65% of councils have to invest more money to tackle rent arrears For generations governments have sought to simplify the benefits system.  Universal Credit was the latest attempt, which was supposed to make life better for claimants, but the system has been heavily criticised for a catalogue of errors. Over the last year, BBC’s Panorama […]

Although this is more tenant specific it may be quite useful to share with landlords with tenants in difficulty. Please see below for the Christmas 2019 benefit payment arrangements, DWP office opening hours and phone line operating hours. Payment Arrangements As we did last year, to make sure customers’ payments are not delayed due to […]

New figures showing a sharp drop in supply over the last year are a warning of a crisis in the private rental market The latest Residential Market Survey by the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors for November shows a net balance of minus 29% of surveyors reporting a fall in landlord instructions which is twice […]

The UK housing market is still on hold, pending election results, with the November 2019 RICS Residential Market Survey continuing to show a cautious approach from buyers and sellers. Demand from prospective buyers, new instructions to sell, and sales, all remain in negative territory, as the latest set of results indicates that persistent economic and […]

Ahead of Thursday’s election Stone Real Estate have looked at the property cost of the Number 10 and where is home to the highest price paid for the number across England and Wales looking at current market data for the real No.10 Downing Street as well as the average sold price for homes with the […]

Below is a report from Nottingham Council they didn’t want you to see. The one several of us contributed to. They agreed to send it to us voluntarily, but they didn’t. They paid an external barrister to issue a report on homelessness and they didn’t expect it to be so widely linked to Selective Licensing. […]

Hello, I am a newbie to the forum and I have a question. A friend of mine has just viewed a ground floor flat yesterday which she really likes. Her only reservation is that she feels the front door is not secure enough. There is only one lock on the door and it is old […]

Ipsos Mori have conducted a poll on public confidence in different parties’ housing policies and how likely they are to deliver. Click here When asking for public opinion on specific housing policies 71% said they would support introducing rent controls so rents cannot increase faster than inflation. Only 9% were opposed with the rest neutral […]

I have inherited some money and am looking at advice about the best investment vehicle for it. I was initially interested in buying a place in North Wales / Anglesey (we live just over an hour from the area) with a view to renting it out as a holiday let with us having the option […]

I’ve been using a letting agent on a fully managed service for over 2 years now. They’ve never been great – considering the service is fully managed I end up doing an awful lot of stuff myself, having to remind them of certificate renewals, dealing with leaks, chasing them to do their inspections etc. Recently […]

Our Ltd company has just received a demand from ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) claiming that we are not registered with them. That is true…. I have never heard of or from them before. They say our customers, clients and tenants expect us to take our data protection obligations seriously like the many real estate companies […]

George Lindsay aged 55 from Erdington was successfully prosecuted by Birmingham city council and sentenced to pay a fine of £19,970 and only got away without jail time, because the guidelines did not permit the judge the option. Lindsay was found guilty of failing to obtain an HMO licence and 13 infringements of HMO regulations […]

The lease says I as a leaseholder am entitled to stay in my flat while major works are carried out. That the only way for the freeholder to buy you out is with a compulsory purchase order. Shelter says that major works cannot be used to gain vacant possession of the tenants flats so they […]

As I write this blog, I’m on a train down to Devon to do a talk at the ARLA Propertymark Devon Regional Meeting. One of the many hats I wear in my role as Director / Brand Ambassador for Hamilton Fraser Group is overseeing ‘Education’.  For me, this has become one of the most important […]

Owners of small companies would pay more tax under Labour – up to 45% more – but the Tories haven’t mentioned this. Commenting on the Labour manifesto, John McDonnell said “In terms of income tax, the top 5% will pay a bit more, and actually not a great deal more. 95% of earners will not […]

A study, conducted by broadband and utilities provider Glide, surveyed 1,000 tenants who are either currently renting a property, or have previously, to find out which issues they expect their landlords to be responsible for dealing with. And one in seven (14%) say they’d leave a dispute over how to split bills with flat mates […]

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, gave an interview to the I newspaper detailing conservative plans and policies to tackle the housing crisis. When questioned about the Tory commitment to end Section 21 eviction notices and what was the point if landlord could instead ‘constructively’ evict tenants by increasing rents […]

I have over a £650.00 repair bill but I have only been awarded £65.00 by the Tenancy deposit scheme. My agent advised me that there is nothing I can do. However, I have spoken to TDS who advised me that if the agent sends in certain details. They can advise me how they came to […]

Research by Hamilton Fraser’s deposit alternative scheme Ome, has revealed the current cost of the average deposit facing UK’s tenants and how this has changed since 2015. The data shows that so far in 2019, the current tenant is paying an average rental deposit of £1,299, with an estimated 1.5m new deposits paid this year […]

When my twins turned 18 years old I made them both partners in my property rental business and gifted 1% of the beneficial interest in my properties to each of them. We then registered a Partnership with HMRC, which meant I could allocate profits disproportionately to ownership by granting ‘Partners Salaries to each of my […]

The latest Halifax House Price Index report has been released.  House prices in November were 2.1% higher than in the same month a year earlier with the average house price now £234,625. However, on a monthly basis, house prices rose by 1.0% and in the latest quarter (September to November) house prices were 0.2% higher […]