Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission publishes interim report: From the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and James Brokenshire MP. Town halls should encourage the redevelopment of retail parks and large supermarkets into communities that include homes, shops and businesses, a wide-ranging report for the government has found. The new “mixed use” communities should […]

Buy To Let: How To Get Started has now officially launched! On Friday 13th July 2018 I set myself a goal to get my first book officially published. Now, on Wednesday 10th July 2019, that day has come. I’m really proud of this book and I hope you will find it both enjoyable and helpful too. Buy To Let: How To Get […]

Greg Beales was quoted on 2 March 2019 as saying: “Shelter research shows that almost one in three renters receiving housing benefit haven’t been able to apply for a home they wanted due to discriminatory practices ranging from ‘no DSS’ adverts to total bans on people receiving housing benefit.” “But in the end, it will […]

After joining the EU in 2007 Romanian had UK work restrictions lifted 1st January, 2014 so their citizens were allowed to work in England 12 months of the year. Many started in the Horticultural Industry, and worked all hours under the sun. Fast forward five years and there is a much larger percentage with contracted full time […]

Hello, I’m in need of some advice re: letting agents knowing tenants are ‘naturally loud and animated’ people then letting a property to them in a small close knit community of terraced houses. This situation has arisen for a lady who lives near these tenants. The property these tenants are renting has always been rented […]

The Government (or at least the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG))  has got it into its head to interfere with tenancy deposits to make it easier for tenants to move house. They have issued a Call for Evidence (CfE), click here, asking for information. Some tenants struggle to find a second deposit whilst […]

This is a summary of a revealing article written by Joe Speye which you can view if you click here. He makes some ‘revelations’ about: Homelessness, Social Housing, ‘No-fault’ Evictions by PRS, N.H.F & Shelter and their ‘No DSS campaign’ and well, basically, a ‘Perfect Storm’ Joe’s report refers to the above interventions as “superficial, […]

The RLA have been heavily critical of plans by the Welsh government to increase the notice period after the fixed term of an AST from 2 months to 6 months. Effectively creating minimum 12 month tenancies. These new plans extending the period to a year before and landlord is able to take back possession of […]

I don’t know if anyone else had come across this, but a tenant was in arrears so Universal Credit were paying direct to me. The payments were for the period from the 19th of each month to the 18th of the next month and I used to receive the payment on the 25th. The tenant […]

I am a Leeds landlord. The council has decided to implement this in 2 areas. We made a detailed argument trashing their points, but they have lied their way past this and used the executive meeting to pass it even though they were thrashed in one of the 2 areas in the consultation. So we […]

Has anyone heard of Rosolite Mortgages? I got a letter today stating Mortgage Express/ Bradford & Bingley has been sold to Rosolite Mortgages and the completed transfer date is 15th July 2019. What benefit is this or is this going to mean increases of SVR etc? Many thanks Pat Editors Note: Update below from Bardford […]

For anyone with properties in Croydon, please find below: NOTES FROM CROYDON COUNCIL’S LANDLORD FORUM 18 JUNE 2019 Licensing Update: – Total applications received to end of March 2019: 35,014 (paid) – Number of LLs: 17K – New applications: 250-300 pm – Inspections: 12,029 since inception (Sept 2015) (so about 3,400pa or 68 per week […]

The government should “think twice” before changing the rules on eviction in the private rented sector, amid signs that the most vulnerable tenants on state benefits are likely to be the biggest casualties of the controversial new initiative, the National Landlords Association says today. Ministers are preparing to abolish Section 21 of the Housing Act […]

On Monday 8 July, Paul Shamplina and his team at Landlord Action will once again appear on Channel 5’s ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’, this time highlighting the need for better fraud detection when it comes to referencing. Paul Shamplina says letting agents and referencing companies who invest in technology with the means to validate tenants’ […]

Harrogate is the first area in Britain to trial a major new phase of Universal Credit. Up to 3,000 existing benefit claimants in the Yorkshire spa town are being moved to the six-in-one system starting this month, in the first test of “managed migration”. So far, only new benefit claimants or those whose circumstances change […]

The Alliance promised to publish a list of rogue/non-compliant local authorities who have introduced selective licensing schemes. Our list is not exhaustive. We have spent a lot of time studying these schemes and we will in due course update and add to this list. For now therefore because of time constraints we will only list […]

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) statistical release reports national statistics on new build dwellings in England for the year to 31 March 2019. The statistics show the numbers of starts and completions for new build dwellings in England for the year and in each quarter. Click here to download the full […]

The Government says that the bulk of homelessness is due to Section 21. Is this true? Homelessness is not down to a single factor; there are several factors to consider including the reduction in social housing and the increasing pressure on existing housing stock. The UK has a housing stock issue and not a section […]

My wife and I own a small flat which we wish to sell. We have prospective purchasers, but they want to extend the lease from its current term, of 92 years, up to 99 years, even though they are cash buyers and not restricted by terms of lenders. They are willing to pay for the […]

The government has delivered a sharp rebuke to Labour-controlled city council after hearing from the National Landlords Association that it was found to be “unfairly penalising” landlords. Hull City Council has been taking an aggressive stance against landlords whose tenants report them for an alleged failing in their property, serving them with enforcement notices before […]

Local authorities are failing in their duty to prosecute rogue letting agents, undermining efforts to improve the image of the private rented sector, the National Landlords Association warns today. The NLA found that more than half of local authorities did not prosecute a single letting agent in the four-year period from 2014/15 to 2017/18. In […]