Economic headwinds facing the construction industry put the brakes on the build-to-rent sector last year. Build cost inflation and labour shortages meant that it only grew by 14% in 2022 adding up to 242,548 homes in planning, under construction or completed - compared to a
Arun Council is getting tougher with landlords wanting to convert homes into small HMOs by introducing an Article 4 direction in three of its wards. The move means that proposals to convert homes will need to go through the normal planning process rather than being allowed under
A leading ethical repair firm has shamed a rogue plumber who charged an 85-year-old woman £1,500 to repair a water pipe.
Falling house prices and rising mortgage rates, coupled with a cost of living crisis, which inevitably results in higher incidences of rental arrears, are scaring off potential new investors in buy-to-let. But new investments in the right locations could be an astute move for ne
A former Generation Rent campaigner is now working as an advisor shaping private rented sector policy at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Caitlin Wilkinson - policy advisor for the private rented sector - was policy and public affairs manager at the camp
Landlords and the wider rented sector face more uncertainty after it was announced this morning that housing minister Lucy Frazer, who has only been in post since October last year, is to become secretary of state at the new department of Culture, Media and Sport. In private at
The Tories should take the blame for the landlord exodus and crisis-hit private rental sector, according to one leading investment guru. Financial columnist and author Matthew Lynn says that for the last decade, the party has been in an all-out war against buy-to-let landlords,
A rogue Liverpool landlord has been fined £30,000 for failing to get licences for two student HMOs three years after it was fined 45,000 for similar offences. Trophy Homes, which claims to operate within the 'luxury' student, co-living and general rental sectors, admitted
The Bank of England has joined the chorus of voices highlighting the worsening problem of landlords leaving the sector. Its findings in the latest Monetary Policy Report offer yet more proof that government tax and other policies are forcing out investors; it says demand for ren
The Scottish government’s proposed rent control formula is generous to landlords but would leave tenants vulnerable to unaffordable rent rises, says Generation Rent.
Croydon Council is calling on local residents to report concerns about unauthorised HMOs as it ramps up action against errant landlords.
There is still widespread frustration and bewilderment among landlords and agent that rent controls are the only policy intervention to help tackle affordability in Scotland
Investors have started buying up shops and offices in London rather than houses in order to turn a profit.
A landlord in Telford is to pay a huge fine after his local council took him to court over a substandard property he rented out within the town.
A Lib Dem MP has highlighted what he describes as an unfolding EWS1 form scandal after a fire safety consultant was sanctioned for unprofessional conduct.
One of the seismic changes for landlords and letting agents this year will be when the Renters’ Rights Bill bans taking rent in advance.
Camden Council wants to renew its additional licensing scheme with a potential £82 hike in fees.
Landlords in Grimbsy are being asked for their views on a new selective licensing scheme for parts of the East Marsh ward.
A letting agency in Liverpool has vowed to appeal a banning order successfully sought by the city’s council after the firm was found to have been operating unlicenced HMOs.
Improving your rental properties will make your property more efficient, easier to let and get your tenants to stay longer
High interest rates, higher operating costs and a shift to remote working have conspired against office space in particular
COVID impact still being felt on UK high streets four years on from the first lockdowns: commercial real estate lending is down but agents see signs of optimism.
Landlords’ bank accounts could be monitored as part of new legislation that aims to reduce overpayments to people claiming benefits and fraudulent claims.
Plans to abolish the Furnished Holiday Lets (FHL) regime could be delayed by at least a year from April 2025, and might never happen, according to one tax expert.
Landlords are more concerned about tenants’ right to request to keep a pet than the potential abolition of Section 21, a new poll reveals.
More landlords can now try out Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax after HMRC paused the pilot last February.
Average rental yields have hit a six-year high with HMOs and properties in the North East offering landlords the best returns.
Consumer organisation Which? says there is considerable evidence that many EPCs are ‘not accurate’.
A large landlord has been fined £528,000 after a maintenance crew member repairing a fence post inadvertently struck an underground cable, suffering facial burns.
Landlords in Portsmouth say vulnerable tenants are being unfairly displaced due to the council’s draconian additional licencing scheme.
A group of 30 Tory MPs have written to the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning that they may vote against the Government’s Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill unless ground rents are abolished for both future and existing leaseholds.
Rent controls will undermine investment in Scotland’s PRS unless there is more long-term certainty, according to one leading lettings expert.
A landlord has avoided a £32,000 rent repayment order after a judge ruled his flat was at an address not covered by a licensing scheme, but only just.
The latest quarterly homelessness figures from the Government for the final months of last year reveal that Section 21 notices as a reason for homelessness reached record levels during 2023.
The Green Party’s mayoral candidate in London has said she will bring in rent controls saying the time for ‘bold action’ has come.
Landlords have been promised fair compensation by a developer planning to bulldoze scores of homes on one of England’s most deprived housing estates.
Propertymark has urged London’s Mayor to crack down on short-term lets through licensing in a bid to tackle over-supply in the capital.
Troubled property development company Home Holdings has put another raft of HMOs onto the market in a bid to shore up losses.
The decision by George Osborne in 2015 to introduce a 3% additional stamp duty levy on landlords has seen a slump in the number of BTL properties bought in the Tory heartlands of Southern England.
A leading letting agent in Scotland has laid the blame for the country’s rental supply woes firmly at the feet of former Tenants’ Rights minister Patrick Harvie.
A rogue landlord and fugitive fraudster who intimidated his tenants is in jail after more than five years on the run.
A landlord who used an agreement that tried to undermine her tenants’ rights has been fined a total of £5,800.
Financially challenged Somerset Council has capitulated after a concerted campaign by protesters force it to abandon one of its business tenants
