I and my brother have in Aug 2020 transferred our residential house we live in to our sons who all live with us in the same house. (Essentially we have gifted it to them to plan for inheritance) After reading the gov.uk site, I was advised that as Myself and my brother still live in […]

The proposed Additional Licensing Scheme for HMOs will focus on the 9000+ properties in the City of Westminster where private renters live in multi-occupant homes including flat shares, bedsits, and buildings converted into flats. The scheme billed as part of the council’s wider ‘private rented sector strategy’, will seek to increase the local authority’s ability […]

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has launched a new online tool to search if a landlord has licensed a rental property and announcing tenants could be owed thousands of pounds in rent repayments if their landlord has failed to obtain the correct licence. If a landlord does not hold the correct property licence, they […]

Snag solving expert, HouseScan has revealed which are the top eight most common snags found when it comes to new build homes in the UK. They’ve revealed just which are the most common defects being found across new build inspections and the potential cost of rectifying these issues. Blocked Guttering Generally caused due to poor […]

I realise there might be the occasional rogue Landlord caught with this, but I would imagine there will be plenty of decent Landlords about to be clobbered because they have fallen foul of some minor licensing detail. More ammunition for the rogue tenants of this world as the council has their back and our taxes […]

I have commercial premises currently let to a tenant, and they use it as a dance school. Current lease comes to an end in December (we purchased the property with her as a sitting tenant and this original lease has an end date of Dec 2020), but we have no hesitation in leasing it again […]

ARLA Propertymark have written an open letter to Kevin Foster, Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, warning him that their agents and landlords will struggle when restrictions are lifted to repeat Right to Rent checks in person that were carried out remotely during the lockdown period. The Government has issued guidance that Right to Rent […]

I have an excellent tenant who pays £1500 every month. With 2 months left on the contract, I asked for his intention on renewal. He said he would renew, but only at £1200 per month. I said I would do some research and let him know. Two letting agents say ‘no’ as houses are renting […]

Major reforms to support housing tenants in England and ensure social landlords raise standards where needed have been announced by the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick. The social housing white paper ‘The Charter for Social Housing Residents’, sets out reforms that will speed up the complaints procedure for residents by improving access to the Housing Ombudsman, […]

New analysis from Nationwide Building Society suggests that the Government’s plan to create new national parks in England is likely to provide a boost to house prices in those areas of the country. According to the Society’s research of house prices in and around existing national parks, living in one attracts a 20% house price […]

New regulations will mean tenants can build almost 18 months of rent arrears without any sanction. The rules say that until 11th January 2021, possession orders by the courts related to rent arrears can only be enforced where the arrears amount to nine months or more of rent built before 23rd March. Anything built since […]

From today (17 November 2020), possession cases with severe rent arrears will be exempt from the ban on evictions, meaning bailiffs and High Court Enforcement Officers can move to enforce warrants and complete evictions. However, this will only apply to cases where the equivalent of nine months’ rent arrears had accrued prior to the 23rd […]

“You don’t have to leave the property when the notice period expires. You still have a legal right to occupy the property after this date and until your landlord obtains a possession order from the court. If you haven’t found alternative accommodation by the time your notice period expires, we would try to negotiate for […]

I own a flat which has two leases. One for the flat itself, which is broadly fair and one for a garage, which is unfair and has to be taken on when the property is purchased and stays with the flat lease. The Lessees have to pay an annual rent to the Freeholder. This is […]

With the increase in tenants defaulting on their monthly rent payments and us landlords possibly having to wait 6 months before starting court proceedings, what are other landlords doing to safeguard themselves?. My tenant has indicated that he is moving out around the end of the year, other than requesting 3 months pay and bank […]

A judicial review into the inability to evict non-paying tenants during lockdown is being launched by David Smith of JMW Solicitors. This tenant eviction ban during lockdown is causing many smaller landlords serious hardship. In this Property Investors Coffee Morning special, we will be joined LIVE by David Smith, Partner at JMW Solicitors who believes […]

Anyone else having problems with Rent Smart Wales? On 23/10/2020 I received a reminder from them to re-register as my registration expired on 04/12/2020. I went online on 26/10//2020 and re-registered and paid my fee of £36 and duly received receipts for payment. Yesterday, Friday 13th I received a very nasty threatening email from them […]

I read an article on here a couple of weeks ago about landlords now taking a guarantor as extra security regardless of whether the tenants pass their own referencing or not.  I thought this is a very good idea, so I have just signed up some new tenants with a homeowner guarantor. The guarantor has […]

I have a flat where I am a freeholder. There are only two flats in the building, A couple of months ago, I had been contacted by the leaseholder to extend the lease as there is only 68 years left. I said to them that we would need to get a surveyor to value the […]

The building split into 15 different sized flats is managed by a board of directors from the leaseholders. It has worked reasonably well, but now that the building is in need of updating and also some hefty repairs (roof) the directors have decided that they will change the way that the service charge is paid. […]

It’s been 10 months since the Government first had to react to the global pandemic, so the Lord Chancellor issuing a letter on 21 October 2020, rather than following usual legal procedures, to deal with the actual execution of possession orders is unacceptable. David Smith, partner at JMW Solicitors, is representing clients who have been […]