A landlord in Edinburgh is the first in the city to be banned from letting out properties after failing to declare previous convictions and to licence his HMO.
The landlord, Yousef Mohammed, had previously been hit with a £1000 fine for failing to licence an HMO. He has subsequently been deemed not to meet the “fit and proper” criteria and taken off the landlord register. Continue reading Landlord in Scotland banned from letting
Tenants, utility suppliers, landlords and change don’t often mix too well. I wanted to share a problem that I have had with a utility company charging on disputed meter readings and standing charges and the impact of the law relating to deemed contracts when a property is void. Happily I have resolved this after much correspondence and standing my ground.
As you know, tenants have a habit of changing the utility suppliers. In my case a tenant in 2009 changed to a company supplying both gas and electricity, when the tenant left they were not present when my letting agent did the check out. The letting agent (large company in Norwich) did the meter readings and recorded them on their system. The tenant was not present to agree the meter readings but they must have given different readings to the supplier when requesting the final bill. Continue reading Tenants Changing Suppliers – The Pitfalls
An estate agent tried to make some money on the side by renting an empty home he was trying to sell.
Your Move sales consultant Daniel Morriss, 25, advertised the two-bed house to let online as a furnished let for £500 per month without telling the owner. Continue reading Estate agent secretly tried to let home he should have sold
The landlord of a filthy and overcrowded shared house was fined £5,500 after admitting 23 licensing and management offences to magistrates.
Jan Assakzai 42, of Friars Road, East Ham, London, picked up the fine at Thames Magistrates Court and was also ordered to pay £300 legal costs and a £15 victim surcharge. Continue reading HMO landlord fined £5,500 for letting filthy home
A struck-off solicitor and an estate agent who managed a house shared by 12 tenants who lived in filthy conditions have been branded slum landlords by their local council.
Both picked up rents from the tenants for an absent owner in Nigeria but failed to run the house in multiple occupation according to strict licensing rules and safety regulations. Continue reading Struck-off solicitor branded slum landlord for house of filth
A property firm’s claims that buy to let was a safe alternative to keeping money in a savings account were misleading, ruled the Advertising Standards Authority.
THE ASA has banned the firm, Aldermartin Baines and Cuthbert, estate agents in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, from running the ads and ordered them to only broadcast unregulated investment ads on specialist financial media. Continue reading Property firm’s buy to let advert claims ruled misleading
Letting agents are urging landlords to make sure they only do business with firms offering a money protection scheme.
Firms signed up to the SAFEagent scheme are highlighting that landlords and tenants risk losing thousands of pounds in rents and deposits if an agent outside a money protection scheme shuts.
The most recent firm to go bust in Canterbury owes landlords and tenants more than £410,000. Continue reading Landlords urged to only deal with ‘safe’ letting agents
The likely results of losing flood insurance are sinking-in to landlords with at risk property as much of the country lies underwater and weather forecasters predict even more rain.
Great swathes of England are coping with the deluge -and the heavy rains have highlighted just how many homes and businesses are in danger of flooding. Continue reading Landlord hopes sink over buy to let flood insurance
Beds in sheds landlords face a crackdown by a special government taskforce aimed at closing down criminal landlords and tracking down illegal immigrants.
Housing minister Grant Shapps and immigration minister Damian Green have held the first in a series of cross-Whitehall summits with police, the UK Border Agency and local councils to set up the task force. Continue reading Taskforce set to tackle beds in sheds scandal
Drugs squads are raiding a cannabis factory nearly once every hour and seizing drugs worth hundreds of millions of pounds in an industry dubbed a growing menace by police commanders.
On average, 21 drugs factories are closed every day by police. Continue reading Drugs police raid a cannabis factory once every hour
