Housing minister Grant Shapps has signalled a new homes building bonanza by kicking off plans to hand over thousands of acres of public land to house builders. The grand scheme lays the foundations for building 100,000 new homes for private and social housing by 2015 as the government links up with builders to ease the […]

Knightstone, the south and west housing association, is looking to downsize its roster of properties they manage by trading with smaller regional associations. They are in talks to trade their properties in Swindon and Wiltshire for Somerset based properties as well as passing on their Dorset and Hampshire properties. They hope to have the trade […]

Yet another property index is churning out data in a crowded market – this time for buy to let from landlord insurance firm Homelet. The Homelet Rental Index lines up with four other established market surveys looking at the private residential letting sector.

Taxpayers who have fallen foul of HM Revenue and Customs policy of checking out property valuations targeting larger inheritance tax payments from estates can fight back with a little known loophole. Refunds on overpaid inheritance tax (IHT) can be claimed for homes that are worth less than the value on the deceased owner’s date of […]

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) today issued top tips for landlords who are aiming to let their properties out on a short-term basis this summer. Short-term lets can be a great way for landlords to fill rental voids or make use of vacant properties, and usually last anywhere between one week and one […]

With buy to let landlords experiencing total rent arrears of £284million from tenants not paying each month, the closure of 140 courts all over the country could see even more properties being repossessed by lenders. The decision, aimed at saving £37million, has been met with dismay from landlords and eviction specialists. Despite the current court […]

The Halifax House Price Index shows that house prices are continuing to fall slowly but signs of “moderate improvement” in the economy suggest property values could stabilise later this year.

The soft launch of the Property118.com Business Directory is coming soon and we’re looking for businesses offering services to landlords to help us with our final tests. As a result of volunteering you will obviously be one of the first businesses listed in the Directory.  Your comments will also be search engine optimised, thus enhancing […]

Opposing groups of letting agents are lining up to fight over who takes the official title of industry regulator. In one corner is the reigning champion, the Association of Rental Letting Agents (ARLA), backed by around 6,500 members and the self-proclaimed ‘voice of the industry’.

A property investor spent a little more than a penny and bought a former public toilet to convert in to a family holiday home. The anonymous investor paid £104,000 for the two-storey loo with outline planning permission on the promenade at Sheringham, Norfolk. The guide price of between £30,000 and £40,000 was pushed up by […]

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) has announced a new course for July aimed at new and inexperienced clerks called “Guidelines for Inventory Clerks”. The course is also open to those who are interested in becoming an inventory clerk as well as Associate Members, colleagues or landlords.

A student landlord’s dreams of property riches collapsed in to a nightmare of £3 million in debts as he broke laws to run his letting business. Daniel Eaton, 36, now has his portfolio of houses in multiple occupation (HMO) for sale to recoup some money – but he is £1 million short as his assets […]

Three landbanking scammers were disqualified as directors after they sold worthless farm plots at hugely inflated prices with the fake promise of planning permission They traded as directors company Land Strategy, which went in to liquidation in July 2009 owing £78,900. Kevin Hilton of Crosby, Merseyside, Lynne Hilton of Burscough, Lancashire and Darren Butt of […]

Just one in one hundred buy to let landlords think now is a good time to reduce their portfolios, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Instead, 49% think they should be investing in new property, up 2% on last year. In fact of the landlords questioned, a massive 86% have said they will […]

Why the legislation was introduced- According to the last Labour government, a significant number of landlords were abusing their position and holding on to deposit money that rightfully should have been returned to the tenant at the end of the tenancy.

By @PaulShamplina, founder of @LandlordAction From acting on nearly 20,000 problem tenant cases since 1999, we have seen some horrific things in our time. Over the next three blogs, I am going to be talking about some dangerous types of tenants that landlords should try to avoid at all costs. The first type of tenant […]

Property118.com has had an eBook dedicated to it called “A Short Guide to Being a Landlord” by regular contributor and landlord law specialist Tessa Shepperson. The book comes free if you purchase her £17 eBook “The secrets of Assured Shorthold Tenancies and section 21” before 10am, 7th June.

Mortgage lenders have laid out their lending policy for the next two years – and the news does not look too good for borrowers. The forecast, released by the mortgage industry mouthpiece the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), hints that some extra funding for buy to let borrowing will come through later this year. Banks […]

Pay less stamp duty on a home in a ‘disadvantaged area’ is one of the 36 tax reliefs set for scrapping by the Treasury in a clean-up of the rule books. The proposal to ditch the relief is up for consultation – and the likely result is the benefit for home buyers is expected to […]

House prices were up 0.8% in April – the first time prices have crept above zero in 2011 and the highest monthly growth since January 2010, according to the Land Registry. Year-on-year, house prices are down 1.3%, but even this is a slowdown on last month’s figure. The Land Registry statistics underwrite those from other […]

The pattern of home ownership in Britain is undergoing a major upheaval with nearly two thirds of adults under 45 years old giving up any thought of buying their own property. Buying a home seems beyond the grasp of this age group as 95% say they have no spare cash, no interest in saving for […]