130,000 HMOs Breaking Licensing Laws
Landlords are breaking the law by renting out tens of thousands of shared homes without house in multiple occupation licences in London. New research suggests 310,000 shared homes in the capital should have a licence but only 58% of landlords have bothered to make an...
Upad Closes – Here’s What Landlords Should Do
Online letting platform Upad has closed promising to hand over tenant deposits and other landlord monies. The firm has stopped trading after more than a decade in the lettings market. Owner James Davis, 43, has decided to shut the business rather than seek a sale...
Courts Dish out Thousands in Fines to Rogue HMO Landlords
Courts have handed out fines of tens of thousands of pounds to landlords flouting housing law in recent weeks. Letting agent Orange Living Ltd, trading as Loc8me, in Loughborough was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £3,690, at Leicester Magistrates Court. The firm...
Homes Worth £43 Billion Inherited Every Year
More people inherit residential property than any other asset, according to new research. But only the wealthiest families with estates of £2 million or more pass on residential property, which comprises an average fortune of £1.6 million. Every year, wealth of £80...
Judge Clears Up HMO Licensing Confusion
A judge has settled an argument about the date when a house in multiple occupation is defined as not having a licence. The question has dogged housing courts as the offence occurs sets the time limit for starting proceedings and serving court papers on landlords. Now,...
Rents Hit Record High as House Prices Slump
Rents are on the rise for thousands of private tenants as a change in the law begins to bite landlord finances. The tenant fees ban started in England in June and Wales in September and has triggered record rents every month since, says letting agent trade body ARLA....
Renters Don’t Want To Buy Their Own Homes
The future of buy to let is rosy, according to new research that suggests tenants don’t want to buy homes of their own. Only 42% of tenants say they would like to buy a home – meaning around six out of 10 intend to carry on renting. The most likely not to buy...
Email Auto Signatures Can Make a Contract Binding
Electronic signatures automatically generated on emails have the same legally binding force of law as a handwritten signature, a judge has ruled. Sitting at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Judge Pearce ruled signature blocks on email messages show the sender intends...
How To Use Electronic Signatures In Tenancy Agreements
On 21 July 2016, the Law society published a practice note titled: Execution of a document using an electronic signature. It has been prepared by a joint working party of the Law Society Company Law Committee and the City of London Law Society Company Law and...
Landlords Urged to Sell Now to Beat Higher CGT Bills
Buy to let landlords who have rented out a home where they once lived are urged to sell up quickly to avoid higher tax bills. Capital gains tax rules are due to change from April 6, 2020 that will take a larger bite from their sell-on profits. CGT will impact...
Agents Must Have Client Money Protection From 1 April 2019
The Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc.) Regulations 2019 have been approved and will commence from 1 April 2019. The regulations apply to property agents operating in the course of English letting agency or...
The Changes to HMOs You Need to Know About
From 1 October 2018, significant changes are being made to which HMOs are licensable and minimum room sizes in HMOs in England. Changes to mandatory licensing Currently, a property requires a mandatory licence if all of the following apply: the property is a House in...
Rent Rises Stuck in a Rut for Four Months in a Row
Buy to let rents are still rising – but worries the tenant fee ban would send them sky-rocketing seems unwarranted. The latest official data from the Office for National Statistics reveals rents increased an average 1.3% for the 12 months to the end of August...
First Banning Order Goes to ‘Unfit’ HMO Landlord
A banning order has been imposed against a landlord for running an unlicensed shared house and misleading tenants over their rights. The order is believed to be the first granted in England. The ignominious honour goes to house in multiple occupation landlord David...
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