It may have gone unnoticed by many landlords that Boris Johnson made one of the most extraordinary attacks on the sector in living memory last week. And it is fair to say, one of the most unfair. Most landlords have become accustomed to the government's frosty rhetoric over the
The government has finally updated the guidance it provides to property assessors on how to calculate EPCs for new homes and, in six months time, for existing homes too. This is the first time the methodologies of calculation have been updated for almost ten years for t
A professional landlord has scored a partial win against his council fines for charges relating to gas safety inspections. Mahendra Maharaj , who owns 78 properties in Liverpool, had been fined �9,000 by the city council a decision confirmed by a First
Boris Johnsons pledge to reform the housing market will see the government launching a dusted-off version of David Camerons right to buy scheme for social housing in order to turn the tables on private landlords, his housing secretary Michael Gove has suggested. During a s
The self-employed who took advantage of the multi-billion pound self-employed income support scheme (SEIS), claiming grants they were not entitled to, when they were either not trading at all, or their profits did not fall within the specified limits, are now being asked to pay the money ba
For several years now the government has promised to reform how landlords evict tenants including the abolition of possessions enabled under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act. This kind of eviction was a key plank of Margaret Thatchers attempts to persuade more landlords int
While in England the housing minister Eddie Hughes has just https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/breaking-minister-confirms-government-will-not-consider-rent-controls-in-england/" target="_blank" ruled out rent controls , in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish R
Weve all heard the expression, ignorance of the law is no excuse� and this applies without question in all areas of the law. But in some rare instances it seems the courts and tribunals are open to accepting a defence of what is termed reasonable excuse even when the regulatio
Nottingham benefits landlord Mick Roberts (main picture) has made another bid to sell 40 of his properties by offering to cut the sale price by a tenth if a landlord buyer keeps his existing tenants on. The regular LandlordZONE contributor has previously suggested https
Rents will carry on rising next year as the supply of rental homes continues to be outstripped by supply – but an ‘inflection point’ where rents become too expensive for many tenants will eventually arrive, and already has done in London.
Decision by Lambeth councillors comes just a few months after an initial and expensive four-ward scheme went live.
There are Autumn Budget winners and losers in the property industry as a whole
The Government has rejected calls for 10-year selective licensing schemes and insists that the government recognises the burden that licensing puts on landlords.
The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 5% to 4.75%, providing some welcome cheer for landlords looking to invest and remortgage.
The average rent arrears claim climbed to £2,064 in the third quarter of this year, a 22% rise on the same period last year.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has said rent controls in England would hit both tenants and landlords negatively by reducing supply and discouraging investment.
Former Labour MP Dame Karen Buck has been hired as Generation Rent’s new chair of the board.
Scotland’s Housing Bill has been diluted to keep landlord lobbyists happy rather than focusing on renters’ needs, according to a Green MSP.
The Scottish Government is to upgrade its Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) system.
A new consultation has been launched into how tenants at risk of unfair eviction could benefit from a £20 million a year boost in legal aid.
A rogue tenant has been prosecuted for running an illegal dog breeding service inside her filthy rented property.
Commercial property portal Rightmove sees a 28% increase across all sectors
The Energy Company Obligation 4 (ECO4) and Great British Insulation Scheme - used by landlords to insulate homes - have been hauled up for fitting substandard solid wall insulation.
The High Court has ruled that the Department of Work and Pensions acted unlawfully by making deductions from a tenant’s Universal Credit payments to his landlord without first consulting him – a decision which could impact thousands of other claimants.
MPs are continuing to press Housing Secretary Angela Rayner about the impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance rates on families in the PRS.
The North East offers BTL investors the best HMO rental yields in the UK, with the highest rental income to be found in the South East.
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.
Buy-to-let mortgage rates could fall slightly soon after creeping up since the Autumn Budget, according to financial experts.
Activity within the buy-to-let market is reviving after months of uncertainty and political interference, new official landlord lending data suggests.
With the Government launching a consultation on the way EPCs are calculated – and with another on energy efficiency standards in the pipeline, we know that the rental homes of the future will need to reach much higher standards.
Letting agents have called out Welsh Government plans to enable tenants facing eviction to keep their final two months’ rent as ‘compensation’.
The National Trust has rejected claims that it stopped renting out its properties to avoid the growing legislative burden.
A Liverpool landlord has been hit with a fine of almost £14,000 for allowing tenants to live in a “house of horrors”.
Nearly half of landlords and three quarters of the general public support rent controls, a poll by YouGov on behalf of wealth inequality not-for-profit Common Wealth has revealed.
A Welsh politician has sounded the alarm over new legislation which risks exacerbating the mass exodus of private landlords.
