LandlordZONE caught up with Marcus Selmon, Chair of portfolio landlord group PLAN to discuss the state of the private rented sector and the soon-to-be enacted Renters’ Rights Bill from the perspective of his members.
This is a book I wish I’d had available when I first started out on my own property investing career
The government’s reluctance to properly fund eviction courts could cause chaos once the Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law, a leading lawyer has warned.
A landlord caught out for having an unlicensed property has managed to get her fine slashed after a First Tier Property Tribunal heard that the tenants owed more than £17,000 in rent.
Landlords who buy leasehold apartments will next month be able to extend the property’s lease without having to wait two years, as it presently the case.
A fed-up landlord has challenged tenants’ union Acorn for using social media to relentlessly bash the PRS without considering the bigger picture.
The decision to hold onto your rental properties or sell them is more critical than ever – landlords everywhere are taking time to weigh up the balance between risk and profit.
Tenants are living in build-to-rent developments for less time than their counterparts in the traditional PRS – suggesting that they are not the panacea for the housing crisis that is often claimed.
A landlord who built an illegal outbuilding to store his tenants’ belongings has been ordered to pay more than £23,000.
Three-quarters of landlords will be forced to raise rents in the face of the new Renters (Reform) Bill , which as drafted will restrict their ability to refuse pets. A poll by buy-to-let broker Mortgages for Business found that 60% will raise re
A group of leading figures representing animal charities, pet owners and property managers have warned that much work will be needed in the coming months to make the Renters (Reform) Bill acceptable to landlords and tenants. The group, although welcoming the bill, tells <strong
The government has repudiated claims by one of its own MPs and a leading expert that the PRS is under pressure from reforms and rising levels of immigration. Home Office data shows that net immigration hit a record high of 606,000 last year. Based on the average household size o
A leading lawyer warns that by abolishing section 21 the government will be helping nuisance tenants at the expense of the weak and vulnerable. Under the Renters (Reform) Bill, landlords will be able to evict for behaviours capable of causing a nuisance or annoyance as opp
Removing Section 21 might not provide the hoped-for feelings of security and encourage tenants to complain when rental homes are in short supply, warns a housing charity. The TDS charitable foundations poll of 2,000 private renters found that a lack of affordable accommodatio
The UKs co-living sector has trebled since 2019 as the formerly London-centric concept catches on around the country. Popular with recent graduates and young professionals, co-living - which technically is often classsed as HMO - is a form of purpose-built rental housing gene
Reinstating mortgage interest relief for landlords would solve the nations ongoing rental property supply crisis and raise �400 million for the nations coffers, it has been revealed. Analysis by Capital Economics on behalf of the National Residential Landlords Association
Lease disputes are time consuming, costly and most can be avoided when leases are well drafted in the first place. This article addresses a case where the landlord failed to ensure that the lease was properly drafted. The lease gives a tenant the right to use the property for it
A legal charity still hopes to challenge the government over its Right to Rent policy despite failing to convince European judges that it increases racial discrimination in the rental market. Under the scheme, landlords have to check the immigration status of prospective tenants
High Street lender the Nationwide has launched a platform that will be first of its kind created for landlords by a major financial institution. Called The Landlord Works, it has been developed by a team headed up by Paul Wooton (main picture) who, after leaving its mortgage bro
Lambeth Council has launched a new additional licensing scheme that will see the boroughs private landlords paying the highest per bedroom HMO fees in the country. Under the current licensing scheme, landlords pay an application fee of �289 per bedroom for a five-year licenc
The Section 21 possession procedure (currently under threat of being removed) is a no fault eviction process where the landlord can serve notice on a tenant to regain possession once the initial minimum 6 months or contracted fixed term has ended. A section 21 notice is for 2
A dog-owning tenant has launched a legal challenge against her freeholder which could result in parting with her pets or the leasehold. The womans partner moved into her property five years ago with three small dogs and admitted this to the freeholder. It then sent her a
A tech professional who is also a landlord has launched what she believes to be the ideal solution to the impasse between landlords who won’t take tenants with pets, and the estimated 7.6 million tenants in the UK who want to live with their cats or dogs.
Landlords and agents must make sure they dont come a cropper deciding what constitutes a single household when vetting HMO tenants in an age of polyamorous relationships, warns a top property lawyer. While the legal definition of a household can be explained quickly, re
Just over a quarter of a billion pounds has been clawed back from landlords since HMRC's Let Property campaign began eight years ago, it has been revealed. The latest figure for the campaign were revealed by Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman in response to a writt
With private rentals and holiday homes in high demand, many due to Covid and holiday staycations, some councils are offering landlords some very attractive incentives, dubbed golden hellos� of up to �3,500. Some councils have been offering private landlords and second home
A landlord who was hauled up on minor maintenance issues has been refused an HMO licence by Glasgow City Council. Khurshid Begum told its licensing and regulatory committee that he had sorted all the problems at his property in Grant Street, Hillhead, but councillors would still
The UK Government has identified that homes across the UK contribute about 1/5 of all carbon emissions from the country. In order for the UK to reach its ambitious carbon neut
As a landlord, your life is far from idle as you work hard to find new tenants, manage your current ones, do the admin, find reliable tradespeople and much more.<br>Faced with
House building giant Barratt has revealed what it claims to be the future of UK housing a 37 sq metre one-bedroom apartment for sale at �285,000. The 160 initial Smrt homes are within the companys huge Eastman Village development in Harrow, North London where event
A national rogue tenant register to combat the issue of renters trashing properties and leaving landlords out of pocket could be open to abuse, a leading expert has warned. Sean Hooker, head of redress at the https://www.theprs.co.uk/" target="_blank" <strong id="
August got off to an unsettled and changeable start this year, with heavy rain and flooding in many parts of the UK. But the long-range weather forecast is now predicting warmer than usual conditions in late August, and potentially even a heat wave, with temperatures set to soar across some
Rent Smart Wales is challenging letting agents and landlords over the widespread practice of charging student tenants summer retainer fees which it claims are unlawful under Welsh legislation. It says a retainer is an additional fee which is unlawful under the Renting Home
Owners (landlords) of commercial (business) premises and sometimes residential premises want to let to a tenant on a short term basis, but are fearful of creating a long-term arrangement such that the tenant cannot be removed if the landlord wants it.Basically, there are three ways to do that whi
When it comes to owning a buy-to� let property, the decision as to whether to use an agent or not is a big one. It is estimated that more than half of landlords self-manage their rental properties, believing it to be the best way to maintain control over who lives there and how
Commercial investments produce an average yield of 10.7% while residential properties offer just 3.7%, new research has claimed. Scotland is home to the highest commercial yield at 20.4%, along with the South West (13.7%), while Scotland is also where investors can find the high
While the cost of renting continues to increase across the UK, the Government continues to grapple with the issue of making renting more accessible and secure, especially for
Covid-19 restrictions are easing, so now is the time to take decisive action to support la
Especially at a time like this, in the middle of a pandemic, when good commercial tenants are hard to find, landlords dread the time when a lease comes to an end, or their tenant goes into administration. When a commercial landlord loses a tenant, not only do they lose regular r
The government is pouring �13m into a homelessness reduction initiative to fund long-term accommodation for prison leavers in the private rented sector. More than 140 councils across England will share out the cash to pay for landlord incentives and loans for rent deposits, spe
We know that households across the UK will need to adopt a low carbon alternative to traditional heating solutions such as oil, gas, coal or wood burning in the future. Air source or geothermal ground source heat pumps are being touted as just such an alternative to help the UK
During these difficult times many tenants have found themselves in the position of wanting to divest themselves of surplus property, to reduce rental commitments by ending a lease agreement before it full term has expired. Perhaps the only way of doing this from the tenants p
Landlords who own leasehold properties in low and medium-rise apartment blocks affected by the cladding scandal will no longer have to supply an EWS1 form when selling or remortgaging their properties, the government has announced. Thousands of landlords who have been unable to
