The South Coast seaside resort ofEastbourne is to crack down on the town’s growing number of HMOs andcouncillors are soon to make a decision on what to do.
Labour’s rental reforms, has Labour's Rental Charter have they been watered down in the King's speech?
Landlords in the London borough face paying an extra £174 for an additional HMO licence if plans get the green light.
The Welsh government has been warned it risks reducing the supply of student accommodation if changes to tax reliefs are introduced.
Fewer than 17,500 purpose-built student beds are expected to be added in the coming academic year, representing only 0.6% growth.
The new Labour government won’t wait to improve the court system before abolishing Section 21, predicts a top property lawyer.
Nearly 200,000 private renters haven’t had their deposits protected under an authorised scheme, according to new government data.
Property experts have warned that Labour’s promise to finish the job of ending the “feudal” leasehold system could complicate leaseholders’ situation.
A major high street lender has changed the terms and conditions of its mortgages to enable landlords to rent their properties out on short-term and holiday let sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com during void periods.
Landlords will face an additional average charge of more than £7,000 from tomorrow when buying a property thanks to an uplift in Stamp Duty charges.
Nick Lyons, chief executive of inventory experts No Letting Go give his view on the measures announced yesterday in parliament by Rachel Reeves.
The Labour Government has ramped up its increasingly anti-landlord policies by increasing the stamp duty they pay when buying rental properties from 3% to 5%.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered a tax blow to landlords with a 2% increase in stamp duty to 5% on second homes and investment properties – which takes effect tomorrow.
A rogue landlord has been handed a £7,000 legal bill for renting out three dangerous flats containing a raft of faults.
Generation Rent has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to tax landlords harder in her first Budget by making them pay NI contributions.
A leading property lawyer has described a campaigning MP’s latest attempt to usher in harsher regulation of short-lets in holiday hotspots as ‘intensely impractical’.
Labour has committed to regulating estate agents in a bid to oust the rogue operators within the sector who give the wider industry a bad name and often cost landlords money and time when their services fall short of minimum standards.
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is to make a keynote speech at the NRLA’s annual conference in Birmingham next week.
Winter Condensation: Its that time of year again, a time when tenants are most likely to complain about the mould appearing in those corners of the property where the walls and ceilings are really cold, and hot air with moisture always rises to the top. If its black mo
Tax Relief: Starting from 6th April 2017, those landlords with mortgages will have tax relief on their buy-to-let mortgage costs gradually reduce over a 4-year period.Many landlords dont have a mortgage (up to 50% it is said), so this change does not affect them, but many
Rent Arrears: At this time of year, soon after the Christmas spending spree, inevitably rent payments begin to suffer. If you are having problems with rent arrears, this article should help.As in most areas of life,prevention is better than cure . To re
Tax Return 2016-2017: As a general rule, and as outlined in the previous articles in this series on tax returns, landlords can claim the expenses of running and maintaining their rental properties.If the rent you charge includes additional services like water, or council tax
Tax Return 2016-17: With some costs its very easy to decide: a repair to a drain, downspout or roof tile are all allowable expenses, but what about replacing a broken single glazed window with a new plastic frame and double glazing, what about decorating and installing a
Penetrating damp, just as its name implies, is where water leaks into a building from outside the structure, through the walls or roof. Less common is where an internal leak from a water or drain pipe leaks into the structure of the building.Common causes of penetrating damp are: <ul <l
Fire Regulations in Rentals: There are several regulations relating to fire safety within rental dwellings; some affect all dwellings whereas others apply mainly to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO).This looks complicated, but fire safety management in reality boils down t
Damp & Mould: You may have seen or heard of the 1970s TV series Rising Damp, which featured a landlord and his tenants (lodgers in this case) which rather implies that all rental properties are troubled with this kind of damp.Far from the case, but some are. In fact the
Renting Standards: Specialist residential property solicitor Amanda Sutcliffe of Bray & Bray looks at the importance of keeping a rental property in good condition.Research conducted by Endsleigh Insurance and TrustMark claimed that over 75% of landlords s
Sub-Letting Licenses: (SOLITAIRE) LIMITED Appellant and CHERRY LILIAN NORTON and other cases [2012]Landlords of leasehold buy-to-let flats are often asked to pay a fee (sub-letting licence or registration fee) to the freeholder when seeking permission to sub-let their flat,
Validity of Section 21 Notice: Amak Property Investments v Laura Sonny [2016]This case was an appeal by the tenant following a county court judgement relating to the validity of a s21 notice on the basis that the landlord had not complied with the deposit protection (MyDepo
1.0 Introduction 1.1 - At rent review, the starting point obviously is to read the lease. I say obviously because it never ceases to amaze me just how many landlords and tenants I come across having a go at rent review without bothering to read the lease. Its as
Tenant Agreement: The Law of Property Act 1925 talks about having a maximum of 4 tenants on an agreement. So what to do when you have 5, 6 or more tenants sharing a house?There is a common misunderstanding of the rules here. Landlords and agents sometimes think or have heard
Advance Rent: Piggot v Slaven and Johnson v. OldThere are two important cases which clarify (though not necessarily decisively) the position on landlords accepting rent payments in advance. One concerns the accepting of the final two months rent in advance, a common devi
Following some confusion and debate about a deferral for the new standards following the MEES* deadline in April 2018, the new government has confirmed that changes to the EPC rules, preventing landlords from renting out homes below rating E, will definitely be introduced from April 2018.Accordin
Responsibility for Repairs: Who is responsible and who is obliged to pay for repairs to leasehold blocks and flats? What is the procedure if repairs are unnecessarily delayed or not carried out to the leaseholders satisfaction? What is the Section 20 procedure?T
In 1978, I published a pamphlet "The Framework of Rent Review Clauses" which was given free publicity in leading law and property journals. In 1983, I published a 28-page booklet ' How to do a Rent Review; priced at �5 it was an instant hit and in a letter to me was described by Professor Joh
Test Case Yeomans v Newell [2016]:When a landlord is in breach of the tenancy deposit rules he or she is prevented from serving a valid s21 notice for possession proceedings. Despite the fact that the tenancy deposit legislation has been in force since April 2007, landlords
Test Case: Superstrike Ltd v Marino. RodriguesThe case involved a landlord who had taken a deposit from the tenant before the deposit protection rules came into force in April 2007, since changed by the Deregulation Act 2015 see below. When the tenancy later became a st
Test Case: Leeds City Council v Broadley [2016]This case and the subsequent High Court ruling has brought some clarification about who is liable to pay council tax, tenant or landlord, when a rental property is vacant due to a tenant vacating early, that is, before the tena
Ending a Tenancy: What are the rules governing the ending of a statutory periodic tenancy (SPT) by the tenant, especially when the periods of the tenancy are not the standard 1 month?The answer to this question is not easily defined as it is not covered by one rule or a sing
Deposit Scheme Scam: Mydeposits says it is aware of a new scam being used by a fraudulent company imitating mydeposits and targeting landlords and letting agent members of the mydeposits Custodial scheme in England & Wales.The scam uses an email which imitates one from m
Freezing Pipes: This time of year, as we head towards colder weather and freezing conditions, buy-to-let properties and indeed all rental properties are vulnerable to potentially expensive winter water damageIn this article digital inventory app developer Imfuna Le
Commercial Tenancies: The idea of the full repairing (including decorating) lease is that when the tenant yields up the premises on expiry of the contractual term, or sooner termination, the state of repair and condition that the premises are left in would be as envisaged in
Landlords and letting agents should by now be conversant with the 2014 regulations on blinds and curtains and the measures necessary to prevent accidents with children. It is particularly important to ensure that blinds and curtains supplied in rental properties meet these regulations, otherwise,
