Over the course of the last 3 years at Landlord Action I have been contacted by many disgruntled investors trying to claim back sourcing fees or deposit monies paid to rogue property investment and sourcing companies. Awareness of this has needed to take on paramount importance since we hit recession in late 2008. Lending stopped […]

A landlord who defied planning laws to convert three houses in to houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) has been stripped of £112,500 in rents by a judge. Piara Singh Sehajpal ignored planning rules and turned three houses in 16 letting rooms and rented them out at £800 a month each.

The number of buy to let properties has increased by 756,000 homes since 2007, according to the latest government housing statistics. The latest figures from the Communities and Local Government Department say landlords rented out 3.938 million homes in April 2010.

The latest news and views from the property market and private rented sector. This edition also includes guest articles from Ben Reeve-Lewis, Mary Latham and  new guest writer Angus Ryan.

Landlord’s Log, the Personal Blog Of Mark Alexander, the Founder of Property118 ** I was so shocked when I received this commentary last weekend that it has taken me until now to decide to post it. The following was sent to me as an email by a person who prefers to remain anonymous for obvious […]

One in three buy to let homes have major safety hazards putting tenants at risk, claims a government survey of homes in England. The English Housing Survey discloses just over 28% of privately rented homes have a ‘category 1 hazard’ – compared with 14.5% of social housing, just under 11% of housing association properties and […]

Calling all landlords and associated property professionals We all read the various pundits forecasts and they are nearly always wrong so I thought it would be interesting to see if Property118.com readers can predict any more accurately what will happen in 2012 than the professionals. Please leave your considered guestimates in the comments section below and we […]

A rogue landlord was fined £8,000 for failing to maintain standards at a shared house that was taken over by a council. Ken Herring, 66, admitted four offences of not complying with house in multiple occupation rules before Oxford Magistrates.

As I read my way through developments in the housing world on a daily basis I see increasing reference to perceptions about social housing tenants which seems to be becoming a source of more concern for many landlords. People have often had negative opinions about that world, but not as serious as the direction it […]

Void periods are an occupational hazard of letting property and something that the vast majority of landlords will experience at some point. The key to a successful void is to keep it as short as possible. Currently there is an environment of strong rental demand but this does not mean that landlords should be complacent. […]

House sales are expected to slump to a 40-year low with no expectation of the market improving next year. Property market analysts Hometrack predict around 840,000 home sales for the year – down 50% on the housing bubble peak of four years ago.

Buy to let investments do not make landlords money even though tenants are paying record rents, according to a new study. Financial experts reckon rents are languishing below pre-credit crisis levels when tax and inflation are taken in to account.

There have been some really interesting comments on the EU Trying To Kill Buy To Let – sign the petition to STOP it now. blog and it is great to see some new people contributing to this important discussion but I am feeling a bit frivolous at the moment and I thought that I would […]

It was a bit breezy this weekend wasn’t it !!! Have you had calls from tenants to say their fence has blown down or that they’ve lost tiles off their roof? You know these things need to be fixed quickly to keep tenants happy and to prevent further damage so here’s what to do …..

Dozens of letting agents have gone bust in recent months leaving landlords struggling financial with unpaid rents and unprotected deposits. In some cases the letting agents are just poor business administrators, but several have ended in court for deliberate and calculating frauds involving the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds of money belonging to […]

One of the most important aspects of running a business is keeping one step ahead of the competition and providing a service over and above your competitors. There’s no better time to start this than now since with Smartphones in increasingly more pockets, the possibilities are endless. Every Letting or Estate Agent should look at […]

Sharers pay an average £360 per month for a room – which is 5% more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. The figures were revealed from a study comparing rents in Britain, France, Italy and Spain by letting firm Easyroommate.

Landlord Pavlos Chatzinopoulos was fined £2,515 for making tenants share with cramped rooms with tenants they did not know. Swindon Council swooped on the property after a female renter tipped them off about the state of the house in multiple occupation when a man moved in to her room with her.

A student landlord who charged a tenant £290 for cleaning two flies from a windowsill is under investigation by a landlord consumer body after a number of complaints. Campbell Property, based in Pewsey, Wiltshire, has removed accreditation from the UK Association of Letting Agents from its website pending an inquiry.

Buy to let lender Paragon Mortgages profits rose 12% to almost £81 million thanks to landlords building on their portfolios. Paragon returned to lending in September 2010, and the pre-tax profit represents the first full year’s trading as a lender since the onset of the credit crunch.

By Guest Columnist Ben Reeve-Lewis I work for a council in London. I’m the landlord’s nemesis, the bogey man, a Tenancy Relations Officer; the guy who prosecutes landlords for harassment and illegal eviction, the one who gets injunctions out against them, has them arrested, helps tenants claim damages against them, kicks doors in and pushes […]