A pop star has been evicted from his London flat owing his landlord more than £30,000 in rent and causing him to have a breakdown. Pete Burns, 55, was the lead singer of Dead or Alive who had a number of hits in the 1980s including You Spin Me Round and Brand New Lover. He appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006. Said to be addicted to plastic surgery, Burns… Continue Reading Pop star £30,000 in rent arrears evicted from flat
Buy to let has been the outstanding investment of the past 18 years, providing average returns outstripping all other major asset classes, a peer-to-peer lending group claims. Every £1,000 invested in an average buy to let property purchased with a 75 per cent loan-to-value mortgage in the final quarter of 1996 – when buy to let was first actively promoted – would have been worth £14,897 by the final quarter… Continue Reading Buy to let ‘the outstanding investment since 1996’
Brokers say improving market conditions, regulatory shifts and new pension freedoms have combined to make the buy-to-let sector the most attractive lending proposition in 2015. A string of new entrants have either already joined the UK buy-to-let market in recent months or are planning to do so in the coming months. State Bank of India, which rejoined the sector last year after an 18-month absence, started to distribute through the… Continue Reading Will pension freedoms spark buy-to-let boom?
1st April 2015 marked 50 years since London became Greater by the creation of 20 outer Londons boroughs and 12 inner Londons boroughs in addition to the City of London, thanks to the London Government Act 1963. London Councils have produced a short film, which is just the start of a year of celebrations looking at how the boroughs have shaped London life. The video depicts different council responsibilities from libraries to environmental health, housing improvements… Continue Reading Celebrating 50 Years Of Londons Boroughs
Research from the National Landlords’ Association shows that 24 per cent of UK landlords – approximately 360,000 – came into the market accidentally (unintentional landlords). The survey asked landlords why they first entered the buy to let market: 11 per cent entered by chance, for example through inheriting property; five per cent acquired an extra property, for example when they met a spouse; five per cent intended to sell but… Continue Reading Unintentional Landlords Number A Quarter
A Harrow-based landlord has been given a suspended jail sentence and fined £10,000 for putting his tenants’ lives in danger by carrying out illegal gas work at the flats he rented. Vispasp Sarkari, who rented out five flats in a block on London Road in Wembley, was charged with a serious safety breach after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Southwark Crown Court heard today (27 Jan)… Continue Reading North West London landlord convicted for gas safety dangers
The Mayor of Newham council in London has made an outspoken attack on the government following the private rental licensing curb which came into effect this week. Two years after becoming the first local authority in England to introduce borough-wide private rented sector licensing, Newham Council claims to have licensed 100 per cent of its rental properties. However, from yesterday any council looking to introduce a licensing scheme covering more than… Continue Reading Private Rental Licensing Curb Slammed
The government says letting agents and landlords can, after all, prevent tenants sub-letting properties, despite apparently saying the reverse in a statement immediately after the Budget earlier this month. On page 51 of the Budget Red Book – the document which is released after the Chancellor makes his Budget speech – the government committed to “make it easier for individuals to sub-let a room through its intention to legislate to… Continue Reading So agents and landlords CAN stop tenants sub-letting
The HMRC ‘Let Property’ campaign recovered just over £20m by the end of January – a dramatic rise from the October 2014 figure which stood at just £7.9 million. The surge came after letting agents were advised to pass on information as appropriate to the tax authorities, as well as an advertising and promotional campaign by HMRC. A report from London chartered accountancy firm Jeffreys Henry LLP shows that some… Continue Reading HMRC campaign takes £20m in letting sector tax
Tower Hamlets council in east London is the latest to appear to be pressing ahead with a private rental sector licensing scheme, despite government wanting more oversight of the proposals.The authority has just launched a 12-week consultation into a proposed landlord licensing scheme which will “initially” be restricted to seven areas in the borough. Following the pattern of other such schemes, the council in this case says it wants to… Continue Reading Another council presses ahead with licensing scheme
The Association of Residential Letting Agents has thrown its weight behind a bid by the government to curb the outbreak of landlord licensing schemes introduced by councils across Britain – schemes which ARLA has dubbed ‘tenant taxes’. The licensing schemes have been introduced in many areas under the guise of efforts to control the anti-social behaviour which some people link to private rental sector tenants, and to allegedly improve the… Continue Reading Agents back curbs on councils’ licensing ‘tax’
The House of Lords has passed a law banning so-called ‘revenge evictions’. Passed as part of the Deregulation Bill, the new law will prohibit landlords from evicting tenants who complain about conditions in their homes. According to housing charity Shelter, more than 200,000 renters face revenge evictions every year. Prime Minister David Cameron mentioned in a speech about affordable housing two weeks ago that his government are putting an end… Continue Reading Revenge evictions ban law passed
Another group has come out against the government’s decision to stop agents and landlords banning the subletting of privately rented property by tenants, forecasting it will cause “outrage” amongst investment property owners. The B&B Association, representing bed and breakfast businesses, says the government’s measure – tucked away in the small print of last week’s Budget – will lead to the proliferation of short-term letting on websites such as Airbnb or… Continue Reading Subletting of Privately Rented Property Concern
A landlord from Torquay illegally carried out annual gas safety checks at his properties despite not being a registered gas engineer, a court has heard. Raymond Williams potentially put his tenants’ lives at risk by carrying out the statutory safety checks himself between April 2013 and October 2014. He also fraudulently filled out landlord’s gas safety documents using a fake Gas Safe Register number. The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Williams… Continue Reading Landlord fined £12,000 for illegal gas checks
The Government is still not giving any detail on its in-principle proposal, set out in the small print of this week’s Budget, to allow private tenants the right to sub-let their properties.The Department of Communities and Local Government told Letting Agent Today that it was not yet in a position to give details on the proposal, which was on page 51 of the Budget Red Book – the document which… Continue Reading Still no detail on Government’s sub-letting threat
Croydon council has decided to push ahead with its borough-wide scheme to licence private rental sector properties, because it can make the decision inside a deadline set by the government.Earlier this week Letting Agent Today reported that Croydon looked set to defy the government’s policy change to prevent councils implementing blanket schemes such as the one proposed by Croydon – where every private landlord will have to pay for a licence… Continue Reading Scheme To Licence Private Rental Sector Properties
A landlords association has slammed the government’s Budget as “a nightmare” because of its unexpected measures to allow sub-letting. The small print of the Budget, released after the Chancellor’s statement, outlines plans to make it illegal for private sector tenancy agreements to include clauses that prevent the sub-letting of the property. “The measures on sub-letting of private sector tenancy agreements are a nightmare in the making and smack of ‘back of… Continue Reading Private Sector Tenancy Agreements To Prevent Sub-Letting
Housing and campaigning charity Shelter says it is concerned at recent announcements by the government that it wants to clamp down on local authority licensing of landlord properties.The government says blanket schemes such as the one currently undertaken by Liverpool council, and proposed by a number of others, are unreasonable because they hit good landlords without necessarily controlling bad ones, with the cost of the licensing of landlord properties effectively passed to… Continue Reading Licensing of Landlord Properties Concern
Landlords body, The Residential Landlords Association has written to ITV expressing concern about what it calls “a biased representation of conditions within the private rented sector.” RLA chairman Alan Ward has contacted Michael Jeremy, director of news and current affairs at ITV, complaining that no landlords body was invited to contribute to the discussion. “Had they done so, ITV would have been able to note to viewers that there are… Continue Reading Another TV Show Earns Rebuke From Landlords Body
The Residential Landlords Association says it is concerned about what it claims to be a misleading suggestion made in a BBC Panorama programme that the private rental market being deregulated renting. The RLA says there are over 100 laws and 400 regulations affecting the sector, including measures to tackle the problem of revenge evictions in the Deregulation Bill currently going through parliament. Last week the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed… Continue Reading BBC’s Deregulated Renting Claim
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