With ever more complicated legislation being introduced it is becoming more common for both landlords and agents to make mistakes when it comes to compliance. But what are the consequences of failing to protect a tenants deposit and correctly serve prescribed information within the 30 day period allowed, and more importantly what are the solutions […]

City of Wolverhampton Council has named its first 5 star landlord under the new ‘Rent with Confidence’ scheme. Lyndon Whitehouse, Director of L&A Lettings, owns several 5 star properties in the city and has also been granted five-star agent status. The rating system is similar to the one used by the Food Standards Agency for […]

Please be gentle as this is my first post, especially when you get to to EPC part. I have a DSS tenant who is 3 months overdue on her rent. I served S21 and S8 notices a few weeks ago. The s8 notice is due to expire on 29th November and the s21 notice on […]

Nearly 900 landlords have already responded to the latest survey of Property118 members, the UK’s leading online resource for private landlords to share best practice. 54% of respondents said they will be forced by Government tax changes to evict existing tenants, either to sell their properties or to re-let to others who can afford to […]

Dear Mark, I hope you don’t mind me contacting, but after doing some research on Google I came across a reply/advice you had given re: Garden Maintenance ” Check with a Landlords Association or a solicitor if you like. If you have a garden and you want the tenants to cut the grass you must […]

You may recall that in December 2015 Property118 researchers exposed the source document behind George Osborne’s tax grab on private landlords –LINK  The young man who wrote the report, which was presented by the Inter Generational Foundation, was David Kingman. We will refer to him as Kingman Jnr. We now know that Inter Generational Foundation is sponsored […]

While Section 24 of the Finance Act 2015-16 remains set to restrict the mortgage tax allowance of individual landlords to a mere 20%, thereby forcing many of them to raise rents or evict their tenants and sell-up, the tax-adjustment places no such restriction upon corporate landlords and property rental companies. Corporate letters therefore remain able […]

There seem to be a number of landlord accreditation schemes- and landlord training programmes- both run by individual councils, ARLA, RLA etc. I just wondered which scheme/ courses, if any, would other PRS landlords recommend? Jill

Apologies if this question has already asked but I am struggling to find clarity on the .Gov website. I am considering remortgaging a buy to let property which is currently still within its fixed term, doing so will incur an early repayment charge of £4k. Does anybody know if this early repayment fee is an […]

I have traditionally voted Conservative but I would be unable to vote for them if there was a general election next week due to recent changes in BTL taxation. I would like to understand how many other readers of this forum feel the same way and what their intentions are, the next time they get […]

We wish to start the process of evicting our tenants from 3 of our properties in the new year due to S21. We would like some advice on how to do this correctly, as we have not done so for a few years and are aware of some new changes. One property has a 12 […]

My AST states that tenants agree to pay the landlord a management fee equivalent to a 10% of the cost of deductible cleaning and repairs required at the end of the tenancy. I have never implemented it but wondered whether folk consider it a valid term? Many thanks Monty

Following a consultation the Government has cancelled plans to privatise the Land Registry and will instead keep it as a publicly owned organisation. The Government has indicated that the Land Registry should become more focused on digital data driven registration saying “modernisation will maximise the value of HM Land Registry to the economy and should […]

I have what I think is a strange circumstance. My tenant has ripped all the pipes out of the water supply during a psychological fit, he has been sectioned, but will want to move back within a couple of weeks. This is the second time he has done this, the first time I repaired the […]

I have had a tenant in my property for six months who arrived in the U.K from outside the EU to take up a new job. The original intention was that his partner, from the same continent, would join him after six months and they would live in my property together for some years. Plans […]

A few days ago, a fellow landlord brought to my attention a new type of reply from the Treasury, which Property118 users can download Here. In response to this strengthened Treasury reaction, I typed the following for himself to reply back with and to fuel the responses of other landlords, should they themselves receive replies […]

I have a readers question of my own for a change!  Given the Chancellors announcement in his Autumn Statement that agents will not be allowed to charge fees to tenants, does this mean that freehold management companies will no longer be able to charge us fees (as long leasehold tenants) for consent to let? Thoughts […]

Letting agents who are arguing about the ban on charging fees to tenants are still failing to recognise this isn’t the biggest threat to their business. Property118 “The Landlords Union” launched a survey of landlords within minutes of the Chancellor delivering his Autumn Statement. Nearly 500 landlords responded within 18 hours and the results are still […]

Major letting agents including Foxtons and Countrywide saw sharp falls in the value of their shares in response to the Chancellors announcement that legislation is to be created to make it illegal for letting agents to charge fees to tenants. However, one agent has reported their best day ever for new landlord enquiries! Chris Sheldon. Managing […]

We launched our landlords survey just minutes after the Chancellor had delivered his 2016 Autumn Statement in the House of Commons. Hundreds of landlords have already completed the survey, which can be seen below. Next to the ‘Submit’ button there is a link to enable you to view the survey results. Our goal is for […]

Chancellor Phillip Hammond delivered his Autumn statement today. No doubt there will be much discussion amongst landlords and letting agents yet again.  And the good news for private landlords and their agents is ….. drum roll ….. errr ……. NONE! Did anybody really expect a repeal of the legislation that will remove mortgage interest as a legitimate […]