The latest research from Hamilton Fraser’s deposit alternative scheme Ome, shows that poor or no communication when withholding a deposit is still the most common cause for deposit disputes between landlords and tenants, ahead of the cleanliness of the property and damage sustained during a tenancy. Check out the full blog here. The research from Ome […]

The Government has released guidance to providing Alternative Payment Arrangements for Universal Credit claimants who cannot manage their single monthly payment. Universal Credit (UC) is paid in a single monthly sum, designed to prepare claimants for the world of work in which 75% of employees are paid monthly by encouraging claimants to take responsibility for […]

Caridon Landlord Solutions is calling on The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to urgently address the changes to its payment system, which have left landlords unable to identify which housing cost payments of Universal Credit should be allocated to which tenants. According to Caridon Landlord Solutions, up until three weeks ago payments of the housing element of […]

Just released – a long read for anyone interested. Options for reforming valuation in leasehold enfranchisement published by Law Commission: Click here to download “The Law Commission of England and Wales has today [09 January 2020] published a report setting out options to reduce the cost that leaseholders have to pay to buy the freehold or […]

According to research conducted by not-for-profit deposit protection scheme, SafeDeposits Scotland, 290 cases of non-compliance with tenancy deposit law have been published in the last two years. SafeDeposits looked into published cases heard by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber), since it became a route to redress for tenants. Since 2012, landlords […]

Scottish Government Press Release confirming plan to implement regulation of the short-term letting sector through licensing. Despite the consultation feedback drawing a distinction between “professional” letting and occasional sharing of a room in home it appears both may have to be licensed. Although at the discretion of Local Authorities, the opportunity to generate income is […]

I was recently awarded possession and a money judgement and a warrant for possession was issued a few weeks ago for a tenant further to a Section 8 mandatory ground hearing. The tenant handed back the keys a few days before execution and asked the bailiff to stand down after calling the court to advise […]

David Cox, Chief Executive, ARLA Propertymark responds to the Scottish Governments’ announcement of new measures to regulate short-term lets: “It’s positive to see that the Scottish Government are taking steps to regulate short term lets. In some urban areas, the supply of local housing is under intense pressure and as the private rental sector becomes […]

House prices in December were 4.0% higher than in the same month a year earlier with the average house price now at £238,963. On a monthly basis, house prices rose by 1.7% and in the latest quarter (October to December) house prices were 1.0% higher than in the preceding three months (July to September). Russell […]

The Department for Work and Pensions has recently updated its Universal Credit guidance to Landlords on the 30th December. Please Click Here for the full guidance notes. For private rented sector tenants, their Universal Credit additional amount for housing costs will be whichever is lower out of their actual costs or the Local Housing Allowance […]

The 2010s have shown the weakest decade for house price growth since the 1990s, but affordability metrics present a mixed picture. – House prices were up 33% in 2010s vs 180% in 1980s – London was the top performer in 2010s with house prices rising twice as fast as the UK average – However the […]

Hi everyone, I was wondering whether anyone could provide insight on a question I’ve been asking myself for a while now. What exit strategies are used for the end of a Guaranteed rent contract? More specifically, as you near the end of your 3/5 year lease with the landlord, what do you do with the […]

I applied in November to refinance one of my several properties. A huge amount of information was needed of my portfolio and some of the data required didn’t fit the pre-loaded application form. I therefore completed what could be captured online and then completed the rest by hand. All the information sought from me was […]

A Northampton Landlord sent me this document and asked if I could get it out there. It would be great to get local landlord’s comments, make sure we inform those that do not already know and ask them to contact their Councillors etc. Click Here to download the Northampton Borough Council Private Sector Housing Fees […]

Paragon, the specialist bank and buy-to-let lender, has kicked-off 2020 with a refreshed range of mortgage products for portfolio and non-portfolio landlords. The changes include lower rates on 14 different products across our range of mortgages up to 80% loan-to-value. The range for portfolio landlords – those with four or more mortgaged properties – includes […]

Rent-to-Rent (R2R) is taught in many property training courses, but what they don’t tell you is that the paperwork is not so straightforward, especially if they are used as HMOs. And yet I get letters every week from companies wanting to “ease this burden” and run my HMOs for me. I would be grateful for […]

I rent a self contained 2 bedroom, 1 lounge, small kitchen and 1 bathroom flat to 2 unrelated girls, one is my daughter. Therefore NOT an HMO. One of the girls, not my daughter, now has a steady boyfriend who she stays with some nights during the week at his rental property. But when she […]

Not only is it the start of a new year, but a new Decade, and in a few years time, we will look back at 2020 and realise that it was probably one of the best investing opportunities of this Decade. The question is, are you ready for 2020? In this first article for 2020, […]

Out of the Blue the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has called on landlords to make it easier for responsible tenants to have well behaved pets in their homes as he announced an overhaul of the model tenancy contracts. The Press Statement says: More young people and families than ever before are renting and should be […]

2020 is upon us and the Government has announced it intends to remove so-called no-fault evictions and magically to make one tenancy deposit serve two masters (details awaited). Last year’s Tenant Fees Act 2019 (TFA) is the gift that keeps on taking (from landlords). Ostensibly a measure to prevent rip-off fees, it prohibits all payments […]

I got permission to let my property in 2018 so that I could do some travelling. I’ve now got the not so fun part of sorting out the taxes for 18/19. First tenant: I let the property July 2018 until Feb 2019. This was without an agent and I received monthly payments. Second tenant: Let […]