Beware of bats this Halloween as over the winter months bats hibernate to stay out of the cold weather and residential buildings, in particular, present an ideal warm roosting site for female bats to rear their young. Scotland is home to nine species of bats and all have European protection. As such, special consideration has […]

Countrywide Residential Lettings Nottingham are due before a RICS Disciplinary Panel Hearing on the 30th October at 10am. The formal charges are quoted on the RICS website: “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 […]

Our Hon. Legal Counsel, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers will be presenting an overview of several landlords tax strategies at the pin Bournemouth Meeting property networking event Tuesday 12th November 2019. The event will start at 6:00pm until 9:00pm and will be free for guests of Mark Smith that have not previously […]

Dame Judith Hackitt has been named as the government adviser on the new Building Safety Regulator, which will have the power to apply criminal sanctions to those breaking the new rules. A respected expert in building safety, Dame Judith Hackitt will provide independent advice to the government on how best to establish the powerful new […]

ARLA Propertymark’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) report has just been released for September. The number of tenants experiencing rent rises remains high overall with 58% of agents reporting an increase in rent prices, which  is up from 31% in September 2018, and 27% in September 2017. See Figure 1 below. However, the agents reporting the […]

I have a few apartments. The electrical meters etc. are communal and outside in a cupboard. The management agent refuses to let me have keys. I have asked many times. So, the inevitable happens. Out of hours, my pregnant tenant loses power. I call a sparky, he says it can only be solved by accessing […]

Rent controls hurt tenants by drying up the supply of homes to rent and in some cases increasing rents according to new research published today. With the Mayor of London calling for the power to introduce rent controls across the capital, an analysis of existing research by the Residential Landlords Association on the impact of […]

It costs an average of £245,128 to buy a house in the UK; but how much of that is actually spent on the house itself, from bricks to baths, and how much is generated just from the location? Research from comparethemarket.com indicates which regions are the most expensive in terms of the location alone, based […]

After a section 8 possession hearing, we got the possession granted and before court shelter approached us, but we declined to speak to them. Shelter also confirmed that the tenant was receiving housing through Universal Credit, but not paying us the landlord. I then received this email from BCP council: Good morning, I have been […]

On Monday 28 October at 7.30pm, BBC Inside Out (London*) will highlight the growing number of people making a business out of their tenancy via short-term rental platforms, without their landlords’ permission. The show covers the story of a landlord who ended up £10,000 out of pocket after his tenants ‘professionally’ sublet his property in […]

I am delighted to announce that Hemel and St Albans property network has partnered with renowned industry website Property118, this supports the ongoing commitment I have for education of landlords in the private rented sector, helping raise the awareness of the responsibilities they have throughout the Industry, as well as provide ongoing education events. Property118 […]

The #MyTown campaign gives people a say in how a new generation of Town Deals, each worth up to £25 million, should transform the place they call home. People in 100 places across England have the chance to write the next chapter for their towns thanks to a new campaign launched by Communities and Local […]

Dan Wilson Craw is Director of the organisation that calls itself Generation Rent. He was quoted yesterday as follows: “Without a reliable housing benefit system, Londoners on low incomes are getting into debt, going without food and heating or being forced to move out of neighbourhoods they grew up in. “This is fuelling physical and […]

The RLA are warning of a rented housing supply crisis as a new survey shows more landlords are selling properties than buying whilst demand continues to increase. According to research by the Residential Landlords Association based on a survey of over 2,700 landlords, almost 25% have seen the demand for private rented property increase over […]

The north of England has the potential to become a world-leader in the creation of modern, high-quality homes the Housing Minister Esther McVey tells industry leaders in Sheffield. During a visit to Factory 2050, part of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, she will meet with major developers, small businesses and academics as […]

I have served a Section 21 with the required two months notice in belief that it was on a standard 6 month Assured Shorthold Tenancy. I have now found out the contract states ’12 months certain commending (date) ending on (date) and any period of holding over or extension or continuance by Statue or Common […]

NHBC’s Q3 figures show the number of new homes registered to be built in the UK during the last three months is 9% down on last year’s levels, despite a significant increase in the affordable and rental sector. In total 39,364 new homes were registered over the last three months compared to 43,403 a year […]

High rates of non-compliance with landlord licensing schemes in London have hastened the need for an official government response to the selective licensing review carried out earlier this year. An official licensing action plan could help to make the system more effective, increase compliance and ensure that rental properties meet certain standards, according to lettings […]

I found a property marketed at £110k, which seems good deal to me. The estate agent advised me that they already have received an offer of £100k, but the vendor will be okay to take anything around £103k. I am happy to match the vendor’s asking price £103k however, my cornered is that the estate […]

This latest version of our Landlords Calculator includes fields for you to add budgets for maintenance costs, management costs, voids periods, ground rents, service charges, re-letting costs and insurance. This replaces just one field in version 2 of our landlords calculator which grouped all of these costs together as a percentage of rent before working […]

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called on the government to stop the roll out of Universal Credit, after new analysis from City Hall showed welfare cuts over the last decade have led to a rise in the number of people in London forced into homelessness. Last year, 8,855 people were seen sleeping rough […]