The Tenancy Deposit Scheme has launched a new end of lease guide for agents, landlords and tenants on how to make concluding a lease easier – and it’s arrived just in time for the busiest day of the year. TDS expects the third Thursday in September – the 21st of next month – to be the busiest period for tenancies coming to an end; the date has been calculated from… Continue Reading TDS launches new end of lease guide for letting agents

London house price growth remains subdued in the year since the Brexit vote but the longer term picture is buoyant. A year on from the Brexit vote and 10 years since the start of the financial crisis, the average sold price of a home in London hit £482,000 in June 2017. The capital is one of the weakest regions in the UK for house price growth following years of double digit increases,… Continue Reading House prices a year after the Brexit vote

Most affordable London areas near Tube or rail links cost from £270k, well within reach of two average earners, but still unaffordable to single first-time buyers. Dagenham East, where for more than 20 years the Ford of Britain company produced the iconic post-war motor, has emerged top of a new study to discover how far a typical income will stretch around London’s Tube and train stations. The average property close… Continue Reading Most affordable London areas near Tube and train stations

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a survey reveals that most buy to let and other lettings investors want the three per cent stamp duty surcharge on additional homes to be scrapped. The survey, for lender mtf, says 75 per cent of lettings investors believe scrapping the additional duty hike on buy to let and second homes would improve conditions in UK real estate. Meanwhile, 25 per cent are calling for a reversal on… Continue Reading Most lettings investors want stamp duty surcharge scrapped

Equity release specialist Retirement Advantage has launched a range of products specifically for owners of Buy To Let mortgages. These products will allow landlords to release cash from their portfolio tax free, leaving their entire portfolio intact. The products impose no affordability checks and will provide a cash lump sum upfront, with interest rolling up for the duration of the loan; some options allow clients to service some or all… Continue Reading Equity release product launched for buy to let mortgages

Prime Central London’s property lettings market has improved gradually during the first two quarters of the year according to JLL. It says transaction levels increased three per cent in Q1 and by a further one per cent in Q2, boosting the annual total to over 9,670 – the highest in almost three years. The activity recovery has been led by the more robust lower-end of the market, says the agency,… Continue Reading Rents fall up to 10% in Londons property lettings market

More landlords are quitting conventional letting and resorting to holiday lets or, increasingly, Airbnb-style short lets. The move is particularly acute in London where a new analysis by the Residential Landlords Association reveals a 75 per cent increase in the number of multi-listings on Airbnb between February 2016 and March 2017. Multi-listings are classed as individuals advertising more than one property on Airbnb. Further evidence of the change in letting… Continue Reading Surge in Airbnb-style holiday lets is down to tax relief change

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a new guide that includes a helpline for landlords who have had their Universal Credit Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) approved and whose tenants will still not communicate with them. The new number 0345 600 4272 can be used by landlords in full service areas, sometimes referred to as ‘digital’ areas, who are unable to obtain the tenant’s co-operation when the ‘Managed Payment to… Continue Reading New Helpline for Universal Credit Alternative Payment Arrangement

As April 1st 2018 approaches more and more calls to the Landlord Advice Teamfocus on the new requirements around energy efficiency. For most callers this is a relatively simple case of explaining that, from that date, it will be unlawful to grant a new tenancy (including renewals) to someone for a property with an EPC rating of F or G. Similarly from April 1st 2020 it will be unlawful to have existing tenancies with an… Continue Reading Landlord Advice Teamfocus – Energy Efficiency Standards

An increasing number of rental properties in London are being used for short term holiday lets using websites such as Airbnb and are no longer available for long term renting. New research by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) across the capital has found that there has been a 75 per cent increase in the number of short term holiday lets listings on Airbnb between February 2016 and March 2017. Multi-listings are classed as… Continue Reading Landlords Turning to Short Term Holiday Lets

It is a big year for energy efficiency, with 2017 marking ten years since the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). These certificates are necessary whenever a home is bought, sold or rented and are valid for 10 years. And change is afoot – with new rules being introduced next year proposing the introduction of minimum ratings in the PRS. As of April 2018, all PRS homes must have a minimum… Continue Reading Energy efficiency: how to get compliant

The rapidly shrinking buy-to-let market is driving lenders to a mortgage price war as they compete for dwindling demand from borrowers. The Post Office is the latest lender to cut rates on a swathe of deals. Its new two-year fixed rate of 1.33pc is the lowest ever offered, according to Moneyfacts, the comparison site. The lender now has the lowest interest rate in four of Moneyfacts seven categories and the… Continue Reading Shrinking buy-to-let market triggers mortgage rate war

The postcode TS2 in Middlesbrough is the most affordable place in the UK to buy a home, while SW7 in London is the least, new research has found. A prospective buyer would have to earn just £2.15 per hour to afford a mortgage in the Teesside town. That rises to an hourly income of £186.66 for those wishing to buy in the capital’s South Kensington. The blinds maker web-blinds.co.uk analysed the average house price in each… Continue Reading How much do you have to earn per hour to buy a house in every UK postcode?

Government proposals announced in the Queen’s Speech in June to cap tenancy deposits at no more than one month’s rent could lead to an increase in formal deposit disputes in the private rented sector (PRS), according to regulatory trade body the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC). It has been proposed that holding deposits in the private rented sector are capped at no more than one week’s rent and security… Continue Reading Deposit cap could lead to more disputes in Private Rented Sector

One in 10 adults in this country now own a second home – either to live in themselves or as buy-to-let landlords, new research shows. A study undertaken by think tank the Resolution Foundation found that around 5.2 million Brits owned a second home in this country between 2012 and 2014, with baby boomers – those currently aged between 52 and 71 – most likely to own an additional property.… Continue Reading More than five million Brits own a second home

A leading trade body says a deposits cap paid by tenants – as proposed by the government – could lead to an increase in formal deposit disputes. The deposits cap was contained in the provisions of the Tenants’ Fee Bill, unveiled on the same day as the Queen’s Speech back in June. It made general reference to a deposits cap on both holding and security deposits, as well as the… Continue Reading Deposits cap could lead to more disputes, inventory clerks warn

The average UK private rental tenancy is now 20 months, almost a fifth longer than in 2014 according to research from Your Move. London – home to nearly a fifth of the UK’s rental properties and sometimes depicted as having a volatile rental market – in fact has an average private rental tenancy of 20 months, exactly in line with the all-UK average according to the data. This is despite… Continue Reading Average UK private rental tenancy is now 20 months – and many are longer

For once a newspaper has covered a story about rogue tenants rather than the usual landlord condemnation articles. The Liverpool Echo has published the story complete with appalling pictures of a rented house in Wavertree Liverpool, supplied by an irate landlord, showing the wreckage that rogue tenants from hell left behind after being finally ‘booted out’. The landlord Steve Parry now faces a bill of at least £6,000 to clean… Continue Reading Newspaper Shows Rogue Tenants Wreckage Of House

The UK housing crisis will be top of the political agenda in September and October when the main political parties hold their party conferences, a leading expert has predicted. With house prices continuing to rise across many parts of the UK, owed largely to the shortage of housing supply, attention is now turning to housing policy, especially the delivery of new homes, with the Conservatives yet to implement many of… Continue Reading UK housing crisis will be top of the political agenda this autumn