Jeremy Corbyn told The Independent that in his next Labour manifesto he would pledge to change housing legislation so that tenants could not be asked to leave under ‘no fault evictions’. Click here to read the full article. Recently Scotland has already abolished fixed term tenancies for private renters giving tenants indefinite tenure. Corbyn was […]

Recent introductions and extensions of charges on landlords by local authorities suggest to me that landlords (and indeed any business in an area) should have a right to vote in local authority elections in areas where they own property. Time to start a campaign? Determined to not fund local authorities adequately, central government has given […]

For those of us who have held properties for a long period of time you are all probably aware that once upon a time there was a thing called ‘Taper Relief’ which year by year reduced your liability to CGT should you sell the property. That relief was disposed of some years ago by HMRC. […]

The HMRC consultation titled “Tackling the Hidden Economy” has identified HMOs and selective licensing in the private rental sector as an option for developing tax-registration checks. The consultation proposes to tackle different areas of the hidden (non tax paying) economy by making access to licences needed to trade conditional on tax compliance, known as ‘conditionality’. […]

A short series from landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson on things you need to watch out for. I include this not because the rules are likely to come into force in 2018 (although this is not impossible), but because you need to start preparing now. There seems to be no doubt that fees to […]

Rightmove have released figures for the most popular cities that prospective tenants search for new homes to rent in 2017. Number 1 searched city was Bristol Followed by: 2. Birmingham 3. Leeds 4. Manchester 5. Nottingham 6. Liverpool 7. Glasgow 8. Cambridge 9. Bournemouth 10. Sheffield Bristol was also the number one city search in […]

A short series from landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson on things you need to watch out for. On 1 October 2015 new rules came in which affected landlords use of the all-important section 21 notices for properties let on assured shorthold tenancies in England (the new rules do not apply in Wales). A section […]

Hello Property 118 Investors. I have a fortuitous conundrum that I was hoping to get your experienced opinions on. I’ve come into some money, 400 grand to be exact and ready to invest it into property. I’m 37, with a good income, no debts and lots of initiative / get up and go. I’ve purchased […]

A short series from landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson on things you need to watch out for. Banning Orders were set out in the Housing and Planning Act 2016, but could not come into force until the relevant secondary legislation had been drafted. However, this has now been done and banning orders, and the […]

I am the Leaseholder of a flat in a large, city-centre block – popular with mature students and young, single, professionals. The management company are trying to force me to issue new AST’s every 6 months – presumably to bolster the fees they then charge. The lease requires me:- 31.1 not to … part possession […]

I’ve been renting an unfurnished flat from through a lettings agent for over three months now. Our term is twelve months. From the day we moved in there has been allot of furniture inside the flat belonging to the landlord. And from day one we have constantly rang up the lettings agency requesting for it […]

It was announced in the Chancellor of Exchequer autumn budget that there would be some changes to the Welfare Reform. Universal Credit replaces legacy payments with a single monthly payment – merging six benefits into one, although, Universal Credit is being introduced gradually. As Universal Credit is being rolled out DWP state that they are […]

A short series from landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson on things you need to watch out for. GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is a new set of considerably more onerous data protection laws which are coming into force on 25 May 2018. Why the GDPR applies to YOU Now you may […]

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (DBEIS) has launched a new consultation to consider removing the ‘no cost to landlords’ criteria for improving the energy efficiency of rental property to the minimum E rating. At the moment improvements are not compulsory where cost neutral green funding is unavailable, however the DBEIS are considering […]

General information about DWP Christmas payments, Jobcentre Opening Times and Freephone numbers change. Opening hours Details of when DWP will be open and closed during the Christmas and New Year period: DWP offices (see chart below) Date Arrangement Monday 18 to Friday 22 December All of our offices will be open as normal Saturday 23 […]

A short series from landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson on things you need to watch out for. 1 – Do you rent out property on an assured shorthold tenancy? If you rent out property it will almost certainly be an AST.  Even you think it is a license it may not be. 2  – […]

Peterborough Council have scrapped their discount scheme for landlords belonging to the National Landlords Association (NLA) or the Residential Landlords Association (RLA). The scheme previously charged members of both associations £50 for a 5 year licence to rent property in the borough. Now all landlords regardless of membership will have to pay £600 per property […]

With the Self Assessment tax deadline for 2016-17 looming, I would like to know, as a portfolio landlord subject to making payments on account, whether the S24 switch from taxing turnover as opposed to profits could restrict my personal allowance entitlement already based on the income (turnover) declared on my 2016-17 tax return? I have […]

A recent survey by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) of almost 2,800 landlords has found that 42% were reluctant to rent to anyone except those with a UK passport and 49% are less likely to rent to someone who has permission to stay in the UK for only a limited time. RLA Policy Director David […]

I am looking to buy a property with my partner. He is a first time buyer however, I already own a flat that I’m currently living in. I’m not planning to sell my property as I want to rent it out once I move out. I am aware that new purchase will be subject to […]

There are some elderly flats which I have seen for sale. They have an energy efficiency of only F and they are Grade 2 listed. From April it will be unlawful to rent them out in their current condition and energy efficiency rating. What is the mortgage markets point of view and criteria currently for […]