Recent years have seen a sustained attack on private landlords by the Government and other groups. The relationship between landlords and tenants has also been painted as adversarial by organisations which purport to represent tenants, but who in fact work against their interests. This must be seen in the context of the huge success of […]

The Private Rented Sector is one of the fast-growing markets in housing, and now accounts for over 4.5 million households in the UK, an increase of 63% (1.6 million) from 2007. In times of rising house prices and a new generation who prefer a more flexible approach to living, it is no surprise that more […]

ARLA and NAEA propertymark have released their manifesto “Election 2019: Regulate and reform the housing sector.” Click here to download the full document. The number one call on the wish list is for government to adopt the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group and regulate property agents. This it is hoped will […]

New funding announced by the Government to tackle criminal landlords is welcome, but is nowhere near enough says the country’s leading landlords’ organisation. Ministers have announced that local authorities will be able to access almost £4 million in new funding, as part of what it describes as a “crackdown on criminal landlords” for 2019/20. This […]

Hi all, I am in need of some advice please. I had a repossession hearing under section 8 non payment of rent. The tenant showed up and claimed disrepair. The judge wasn’t happy and had a go at them, but said he had to give them 14 days to file a defence and adjourned till […]

With an impending General Election and none of the established political parties vying for the Landlord vote, will it be a case of holding your nose and supporting the least worst option? As a snap shot for the PRS please be our guest in completing our polls below for who you would consider now and […]

Councils across the country will be able to access almost £4 million in new funding, as part of a crackdown on criminal landlords, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced. This will support councils who can bid for a slice of funding to step up enforcement action against landlords who break the law and provide inadequate […]

Some figures enclosed, some of you landlords may enjoy for your ammunition elsewhere. Click here to download Selective Licensing Update pdf. What is interesting to me is only 642 licenses have been issued. Imagine if you had to wait that long 16 months for your car MOT or driving License. After having paid £780. Approx […]

A collection of campaign groups and think tanks have come together to create a Manifesto for renters in the hope of influencing political parties in the coming General Election. The Group Includes Generation Rent, New Economics Foundation, the London Renters Union, Tenants Union UK and ACORN. Their agenda is to ban Section 21 evictions, introduce […]

Webinar: Rapid eviction of tenants from a residential property This webinar is for landlords, legal professionals and property agents and will run through the eviction process for residential tenants. It will take place on: Wed, Nov 20, 2019 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm GMT Click Here to take part. In the late 1970’s we started […]

Prominent leasehold reform campaigner Louie Burns has published a 10-point manifesto to drive forward leasehold reform, following the delay to the publication of the Law Commission’s report on improving the lease extension process. Louie Burns, Managing Director of enfranchisement specialists The Leasehold Solutions Group, said: “Empty promises on leasehold reform are all leaseholders have heard over the last three years. […]

I have two concerns in relation to our tenants who moved out yesterday. 1) The flat was cleaned well, but not at the level when they moved in. Cleanliness means different things to different people and therefore difficult to prove or have an argument unless it is something extreme and obvious. We asked a cleaner […]

The Government will launch a consultation on proposals to give police new powers to arrest and seize the property and vehicles of trespassers who set up unauthorised caravan sites. Currently such trespassing is defined in law as a civil matter, but the Home Office is consulting on making it a criminal offence. Home Secretary Priti […]

The number of laws creating an obligation on private landlords has increased by 32% since 2010. According to a new analysis by the Residential Landlords Association, the total number of regulations affecting landlords has increased to 156, up from 118 when the Conservative-led coalition government came to power. The RLA is warning that the increase […]

In the midst of one of the UK’s largest online letting agencies closing its doors to new business and others losing money raised from Crowdfunding hand over first, LettingSupermarket.com are well and truly bucking the trend. They successfully completed two crowdfunding campaigns in 2015 and 2016 and raised £375,000 of seed funding from 121 investors […]

LLP or LTD Co.? We are a group of 4 individuals – all 40% tax payers looking to do a Commercial to Residential flip. Gross Development Value (GDV) £2.2M Net profit £450k (when the last of the 12 Residential units has sold!) We will be borrowing from friends and family as well as the “banks” […]

I had cause to report the threatening behaviour of a male tenant to the Police. The tenant was British White in terms of appearance. I did not mention this and reported nothing about either his nationality or his appearance. I then hear back from Kent Police that there were “racial undertones” in my reporting this […]

This case study illustrates just how unfair the UK tax legislation will become for private landlords as of April 2020. Perhaps more importantly, it provides insight into what can be done to “level the playing field”. Let’s assume that both businesses own assets worth £2,000,000 and have 75% LTV mortgages secured on them at an interest […]

THE Welsh Housing Minister, Julie James AM, will address landlords, agents and property professionals at the Residential Landlord Association’s Future Renting Wales conference next month. The third annual conference, in Cardiff, will be held at the city’s Jury’s Inn on November 28th offering landlords a valuable insight into the future of the private rented sector […]

Yesterday the 30th October Countrywide Residential Lettings Nottingham faced a RICS Disciplinary Panel Hearing to defend the following charges: “Between 2008 and 2018, the Firm transferred a sum of £10,093,866 of client funds, representing unclaimed and unidentified client balances that had not been claimed for six years or more, from the Firm’s client account into […]

The UK’s worst Halloween house price drops and the cost of buying with a Halloween road name The latest research by national fast sale estate agent, Springbok Properties, has looked at where UK homeowners are in for the biggest fright this Halloween when it comes to the value change in their property since last year, […]