Give Landlords Tax Breaks to Let to Benefit Tenants, Says Charity
Offering tax incentives to landlords would improve private rented housing for the tenants and could easily be paid for out of the extra revenue anticipated by the government from restricting mortgage interest relief. A housing charity has costed three policies...
More Protection on the Way for Tenants Sharing Homes
Bad landlords renting out substandard and overcrowded shared homes face a new crack down. Update to below article: Regulations have now been passed bringing into force mandatory licensing for all HMO's with 5 or more occupiers irrespective of the number of storeys....
Government Refuses to Budge on Tenant Fee Ban
A petition protest calling for a tenant fee cap rather than an outright ban has been rejected by the government. The online petition was signed by 10,371 people - mostly letting agents - but failed to gain any favour from ministers. A spokesman confirmed that the...
Law Banning Benefit Tenants Remains Unclear for Landlords
Landlords and letting agents may still be able turn away renters on benefits despite a single mum winning an out of court settlement after claiming an agent who did so breached equality legislation. Letting agent Nicholas George paid the mum, Rosie Keogh, a £2,000...
Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities Published by MHCLG
The Homeless Reduction Act 2017 commences on 3 April 2018 (as far as relevant for our readers) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has published the code of guidance for local authorities. Overview The Homeless Reduction Act 2017...
Bad Landlords to Pay Compensation to Tenants
Housing Secretary Sajid Javid may make private landlords sign up to a Housing Ombudsman service that will deal with complaints from tenants. Javid says disgruntled tenants should have an easier way to resolve issues over damp and repairs to their homes. An eight-week...
Government Ready to Switch on New Electrical Safety Rules
New electrical safety rules are on the way for buy to let and shared home landlords in England. Housing minister Heather Wheeler wants to raise standards in the private rental sector as statistics show that private renters face a higher risk of shocks and fires...
Crooked Letting Agent Conned Victims Out of £400,000
A disgraced letting agent who conned £400,000 out of friends and clients has been ordered by a judge to repay £130,000 to his victims. Russell Baker, 59, pocketed thousands of pounds from rents and deposits he had collected for landlords and tenants. His scam was...
Letting Agent Pays £8,500 for Bungling Bad Tenant References
A buy to let landlord who had the home he rented out trashed by a tenant from Hell has won a negligence case against a high street letting agent. Saul Shevlin won £8,462.14 damages, plus £410 costs from Connells, a part of the national Sequence network. Shevlin told...
Property Trumps Pensions for Generating Wealth
Property investment will make more money than a workplace pension, according to a new study. Half of retirement savers are convinced investing in buy to let or other property would make them better off than their employer’s pension, says the Office of National...
Mortgage Brokers Tipping Off HMRC About Landlord Tax Evasion
The tax man has deputised mortgage brokers to tip them off if they suspect customers are failing report their rental profits. New lending rules demand that mortgage arrangers quiz their buy to let clients about discrepancies between accounts and tax filings – and even...
Tax Tribunal Rules Out Landlord Dad’s Claim for Paying Son
The right for landlords to deduct paying a relative working in their property business was highlighted in a case before a tax tribunal. Landlords can pay friends and relatives who are not co-owners of buy to let homes to carry out work for them - and deduct the wages...
Former Letting Agent Escapes Jail for Stealing Rents and Deposits
A letting agent tried has escaped jail after trying to bolster his failing business by spending money paid by tenants to secure their rented homes. Simon Cawley, 53, ran Severn Sales and Lettings in Worcester, and took £7,640 when his business ran into cash flow...
Introducing Buy to Let Finance for Landlords
We are pleased to inform you about a new service we are able to introduce to for landlord finance such as buy to let mortgages via Commercial Expert. But first, a little background as to how we got here and our personal experience with the company. As most know, in...
Landlords Can Still Claim Billions in Tax Breaks
Landlords claimed £17.5 billion in buy to let tax breaks last year – and despite plans to increase taxes, landlords will still be handed billions by the state to subsidise their property rental businesses. Freedom of information data broke the amount down in to...
Property Investor or Running a Buy to Let Business?
The annual tax filing countdown is underway for landlords – and many are confused about if they are running a business or investing in property. HM Revenue & Customs is unhelpful – they say file a tax return and we’ll check for errors rather than giving upfront...
London Mayor Names and Shames Rogue Landlords
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has finally lifted the covers off a database of rogue landlords in London. Rumours that some councils were keeping a database of convicted landlords and letting agents in the capital have persisted for years. But this is the first time the bad...
Paying Tax May Become a Council Landlord Licence Condition
Landlords signing up to council licensing schemes will have to pass a tax check if HM Revenue & Customs gets its way with a new policy proposal. HMRC says most landlords pay the right amount of tax but claims some are dodging what they owe. To tackle the problem,...
Fragile Finances Leave Buy to Let Tenants at Risk
Millions of private renters have such fragile finances that they could not survive an illness or accident that would stop them working for three months or more. In a staggering report, 40% of tenants admitted they had no savings and another 48% confessed their only...
Buy to Let Rent Rises Still Slowing
Buy to let rents are stagnating across most of the country and even falling in London, the latest official statistics show. The rate of rent increases has slumped in the UK since November 2015. Then, the average annual rate was rising at 2.7%. Now, the figure has...
Coronavirus Guidance
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