Angela Davey, who was Head of Lettings and Property Management at Peter Alan in Wales, succeeds Phil Keddie as the new ARLA Propertymark President. Angela raised the profile of ARLA Propertymark in Wales by advising the government on housing policy and consulting for Rent Smart Wales on training for landlords and agents. ARLA confirms her […]

COVID-19 has been a challenge for landlords and tenants, on a scale that no one could ever anticipate. Whilst our research shows that the vast majority of tenants have been able to pay their rent as usual, sadly, through no fault of the tenant, some have struggled. It is therefore heartening that, our research also […]

Has anyone had problems paying into what appears to be a ‘protected monies account’? Xenia Estate Services (formerly Fortis) have complained that they are not receiving the monthly service charge on my flat by the due date. Since April it’s been going into (I think) an HSBC Client Deposit Account and (presumably) Xenia transfer it […]

I bought a Victorian terraced house in London back in 2018. Keen on doing some upgrades/improvements, I booked a planning application consultation with Croydon Council. In the conversation with the “Senior Planning Officer” I asked questions about “squaring off” the roof doing a dormer conversion, and he confirmed it could be done under PD provided […]

Background to 2020: Why Sold Price Data is No Longer Enough to make Decisions about Buy-to-Let Investments Those of us in the property industry are the lucky ones. We took a hit, but we bounced back more confidently than most, for three main reasons:  Firstly, social distancing in the property sector is less of a […]

The latest research by Howsy, has revealed the best spots of the UK property market being bolstered through Government infrastructure spending and investment, for buy-to-let investors with an eye on the future. Howsy analysed 34 areas currently benefiting from Government investment and likely to see demand for rental properties grow, ranking them on which offer […]

Hi, One of my landlord clients recently received a demand for a £10,000 Housing Benefit overpayment. The overpayment was caused by a failure on the part of both the tenant and my client reporting his change of address, to another of my client’s properties, to the Council’s Housing Benefit department. As I’m sure you’re aware, […]

A new £10 million fund will be part of a package to support people struggling to pay their rent due to financial difficulty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund will open later in the Autumn and offer interest-free loans to those unable to access other forms of support for their housing […]

Responding to the news that the Scottish Government has developed an interest-free, hardship loan scheme to support renters to pay-off COVID-19 related rent arrears, Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “We welcome today’s announcement which follows similar steps taken in Wales and we call on the UK Government to introduce […]

The Latest August House Price Index from the Nationwide indicates 2% growth month-on-month, after taking account of seasonal factors with the average house price now standing at £224,123. Annual house price growth also picked up to 3.7% in August. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “UK house prices rose by 2.0% in August, after taking […]

David Smith wrote an excellent article https://news.rla.org.uk/blog-section-21-after-1-october-2018/ in August 2018 about the Deregulation Act 2015. David raises the issue of whether you are required to serve an EPC prior to serving a section 21 notice if the tenancy started before 1 October 2015. I have researched this deeper, but I cannot find any further clarification […]

I am after some advice, please. I am currently in the process of redeveloping a four-storey house that was already converted into four separate apartments, but is all under one title. The project is almost complete, and we are trying to refinance. We are having difficulty splitting the titles for the purpose of refinancing. Can […]

The Government announced a tiny concession amongst its horrendous anti-landlord policies on Friday, when it stated that in cases of domestic violence, the landlord only has to give 2 weeks’ notice and in cases of anti-social and/or 6 months’ arrears, 4 weeks’ notice (rather than the previously announced 6 months’ notice). This statement has thrown […]

Hello 118 ers, I engaged with a legal firm for advice that I came across on a property forum. Long story short. I was advised to follow the steps laid out, they would complete the legal documents etc and all would be fine. 2 years on work has not been completed, calls are not returned. […]

SAL was dismayed to hear the announcement by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that her government intends that the emergency restrictions on evictions, due to the impact of coronavirus, will be extended until March 2021, subject to parliamentary approval. On the 21 August SAL launched its campaign to encourage members to write to their MSPs. Thank […]

Scotland’s largest landlord membership organisation has warned that despite almost half of landlords offering discounts to tenants affected by Covid-19, arrears are continuing to rise and could reach unsustainable levels unless government takes action to help tenants pay their rent. The Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) has published details of a survey of its members […]

If you are investing in property you will want to do this through a Limited (Ltd) company. However, there are limited companies and there are SMART limited companies for your property investments. In this video (please click below), Mark Alexander of Property118 and I discuss smart limited company structures for your property business. Landlord Tax […]

Legislation has now been introduced, so landlords must now give tenants 6 months’ notice before they can evict until March 2021, except in the most serious of cases, such as incidents of anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse perpetrators. The stay on possession proceedings has been extended until 20 September, meaning that in total no tenant […]

Ministers have today made important concessions about how repossession cases in the rental market will be handled from 20th September. It follows extensive lobbying by the National Residential Landlords Association after the Government U-turned on its plan for such cases to be heard again from 23rd August. Regulations published today and coming into force tomorrow […]

In this video below, I share my view on why the Government’s extension of the tenant eviction ban is bad news for both landlords and tenants. I also share with you the Australian model for tenancy law and why it’s better. We seem to be a fan of importing the Australian points-based immigration system. Perhaps […]

Research by Astons, the alternative residency and citizenship acquisition experts, has revealed which nations offer the quickest timeframe to securing citizenship when it comes to investing across the EU and Caribbean. It takes an average of five and a half years to secure citizenship in the UK. Still, even when opting for the quicker route […]