The government has hinted that fees collected from the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database will be used to fund council enforcement. In a written Parliamentary question, housing minister Matthew Pennycook confirmed the government is strengthening council enforcement powers under the Renters’ Rights Act. The news comes as councils now have the power to issue on-the-spot […]

Landlords in Wales could face fines of up to £5,000 if they miss the renewal date on their Rent Smart Wales licence. The National Residential Landlords Association is urging licence holders to check their accounts as many approach, or may already have passed, their second renewal deadline. Rent Smart Wales launched on 23 November 2015, […]

As the Vagrancy law is being repealed today, anyone has the right to sleep rough and beg. So, to me, I wonder, as this will be a legally allowed thing to do, how can a properly justified eviction be illegal? How can a council tell a tenant not to move out and intentionally make themselves […]

Sales have fallen and mortgage rates have risen as political uncertainty continues to weigh on the housing market, according to a new report. Zoopla’s house price index shows that sales agreed are 7% lower in June, while three in five homes listed for sale since January are still on the market. The property portal warns […]

The government has announced that the Vagrancy Act will be repealed from today. The Vagrancy Act 1824 is a nearly 200-year-old law that makes it a criminal offence to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales. The government say repealing the Act is a vital step towards ending a system that has failed to […]

Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, a lot of the guarantor conversation on here has focused on one fear. Now that fixed terms are gone and every tenancy is periodic, is the guarantor locked in for life? It is a fair worry. But in my work on tenancy and […]

The private rented sector is changing at a pace few landlords have experienced before. Landlords are being asked to accept pets they might previously have refused. The government is warning against blanket policies affecting benefit claimants. Councils are preparing to issue significant fines for compliance failures. Ministers have had to correct guidance issued only weeks […]

The government has claimed that tribunal-determined rents will protect tenants from falling into rent arrears. In a Parliamentary written question, Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed asked whether landlords should be required to notify councils and the Department for Work and Pensions when a First-tier Tribunal finds a tenant has been overcharged rent. The government has announced […]

Landlords selling tenant-occupied homes to London councils could be evicting existing renters to make way for households needing temporary accommodation. An investigation by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has found that 11 London authorities do not record whether tenants were required to leave properties before councils bought them with vacant possession. The website MyLondon […]

Almost ten years have passed since the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign sought permission to challenge Section 24 by way of judicial review. The campaign attracted considerable support from landlords across the country and was represented by leading counsel. The argument was straightforward. Individual landlords were being denied relief for finance costs while companies continued […]

One of the biggest challenges property investors face is running out of deposit money. Most investors save a deposit, buy a property, then wait for capital growth before refinancing and releasing money to buy their next investment. While this approach works, it can take years to build a portfolio large enough to generate significant income. […]

Landlords operating short-let accommodation saw demand rise across every UK country and English region during 2025. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that guests spent 100,911,620 nights that were booked through online platforms last year. That was 11.5% more than the 90,507,070 guest nights recorded between January and December 2024. Wales posted […]

Fleet Mortgages, The Mortgage Works, Accord Mortgages and Coventry for intermediaries have all reduced their buy to let pricing, while Atom bank has improved parts of its commercial lending proposition. Fleet has cut rates across its standard, limited company and HMO and multi-unit freehold block ranges, alongside launching products aimed at borrowers seeking to limit […]

Hello, I run a small, serviced guest house in the London Borough of Barnet and would be interested to hear whether other accommodation providers have faced a similar situation. An occupier took a room under a signed serviced-accommodation licence in mid-2025. The agreement states that no tenancy is granted or intended and that facilities are […]

The government has announced that commercial buildings of more than 1,000 square metres will be required to meet EPC B targets by 2031. Under the plans, private rented non-domestic properties of this size in England and Wales will need to reach the higher energy efficiency standard “where cost-effective”. For smaller commercial buildings under 1,000 square […]

One sentence in HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual has probably influenced more landlord incorporation decisions than any other. It appears in CG65715 and says: “You should accept that incorporation relief will be available where an individual spends 20 hours or more a week…” For many, that sentence has become the starting point for every discussion about […]

The Upper Tribunal decision in HMRC v GCH Corporation Ltd and others is an important judgment because it confirms that an LLP does not need to be carrying on a trade in order to satisfy the “business with a view to profit” requirement in section 59A TCGA 1992. The Upper Tribunal dismissed HMRC’s appeal and […]

At what cashflow return on equity does being a landlord stop being worth the hassle? It is not a question many landlords ask themselves because, traditionally, property investment has never really worked that way. Most of us were taught to concentrate on rental yields, rising property values and the long-term accumulation of wealth. As long […]

As football fever sweeps the nation once again, fans across England are dreaming of that one unforgettable moment: the ball hitting the back of the net in the dying seconds of a World Cup final. We are dreaming of the trophy, the glory, and the clinical strikes that write history. But while England’s stars battle […]

Hello, The government rightly goes a long way to prevent friction and division in diversity and culture. However, the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) has implemented legislation that causes friction and inflames the landlord-tenant relationship. It is hard to see anything other than spite, a lack of awareness and incompetence being the reasons for this. Sadly, […]

Hello, In the Grauniad (Guardian newspaper) today (don’t worry, I’m not a reader!). Not ‘property’ associated, but where landlords and especially leaseholders are faced with bullying freeholders, councils, suppliers, but cannot afford to fight the lawfare, this could be game-changing. An artificial intelligence law firm has won a case in an English court, in what […]