Labour leader Kier Starmer’s chaotic reshuffle has included giving shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell the new job of shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport brief, it has been announced. Lisa Nandy, who has been demoted from shadow Foreign Secretary, has been given the job of scrutinising the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, taking over Powell’s former role. The reshuffle, which had been expected, took place yesterday, kicking off…

Half of landlords with properties rated EPC band D or below are considering selling property ahead of expected legislation that will require all rental properties to have EPC upgrades at band C by the end of 2028. So says lender The Mortgage Works (TMW) which has polled some 600 landlords to gauge sentiment and appetite around the retrofitting of portfolios. The survey found that 52 per cent of impacted landlords…

The number of repossession cases in the courts involving landlords using Section 21, ‘no explanation’ notices has plummeted over the past two years. A new analysis of government data shows that in the third quarter of this year, the number of ‘no explanation’ notices brought to County Courts in England and Wales off the back of a Section 21 notice fell by 55 per cent compared to the same quarter…

Property is fast becoming a preferred option for cryptocurrency investors advocating Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, an investment company claims. Sequire Property Investment claims that 25 per cent of those it surveyed admitted that their property purchase was wholly or in part funded by profits from cryptocurrency. Daniel Jackson, sales director at Sequre, comments: “Cryptocurrency has seen its profile increase rapidly over the past five years, and the people who have…

Agents have raised a specific concern about one aspect of a law change regarding carbon monoxide alarms in all rented private properties. Earlier this week the government announced that carbon monoxide alarms must be fitted in all rented private properties with fixed appliances such as gas boilers or fires – this is an extension of the current law. The new regulation will also mean that in future carbon monoxide alarms must…

Council-imposed fines on letting agents and landlords that fall foul of licensing regulations have risen dramatically in the past month alone. Research by PropTech firm Kamma suggests that there have been £600,000 worth of fines imposed on landlords and agents in the capital in the past four months – including a £372,874 increase in just the last month. Kamma tracks the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker and…

The government announced a new carbon monoxide alarm law states they must be fitted in all private rental properties with fixed appliances such as gas boilers or fires.  The new carbon monoxide alarm law will also mean that in future carbon monoxide alarms must be fitted when new appliances such as gas boilers or fires are installed in any home. And landlords, or agents acting on their behalf, must repair…

There’s been an increase in demand for rental properties with electric charging points for cars, according to ARLA Propertymark. The news has come out in an official response from the organisation to the government’s latest announcement that electric vehicle charging points will be legally required in new build homes from the middle of next year. The government claims the move will see up to 145,000 charging points installed across the…

Over half of tenants who have stayed at anti social short lets home-based properties via Airbnb or similar platforms have broken or damaged something at a host’s premises, according to a survey by Aviva. The survey interviewed 1,000 UK adults who have stayed in home-stays. Of those who had caused damage at least once, the most common response – by 47 per cent – was to own up and offer…

Results have been released of an analysis of over 20,000 Built To Rent tenants in over 15,000 homes across the UK – the latest such study of its kind. Conducted by Dataloft for a group including the British Property Federation – a cheerleader for Built To Rent across the UK – the results claim to show, despite suggestions to the contrary, the sector is not highly priced and in some…

Police officers are this week raising awareness among agents about the signs of potential cannabis farms. The campaign is being led in Northamptonshire but the police force says the issues are mirrored across the nation where there has been an increase in commercial and domestic properties being used to house cannabis farms. These grows cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to the properties in which they are housed and…

A scam in one city has reportedly seen scores of individuals robbed of thousands of pounds as short lets have been ‘disguised’ as conventional long term rental units. The BBC says a key target for the long term rental units scam is the Edinburgh student population; the city has an acute shortage of property and it has previously been claimed one in eight city centre homes has been on Airbnb…

Two thirds of English councils have prosecuted no landlords for offences related to standards in or the management of private rental housing over the last three years. The National Residential Landlords Association is warning that this failure to take action against the criminal minority brings the private rental housing sector into disrepute and risks undermining further reform of the sector. The NRLA obtained the data via Freedom of Information Act…

Shelter – so often critical of the private rental sector – has instead turned its fire on the government over what the charity claims is inadequate social housing construction levels. It claims that government statistics for March 2020 to April 2021 show that just one social home was built for every 195 households stuck on housing waiting lists. Some 5,955 new social rent homes were delivered last year, a 12 per…

Landlords in Scotland have told researchers that ‘malicious non payment of rent’ should be included within the legal definition of theft and become a specific mandatory ground for eviction. Following months of Covid-related eviction bans and evidence of increasing rent arrears, researchers at Glasgow University’s UK Centre for Housing Evidence polled hundreds of private landlords to find out how they thought the rental sector could be improved. Its ‘CaCHE report‘…

A London landlord is celebrating after successfully challenging a £54,500 Housing Benefit overpayment bill from his council. The demand was made in July when a ‘cousin’ of the tenant told both the council and the landlord that the tenant had left the property back in 2017 – and insisted the landlord had been informed at the time. The council then revised the benefit award retrospectively for four years, creating a…

Private landlords should be compelled to use pre-action protocols (PAPs) during private evictions, a report by the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has said. The influential body, which advises the Lord Chancellor, the judiciary and court administrators on modernising the civil justice system, says PAPs should be rolled out across more areas of litigation including private residential landlord evictions. The report’s authors say that, although PAPs should be extended to apply…

A new government survey of private renters is checking whether they received the correct tenant documentation from their agent when they begin a tenancy. The 20 question survey was launched earlier this month and continues until November 17.  It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and asks tenants whether they found their property via a lettings agent, and then more detailed questions quiz renters on what tenant documentation…

The once-popular idea of parents buying a property for their offspring to use while at university, and then letting it to other students, appears to be making a comeback. The trend was popular until heavy duty buy to let regulation and reduced tax breaks came into effect some years ago, along with the emergence of more  purpose built student accommodation. But now, research from online mortgage broker Trussle suggests that as…

An industry body has slated the government’s plan to ‘gently persuade’ landlords to help achieve its climate change campaign in reducing global heating has serious issues for the PRS. The Heat and Buildings Strategy which is available in the public domain says £5,000 grants will help owner occupiers and renter families to switch from old gas boilers to alternative forms of heating such as heat pumps. The government has held…