Landlord Evictions Drop for the Fifth Year Running
Despite housing charities complaining about the number of landlords evicting tenants, official figures show the number has steadily dropped over the past five years. The latest data from the Ministry of Justice for the first three months of 2019 show landlord legal...
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Buy to Let Sales Give Landlords a £80,000 Cash Boost
The average landlord sold selling a buy to let last year made a gain of almost £80,000, according to new data. The biggest profits were in London, where landlords scooped an average £248,000 gain. But while 85% of landlords managed to sell for an impressive gain after...
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Landlords Ease Impact of Tenant Fee Ban by Raising Rents
Buy to let rents are going up so that landlords can cover letting agent costs when a tenant fee ban starts, claims a property expert. Tenants have seen rents rise at the fastest rate for three years - at an average 3.3% to an average £942 a month in the year to the...
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New Holding Deposit Forms and Templates Added
We have added to the website new forms and templates specifically for the holding deposit provisions of the Tenant Fees Act 2019. The forms are only suitable for use in England at the moment (but a similar ban is on the way to Wales). You can see the procedure for...
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Understanding the Tenant Fees Act 2019
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 commences from 1 June 2019 and applies to England only (for the time being as it has the ability to extend to Wales). The Act controls what payments a landlord or letting agent may require “in connection with a tenancy of housing...
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Thousands of Rented Homes Riddled With Faults
Thousands of renters are living in homes with health and safety hazards, according to a new survey. The most common danger is a missing or broken smoke detector - which was flagged in 40% of home compliance inspections. The other main issues in rented homes are trip...
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Buy to Let Warning for Armchair Landlords
Profitable buy to let is over and amateur landlords ought to get out while they can, according to the boss of a leading build-to-rent firm. Helen Gordon, chief executive of Grainger, the UK’s biggest private rented home business, claims amateur landlords would do...
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New Section 21 Notice Prescribed Form 6A From June 2019
The Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 amends the Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (England) Regulations 2015 and creates a new prescribed form 6A for when section 21 is being used. The...
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Tenancy Deposit Prescribed Information by New Landlord
An interesting case has been reported on the NearlyLegal blog, Sebastiampillai v Parr. Central London County Court, 11 April 2019. When tenancy deposit schemes were first introduced in 2007, it was the position that the deposit needed protecting and new prescribed...
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Landlords Make Four Complaints a Day About Letting Agents
Buy to let landlords made nearly 1,500 complaints to the Property Ombudsman about poor service from letting agents last year. The latest data from the ombudsman reveals 2,757 complaints were made about letting agents in total - with an average of two out of three...
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Section 21 Notice Proposed Ban Discussion
We’re just over three weeks after the proposals were announced to ban section 21 notices at some time in the future and it’s time for reflection. This discussion applies to both England and Wales bu some legislation referenced only applies to England at this time....
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Buy to Let Lenders Worry About Landlord Tax Planning
Landlords avoiding income tax by taking specialist advice could limit their buy to let mortgage options, one of the UK’s leading lenders has warned. Paragon regional sales manager Tim Sweetman revealed lenders are reluctant to agree loans for landlords implementing...
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Cost of Living Is Highest for Private Renters
Renters have a higher cost of living than homeowners, according to the latest official data. Homeowners have seen their cost of living rise by 2.3% a year on average between 2005 and 2018. In the same period, private renters have had a 2.5% annual inflation rate,...
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Letting Agents Quit as Legal Squeeze Grips Buy to Let
Letting agents have a record roster of homes to rent on their books but the figures don’t mean landlords are making more properties available. The Association Of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the letting agent trade body, claims the increase probably means the...
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New Team Ready to Police Letting Agent Fee Ban
A new property agent task force will crack down on letting agents flouting the upcoming ban on charging tenants fees to rent their homes. The new National Trading Standards scheme will monitor letting and estate agents to make sure they comply with new landlord and...
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Buy to Let Lending Drops as Tax Changes Bite
Buy to let borrowing from landlords looking to add homes to their rental portfolios is dropping away, according to the latest figures. UK Finance, the trade body for buy to let banks, building societies and other lenders, has revealed borrowing to buy homes to rent...
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Landlords See Another Disappointing Rise in Rents
Private tenants have seen their rents go up by just 1.2% in the past year, according to the latest official data. That equates to landlords taking an extra £6 on rent of £500 a month, says the Office for National Statistics. The increase is just 0.1% more than the...
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What Happened to Naming and Shaming Rogue Landlords?
A year after name and shame powers were given to councils to out bad landlords, no one has been given a banning order. The law came to the statute book in April 2018 and allowed courts to issue orders stopping landlords convicted of criminal housing offences from...
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CGT Discount Offered by Hopeful in Tory Leader Race
Former Cabinet minister Dominic Raab has thrown his hat into the ring to become the new Tory leader with a mini-housing manifesto. He is courting favour from millions of landlord and tenant voters by promising to give renters a share of any capital gains tax paid by...
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Government Announces Removal of Section 21 Notices
Today, the Government announced its intention to abolish section 21 notices which many would argue is the primary reason for the private rented sector to be the popular industry that it has become since being introduced on 15 January 1989. The Welsh Assembly also...
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