Letting Fees Ban Set to Extend Across Wales
Landlords and letting agents with homes to rent out in Wales face a ban on charging tenants fees. Welsh Assembly Housing Minister Rebecca Evans has announced she believes tenants should only have to pay their rent and a security deposit on moving in to a private...
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London’s Landlord and Agent Checker Goes Live Across 33 Councils
London mayor Sadiq Khan has vowed bad landlords have no hiding place in the capital now every borough council has signed up to his ‘Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker'. Although the database was opened in December 2017, only 10 councils displayed information about...
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Client Money Protection for Agents Set to be Mandatory
From 1 April 2019, all property agents carrying out work in relation to housing in England will be required to be a member of a mandatory client money protection scheme. The Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc.)...
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Bill Banning Landlord and Letting Agent Fees Published at Last
Update: A Tenant Fees Bill has now been published and is going through at the moment. The long-awaited draft bill banning upfront landlord and letting agent fees has been published by the government. The Tenants Fees Bill confirms several measures to tighten up...
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Landlord and Agent Legislation in the Pipeline for 2018
We thought it would be useful to provide a summary of upcoming legislation in 2018 affecting landlords and agents. This will be useful for our own use as a reminder for dates and articles too! It’s quite a busy year coming up but some of the legislation in the...
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How to Understand Which Section 21 Rules Apply From October 2018
From 1 October 2015, big changes were made to section 21 Housing Act 1988 for tenancies in England. Extra requirements were introduced whereby a section 21 notice (two months no fault notice) could not be served unless EPC, gas safety and How to Rent Guide have been...
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New Prescribed Section 21 Form
New Prescribed Section 21 Form In this part of our '1 October 2015 changes' series we look at a new "prescribed form" which must be used for serving a section 21 notice in England. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations...
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Prescribed Legal Requirements Before Serving A Section 21 Notice
Prescribed Legal Requirements Before Serving A Section 21 Notice In this part of our series we look at "prescribed legal requirements" which must have been completed before a section 21 notice can be served in England. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and...
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Introduction To Changes For Landlords In England From 1 October 2015
The only thing that's changed is everything! To steal a line from 'Apple' during the launch of their new iPhone 6s, 6s plus and iPad Pro (which look awesome) on the same date as a crucial piece of legislation completing the Deregulation Act jigsaw - "The only thing...
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Housing Minster Rejects Call for Cap on Buy to Let Deposits
Housing Minister Heather Wheeler has rejected a call for a cap of no more than four weeks’ rent on deposits on private rented homes. Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey quizzed the minister about a deposit cap in a written question at Westminster. He asked...
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The Missing Millions for Letting Agents After Fees Ban
The government has confirmed a tenant fee ban is in the pipeline - but what will happen to the billions of pounds generated for letting agents every year? On first look, tenants come out as winners and letting agents the losers when the Tenant Fees Bill before...
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How to Comply with GDPR – A landlord Guide
I think most of our calls and emails recently have been about the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)! This article hopes to be a one stop visit to get our landlord subscribers GDPR ready. Hopefully, as you will see, we’ve done most of the work for you. We have...
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Tenant Fee Ban on the Way for Wales
Lawmakers in Wales are due to publish a draft bill banning landlord and letting agent fees. The Welsh Assembly indicated earlier in the year that a fees ban would be put in place in line with the proposed ban in England and similar legislation that has operated in...
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Landlords Finally Win Cash Safeguard From Rogue Letting Agents
Letting agents must offer compulsory money protection to cover rents, deposits and other money they handle for landlords and tenants in England from April 1, 2019. The government is holding up the tenant fee ban until after compulsory money protection starts so that...
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Letting Agents Will Lose £157m From Cap on Tenant Fees
Just before we start this article about the Tenant Fees Ban, we have published an updated application for accommodation and application to be a guarantor which are GDPR compliant (we believe). More details will be published in an article after the tenancy agreements...
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Tenants Look to Get Their Money Back With Rent Orders
Most landlords are unaware of a law change that can allow tenants to recoup up to a year’s rent payments. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 contains a little-known clause that extended claims under rent repayment orders from local councils to tenants. According to...
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How the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 Aims to Help Landlords
The Homeless Reduction Bill has now been agreed by both houses. and is awaiting Royal Assent when it will become an Act. No date has been set for the Royal Assent. Update: The Bill has now received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017 and so this is now the Homelessness...
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HMRC Wants to Collect CGT Within 30 Days of a Property Sale
The deadline for paying capital gains tax after a buy to let or shared home sale is due to shorten to just 30 days for landlords. HM Revenue & Customs has published a consultation outlining the new rules that bring UK landlords in line with overseas landlords for...
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Measures on the Way to Make Estate Agents More Professional
The government has rounded on making estate agents more professional after a recent crackdown on letting agents. Housing secretary Sajid Javid wants to raise standards in the property sector. He claims home buyers and sellers are subjected to unnecessary delays and...
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Banning Orders – Housing and Planning Act 2016
As previously reported, from 6 April 2018, parts of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 commence introducing banning orders and a database of rogue landlords and property agents in England. Banning orders If a landlord is convicted of a “banning order offence” a local...
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