Councils Step Up Campaigns Against Rogue Landlords
Councils are stepping up campaigns to root out rogue landlords by putting more cases before the courts. In Brighton, housing officers are investigating 109 cases of unlicensed shared houses (HMOs) where tenants are living in substandard and unsafe conditions in many...
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HMRC Loses CGT Tax Relief on Home Sale Case
The constant battle between property owners and HMRC over how long someone must live in a home to benefit from principal residence relief has been argued in front of a judge again. The tussle between property people and HMRC is based on main residence tax relief....
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Revealed – How Much Extra Tax Landlords Will Pay This Year
How much mortgage interest relief impacts landlord tax is a postcode lottery with those in London and the South and East paying more than the rest. Worst hit is the South East, where experts have crunched the numbers to reveal buy to let and shared house owners will...
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Housing Minister Reveals More Letting Fee Ban Details
Holding deposits are excluded from the upcoming letting fees ban, says Housing Minister Alok Sharma. In a recent House of Commons debate, he confirmed draft legislation is nearly ready but the deposits will not form part of the new rules. The minister also revealed he...
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Stricter Buy to Let Borrowing Rules for Portfolio Landlords
Tougher buy to let borrowing rules come in for buy to let portfolio landlords from the end of September 2017. The measure impacts borrowers with three or more mortgaged buy to let properties who want to take out new loans. Under the new rules, individual and corporate...
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Landlords Need to Treat Buy to Let as a Business
Buy to let landlords need to take a more professional approach to running their property as many are unaware of scathing new tax changes impacting their businesses. A new study reveals that many of Britain's estimated 2 million landlords have no plans to make changes...
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Red-Tape Tangle That Ties Buy to Let Landlords in Knots
Landlords and letting agents are often accused of working in an unregulated market – but their critics fail to realise more than 145 property laws tie their businesses in red tape. Add to this special rules for taxing property rental profits and specific industry...
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Property Wealth Puts Landlords Among Britain’s Richest
Property investors are among the country's wealthiest individuals – and those born before 1966 are the best off of them all, according to a new report. Although only one in 10 of the population are multiple home owners, 52% are aged 50 or over. And the number of...
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Letting Agent Pays £20,000 Over Shared House Licence Sham
A letting agent has to pay £20,000 for handing shared house tenants licences instead of tenancy agreements in what is thought to be the first prosecution testing the issue ever. Islington Council, London, took the case to court to test the theory that tenants in...
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Britain’s Property Wealth Tops £10 Trillion
A rise in house prices of 4.9% in the past 12 months has helped push Britain's household wealth to more than £10 trillion. Research shows that wealth has risen an average £143,059 for every household since 2006 and at a faster rate than the retail price index (RPI)....
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Thousands of Landlord Tax Cheats Caught in Licensing Scheme
Thousands of landlords who have failed to pay tax on their rental problems face having their names passed to HM revenue & Customs by councils running licensing schemes. The move was revealed by East London's Newham Council, which has shared the registration...
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Time Running Out for Rogue Letting Agents in Scotland
We don't normally do articles affecting Scotland only but, landlords can soon start to take action against poor performing letting agents who fail to keep to standards set by a new statutory code of practice. From January 31, 2018, every letting agent in Scotland must...
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How Do Your Buy to Let Running Costs Compare?
Repairs and maintenance are the biggest expenses for landlords, according to a new interactive buy to let business tool. The average cost of running a buy to let adds up to £3,632 a year before tax – a third of the rent collected from tenants. Just over £1,000 is...
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Overview of The Money Laundering Regulations 2017
The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 commenced on 26 June 2017 and replace the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The regulations apply to: credit institutions; financial institutions; auditors,...
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Letting Fee Ban on the Way in Wales
Welsh lawmakers are collecting views on proposals to change how letting agents and landlords charge buy to let tenant fees. They have launched a consultation to find out how much tenants are charged and if the fees are fair as part of the cost of letting a private...
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How the Homeless Reduction Bill 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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Running Holiday Lets Is Not a Business, Rules Tribunal
The tax man has fiercely contested claims from the estate of a holiday lettings partnership that the venture was a business. The executors of Marjorie Ross challenged a ruling by HM Revenue & Customs that her two-thirds share in a partnership that rented out eight...
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Who’s Right About Buy to Let Repair Gripes?
Official private home rental data from the government seems to paint a different picture of the market from a report released by consumer charity Citizens Advice. Citizens Advice claims 41% of tenants have waited longer than expected for landlords to carry out repairs...
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Landlord Fined for Rent Smart Wales Offences
A Cardiff landlord who ignored Rent Smart Wales licensing in Wales faces a bill of more than £3,500 for not complying. Landlord Shelley Bailey of Eastwood Park, Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire was prosecuted under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 for breaking the law...
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Ban on Letting Fees Moves a Step Closer
More than 4,700 people responded to the recently closed government consultation on banning letting fees for tenants. The paper was seeking views on a proposal to stop letting agents and landlords charging tenants upfront fees before renting a buy to let home in...
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