The latest research by lettings management platform, Howsy, looks at which property type provides the best financial investment when it comes to buy to let rental yields across the UK’s major cities. Previous research from the firm found that three was the magic number for rental yields, offering the highest return with a rental yield of 4.3%. While this has since increased to 5% now, the latest figures show that…

The national body representing landlords has said that landlords are now powerless to take action against tenants committing domestic abuse or making the lives of fellow tenants or neighbours a misery following the extension. According to the NRLA, the decision to extend the ban on evictions in rented housing will compound the suffering of victims of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour. Research last year by the University of Bristol, 38%…

With almost 8.5 million people renting and spending on average over 40% of their income on housing costs, it is unsurprising that more landlords are facing rent arrears – a problem expected to worsen over the coming weeks. With the news out this morning that rents have hit record highs, newly released data from rental payment automation platform, PayProp, backs up concerns that there is trouble on the horizon as four…

At least 10.5 million Brits have packed-up and moved back in with their parents due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, according to newly released figures. New research by personal finance comparison website, finder.com, found that of those who have moved home again, over two-thirds expect the move to be more permanent and have no move out date in sight. The financial implications of the pandemic are far from over as…

Self assessment tax-paying buy-to-let landlords who have been hit hard by the Coronavirus, are being allowed to defer their July tax payment on account. There are many self-assessment tax-paying landlords who may not be aware of the HM Revenue and Customs latest updated guidance uploaded onto to its website, which is now allowing people to pay their tax due in July deferred until January 31st 2021. The latest guidelines state…

The Government has confirmed how new electrical safety regulations for landlords should be interpreted. The NRLA sought clarification from the government on this matter, following an update to the landlord guidance last week which caused some confusion on compliance with the regulations and implementation dates. Previous guidance on the regulations, published at the start of June, stated that they apply to new tenancies from 1 July 2020. However, the updated guidance (published…

An international property agents claims that because of the pandemic house buying confidence has been hit hard, which will almost certainly mean that in the short term property prices will fall between 5% and 10%. However according to the firm’s May UK Housing Market Update the fall will be substantially less than the catastrophic drop in house prices during the Global Financial Crisis of the early 1990s. The signs of…

MPs on parliament’s Housing, Communities and Local Government are considering giving private tenants more financial assistance during the Coronavirus outbreak. The committee is calling for the Local Housing Allowance to be increased so it will properly ‘mirror’ real market rents which landlords have long been asking for. A trade body has recently carried out research which found that the large majority of landlords who have had tenants asking them for help because…

One of the UK’s largest letting agencies claims that since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic tenants in rental arrears increased from 2% to 5%, and believes that the rise reflects the wider market. The agency is very relieved that the increase is considerably lower than its initial expectations in the first eight weeks of Covid-19. The CEO Dorian Gonsalves has said he is confident that the company’s figures are a true…

Labour has thrown its weight behind campaigning pressure groups in a general call to avoid what the party’s housing spokeswoman calls “an eviction crisis in the autumn”. However, the party has declined to say whether evictions in the pipeline before the outbreak of Coronavirus should be heard once the ban is lifted. Shadow housing minister Thangam Debbonaire has told MPs her party now stands with pressure groups on the issue…

It’s been revealed that a legal group is considering how courts will consider eviction cases when the current ban is lifted in late August. Sir Terence Atherton – Master of the Rolls and Chair of the independent civil justice council and Head of Civil Justice – has written about the new body in a Civil Justice Council report which considers the range of legal processes and how they should be…

The Local Government Association has refuted claims by the National Residential Landlords Association that the evictions ban extension exposes victims of domestic violence to greater risk during the pandemic eviction ban. The Local Government Association (LGA) has rejected claims by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) that the evictions ban exposes victims of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour to more risk. Since the NRLA story broke this morning, the LGA has…

Leading activists say current ban to August 23rd is ‘simply not enough’ and that it should continue until later this year when the government is expected to abolish Section 21 notice evictions. A leading London tenants’ group has called for the eviction ban to be extended beyond the summer to give renters even more breathing space, echoing similar arguments by other local and national groups. The Camden Federation of Private…

Loosening lockdown has created a buoyant market in the immediate term. Asking prices for London homes have risen slightly compared to last June — but they are still 1.7 per cent lower than they were before coronavirus lockdown hit the UK in March. The average asking price of a home in the capital is now £628,000, according to property portal Rightmove’s latest house price index. The website estimates 175,000 sellers would have listed their home…

The extension to the evictions ban will compound the suffering of victims of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour. That’s the view of the National Residential Landlords Association which says the ban means the sector is powerless to take action against tenants committing domestic abuse or making the lives of fellow tenants or neighbours a misery. According to research by the University of Bristol, 38 per cent of victims of domestic…

Hampstead and Kilburn’s MP Tulip Siddiq welcomed the government’s decision to extend the ban on evictions for renters last week. After the secretary of state for communities and local government announced no-one would lose their rented home until August at the earliest, Ms Siddiq welcomed the move but said the private rental sector needed a “radical overhaul”. The MP had been among many – including her colleagues Catherine West, Dawn…

Claim is made by industry figure as Kate Faulkner’s House Buying and Selling Group sets up working group to look into logbook implementation. Digital property logbooks will only take off once the powerful property software houses offer them as part of their platforms, it has been claimed, as Kate Faulkner’s Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) announces that it is to set up a working group to look into their…

The industry’s major landlord trade body is urging its members to write to MPs to explains what it calls “the devastating consequences” some will suffer because of the extension of the eviction ban. Earlier this month the government announced the ban would be extended for another two months, until late August, and now the National Residential Landlords Association wants any of its members put in difficult circumstances by the move…

Rents on renewed tenancies across Great Britain fell 1.6 per cent in May, the third consecutive monthly fall. Data from Hamptons International suggests that London and the South East were the only regions where rents fell annually, down 4.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile outside of London – and despite the latest monthly drop – rents actually rose 0.9 per cent year-on-year. Scotland recorded the strongest…

There has been a number of discussions on PT recently where some landlords are buying into media hype about property price falls: Stark property price warning? Repeat of the 2008 house price crash? Property prices once coronavirus crisis over? I have therefore written this exclusive article for the PT community in response to those discussions: Why property prices might not fall as much as people think!    There are lots of…