicates that the number of properties selling over the asking price beats the all-time record for the second month in a row. In May, 33% of properties sold for more than the original asking price compared to April when 32% sold for more This is fuelled by […]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the Bank Base Rate at 0.1% and by a majority of 8-1 to continue with its existing programme of UK government bond purchases (QE). Global GDP growth and price pressures in advanced economies have increased further than anticipated reflecting strong demand for goods, […]

Last year, we sought help from Property118 to make contact with landlords who were willing to help us with our research. We were overwhelmed with responses, and I am here taking the opportunity to thank everyone who got in touch. Our research aimed to understand whether there is a sustainable supply of property to the […]

Responding to a new report by the University of York on the supply of private rented housing to tenants in receipt of benefits, a spokesperson for the National Residential Landlords Association said: “No landlord should discriminate against tenants because they are in receipt of benefits. Every tenant’s circumstance is different and so they should be […]

A new report published by York University funded by the Nationwide Foundation says current ‘baby boomer’ landlords ageing out of the PRS are not being replaced by new younger landlords at the same ratio due to diminishing returns and more stringent regulation. Click here to view the report Project lead author, Dr Julie Rugg, said: […]

Is looking to sell a property with a sitting tenant as easy as it sounds? The Local estate agents are useless, and anyway, this is clearly a property for an investor/cash buyer, happy to leave with the current tenant or someone that wants to turn it back into an HMO longer-term (was an HMO previously, […]

I have a small one-bedroom upstairs flat (maisonette) which has a garden. I gave a six-month tenancy to a couple back in March. I normally specify clearly on the advert no pets as the flat isn’t suitable for pets, but didn’t this time around as I recalled reading that you cannot ban pets or children. […]

The new £50 note will start to become available in bank branches and at ATM’s in the coming days and weeks. The 30th September 2022 will be the last day you can use Bank of England paper £20 and £50 notes. After 30 September 2022, these paper notes will no longer be legal tender, so […]

Series six of Channel 5’s ‘Evicted! Nightmare Tenants’ (previously called Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords) will return today [24 June] at the later time of 10pm, after a pause following the first episode which aired back in February. The series, filmed prior to COVID-19 restrictions, follows the frontline work of letting agents, eviction specialists and lawyers […]

The Right to rent ‘Landlord’s Guidance’ has been updated to reflect the change in legislation due to come into force on the 1st July 2021. The legislation will change the way landlords carry out right to rent checks on EEA citizens. The updated guidance is available on GOV.UK: Click here. Where checks are carried out […]

We moved from our main home in late 2019 to a new home, so we paid an additional 3% stamp duty for our new home, and we have rented out our previous home since then. Recently we have sold our previous home to a Limited company (we are the directors of the company, but the […]

You couldn’t make this up. The neighbour to one of my houses I’ve owned 22 years asked Nottingham Council to maintain their trees close to his house. Nottingham Council said Not our trees, they’re that Landlord Mr Roberts. I of course said Not mine, they’re the Council’s. Nottm Council went to Notts Council, and they […]

Hi, We are approaching the end of the Stamp duty holiday up to 500K and I have a property that is legally ready to exchange.  However, we are having an issue on the approach to exchange and completion. My challenge is that in case this moves to July, I won’t be doing it because of […]

As the rules came in, we all obviously had to have EICR’s done on all of our properties. Unfortunately, one of my properties failed its EICR. It was issued with a ‘Fail’ EICR … for context, the house was built in the early 1970’s and predictably needed a new consumer unit and a couple of […]

Hello, Can anyone advise the best course of action for me to take in this situation? I received a message from a tenant in arrears, and we are currently taking her to court for eviction. The message I received said: “I’ve been in hospital on morphine. I’ve been advised to stay till I get the […]