This week’s edition features a response from Crisis to the open letter to Grant Shapps from Farah Damji, plus how you can get free tickets to the Property Business Show an ExCeL where Mark Alexander will be one of the guest speakers. There’s also news of rising arrears, an update from the blanket HMO licensing […]

The lack of a joined up official and independent house price index for the UK is at the root of some statistical anomalies in recent surveys. In the space of a few days, landlords, buyers and other property people have been bombarded with numbers that just don’t add up:

It’s green for go for new-style energy performance certificates from April 6 and landlords or letting agents who flout the new rules could face a fine. Energy performance certificate (EPC) laws are tightening and letting agents face more scrutiny from trading standards officers.

Letting agents reporting a rising number of homeowners renting out their properties because they cannot sell has more than doubled in a year, says the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). The latest figures show almost half of letting agents (47%) were letting properties that the owners were unable to sell – up from 18% […]

Thousands of tenants are in rent arrears with a growing number adding to the total every month, according to statistics from rent receivers. Almost 95,000 tenants were at least two months behind with their rents in the quarter ending March 31 – an increase of 20% compared with 12 months ago and a 10.2% on […]

LetAlliance is rolling out its specialist services to the 200 letting agents across Northern Ireland for the first time as they continue their expansion. With Michael Mccready- formerly of Homelet- at the helm of LetAlliance’s business development in Northern Ireland, Derry / Londonderry, Co Tyrone, Co Antrim, Co Armagh, Co Fermanagh, and Co Down will […]

More than 2,000 Oxford landlords have had warning letters from the city council about repairs to carry out under the UK’s first blanket HMO licensing scheme. The city has around 5,000 HMO properties and is at the vanguard of councils cracking down on HMOs. Although councilors, residents and students back the scheme, landlords and letting […]

HMO landlord Lookman Adeyemi has been jailed for four months and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after admitting flouting fire safety rules after a blaze that killed a 29 year old mum and her three year old daughter. The unlicensed shared house in Milton Keynes was set alight in an arson attack against another tenant […]

The April 6th deadline is looming, so we’ve pieced together a round-up of the impending changes for landlords regarding deposit protection and EPCs. HMO Landlady returns to tell of the chaos that ensues losing your mobile phone, as well as the latest news from Nationwide, the Ombudsman, Experian, HMRC and much more.

We have seen interest free credit cards and financing for TV’s, sofa’s and even cars but we never expected to see this in the buy to let property sector. What’s more, the facilities come with a free valuation, no arrangement fees and no early repayment charges. There is a catch though. Funds are extremely limited […]

This article ponders on how tenant/landlord communication has changed over the years. It was sparked by a conversation with my daughter’s father over her seemingly rude texts last weekend. Her: “Don’t forget my £5 next weekend” Him: “Please don’t be so rude, I have your money and simply forgot to hand it to you on […]

Letting agent Helen Gregory has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme after a rent row with a buy to let landlord client. Her firm Beechwood Property Portfolio, in Bakewell, Derbyshire, was dumped from the scheme after failing to resolve a dispute with the landlord over persistent late rent payments.

Demand for buy to let lending has dropped for the first time in two years, according to the latest Bank of England lending survey. Specialist landlord lenders told the Bank that they expect the figures to be a blip and the market will quickly recover from the slight fall.

Homeowners face more misery as house prices dropped back for the first time in six months as the stamp duty holiday for first time buyers ends. The fall signals the start of an expected slow decline in house prices as first time buyers race to complete a purchase rather than holding off until later in […]

Tax inspectors are obviously finding tax too taxing, despite HM Revenue & Customs claims to the contrary over recent years, as hundreds are due to go back to the classroom for extra lessons. HMRC says the aim is to make staff more professional and to help them handle difficult investigations better when they line up […]

The UK’s millionaires are set to up their investment into property according to the latest Millionaire Monitor form Skandia. Of the 436 millionaires questioned, 55% said they were going to invest in more property. More leaned towards residential investment too, with 31% saying they were going to invest in residential property and 24% interested in […]

Renters who flatshare won’t be affected by their housemates who fail to pay their rent and bills following complaints from tenants to Experian. After announcing the plans for a rent payment profile for tenants, those on shared tenancy agreements were going to be linked, impacting each other’s credit score.

With rents still continuing to rise, insurance provider LetRisks is urging to buy to let landlords to ensure they are in a position to cope with rising arrears and evictions. All figures relating to arrears and evictions appear to be the rise. The number of tenants with two months or more arrears increased by 11,400 […]

Renters in London need to earn around £52,000 to let a buy to let home, according to figures from homeless charity Shelter. The charity reckons 65% of non-home-owning Londoners have given up hope of buying a property in the neighbourhood where they live.

Landlords maximising income from buy to let properties by leasing their roof space to firms generating energy from solar panels are warned that they need to comply with mortgage lender guidelines. Many landlords are installing solar panels that offer tenants cut-price power while siphoning off excess energy for an income under the feed-in tariff.

The latest round up of news features the reaction to the National Planning Policy Framework from around the buy to let industry, a strong open letter to Grant Shapps about the work and influence of Shelter and the penultimate edition of the LHA Expert. There’s also news of a landlord in trouble for a lack […]