Property prices are rising at their fastest rate since early 2015, with market momentum driven by the stamp duty holiday announced by the Chancellor in July this year. House prices are surging at their fastest rate for almost six years in a “Rishi rally” as buyers scramble to cash in on the Government’s stamp duty holiday. The average cost of a home in the UK rose 6.5 per cent in the year to November an…

The government has thrown many obstacles in the way of landlords attempting to evict tenants since Covid struck but one of the most onerous is the recently-introduced Review Hearing. It was introduced in September as part of the government’s attempt to prioritise the most urgent cases. But they require such a huge effort to comply with that leading evictions specialist Landlord Action has now set up a dedicated team to…

PRS licensing schemes are set to increase by a staggering 39% next year as councils prepare to collect an estimated £400 million in selective, additional licensing scheme fees and fines and £1.9 million in recovered unpaid taxes by landlords. The astonishing figures have been published by tech platform Kamma, which specialises in compiling data on property licensing across the UK for landlords, letting agents and councils. This includes the existing 386…

An investigation by LandlordZONE into the Green Homes Grant has highlighted clear teething problems at the scheme as its struggles to recruit enough approved tradespeople, who are already busy, tech glitches within the official website and so far only 6,000 applications from landlords for vouchers. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) tells LandlordZONE that it’s had 47,000 applications for vouchers, with more issued daily, including landlords. At launch it was announced that…

An overwhelming 98 per cent of agents who are members of The Property Ombudsman scheme pay compensation when an investigation is concluded in favour of the complainant. In recent years significant publicity has been given to so-called rogue agents, many from the lettings side of the industry, who have had awards made against them and in favour of consumers, landlords or tenants. Some agents have gone out of business or…

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has criticised the Chancellor Rishi Sunak for cutting the amount those on Universal Credit will be able to claim to pay their rent, pushing millions of landlords and tenants into financial difficulties. According to a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published at the same time as Rishi Sunak’s Spending Review presented today in parliament, the Local Housing Allowance will be ‘frozen…

The UK’s leading organisations representing landlords, lenders, letting agents and tenants have written to The Times to demand government action to support both renters and landlords, including interest free loans for tenant to clear their rent arrears. Their comments follow Chancellor’s Rishi Sunak’s spending review yesterday, in which he warned that the economic impact of Covid was ‘only just beginning’. The senior members of each organisation that have signed the letter include…

The Lettings Industry Council has published a report titled ‘Beyond 21’outlining why Section 21 should not be scrapped, despite the government’s intentions to do so. The report suggests that if the Section 21 notice is abolished there are the strong possibilities that as many as 20% private rented housing stock will disappear coupled with skyrocketing rents due to the shortage. The industry council’s findings predicts that a sudden demise of Section 21 will cause…

Landlords could be slapped with immediate and unlimited fines and even face the prospect of a prison sentence if they rent their properties to tenants who do not have the right to rent in England. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has just updated its ‘right to rent’ rules alongside its ominous warning to all landlords. It is mandatory for landlords to check the ‘right to rent’ status…

According to a trade body there were 40% of agents who said that landlords increased their rents in September which dropped from the previous month when 48% had upped their rents. Compared with September 2019 landlords who increased their rents this year plummeted by 18% from 58% last year; the trade body claims that this is because landlords are doing their best to support tenants through the Covid-19 crisis. Surprisingly…

A new report absolutely slams landlords with apparent claims about the lack of performance in providing and maintaining good service and quality of homes in the PRS. So it’s no surprise to hear that it is from the usual suspect Shelter along side a new partner in crime as the report is co-authored by none other than the Nationwide. The ‘tome’ is grandly titled ‘Time For Change – Making Renting Fairer.’…

Owners of flats in buildings without cladding will no longer need an EWS1 form to sell or re-mortgage their property the Government has announced. Post-Grenfell the Government introduced rules requiring homes to undergo an external wall survey process – commonly referred to as ‘EWS1’. This was initially developed to assess the potential financial impact of cladding on high-rise flats and to check walls and balconies were structurally sound.  However, following a change in Government guidance at the start…

A lettings expert claims that many agents are failing to comply with appropriate legislation, rendering their landlord clients liable for legal and other consequences. David Alexander of the Apropos lettings management firm says he has found cases across the country where properties are let or managed without appropriate compliance, and some with serious long-term issues which have remained unaddressed for years. “We have been encountering many landlords who are unaware…

LandlordZONE has been shown paperwork that indicates leading mortgage provider NatWest has stopped approving buy-to-let or residential mortgages for anyone who took a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant. This scheme is now closed but was a vital financial lifeline for many freelancers who had temporarily or permanently lost contracts during the Covid lockdown. The decision by NatWest shows that there will be consequences for landlords who took out Covid…

The private rental sector should embrace the idea of tenants with pets and not object to the prospect. That’s the view of The Deposit Protection Service which has issued new guidelines for agents and landlords to follow as a result of the surge in pet ownership during lockdown. According to the Kennel Club, two out of five new puppy owners this summer bought their pet as a ‘Covid companion’, and…

One of Britain’s largest purpose built student accommodation providers says there’s been a 10 per cent slump in the number of bed spaces let across the sector – and only 80 per cent of students actually checked in since September. Unite Students – which owns, builds and manages its accommodation – says it’s let 88 per cent of bed spaces across its portfolio for the 2020/21 academic year contrasted with…

Private landlords have been giving more help to tenants who cannot pay their rent as a result of Covid than those in the social sector according to the English Housing Survey, published today. Since the start of the pandemic 6% of private renters had secured a reduction in their rent payments compared to only 2% in the social sector. Another 5% of private renters had agreed a rent holiday with their…

NRLA Chief Executive Ben Beadle has called for a comprehensive package of financial support for the private rented sector while giving evidence to the Housing, Communities & Local Government Select Committee. Ben was called to give evidence on the impact of Covid-19 on homelessness and the private rented sector, along with representatives from Citizens Advice, the Local Government Association and homeless charity Shelter. The NRLA was one of a number…

Letting agents say the number of tenants experiencing rent increases fell for the third month in a row. The latest ARLA Propertymark market snapshot, using November data, shows that only 28 per cent of agents witnessed landlords increasing rents last month compared to 37 per cent in October and 40 per cent in September. This latest figure is four percentage points lower than in November 2019, when the figure stood…

A leading lettings agency has revealed how much landlords will pay if the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) changes proposed by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) last week are implemented by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. These would bring CGT – currently 28% on residential property and 20% on other assets – into line with income tax so that higher rate taxpayers face a flat rate of 40% or more. It also…