With more than 17,000 UK students facing rent arrears what should landlords who target this tenant be doing to mitigate the risk? Statistics state that the number of students that have been evicted from halls of residence have doubled over the past year rising from 40 to 97. Average rent for students The average UK […]

The Halifax House Price index for the three months to the end of February has been released today and were 2.8% higher than in the same three months a year earlier. An increase from the 0.8% annual growth rate recorded in January. The average house price is now£236,800. Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said: “House […]

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has introduced compulsory selective licensing for all landlords in an area of Fenton. However, the Council seem to have set a precedent or admission by saying it was not in the public interest to force a landlord in the area to licence all 37 properties of his properties at a saving of […]

My landlord has given me notice as he wants to sell the property I am renting. I will be leaving in 2 months at the end of my fixed term contract. My AST has a clause which allows for viewings with 24 hours notice at ‘reasonable’ times of the day. My question relates to what […]

The Minister of State for Immigration, Caroline Nokes announced the Home Office rejected the Judge’s ruling against Right to Rent and indicated the government were ready to challenge the decision through the Court of Appeal. The Minister said: “In the meantime, the provisions passed by this House in 2014 remain in force. There are no immediate […]

Our latest off-plan development is ideally situated just outside the city centre of Nottingham and we are delighted to have secured readers the best luxury one-bed units for the fantastic price of £104,995, with yields of up to 6.6%. All of the properties also come with a parking space! Our nominated letting agent, Joe Knowles […]

In a ‘nutshell’ Purplebricks letting agents have made a mess once more.  This time at a DPS adjudication, by again going against my clear instructions, when they entered a claim against the former tenants for the rental arrears, which were due to their early termination of the “fixed term” tenancy, but ironically they DID NOT […]

I have just let out two properties in the London area through 1 agent to 2 tenants. The agent provided us Veri Check reference check, employer reference, and passport IDs. However, after I received the tenant’s contact info, something looked odd so I went back to double check the reference by contacting both employers of […]

We have just had the latest ridiculous service charge bill (e.g. £250 for common parts electricity when we have one light-bulb on a timer in the hall and have used 120kwh this year!) from our freeholder who we know to be a particularly bad one (Trustpilot shows 94% “BAD” / 1* reviews) when we received […]

We own a commercial unit in a mixed used building. We recently had major issues with our Freeholder (FH) that has now mainly been resolved. The FH has presented us with an admin charge that we will dispute once we saw the breakdown. What I would like to know is can we counter the admin […]

In September 2018 we paid a substantial reservation fee to a Property Developer through a well known Property Investment Group to secure a new build apartment in Sheffield. The agreement we had with the developer and all the agents is that exchange of contract and stage payment would be made upon start of construction and […]

There has been much talk in recent media about landlords and letting agents discriminating against tenants who claim benefits for housing. I don’t think that is the case at all, these landlords and their agents are simply refusing to hand they keys of their valuable assets to people who present a high risk. Would you […]

Responding to an announcement from the Government that it plans to work with stakeholders to address the issue of ‘No DSS’ adverts in the private rented sector, John Stewart, Policy Manager for the Residential Landlords Association said: “Landlords should not refuse someone solely because they are on benefits, and should consider prospective tenants on a […]

The Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) came into force in March 2016. This required brokers to consider a second charge alongside a remortgage, when clients were looking to raise funds on their property. Since then they have grown in popularity and the terms available in the market have improved with Second charge loans available up to 95% […]

Housing Minister Heather Wheeler MP has confirmed over £19.5 million is to be shared among 54 projects across England to help thousands of people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, to secure their own home. Councils will use the funding boost to help vulnerable people secure their own tenancy through support such […]

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 Clapham Meeting property networking event Tuesday 5th March 2019. The event will start at 6:00pm until 9:00pm and will be free for guests of Mark Smith that have not previously […]

Hi everyone. I would like to seek advice on final rent as terminated by my tenants. Original AST signed through agent (introduction service) on 27/10/15 for 12 months. An amendment was signed directly with tenants on 27/10/17 with rent increased, other clauses remain. New deposit certificate issued although deposit amount unchanged. After 27/10/18 the contract […]

In December 2015 I was notified, under a section 20, that work needed to be undertaken to the car park at a cost of £497.38 per flat (24 flats in block) which we paid in December 2015. Part of the work was completed in 2016, but work ceased due to additional work that was needed. […]

I came across this posting on another forum and wanted to share it with P118. “Sian Berry, The Green Party’s London Mayor candidate plans to introduce a right to buy for tenants. Sian Berry has been influential to Sadiq Khan, The London Mayor who has adopted Green policies and also Jeremy Corbyn so there is […]

The High Court in a ruling this morning have said it will be illegal to roll the “Right to Rent” scheme in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland without further evaluation! This is the much criticised regulation requiring landlords to be HM Border Force officials and document proof that a tenant has the right to stay […]

Croydon are doing a consultation so they can implement borough wide Article 4 restriction on HMOs. Their main claim is that 3 bed or more houses are being lost to HMO conversions. Details can be found: Click here The ‘evidence’ is dubious. If you look at there evidence report, there is Figure 1, page 10 […]