The first two featured articles in this weeks edition have sparked an interesting debate so please take the time to scroll down and read the comments as well as the articles themselves.Feedback on any article is always extremely welcome.  Please remember you can also share these articles via email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Featured […]

House prices and the state of the property market have probably hit rock bottom, according to banks and building societies. Property values are about to level out and then show a modest increase, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which speaks for all Britain’s major mortgage lenders. Mortgage availability is also ‘broadly stable’ and […]

Theft and fraud by letting agents has always been a problem in the industry, claims the managing director of the UK’s largest independent letting business. In a damning indictment of the industry, Paul Weller of south east based Leaders hits out against dishonest and incompetent letting agents – but alleges the problems have dogged landlords […]

Councils are imposing arcane planning rules in an attempt to stop student landlords opening new shared houses. Landlords in Portsmouth face a seemingly impossible rule – they cannot switch a family home to a shared house if the number of shared houses in any area is already 10% or more of the number of homes. […]

When a tenant has beef with their landlord, I’m the guy they go to. My job is to either negotiate or prosecute, depending on the circumstances. This occasional and random series aims to let landlords know the common complaints that are made about them, the laws that cover them and how to deal with it. […]

Landlords have given the green light to the Green Deal to improve energy efficiency in buy to let properties. Around two thirds of property investors have told the National landlords Association (NLA) that they support upgrading their homes to meet the new standards. The nod from landlords comes as MPs debate the proposed new Green […]

Soaring buy to let rents and the rising cost of living are putting pressure on tenant spending power. Rents were up 1.2 per cent in August – but rent arrears also increased for the first time since April, according to the biggest letting agent across England and Wales, LSL Property Services. Average buy to let […]

I’ve heard reports of 30 prospective tenants applying for every property on landlords and lettings agents books. What do they do with the other 29 records of prospective customers?  To me, the answer is obvious. Create a Facebook page purely for prospective tenants and ask them to become friends as soon as they make an […]

A recent report from B&Q suggested that red was the most popular colour choice in the paint stakes. They, like me, will attribute that to a feature wall colour in homes. The report also suggested magnolia had ceased to be the favourite wall colour. A few things are apparent here, red isn’t the predominant wall […]

Desperate property sellers are flirting with some extravagant discount offers to attract cash-rich buyers. The latest ploy is a ‘buy one house, get one free’ deal on new homes, but other bonus offers include an art collection and a speedboat. Where cash discounts and help with finance are offered to many new home buyers to […]

Buy to let rents in London have surged to a new peak of £1,202 a month. Rents are still climbing in most regions, but are soaring in the capital as London reports the only rising house prices in the country over the past 12 months. Rising prices and difficulties in finding mortgage finance have led […]

Average rents across the UK continue to rise, according to Homelet’s latest rental index for August. London went up a further 4% to £1,202, reaching a new record as the UK on the whole reached £791. While month by month prices fluctuated up and down across the country, the annual change has been an increase […]

Fraudsters are sending out thousands of bogus emails to try to trick taxpayers to give out their bank details in return for HM Revenue and Customs refunds. HMRC fraud investigators are handling around 1,000 reports of scam email every day and close down 100 fraudulent web sites run every month. The problem is escalating as […]

Demand to let prime London property is surging with rents reaching £55,000 per week for the cream of homes. Wealthy visitors settling in London from overseas are driving the market – with cash-rich tenants from Russia, the Middle East and Asia battling for the best properties. Harrods letting agency set the record with £55,000 a […]

Landlords Money Week Magazine are telling us to Get out of Property Now. “Dump property”. “……If you are a property speculator” In 2007 they told us to “Get out of property now” “Get the right dividend payer into your portfolio now” “Hold Gold” Professional landlords are not “speculators”. To professional landlords property is the means […]

This week saw more improvements to the Property Services Directory, you can list yourself now if you haven’t already or search the 740+ businesses in the directory. Discount Lettings are still well ahead with testimonials and you can see who the top 10 companies by testimonials in this week’s featured articles. Featured Property News Articles […]

The latest official statistics confirm the housing market is sluggish and is not showing any signs of a revival at any time soon. The government’s Communities and Local Government statistics for July show that house prices fell 1.5 percent year on year and a nominal 0.3 percent from June. The average house price is now […]

Homeless charity Shelter claims around 1,500 rogue landlords are making life a misery for tenants. The figure was pinpointed from asking councils across England and Wales about private housing complaints. The response was councils have received 86,628 complaints from tenants in the past year. The calls for help highlighted potentially life-threatening dangers like hazardous gas […]

A Scottish landlord could face jail after he aggressively attempted to evict a heavily pregnant tenant over late rental payments from a two-bedroom Fife property. He is said to have told police officer that “It is cheaper my way.” to evict the tenant rather than go through the courts. The eviction noticed had been issued […]

Capital raising to invest in more property is driving the buy to let remortgage market, according to a lender. Almost half of landlords (47 per cent) told Paragon Mortgages that their main reason for remortgaging was to raise funds to expand their portfolios. More than a third (35 per cent) switched mortgages for a better […]

Buy to let fraudsters lied about rental returns and finding tenants in a scam that tricked investors out of more than £1 million. The property investment club sold 21 houses in Burnley and Pendle, Lancashire, to Irish landlords by offering false promises about the likely real returns. In fact, Manchester Crown Court heard the sale […]