A series of BBC reports over the weekend highlighted what the broadcaster calls “a brewing cost-of-living crisis:” triggered by high rents. Citing figures from property company Dataloft it says a growing share of young renters are signing new tenancies with rents costing more than 30 per cent of their pay. It says that while London predictably has the highest rents, affordability has worsened in towns such as Rotherham and Bolton for…

Following the Government’s announcement of its Decent Homes Standard (DHS) consultation, the NRLA has commented on what it believes a future DHS should entail. Over the next six weeks, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), wants to hear the views of landlords, councils, and housing groups on the scope of a future DHS.  This of course isn’t new. The Government announced its intention to expand the scope…

Rental homes supply across the UK has reached record levels as almost a quarter of landlords say they plan to sell off homes. Recently published data gathered by research consultancy BVA/BDRC and publicised by the NRLA shows the extent of the rental homes supply crisis across England’s various regions.  The news comes as the BBC reports an increasing number of young renters are signing new contracts worth over 30% of…

PRS Letting agents are worried the spiralling cost of living will mean many tenants struggle says PRS platform Goodlord. The cost of living crisis is set to hit the PRS with tenants unable to afford the rent, many letting agents say. Four out of five agents are worried about the effects the looming recession will have on the rental sector, according to a major new survey. More than a third…

With the campaign for rent controls gathering momentum from London Mayor Sadiq Khan and sympathetic pressure groups, a right wing Conservative-backing website has set out the case against. Guido Fawkes, a right wing political news site, sets out the experiences of Berlin and the Republic of Ireland to demonstrate the consequences of rent controls. It says: “Berliners had a miserable time at the hands of their rent cap; real estate…

A warning has been issued that as many as 250,000 homes – some likely to be insulated rental properties – are effectively unmortgageable because of their insulation. The insulated rental properties concerned are those with sprayed polyurethane expanding foams used in the lofts; a trade body says a tightening of lending criteria has left thousands of owners unable to sell as buyers get refused loans. Alan Milstein, chair of the…

Yet another revision to the Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm (England) Regulations takes effect from October 1 – that’s just under seven weeks from now. A reminder to the industry from online platform Lettingaproperty says that regulations have been in place since 2015 but from 1 October 2022, all tenancies in England – including unlicensed HMOs but excepting accommodation such as student halls, hotels and care homes – will need…

London’s councils have been clamping down harder on errant landlords over the past 12 months, it has been claimed. Licensing platform Kamma says errant landlords and letting agents have paid fines totalling £8 million since it began tracking the market in 2018, including £2 million levied over the past 12 months and £238,000 over the past month. Therefore approximately 20% of all fines have been recorded in the last 12…

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has urged private landlords who are planning to exit the rented private market to sell their properties to local councils instead of other landlords. Khan made the comments within a self-congratulatory statement on his website lauding the success of his ‘Right to Buy-back’ initiative. It has seen some £152 million given to 14 participating boroughs across London on buying 1,577 privately-owned homes and converting them into…

A leading letting agent has criticised the reasoning behind the UK’s ever-growing list of selective licensing fees schemes. Selective licensing fees covers all rented property in a given area or council borough and landlords are required to pay a five-yearly fee of between £500 and £900, depending on the area, along with reams of paperwork to complete. Letting agents often offer to take on the task of applying for and…

Landlords have become used to anti landlord legislation coming along which makes their job harder and less profitable, will this change under a new premier? For years now, what would appear to have been successive waves of anti landlord legislation have been bearing down on buy to let, but will this change under a new prime minister? From George Osborne to Rishi Sunack, the Treasury, it would seem, has been…

The areas with the hottest sellers markets are in a cluster around the river Thames The east London Thames-side town of Belvedere has the hottest housing market in Greater London with 89 per cent of the properties listed for sale currently under offer. The latest Prop Cast National Hotspot Index for the second quarter (April to June) 2022 reveals the top 10 hottest sellers markets in the capital, a ranking…

We all like to think we’re precious, magical individuals with our own unique consciousness and highly specific circumstances but science and data often show we’re naught but sheeple — and house price statistics are no different. Cast your mind back two dark years to summer 2020 and you’ll remember the frenzy of home moves sparked by the stamp duty holiday, introduced in early July of that year in a bid…

With temperatures soaring to record highs, what can landlords do to reduce risks and protect your property? Steve Barnes, Associate Director at NRLA insurance partners, Total Landlord Insurance, shares his ten top tips for landlords, as we face the reality that extreme heat fuelled by climate change is making heatwaves more intense, frequent and likely. At Total Landlord Insurance we’ve noticed not only that claims are very seasonal, but that…

The Elizabeth line opening has seen rents soar in newly well-connected Crossrail locations. Rents are experiencing the “Crossrail effect” 11 weeks after the Elizabeth line finally opened to passengers. Whereas house prices saw an uplift along the line from the instant the route was confirmed, rents are now catching up as people are opting to move to the newly well-connected areas now that the transport link is up and running.…

An analysis of lettings data across England and Wales shows that there have been 3,737 rental property repossession orders granted in the first quarter of 2022, the latest figures available. Some 27 per cent of these repossessions were in London, 15 per cent in the South East, with the North West also accounting for some of the highest levels at 11 per cent. At local level it’s Birmingham where lettings…

ARLA Propertymark has released details of its written response to a Parliamentary committee investigating the impact of Airbnb-style short lets on the long term rentals market – and it pulls no punches on the potential dangers. Earlier this year the House of Lords Built Environment Committee opened an inquiry into the impact of short-term lettings on long term rentals housing markets. In response to claims by some elements of the…

The government is relying on the private rented sector to bolster its high-profile Homes for Ukraine programme – despite a series of measures being taken to make life tougher for the sector. Propertymark says it’s highlighting the issues that lie behind the ongoing supply shortage across the sector including heavier tax on landlords, failure to match local housing allowance with inflation, politicians demonising landlords, and proposals to remove existing mechanisms…

A recent suggestion by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity, for government help to allow private tenant right to buy their landlords’ homes, has been slammed as pie in the sky economics.  Last week the charity said successive governments had promised to solve the housing crisis by building more houses, while effectively ignoring the ownership pattern for the existing 25m homes across the UK. So with landlords reassessing the profitability of…

It’s been confirmed that the controversial Renters Reform Bill will still be introduced by the end of this session of Parliament, despite the change of Prime Minister. This session of Parliament ends in May 2023; the next General Election will, at the latest, be December 2024. In a letter to a Labour politician, the chief officer in the private rented sector division of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and…