The Nationwide has just released its House Price index for May showing the effects the coronavirus lockdown is beginning to have on the housing market. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “UK house prices fell by 1.7% over the month in May, after taking account of seasonal effects and this is the largest monthly fall […]

When the 3-month eviction ban was introduced, it was mentioned that it might be extended if deemed necessary. Predictably, now that the 3-month period is coming to an end, we hear a cacophony of voices – from Shelter, Generation Rent, the Citizens Advice Bureau, the London Renters Union and the Chartered Institute of Housing – […]

Hi Everyone, I am going to buy a house in Manchester. I made an offer which is already accepted and now I have passed the details to the conveyancer for the searches etc etc. I have not made any payment yet for anything. Now I have just found this house was advertised as three bedrooms […]

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require that landlords have property electrics checked at least every 5 years by a properly qualified person. The electrics must meet standards and landlords must give their tenants proof of this. These guides on the regulations are for landlords, tenants in the Private […]

Universal credit UC Landlords and UC tenants, this is one reason why Landlords are refusing you. The DWP has been found guilty of wrong-doings 2 years ago, apologise to me, say they won’t do it again, yet just this month they are doing EXACTLY the same thing.  We can solve the homeless. It’s easy. Work […]

This guidance has now been updated as of 1st June and provides advice to landlords and tenants on the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020, and further advice for landlords, tenants and local authorities more broadly about their rights and responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak. Click Here to download the full guides 1.1 As a […]

I realise there was a three months ban on applications for evictions from 23rd March…but what is the current status of S21/S8 claims made BEFORE this date? I has the first hearing of both a S21 & S8 claim on 20th March, and directions issued after stated as that we were now in official lockdown, […]

We have a four bed student property, let individually. In our local authority an HMO is classified as five or more. One student is holding over through the summer and into the next academic year. The others have left, but were planning to go at the end of term anyway. The question now is, what […]

I won the claim against a tenant who did a bunk leaving arrears and damage. Although she didn’t turn up to the last hearing, the court awarded me the figure I was chasing for. Do I need to await for something official from the court to say I can now progress getting back the money? […]

I have a tenant who had a leak from  the toilet cistern. She found a plumber herself who repaired the leak without telling the agent or myself as the landlord. The repair cost an extortion£276! When the agent later questioned their own plumber on the cost of the repair carried out they quoted a maximum […]

High street businesses and landlords are set to receive a new government code of practice providing improved clarity and reassurance over rent payments. A working group has been established by the government with the commercial rental sector to develop a code which encourages fair and transparent discussions between landlords and tenants over rental payments during […]

As the title suggests, I’m considering getting a BTL via a limited company with the intention of letting it to family – who would claim housing benefit. The family already lives in a council flat and benefits from getting housing benefit. The council flat is not fit for them anymore and I thought instead of […]

We have received an enquiry for long term rental of 3 months for our Furnished Holiday Let (FHL), over our quiet period this coming winter and it appears quite tempting to take it. We have been running this FHL over the last 5 years and have complied with the occupancy rules each year and fully […]

Aldermore Bank is resuming physical mortgage valuations on rental properties for Buy to Let purchase and remortgage in England. Strict social distancing and safety measures will be met in line with Government guidance released on 10 May. Aldermore will ensure a detailed risk assessment is undertaken ahead of a valuation appointment so that the safety […]

A second survey of new COVID-19 related rental arrears conducted by Belvoir, the UK’s largest High Street property franchise, reveals that less than 5% of tenants across all four brands are in arrears. This compares to pre-lockdown arrears of 2%, and a decrease in new arrears was noted from the first survey in mid-April compared […]

Massive Thank You to Property 118! You were kind enough to run an article on the county’s unbelievable Selective Licencing proposals ( click here ) and, as a direct result, we had a serious jump in the number of Landlords signed up to support our campaign – Thank You! The Councils consultation has been on […]

The Government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has told Landlordzone that its recent pandemic emergency guidance could cover students lets where public health instructions under lockdown have precluded the use of rental property. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, consumer contracts, cancellation and refunds guidance issued by the CMA on April 30th (click here) states: Where a […]

I have new tenants who indicated they may want to keep a dog at the property for which we would make an additional charge in the form of a higher monthly rent. The tenants decided not to go with it at the start of the tenancy, so we added a clause in the AST stating […]

The Buy to Let specialist Paragon Bank has split a £100,000 between the NHS, Solihull Change into Action, Age UK and the company’s 2020 charity, Macmillan. Nigel Terrington, Paragon Banking Group Chief Executive, said: “Coronavirus is impacting on all of our lives and we hope this donation will help make a difference to some of […]

HM Tearsury publish management information each Tuesday for each of the three Covid-19 emergency loan schemes schemes (CBILS, CLBILS, BBLS), including: The total number of applications, number of approved applications and the value of loans approved. The applications figure includes approved applications, those applications that are still to be processed, applications that have been declined […]

Building owners have been urged to act and put the safety of residents first as the government’s £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove dangerous cladding was launched by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick. It comes as the government published the prospectus for the fund which will meet the cost for remediation of unsafe non-ACM cladding […]