

The new Labour Government has been busy changing the rules on EPCs for rentals and there’s ongoing consultation exercises to decide what changes are needed
A landlord has been fined almost £5,000 after being found guilty for a second time of operating an illegal HMO.
Middlesborough Council has brought in new planning restrictions to clamp down on the “wrong sort of HMOs”.
Gateshead is to push ahead with new property licensing schemes despite local landlords and letting agents opposing them including 93% saying the fees are ‘too high’.
Rental property yields are shrinking as the costs created by more regulations and legislation eat into landlord profits – so is it time more BTL landlords became SME developers?
Scotland’s tenants’ union has warned that removing rent rise reprotections will lead to an uptick in de facto evictions and homelessness.
Maidstone Borough Council has become the latest authority hoping to entice private landlords to hand over their properties in exchange for guaranteed rent.
A rogue landlord who squeezed six people into one room of his HMO has been told to pay £37,000 in fines and costs.
The UK’s new towns will favour build-to-rent developers rather than private landlords, according to a think tank which labels them “profit-seeking institutional investors”.
The hugely popular LandlordZONE forum is a friendly community where landlords share their experiences, exchange tips and ask for advice. Here we answer a recent question and ask the experts at Hamilton Fraser to give their best answer! The question: <p
Getting a good EPC rating is important for rentals to meet the MEES regulations, and in future even higher ratings will be demanded, but this can be a challenge for some landlords� Since October 2008, rental properties in England and Wales have been required to
A tenant has been scammed by a Gumtree advertiser who stole more than �2,000, leaving her facing homelessness. Mum-of-four, Shirley Jones, from Coventry, fell for the flat rental scam after answering the advert for a three-bedroom home in Nuneaton that was available to rent on
The government is expecting to spend and eye-watering �30 billion on housing benefit for tenants this year, DWP minister Will Quince has told parliament. This figure is �8-10 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/tax-
Half of all tenants who want to rent a home with their pet would be prepared to take out specialist insurance to cover their landlord against damage, a leading campaigner has revealed. Jennifer Berezai of AdvoCATS has researched an in-depth report into whether there is an appeti
Legislation has been passed in Wales that extends the amount of notice landlords must give to their tenants, from the two month s21 period, to six months. The Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Bill means (because notice cannot be served within the initial term) that the minimum
One of Britains biggest private landlords is encouraging others to follow his lead by shifting property from their own name into a company structure. In what is thought to be the countrys largest ever mortgage transaction, Alastair Kerr (pictured) has transferred ownership
Landlords of commercial premises may consider it necessary to bring the lease to an end or to refuse to renew a lease. This course of action might be for a number of reasons: A tenant for example might not have a statutory right to a lease renewal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, the
The big changes are in the submission frequency and digital submission process. Firstly, you will need to complete not one but five tax submissions per year � one every quar
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
Signs that the market is moving into a recovery phase, though there is still ample evidence that there remains a challenging backdrop.
New changes to planning rules mean rogue landlords who illegally convert HMOs could face an unlimited fine.
The Scottish government has been urged to reverse its anti-landlord policies after the SNP ended their power-sharing agreement with the Greens.