Following on from the previous discussion around the withdrawal of interest relief, we look at the impact of Brexit and the additional 3% stamp duty. Brexit Jitters? Over three years ago, on 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted on “remain a member of the European Union” or “leave the European Union” with the leave […]

We are a portfolio landlord and due to the current S21 consultation we are disposing of some of the portfolio as they become vacant. Inevitably properties need a quick tidy up before being marketed. Our current insurer (Hamilton Fraser) claim they offer 3 months full cover after a property becomes vacant, before it reduces to […]

Yesterday I covered Auctions and today Off Plan purchases. We have a change of Prime Ministers and we must give the lad a chance. Boris needs a Housing Czar! In my neck of the woods houses are going up like never before, but developers cannot find a sufficient work force. That is a problem for […]

After the ‘night of blond knives’ the new PM Boris Johnson has replaced Kit Malthouse with enthusiastic Brexiteer Esther McVey as Housing Minister and replaced James Brokenshire with the lower profile Robert Jenrick as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Official Government Release The Rt Hon Esther McVey MP was appointed Minister […]

The proportion of homes let by a company landlord has been rising steadily since 2016 when the tapering of mortgage interest tax relief for non-company landlords was announced (see notes to editors). Latest 2019 figures show 12% of homes were let by a company landlord, reaching the highest level since 2011 and up from 9% […]

Estate and Letting Agents in the UK are being urged to check that they are signed up with an approved redress scheme that covers the full remit of their work. The warning follows a recent tribunal that penalised a business that was signed up to a redress scheme for its letting agency work but not […]

The Universal Credit Managed Migration pilot in Harrogate will begin this week, initially it was supposed to start on 17 July 2019, but was delayed as the regulations had not been passed. Please find the below copy of the: The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 Click here to download. If […]

I am a new Director of a Property Management Company (PMC) which has been set up as a Private Ltd Co to manage a block of flats with 90 units. We have been told that all meetings of Directors are informal, no minutes are needed, no voting needs to take place on decisions taken. Meetings […]

I attended the Clive Emson auction in Maidstone yesterday (23rd July, 2019) and was with my pal Billy Singh at noon when the news came over my mobile telephone that Boris Johnson had won and would be the next Prime Minister. I thought there would be a cheer or boos from the audience, but no […]

Boris Johnson has been announced as our next Prime Minister at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, where he won 92,153 votes from members of the Conservative Party. The question is what can the PRS expect from the new PM and will there be any spare capacity or time to effect any changes with […]

Paragon Banking Group reported another quarter of strong growth. The latest update shows a total of £1.90 billion of new lending across all business lines in the nine months to 30 June 2019. This represents a 20% increase on the previous year. Within this total, Paragon’s mortgage lending grew from £1.13 billion to £1.19 billion. […]

HMRC have released their June Property transaction statistics for this year. The figures are based on transactional records by HMRC, Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority, for Stamp Duty Land Tax, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax respectively. Click here to download the full report. The headlines of the report show: […]

This Makes an absolute mockery of their hunting for landlords to place on their ‘rogue’ database that they now plan to give the public access to. There have only been 10 Landlords put on so far! When will they learn, the majority of problems are caused by tenants. So called ‘rogue landlords are only a […]

When travelling back from Canterbury (Friday 19th July, 2019) I stopped at a small rural shop to purchase a cold drink to abate the heat. A customer spoke to me about a Documentary I had appeared in and told me that he was none too impressed by the criticism aimed at me of not taking […]

Developers have been ordered to do more to protect Britain’s cherished wildlife, Communities Secretary Brokenshire announced Sunday 21 July. For the first time the government has set out its expectations on how developers can protect specific species, including using ‘hedgehog highways’ and hollow swift bricks, which are installed into the walls of new build homes, […]

New measures to tackle stigma and help end the segregation of social housing residents in mixed-tenure developments have been unveiled by Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. The move aims to stamp out so-called “poor doors” where entrances for social housing residents stigmatise and divide them from other residents in the development and other forms of segregation, […]

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government have now published details of its consultation into views on implementing the highly controversial decision to ban Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and improving section 8 eviction grounds. The consultation closes 11:45pm on 12/10/19. Details of the Consultation:  “The government is committed to modernising the […]

The RLA has conducted its most wide ranging landlord research yet concerning government announced plans to ban Section 21 so called ‘no fault’ evictions. The research included feedback from over 6000 Private Landlords and strongly contradicts the Government, Press and Shelter assumption that the majority of tenants evicted under section 21 are for no fault. […]

I think viewers of this week’s episode of ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ will find it hard to believe that the damage to a property in Cardiff was caused by just one person. Of course, the show highlights some of the more extreme cases of bad landlord and tenant behaviour, but it is also a stark […]

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has slated London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s blueprint for private renting. The blueprint calls for the Mayor to be given the power to introduce: Rent controls in London through a London Private Rent Commission  A universal register of landlords Sadiq Khan also claims to have been a major influence towards the […]

Last week the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called for powers to implement rent controls. Responding to this call, RLA policy director David Smith said: “Rent controls are meaningless if Londoners can’t find a home to live in. Rent controls will lead to a drop in investment and increasing supply should be the Mayor’s priority. […]