Latest News/Blogs
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HMRC campaign takes £20m in letting sector tax
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…
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Another council presses ahead with licensing scheme
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…
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Agents back curbs on councils’ licensing ‘tax’
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…
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Revenge evictions ban law passed
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…
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Subletting of Privately Rented Property Concern
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…
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Landlord fined £12,000 for illegal gas checks
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…
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Still no detail on Government’s sub-letting threat
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…
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Scheme To Licence Private Rental Sector Properties
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…
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Private Sector Tenancy Agreements To Prevent Sub-Letting
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.…
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Licensing of Landlord Properties Concern
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…
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Another TV Show Earns Rebuke From Landlords Body
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…
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BBC’s Deregulated Renting Claim
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…