Archive

Since the Tenant Fees Act ban came into force, agents have been responsible for covering tenancy referencing costs, whether that’s by...

The John Lewis Partnership has revealed the first three locations where it will build new rental homes. The properties “would offer the...

Last month’s local election results could yet impact on the private rental sector, a prominent industry supplier claims. The Association of Independent...

Letting agents should consider how the properties they manage can become more energy efficient, says Propertymark. And they should tap into new...

Industry suppliers are linking up to host a webinar for agents this week outlining the growing risks of tenancy fraud. HomeLet, Let...

The government has released more details of the powers being given to local authorities to levy additional taxes on second homes.  The...

A leading lettings sector commentator believes today’s local elections may not directly change the private rental sector but could have a...

Presenter, broadcaster and former Sky Sports anchor Kirsty Gallacher has been confirmed as the presenter of The Guild of Property Professional’s...

A commercial partnership between tenant referencing platform Canopy and property website OnTheMarket has involved an investment of some £350,000. The figure has...

A 68-page academic report urges governments not to adopt hard controls that simply freeze rents - even though it acknowledges that...

In this tips piece, Blake Richmond, managing director of referencing at Goodlord, sets out how agents can combat fraud in the lettings process.  Over...

A PropTech firm is pledging its new service allows agents to complete identity checks, upload the necessary documentation to let their...

A PropTech firm claims to have saved a client more than £160,000 by preventing a criminal from illegally renting one of...

Data from central London lettings agency Bective shows returning tenant demand in the capital. The agency’s analysis of new lettings applicants shows...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? I’m Nathan Abbott, Head of Change Management at The Lettings...

The Build to Rent sector is being targeted by criminals with a 364 per cent rise in fraudulent tenant applications in...

The Scottish Government - which earlier this year suggested it would be clamping down heavily on Airbnbs, especially in Edinburgh -...

More and more people are committing tenancy fraud and it’s having a massive impact on the industryAs a lettings agency, you...

The telecoms solutions company behind "Phone-in-a-Phone" (PiP) now brings property professionals the UK's first mobile-only business phone system in an app...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? I’m Vince Demilio, Sales Director of The Lettings Hub What services...

A consultation is to begin next month regarding the designation of an entire city as a Short Term Let Control Area. If...

Propertymark has given its support to a free and independent dispute resolution service, the Business Banking Resolution Service, which is being offered to...

Two PropTech companies say tenant fraud - reported to be a growing problem in buy to let - is now an...

Propertymark wants agents to come forward with examples of fraudulent tenancy applications - a growing problem in the rental sector. A statement...

There’s a new warning the rental fraud could be on the rise. Due diligence firm Homeppl says the combination of possible job...

It always pays to rely on the services of a reputable referencing company. The lure of free credit checks or basic referencing...

Agents need more clarity and transparency about the future of Right to Rent checks post-pandemic and post-Brexit, according to the UK’s...

PropTech firm Goodlord is to offer illness and injury insurance to tenants  via a link with Legal & General.  Goodlord already sells...

Reliable referencing remains the cornerstone of every letting agent’s business. Landlords rely on their agents to get it right, and to protect...

The latest rental market snapshot produced by HomeLet shows average rents outside of London soaring to higher levels and dropping in the capital itself.  The...

OnTheMarket has signed a 12 month exclusive commercial partnership with Canopy, the tenant referencing platform. The partnership will enable the portal to...

There’s been a huge 263 per cent increase in the value of fraudulent tenant applications in just three months, it’s been...

ARLA Propertymark says there should be a long term appropriately funded strategy to help the private rental sector and home owners...

One of the most active lenders for international investors in UK buy to let claims to have produced a market-leading mortgage...

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirming the next phase of the roadmap out of lockdown, a PropTech firm has reflected on...

Knight Frank is this year’s headline sponsor of the LandAid Sleep Out, one of the causes many in the industry support. This...

The popularity of buy to let mortgage products offering exclusive rates for higher value loans is a sign of optimism in...

The initiative which the government hoped would transform energy efficiency in the private rental sector is being axed this week. The Green...

Tenant referencing. It’s a necessary evil.  Although most tenants are responsible and pay their rent on time, broke swindlers with dubious...

Agents Together, the agency charity set up by Purplebricks and Boomin founders Michael and Kenny Bruce, says it’s hit an important...

Letting agents should help landlords through a blizzard of red tape and regulation cause by local licensing schemes, a PropTech entrepreneur...

Scotland’s official clampdown on short lets is gathering pace with the country’s housing minister advocating a licensing regime and so-called ‘control...

ARLA Propertymark has hit out at a growing number of local councils introducing licensing schemes, calling it “socially irresponsible” to do...

A trade body wants the government to ensure its latest lockdown grants cover short lets businesses. The UK Short Term Accommodation Association...

You don’t need to be Greta Thunberg to know that climate change is a big issue that’s impacting our day-to-day lives....

The latest rental market snapshot from PropTech supplier Goodlord shows the November lockdown creating a subdued picture - but with early...

A late-year surge in the number of Build To Rent applications has been forecast by a market commentator. Alex Blagden, senior researcher...

An exercise by PropTech company Goodlord has given an insight into what the lettings market may look like in parts of...

It’s taken what Propertymark calls “a rigorous selection process” to find the latest four regional representatives for the Association of Residential...

The recent survey in Letting Agent Today on why many landlords didn’t use agents was interesting and informative. That only 42.5%...

John Lewis Partnership, until now best known for its department stores and ownership of Waitrose, is to build homes for rent. The...

  There is little doubt that the coronavirus has changed the way we live and rapidly created a new normality as different...

The Law Society has set out exactly what the extension of the eviction ban, announced on Friday, means to agents, landlords...

A local authority is urging letting agents within its boundary to get in touch before serving eviction notices on private tenants. Gedling council...

A property litigation expert is warning letting agents and landlords about far-reaching consequences of the recent ruling which declared a blanket...

The average rent in the UK has risen 1.5 per cent in just a month, but it is still a fraction...

The huge backlog of eviction and other cases anticipated in the coming months will be helped by the creation of a...

The Generation Rent campaign group has made its second plea to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick in 24 hours - both on...

There’s likely to be a further surge of new tenancies in the weeks to come, challenging agents’ ability to cope with...

The government has outlined new court procedures to address the expected backlog of cases when eviction proceedings resume on August 24. For...

Average rents in most regions of the UK have fallen slightly in the past month according to the latest HomeLet market...

Landlords or their agents wanting to obtain possession of their property should act sooner rather than later despite the current ban. That’s...

The latest snapshot produced by PropTech firm Goodlord shows “huge gains for the lettings market” since transactions resumed a month ago. The...

A PropTech service says it wants to by-pass professional agents and cater just for self-managing landlords.  What’s more, it’s promoting the fact...

Rent to the value of £10,982.25 is to be returned to tenants by a landlord who was operating without a licence. Mrs...

PropTech firm Goodlord says there’s been “a remarkable bounce back” in the lettings sector since the market resumed. It’s been three weeks...

Aldermore Bank is this week resuming physical mortgage valuations on properties for house purchase and remortgage in England, where strict social...

The rental market effectively disintegrated in the early days of lockdown before showing signs of a rebound which are still active...

The latest market snapshot by PropTech firm Goodlord suggests that while new and completed tenancy volumes dropped rapidly in the first...

The number of mortgage lenders still offering products to landlords is 42 - only seven fewer than at the peak of...

HSBC says its unable to accept any new buy to let mortgage applications during the Coronavirus crisis. The same applies to applications...

Demand for rental properties has predictably plummeted thanks to the lockdown. Data from PropTech company Goodlord shows that while a surge for...

There’s growing concern across the lettings sector about the buy to let mortgage market seeing lenders pull product ranges, tighten lending...

A local authority has taken the unusual step of saying that a £600 surcharge will be added to the licensing costs...

It’s now been revealed that 112 redundancies have followed the collapse of controversial short lets support firm Hostmaker. The overseas operation of...

A lettings agent who stole over £23,000 from tenants to pay for his gambling habit and pay off debt has escaped...

An agent acting on behalf of a landlord has defended a bid for retrospective planning permission, but a Labour councillor has...

A new lettings platform claims it can help existing agents and staff working for companies quit and fulfil their dream of...

A controversial private rental licensing regime that has already made the headlines for the wrong reasons has now been branded a...

Almost two thirds of landlords say their next buy to let purchase will be through a limited company, not by themselves...

Labour-run Leeds city council is introducing a licensing scheme which requires landlords to pay up to £825 per property. The deadline for...

The government is being urged to speed up the release details of the future it sees for selective licensing following revelations...

Research by safeagent - the new name for the National Approved Letting Scheme - has found over 130,000 unlicensed properties in...

The most controversial local council rental licensing scheme in the country has been deemed a success - at least by the...

Research by London agency Benham and Reeves says the cumulative cost of a landlord suffering a bad tenant and then evicting...

A London lettings agency that has already acquired an independent has now received what is described as a “six figure” loan...

The housing association Cadwyn is calling for private sector landlords with properties in Cardiff to lease their houses to those on...

New research shows more than half of landlords plan to use limited companies to buy properties in the year ahead.  The study...

The number of fake or fraudulent rental applications is on the rise, with landlords and letting agents being fooled by a...

A holiday lets and short-term lettings market boom can be put down to a combination of four reasons, according to specialist...

A BBC investigation of 52 lettings agents has found that two thirds were levying charges on tenants, but it is uncertain...

A lettings sector trade body has written to a council accusing it of initiating an “unlawful” fee structure for a licensing...

There was a notable increase in the number of older buy-to-let investors in 2018, according to Commercial Trust Limited. The specialist buy-to-let...

The Scottish Government is investigating 114 businesses suspected of carrying out letting agency work without registration and has issued 86 compliance...

New data from specialist mortgage firm Commercial Trust suggests that London’s buy to let sector turned a corner in the first...

Student demand for places across the UK - and therefore for accommodation - is holding up well despite Brexit uncertainty, according...

Large-scale buy to let investors are continuing to move to limited company status in a bid to limit their exposure to...

The government says it is still considering applications to operate Client Money Protection schemes from April, despite approving five schemes so...

Knight Frank’s student accommodation partner has given the thumbs up to new figures suggesting a surge in overseas and domestic students...

There’s been a big rise in the volume of purpose-built student accommodation in the UK, suggesting that the market may be...

There has been a massive surge in the volume of lettings properties under construction for the burgeoning Built To Rent sector. Data...

A controversial Labour-controlled local authority which already has 91 per cent of its private rental properties inside licensing schemes is now...

The Daily Mail has reported on a massive buy to let fiddle which involved a £10.8m property empire, rents totalling £500,000...

A local authority has taken the unusual step of issuing a celebratory press release stating that it issued penalty notices adding...

Former owner occupiers who want to be ‘chain-free’ if they buy again are pouring into the private rental sector according to...

A couple from east London who illegally converted a town centre office block into 14 flats have been ordered to pay...

One of London’s most enthusiastic councils for additional and selective licensing has pushed back the date for enforcement action against landlords...

Private landlords have to wait an average of over five months to regain possession of a property when applying to the...

Local press reports say that one of the country’s most controversial buy to let licensing schemes has seen thousands of applications...

A landlord had been ordered to give back almost £4,000 that was paid to him while operating without a licence. The case...

Havering council in London has issued £261,750 in penalty notices to what it calls ‘criminals’ operating in the private rental sector.  Between...

The proportion of buy to let investors looking to remortgage is now at an all-time high according to respected specialist mortgage...

One of Scotland’s top lettings agents is warning of “an air of criminality” in the rental industry north of the border. His...

Barbon Insurance Group, which trades as HomeLet and Rentshield Direct, has now snapped up Movem. Movem uses personal online banking transaction data...

The campaign group Generation Rent is back on the warpath in opposition of Section 21, which it describes as “the leading...

It appears that take-up of an apparently compulsory licensing scheme in one city has been shockingly low - and the scheme...

London is back as the most popular part of the UK for buy to let investment according to an analysis undertaken...

A lender has launched a new product which is thought to be the first mortgage explicitly aimed at borrowers who propose...

There’s been a big rise in the proportion of landlords remortgaging according to one of the sector’s most prominent lenders, Paragon. In...

Specialist mortgage broker Commercial Trust says there was an increase in buy to let purchase activity in London during the first...

A couple who illegally converted an office block into 14 flats have been found guilty for disregarding planning laws - and...

Specialist buy to let lender Commercial Trust claims at least two other regions of the UK are now vying with London...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has described the introduction of a code of conduct and official register for letting agents...

New figures appear to show that younger people may prefer investing in property over pensions - giving new hope to the...

Nearly three quarters of portfolio landlords have found it more difficult to secure a mortgage since the Prudential Regulation Authority’s changes...

The former executive director of LSL Property Services, David Newnes, is one of the key backers of a new property management...

Specialist buy to let lender Accord Mortgages says seven per cent of its business in 2017 came from first time landlords...

Larger scale landlords with 10 properties or more appear to be the most confident about the private rental sector, and are...

Consumer organisation Which? says a handful of buy to let mortgage lenders have found a way of helping so-called ‘portfolio landlords’...

There’s been another large increase in the number of buy to let mortgages sought by limited companies - they accounted for...

One of the industry’s best known buy to let lenders, Paragon, is combining its Mortgage Trust and Paragon Mortgages product ranges...

The mortgage director of Romans, one of the country’s largest agency groups, says the new Bank of England rules being introduced...

As applications from EU students to UK universities fall for the first time in six years, an over-supply of purpose-built student...

Reference provider Rent4sure says agents should beware of the growing issue of online identity fraud, especially hitting people in their 30s.   A...

The National Landlords Association is urging buy to let investors to consider remortgaging in the very near future ahead of new...

Redbridge council in London is offering 50 per cent off the cost of its private rental sector licensing scheme until September...

Leeds Building Society is the latest major lender to reveal changes to buy to let lending ahead of new rules coming...

The Coventry building society is the latest buy to let lender to tighten its portfolio buy to let criteria ahead of new...

A 3-in-1 referencing solution to help agents secure safer tenancies. Rent4sure’s 3-in-1 referencing solution has been specifically designed to help agents secure...

Paragon is the latest lender to announce it’s falling in line with Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority requirements for more...

Over half the value of buy to let lending in the second quarter of this year was provided to limited companies...

The Residential Landlords’ Association says recent fiscal changes hitting the private rented sector are hurting tenants but failing to achieve their...

High street operator Metro Bank has announced that it is entering the consumer buy-to-let market and will now accept consumer applications...

A seven per cent fall in the number of EU students seeking places at UK universities, matched with a 4.3 per...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents says the costs of tenant referencing must be exempt from the government’s proposed ban on...

One of the biggest lenders to the buy to let community, Santander, is to lower its affordability assessments from next Wednesday.   It...

The Metro Bank is the latest to make changes to its buy to let mortgage portfolio in a bid to attract...

The Loughborough Building Society is launching a Buy For Uni mortgage product seeking to encourage students to buy a home -...

A council’s first case for non-compliance with its landlord licensing regime has seen one individual plead guilty to 12 offences -...

A fraudster has been jailed after being convicted on nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery relating to property firms which...

The Bank of England's decision to keep the base interest rate at the record low of 0.25% has kept buy-to-let headline...

Qube Global Software and PropTech start-up Engage have combined forces to deliver self-service portals to residents within the growing Build to...

There is yet more evidence that an increasing number of buy to let investors are setting up companies to offset the...

Specialist mortgage lender OneSavings Bank is the latest to announce that it is introducing stricter affordability assessments for all new buy...

The local council in Nottingham wants to introduce a city-wide licensing scheme of all landlords across its estimated 43,000 private rental...

The controversial Welsh private lettings sector scheme called Rent Smart Wales had around 65 per cent of agents and landlords register...

The government’s proposed ban on letting agency fees levied on tenants - and the possibility that they may instead fall on...

Rent Smart Wales, a controversial scheme that require letting agents to be trained, comes into effect today after a troubled lead...

A buy to let investor has been fined £29,200 after being prosecuted for 56 offences in what a local authority describes...

The Mortgages for Businesses brokerage says in the third quarter of this year the proportion of landlords purchasing buy to let...

Controversial licensing conditions for a city’s landlords have been changed following complaints from an industry group.    Liverpool council has modified the conditions...

One of Britain’s leading buy to let mortgage companies says it anticipates that over three quarters of borrowing to purchase BTL...

A market survey by specialist broker Mortgages for Business reveals that there has been a substantial increase in lending in the...

A legal tribunal has ruled that a landlord must refund his tenants rent totalling £2,934 because he housed them in unlicensed...

Twelve landlords in Waltham Forest have been prosecuted for not signing up to a council Private Rented Property Licencing scheme, and...

A trade body is warning that the government’s new Universal Credit payments could have a disastrous impact on private lettings with...

A substantial majority of new buy to let mortgage applicants are unaware of the mortgage tax relief changes, according to a...

Today sees the first step of a long-term government drive to improve energy efficiency in the private rental sector through the...

An industry body says proposals by the Bank of England to curb buy to let lending are “premature.” The Bank’s Prudential Regulation...

This week sees the first step in a long series of reforms - the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards - aimed at...

Andrews Property Group says it welcomes the sentence imposed on one of its branch managers after a long-running court case involving...

Paragon Mortgages, one of the most influential buy to let lenders, has upgraded its website to allow intermediaries to submit applications...

Liverpool council has completed only 648 of 39,100 licence applications by landlords in the first six months of its controversial scheme.  The...

The highly-publicised attempt by the founder of flat-sharing website SpareRoom to let two rooms from the London home “for what you can...

There has been another substantial increase in the number of buy to let mortgage applications made by limited companies - suggesting...

The National Landlords’ Association says an alarming number of private tenants are being told by their local authorities to ignore eviction...

ARLA is  lobbying Justice Secretary Michael Gove urging him to consider allowing High Court Enforcement Officers to enforce possession orders without...

Fleet Mortgages is telling clients to choose an efficient conveyancer if they are buying an investment property with a view to...

A respected survey of the buy to let market says proposed tax changes and the increased stamp duty on additional homes...

One of Britain’s largest local authorities has beefed up its powers so it can issue fines of up to £5,000 on...

The prospect of lending restraints for landlords next year has done little to deter lenders offering a wide range of deals...

Rightmove says letting agents are reporting “extraordinary demand” in many parts of the country, with an increasing number of tenants positively...

A landlord has been handed a total fine of £75,215 for a number of offences, including failing to licence four houses...

The Build To Rent movement, whereby financial and other institutions fund the construction of purpose-built rental accommodation and go on to...

Agents and landlords who fail to identify and evict tenants who are illegal immigrants face up to five years in jail...

An analysis by Britain’s biggest letting agency, Countrywide, has thrown up a little known fact - with applications for school places...

A former Andrews letting agent and his ex-girlfriend are reported to have pleaded guilty to forging tenancy applications for properties which...