Are Self-Build Homes The Answer To London’s Housing Crisis?

We’ve become used to hearing controversial tales of councils and property developers carving up London’s regeneration schemes with profit first and local needs second: this week it’s Earls Court and the Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant project. Our city halls, like counterparts in other great cities, are grappling with the scale of globalisation and its demands.  They must deliver housing to satisfy the electorate, outsourcing flagship housing projects to developers to…

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How Much Do You Know About Your Borough’s Twin Towns?

Do you know which town(s) across the world your borough is twinned with? For many of us, town twinning rarely affects our day to day lives, except the odd photo of a group of German exchange students appearing in the local paper, so it’s no surprise if you don’t. Many town-twinning arrangements predate the modern London boroughs system, and were absorbed into the appropriate boroughs when they were introduced. Town twinning…

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Letting agency warns of rise in Managing Rent Arrears

Climb in number of tenants in serious rent arrears

The number of tenants in serious rent arrears has risen to the highest level for two years. The claim comes this morning from LSL chains Your Move and Reeds Rains. They estimate that there are now 74,000 tenants owing more than two months rent, as of the end of the second quarter of this year. If correct, it means 5,000 more households are in significant arrears than a year ago.…

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Why Is There No NE Or S London Postcode District?

The price of your house, the school your children go to and even your willingness (or not) to admit to the specifics of your address can change significantly depending which postcode area you live in. If you’ve ever stopped to think about the London postcode districts, you may have noticed an anomaly or two. We’ve got NW, N, E, SE, SW, W, EC (East Central) and WC (West Central), but no S…

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Let Flat in North London Boroughs

How This One Decision Could Affect All London Renters

If you’re not familiar with the term ‘selective licensing’, you’re about to be. Designed as a tool for councils to regulate landlords, its pros and cons have been hotly contested across and beyond London as part of the endless debate over cleaning up the private rented sector. Far wider in scope than the licensing councils already impose on houses of multiple occupation (much of which is mandatory), selective licensing applies…

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Happy couple getting keys from letting agent in enfield

Survey confirms landlords recognise vital role of letting agents

A survey of 500 landlords suggest the vast majority want to avoid contact with tenants and instead want letting agents to handle property management and complaints. The results of the survey, conducted last month, show that over 85 per cent of landlords don’t want to deal directly with tenants and almost 90 per cent are unhappy about tenants calling or emailing them directly with problems. “Many landlords work either full or part-time…

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London borough of Newham logo

Council prosecutes 492 landlords in two and a half years

Newham Council has reported that in the two and a half years since its licensing scheme came into force it has made 611 prosecutions against 492 landlords. The figures were released last week after a house in East Ham was raided and a tenant claimed he was paying £500 a month to stay in a room that was only big enough to fit a mat to sleep on and a…

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Is the Government back-tracking over longer-term tenancies?

Housing minister Brandon Lewis has backtracked on suggestions that the government may introduce longer standard tenancy agreements in the private rental sector. Back in September of last year, speaking at the RESI conference, Lewis launched the government’s model tenancy agreement, which went to consultation with the industry. At the time he said: “Today we are publishing our own tenancy agreement which tenants can use to ask for longer tenancies from…

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Landlords letting agents in Haringey

Young investors keen to crash the buy-to-let party

As many as four million 18 to 39-year-olds are actively trying to purchase a buy-to-let property to cash in on the boom, new research suggests. Almost half of young people believe that becoming an amateur landlord is the best investment available, according to new research by letting agent Rentify. Many claim that pension freedoms are unfair on the younger generation because they have given the over-55s a one-off boost in…

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Landlords tax breaks

Petition against rental tax change nears 14,000 signatures

A petition to oppose the proposed change in buy to let landlords’ tax breaks is nearing the 14,000-signature mark – but still has some way to go to force the government to consider a debate on the subject. By passing the 10,000-signature threshold, as it did last week, the petition will now receive a formal response from the government, likely to take the form of an open letter. But 100,000…

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Landlord action at High Court

Landlord Action: More evictions should be transferred to the High Court

Landlord Action has appealed to the Ministry of Justice to transfer more evictions to the High Court. The eviction specialists claim the length of time it is taking to get a County Court bailiff appointment once a possession order has been granted – in some cases up to three months – is having considerable financial impact on landlords. As a result, Landlord Action is campaigning to enable more eviction cases…

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Housing bill: rogue landlords to be banned

Rogue landlords will be banned from letting property under new measures to be brought in under the Housing and Planning Bill. The bill was introduced to Parliament by the secretary of state for communities and local government Greg Clark on Tuesday. The part of the bill about rogue landlords and letting agents allows a banning order to be made where a landlord or letting agent has been convicted of a…

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National Landlords Association logo

Almost half of landlords hit by Wear and Tear tax change

Around 47 per cent of landlords will be affected by changes to the annual wear and tear allowance. That’s the result of a survey by the National Landlords Association, following the announcement of the change in the Budget last month. The research findings show that 24 per cent of landlords let their properties fully furnished, with 22 per cent letting a mixture of furnished and unfurnished properties. Some 53 per…

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Landlords lose rent arrears

Landlords lose £9.9 billion to rent arrears and damage every year

A law firm specialising in landlord law claims landlords are losing £9.9bn to rent arrears and property damage each year. Access Legal’s latest Landlord Report says tenants do £4.5bn damage to rental properties each year. The news follows a renewed attack on the private rented sector by Shelter. The housing charity claimed that 125,000 tenants have suffered abusive behaviour from landlords in the past year. Shelter reported last week that…

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Landlords forego rent

More landlords forego unpaid rent to get rid of problem tenants

Thomas Reuters claims that in twelve months the number of landlords who prefer to evict problem tenants quicker, rather than fight for unpaid rent has risen by 11%. The research carried out by Reuters shows that during 2013 – 2014 there were 29,821 landlords who went for the speedier eviction process and between 2014 -2015 numbers had risen to 29,821.A specialist Barrister in property and practises, Daniel Dovar believes that…

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Redbridge Council shuts unlawful accomodation

Enforcement action by Redbridge Council closes 93 beds in sheds

Redbridge Council has taken action to shut down 93 outbuildings that were being used as unlawful residential accommodation as part of a tough clampdown on ‘beds in sheds’. In many cases, investigations revealed that the outbuildings didn’t comply with housing safety standards or planning policy. The council say that they are working hard to stop the unlawful use of outbuildings which are often set up by rogue landlords who trap vulnerable…

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Letting flats breached fire safety

Former fireman fined for letting out flats breaching fire safety

A former fire fighter turned landlord who was fined for putting his tenants’ lives in danger has admitted he had not visited the ‘disgusting’ property in Liverpool for two years. Adrian Webb and his wife Lynn rented out the flats, which had no fire alarms or fire doors, in a converted house in Walton. They were last month each fined £8,000 by Liverpool magistrates after they failed to comply with prohibition orders…

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Petition against ending BTL tax breaks

6,300 sign online petition against ending BTL tax breaks

An online petition demanding the reinstatement of buy to let landlords’ tax breaks has so far attracted 6,300-plus signatures. The petition, which is entitled ‘Reverse the planned tax relief restriction on individual landlords’, was set up London-based landlord Ruhal Uddin. It is the latest response from an angry private rental sector to the Budget announcement by Chancellor George Osborne that tax relief mortgage interest payments and arrangement fees incurred when…

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Landlords and letting agents face jail / Right to Rent could impact British citizens without passports

Right To Rent migrant checks: now agents and landlords face jail

Agents and landlords who fail to identify and evict tenants who are illegal immigrants face up to five years in jail according to government announcements revealed overnight. Under the proposed scheme for landlords in England, the Home Office would issue a notice when an asylum application fails; that notice confirms the tenant no longer has the right to rent property. This will trigger a power for landlords to end the…

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