Airbnb - which recently announced it’s sharing some information about its landlord hosts with HMRC - is now sharing data with...
Archive
Companies House has new powers from this week to combat fraud. These are measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act...
05 March 2024
From: Breaking News
Countryside campaigning charity CPRE has given a warm welcome to Michael Gove’s clampdown on short lets. Earlier this week Housing Secretary Michael...
23 February 2024
From: Breaking News
Housing Secretary Michael Gove has this morning announced wholesale changes to planning and regulations surrounding short lets. His proposals include: - planning permission...
19 February 2024
From: Breaking News
A trade body representing short lets operators has slammed government housing failures. The Short Term Accommodation Association says it’s analysed local authority...
01 December 2023
From: Breaking News
The long-term shortage of rental accommodation is now addressed by a short-term clampdown on second homes and empty properties, a leading...
30 November 2023
From: Breaking News
A body largely consisting of councils wants more controls over Airbnbs and other short lets - and it wants local authorities...
31 August 2023
From: Breaking News
Airbnb has issued a statement responding to the call for a clampdown on short lets demanded by Labour’s outspoken London Mayor,...
24 July 2023
From: Breaking News
The average Anti-Money Laundering fine issued to estate agents for non-compliance in 2022-23 is almost half as large again as in...
19 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Six letting agencies across the London borough of Haringey have been fined a total of £12,000 after a council clampdown. Trading Standards...
21 June 2023
From: Breaking News
A group of activists is trying to raise £15,000 to campaign for local councils to clampdown on AirBnb and other short...
25 April 2023
From: Breaking News
Airbnb is warning the UK government not to be heavy handed in its planning controls restricting the short lets sector. At the...
17 April 2023
From: Breaking News
A veteran Conservative is calling on his government to clamp down on HMOs and ensure there is better council regulation and...
05 April 2023
From: Breaking News
A clampdown on HMOs is to begin this week - and the council behind it is describing it as ‘preserving the...
21 March 2023
From: Breaking News
Propertymark has given its backing to a clampdown by Housing Secretary Michael Gove on private landlords - although landlords themselves appear...
25 November 2022
From: Breaking News
A council’s Trading Standards team is warning letting agents of a new clampdown on compliance failures. Stoke-on-Trent Trading Standards says it’s received...
09 November 2022
From: Breaking News
A webinar explaining how agents can navigate through tough new Facebook advertising rules is being held next month. The ValPal Network’s head...
03 October 2022
From: Breaking News
A consultation period has started on another council’s set of proposals to clampdown on HMOs. Blackburn with Darwen council wants to impose...
08 September 2022
From: Breaking News
PropTech firm Kamma says total fines for agents and landlords have now topped £8m in London alone with a £238,000 increase...
09 August 2022
From: Breaking News
Fourteen Trading Standards authorities across a swathe of England are embarking on an enforcement project to check lettings agency compliance. The Central England...
15 July 2022
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent says his client landlords are already turning their back on short let platforms including Airbnb ahead of likely...
03 March 2022
From: Breaking News
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants is introducing a new qualification and training for borough council housing enforcement officers to...
17 February 2022
From: Breaking News
Owners of second homes who abuse a tax loophole by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets will be forced to...
14 January 2022
From: Breaking News
One of the local authorities with the tightest clampdowns on letting agents has issued a statement celebrating its successes. Tower Hamlets council in...
19 October 2021
From: Breaking News
A local authority in Essex is cracking down on what it claims to be the increase of illegally positioned estate agent...
24 August 2021
From: Breaking News
An analysis of the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Letting Agent Checker shows that since it was introduced in 2018...
05 August 2021
From: Breaking News
Wales’ Labour-led administration is to announce a three-pronged approach to affordability issues - and it looks likely to involve a clampdown...
06 July 2021
From: Breaking News
A local Trading Standards team is clamping down on rogue letting agents. Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service has launched...
23 June 2021
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency in central London has been issued with a fine for not belonging to a Client Money Protection scheme. The...
17 March 2021
From: Breaking News
A huge trading standards operation clamping down on lettings agents who fail to abide by Client Money Protection rules has been...
25 February 2021
From: Breaking News
A clampdown on letting agents who fail to safeguard landlords’ and tenants’ money is now underway. A statement from the National Trading Standards...
24 February 2021
From: Breaking News
Scotland’s official clampdown on short lets is gathering pace with the country’s housing minister advocating a licensing regime and so-called ‘control...
05 February 2021
From: Breaking News
Another local authority is considering a clampdown on the spread and condition of HMOs. Bath and North East Somerset Council, which is...
10 December 2020
From: Breaking News
A new assessment of legislation and council rules surrounding the private rental sector suggests a severe crackdown may be coming in...
02 December 2020
From: Breaking News
Agents are being warned to prepare now for likely controls on referral fees, following recommendations made to the government by the...
27 October 2020
From: Breaking News
It appears lettings agents may have escaped the recommended demands for referral fees to be made more transparent to customers. A statement...
02 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A £5,000 fine has been handed to five landlords in London for failing to license HMOs. One of the properties, a four-bedroom HMO in...
28 September 2020
From: Breaking News
ARLA Propertymark says there has been a breakthrough on the banking clampdown on pooled client accounts - a pain in the...
10 September 2020
From: Breaking News
A council says it's identified hundreds of rental properties within its boundaries which apparently do not comply with key energy efficiency...
02 September 2020
From: Breaking News
A local authority has postponed the extension of its private rental sector licensing regime - but it’s warning agents not to...
03 April 2020
From: Breaking News
A council says it’s considering lending funds for improvement to landlords who “behave fairly and appropriately” - and buy into a...
13 March 2020
From: Breaking News
The clampdown on referral fees, until now concentrated on the sales sector, will extend to letting agents too. James Munro, head of...
28 February 2020
From: Breaking News
There’s a new warning today for buy to let investors who will be hit by tax changes coming into effect on...
20 February 2020
From: Breaking News
It’s been revealed that a clampdown on the buy to let sector by HM Revenue and Customs has produced millions of...
17 February 2020
From: Breaking News
Airbnb is reported to have banned under-25s in Canada from booking whole properties in their local areas to prevent potentially-violent house...
07 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A prominent member of the House of Lords has given a surprising insight into how the fiscal and regulatory clampdown on...
30 January 2020
From: Breaking News
A leading agency in a part of the UK where local government wants to clamp down on the spread of Airbnb...
17 January 2020
From: Breaking News
A leading property industry figure says Airbnb is attempting to persuade traditional buy to let landlords into going down the short-let...
13 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents and The Guild of Property Professionals have both given their backing to the government’s latest...
06 January 2020
From: Breaking News
A Labour council which has become famous for its critical approach to the private rental sector has now been given almost £200,000...
14 August 2019
From: Breaking News
A campaign by HM Revenue & Customs to encourage buy to let investors to ‘fess up’ to their unpaid tax has...
17 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Data from a Countrywide agency shows that 59 per cent of landlords who live in London purchased their buy to let...
15 April 2019
From: Breaking News
Momentum is building in the campaign to end ‘No DSS’ discrimination against private rental sector tenants in receipt of housing benefit. Late...
05 March 2019
From: Breaking News
The government says it wants “an immediate change” in the policy of some letting agents and landlords who advertise ‘No DSS’...
04 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Another London local authority is proposing to insist HMOs require planning permission in future. Currently in Croydon multi-bedroom properties can be converted...
27 February 2019
From: Breaking News
A leading landlord has hit out at a lettings agency’s portrayal of buy to let tax changes. Rosalind Beck, a campaigning landlord...
01 February 2019
From: Breaking News
London-focussed lettings agency ludlowthompson says buy to let landlords across the country claimed a record £17.7 billion in tax relief last...
29 January 2019
From: Breaking News
Two landlords have been hit with hefty court fines for failing to comply with a local licensing scheme. The pair are the...
21 March 2018
From: Breaking News
The Bank of England has issued gloomy figures on buy to let lending, suggesting the clampdown on mortgage interest tax relief...
14 March 2018
From: Breaking News
The government has announced new minimum space requirements for private lettings in a bid to reduce problems of overcrowding. In addition to...
02 January 2018
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents and other trade bodies have not yet responded to the government’s announcement over the holiday...
02 January 2018
From: Breaking News
Figures released by the government show huge support for the extension of the offences under which agents and landlords may in...
29 December 2017
From: Breaking News
The government has released more details on long-discussed proposals to tighten up licensing in the private rental sector. It wants landlords in...
28 December 2017
From: Breaking News
The Property Ombudsman scheme has launched the third and latest phase of its national campaign with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute...
14 November 2017
From: Breaking News
PropTech firm PayProp has welcomed the latest measures to clamp down on rogue elements within the lettings industry - but warns...
11 October 2017
From: Breaking News
Trading Standards says representatives from 15 departments will today visit lettings and property management firms across London in a bid to...
26 September 2017
From: Breaking News
A London council is using dawn raids in its clampdown on illegal subletting and on so-called ‘beds in sheds’ where tenants...
17 August 2017
From: Breaking News
Nationwide - the UK's second largest buy to let lender - has reported a 20 per cent drop in profits and admits...
14 August 2017
From: Breaking News
There was a sigh of relief amongst the lettings industry that yesterday's Budget introduced no new property taxes - but concern...
09 March 2017
From: Breaking News
Chancellor Phillip Hammond has introduced no new property taxes in his Spring Budget - but a clampdown on those setting up...
08 March 2017
From: Breaking News
The government’s wave of measures to clamp down on the private rental sector and introduce harsher regulations for investors and landlords...
19 October 2016
From: Breaking News
Housing minister Gavin Barwell has agreed to meet campaigners opposed to the clampdown on landlords’ mortgage interest tax relief. The measure -...
12 August 2016
From: Breaking News
Bank of England governor Mark Carney says the bank is keeping a close eye on the buy to let market -...
06 July 2016
From: Breaking News
Buy to let investors face a ‘ticking timebomb’ that may force many of them to quit the sector in the long-term,...
16 June 2016
From: Breaking News
There was a series of raids on HMOs led by a local authority early one morning at the end of last...
08 June 2016
From: Breaking News
A financial journalist has lambasted the government’s anti-buy to let policies, describing them as “political short-termism ... a vote winner to...
18 April 2016
From: Breaking News
The two landlords behind the bid to seek a judicial review of George Osborne’s buy to let mortgage interest relief tax...
31 March 2016
From: Breaking News
The financial editor of The Guardian newspaper claims that - despite widespread criticism within the lettings industry of the latest buy...
31 March 2016
From: Breaking News
An industry body says proposals by the Bank of England to curb buy to let lending are “premature.” The Bank’s Prudential Regulation...
30 March 2016
From: Breaking News
The Bank of England has released new buy to let mortgage underwriting standards which are expected to set out stricter borrowing...
29 March 2016
From: Breaking News
Police in Scotland are clamping down on what they call “gangster landlords” who are using the lettings sector for money laundering. A...
03 March 2016
From: Breaking News
An online petition seeking the reversal of the Osborne clampdown on buy to let tax breaks has secured around 47,000 signatures...
31 December 2015
From: Breaking News
The Basel Committee - an international forum which sets standards for bank regulations in individual countries - says financial institutions should place greater emphasis...
11 December 2015
From: Breaking News
Former Conservative housing minister Mark Prisk says the recent clampdowns on the traditional buy to let sector may end up helping...
04 December 2015
From: Breaking News
The Department of Communities and Local Government has published a summary of the 600 responses it has received to its recent...
16 November 2015
From: Breaking News
Estate agents shying away from sales of buy to let properties because of recent government clampdowns on the sector risk missing...
02 November 2015
From: Breaking News
Enforcement officers have swooped on three addresses in east London in the latest bid to clampdown on rogue landlords and so-called...
18 August 2015
From: Breaking News
The growth of the PRS has provided a long list of benefits for the lettings industry. However, it is not without...
17 August 2015
From: Sponsored Content
The Residential Landlords Association has launched a new campaign ‘toolkit’ to enable opponents of the proposed buy to let tax changes...
10 August 2015
From: Breaking News
A critic of the suggestion that buy to let landlords could set up companies to ‘beat’ the ending of tax breaks...
31 July 2015
From: Breaking News
Unitary local authorities where trading standards and environmental health teams work to the same objectives are more successful at clamping down...
30 July 2015
From: Breaking News
A survey for a lettings organisation has confirmed the belief that the government’s removal of tax breaks on landlords will almost...
22 July 2015
From: Breaking News
Eleven letting agencies in just one city have been fined a total of £37,000 for not being members of any of...
21 July 2015
From: Breaking News
An accountancy firm is warning that there are pitfalls in trying to avoid the higher taxation which will result from the...