Archive

A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000.  Lee Clarke, 42,...

Lettings once again dominated the complaints received by The Property Ombudsman according to its latest annual report - out today but...

New rules out for consultation concerning block management aim to improve professionalism across the sector, root out rogue agents, and increase...

The Property Ombudsman and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors are seeking views of agents, landlords and tenants on a new...

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

A controversial lettings agent who has set up a business to sell rental insurance has accused landlords of not taking their...

There’s a warning from an industry trade body that some agents may have failed to take compliance obligations seriously enough.  Paul Offley,...

Complaints referred to the Property Redress Scheme against its members grew by more than a quarter during 2020. In its annual report...

A lettings agent who wants tenants to take out policies to fund complaints against agencies and landlords has branded the social...

The man behind an early version of deposit replacement for the private rental sector has now set up a service encouraging...

A London council has taken a landlord company to court after complaints of poor housing conditions in five of its rented...

Councils are failing to protect tenants in three out of four cases where they discover rental homes are unsafe, according to...

The managing director of Fixflo, Rajeev Nayyar, says the pandemic has changed the context in which agents should view tenants’ complaints. In...

A lettings agent in Slough, called Saville Park Ltd, has been excluded from The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay an outstanding award of £300.  TPO received a complaint from tenants...

As we emerge out of the pandemic there is a growing need for agents to reflect on how the lettings business...

A council claims that as many as a fifth of all the private rental sector homes in its area have a...

The architect of the Regulation of Property Agents working group - which has called for agents to be trained and licensed...

An overwhelming 98 per cent of agents who are members of The Property Ombudsman scheme pay compensation when an investigation is...

Activists from the so-called renters’ union Acorn have held a protest outside the office of a lettings agency in Oxford. A photograph...

Three lettings agents who kept tenants’ rent instead of passing it to the landlords have been ordered to pay almost £100,000...

A major north of England local authority wants to introduce landlord licensing for HMOs where three or four tenants live, following analysis...

A London council has launched a strategy it claims will protect private tenants and ensure they live in good quality and...

Three agents have been expelled by The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay compensation awards.  In the case of Foremost Lettings Ltd...

A council has won a planning appeal banning the use of a property for short lets - considered a landmark case...

The author of a book described as being about “insecure renters haemorrhaging cash” has used her newspaper column to make a...

Airbnb is doing a U-turn with its global leader pledging to slash the number of professional landlords using the platform and...

A new web platform is launching encouraging reviews of landlords - but it claims not to be another opportunity for tenants...

The BBC has shone a spotlight on lockdown parties being held in contravention of social distancing rules at properties advertised on...

There’s been a substantial 20 per cent rise in formal complaints about agents taken up by The Property Ombudsman.  The figures refer...

The Property Ombudsman has announced the expulsion of eight agencies, all for contravening TPO codes of practice. Most of the expulsions were...

A leading PropTech expert has urged lettings agents to improve their administration and paperwork if they want to avoid what could...

A lettings agency has given a full apology after a letter - not approved by the company - was sent out...

The Property Ombudsman is warning agents not to discriminate against tenants through a No DSS or any similar policy. Following the legal...

The controversial Acorn group of anti-letting agent activists has been accused of intimidation of female staff during a protest outside and...

The Property Ombudsman has expelled five agencies, mostly for failures to honour awards: four of them are lettings operations and one...

Confusion among renters over the complex Tenant Fees Act could trigger a surge in complaints about agents to redress schemes -...

Airbnb is reported to have banned under-25s in Canada from booking whole properties in their local areas to prevent potentially-violent house...

Property auctions – online or otherwise – can be hugely helpful to sellers, buyers and estate agents. Online auctions, in particular, are...

A leading trade body is voicing concern over yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme - with particular worry over...

New research claims that one in every 50 homes in the capital is let on a short-term platform like Airbnb or...

The Times claims there have been well over 200 complaints lodged with redress schemes, alleging that lettings agents tried to charge...

A Southampton lettings agency owner has been jailed after defrauding landlords and tenants out of £230,000. Andrew Whitehead has been jailed for...

The Liberal Democrats is the first of the major parties to release its party manifesto for the December 12 manifesto, and...

A rogue landlord and the property company he ran have been fined £22,000 for dishing out ‘sham licences’ to tenants in...

A local council claims it has received over 500 complaints from private rental tenants since the start of April - approaching...

Citizens Advice wants the next government to radically alter the private rental sector in favour of tenants.  The charity’s 2019 election manifesto,...

The controversial tenants union Acorn has set up a web page where disgruntled renters can lodge complaints about letting agents. In the...

Most landlords are wary of the potential damage, smells and noise complaints that can come with accommodating a tenant with pets....

Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...

There’s a warning from a leading agent that the unregulated proliferation of Airbnb-style short lets will lead to mainstream rent rises...

A Labour councillor on Islington council - which is controlled by the party and has Jeremy Corbyn as a local member...

London Trading Standards has made the startling claim that 46 per cent of almost 2,000 agents it has surveyed are falling...

Campaigning charity Shelter has made a remarkable attack on a lettings agency, accusing it of “an abuse of power” over its...

The government has published proposals for far-reaching changes to the way estate and letting agents are regulated, trained and licensed. The proposals...

Junior housing minister Heather Wheeler MP has written to Hull City Council to express her concerns about the authority's controversial accreditation...

Letting agencies can reduce the number of complaints about the industry and improve their own customer service and relationships by improving...

Seven agencies have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman after failing to pay compensation awards made by TPO. All are...

A lettings agency chief in Scotland says the upcoming ban on agents levying fees on tenants - to be introduced in...

The Property Redress Scheme, one of the two government-backed redress operators for the lettings and sales service, has outlined its work...

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has released its annual report for 2018, showing that for the first time the value of awards...

A husband and wife must pay joint fines, penalties and costs totalling over £8,000 after complaints about a bungalow they owned...

A buy to let investor has received a hefty fine “for endangering the lives of his tenants by failing to meet...

Today the long-awaited Homes (Fitness For Human Habitation) Act comes into force, pioneered by Labour MP Karen Buck and giving people...

Independent inventory reporting is the perfect complement to the government’s proposed housing reforms. That’s the view of the UK’s largest provider of...

Property management firm Mcilroy Smith has launched a mental health policy for its employees - possibly the first company in the...

Short lets on Airbnb and similar platforms are causing increasing irritation for owners in residential blocks, according to a property management...

A rental platform says it welcomes government plans to overhaul redress for tenants and others in the housing system but it...

Outsourcing. Everyone has an opinion on it and there’s a stigma surrounding it in the lettings industry. But get this…letting agents ARE...

The government’s new redress system, announced last week and to be implemented later this year, must be free for renters to...

There’s been broad support from the lettings sector for the wide-ranging reform of the redress system announced yesterday by housing secretary...

The council at Brighton & Hove has won an extra £34,820 in public money from the government to help it build...

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme - which was hit by a serious fire at its Hemel Hempstead headquarters last evening - has appointed...

Three letting agents who failed to return tenants’ deposits or pass on rent payments to landlords have been convicted of fraud...

The first-ever pet think tank has launched to address what is claimed to be a lack of pet-friendly rental accommodation in...

A council says it has been preparing prosecution and penalty notices “for hundreds of private landlords that have failed to apply...

A city council has introduced highly specific guidelines as to the number, size and positioning of To Let boards following apparent...

The head of a lettings agency has refused to sign a pledge document put to him by a protest group - and...

Two more lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman as a result of unpaid awards following disputes involving landlords...

An agency has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman after receiving over 100 separate complaints, and failing to pay over £419,000...

There’s a growing call for more police action over tracing a lettings agent who is apparently missing - as is some...

The landlord of an HMO who subjected his tenants to insanitary and unsafe living conditions has been told he will no...

In our previous 2 blogs we have covered the definitions of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) and what...

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...

The government has outlined increases in powers it wants to give social housing tenants - but no details of increases in social housing building. The...

A London landlord has been ordered to pay over £13,000 for breaching the conditions of his licence as a result of...

Two lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme. The first is Bower & Bower (B&B), a sales and lettings...

A survey suggests that 40 per cent of tenants have ‘issues’ with their agents or landlords and when they check out...

The Property Ombudsman has issued its annual report for 2017 and it makes grim reading for the rental sector - there’s...

A local authority has described a lettings property as “a real House of Horrors that put the health and safety of...

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an advertisement by the short let management service Airsorted because the firm was unable to...

Central London agency Portico has removed a property listing from Rightmove after intervention by the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA received a...

Trade bodies have been responding to today’s report of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee deliberations on the private...

The new sole chair of the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks says he wants the service to be at the heart...

The government has given the go ahead to what will be one of the UK’s largest selective licensing scheme outside of...

The city council in Nottingham claims it has taken action against no fewer than 561 unauthorised To Let boards under powers...

The man behind a leading lettings industry PropTech company says the new Code of Conduct to clean up the rental sector...

The former director of a lettings agency in Plymouth is to appear in court in March facing charges of fraud, false...

Two letting agencies have removed advertisements after complaints were filed to the Advertising Standards Authority. The first case involved LSL Property Services...

Romans’ lettings managing director Michael Cook has given details of his agency’s approach to identifying and responding to sub-letting. Cook says: “We...

Two complaints linked to agency activity have been dealt with through the Advertising Standards Authority informal resolution process. In the first a...

An eviction company called Remove A Tenant has been the subject of a complaint after a Facebook post which implied tenants...

A leading legal expert specialising in the private rental market says the sector should set up basic procedures to protect against...

PropTech company PayProp says the government’s outline proposal for greater regulation of the private rental sector should be treated as good...

Newham council in London has published the UK’s first ever ratings scheme for letting agents, in which firms receive anything from...

A London letting agency with connections to Westminster council is now being investigated by the same council’s trading standards department. CityWest Homes...

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks says it is not surprised the majority of complaints made to The Property Redress Scheme...

The majority of MPs speaking at a House of Commons debate yesterday acknowledged they are wary of the 'unintended consequences' of...

The Property Ombudsman has expelled a London lettings and estate agency after it failed to honour a compensation payment to a...

The Property Redress Scheme, one of three approved redress operations, says it saw a 33 per cent increase in membership in...

Newham council is to set up the UK’s first letting agents rating scheme to protect residents and landlords from rogue agents.   The...

A PropTech firm claims more effective use of technology and automation by letting agents could reduce the number of complaints made...

One of the leading eviction specialists is calling for unregulated companies offering similar services to sign up to redress schemes in...

Council officers discovered men living mattress to mattress inside a run-down flat above a commercial premises during a dawn raid.   Police and...

Labour MP Karen Buck is to reintroduce her Private Members Bill into Parliament today - and if it is passed, she...

Private renters aren’t pressing agents and landlords to carry out repairs to their home over fears they’ll be evicted, claims Citizens...

A lettings firm and a property management company that converted a family home into micro flats have been found guilty of...

The annual report of The Property Ombudsman, released today, reveals that the largest compensation award of the year has been made...

Government watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld four complaints made against a Liverpool letting agency. The complaints were made against...

Lettings industry regulatory trade body the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) has announced the appointment of two new joint chairs...

The Residential Landlords’ Association is demanding that the new government improves the “slow, complex, and underfunded” system which means that it...

Two lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman redress scheme.   As we reported when the story broke yesterday afternoon, one...

Two lettings agencies have this afternoon been expelled from The Property Ombudsman redress scheme. In one case, TPO expelled Lettings Solutions Ltd...

Airbnb has changed details on its website following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.   The short-let platform’s website, seen on December...

A prominent campaigning letting agent has discovered that more than 6,000 tenants in one region alone have complained to local authorities...

A council is warning agents and landlords not to sit on long term vacant properties.   The warning, from Liverpool council, comes as...

A landlady has been fined £15,000 for failing to license and manage a house in multiple occupation.    Sharon Jacobs was also ordered...

A letting agency at the centre of a controversy following a ruling by The Property Ombudsman has shut its office and...

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

Sheffield council claims it receives 2,000 complaints relating to private rental sector conditions each year - and in one month it...

Almost one in four landlords say delays by tenants informing them about maintenance issues in their homes have resulted in more...

A campaign group has been refocussed with the objective of making the government honour its Autumn Statement pledge to ban letting...

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

The Advertising Standards Authority has received a complaint about a claim which was on an online letting agency’s website suggesting it...

Brighton and Hove council has failed in its bid to win government backing to ban To Let boards. The council sought government...

Two complaints about an advertisement for a property have been upheld by a watchdog - which has now banned a letting...

The Property Ombudsman scheme’s annual report, just released, reveals that there has been a dramatic 32 per cent surge in the...

On Friday afternoon Letting Agent Today broke the news of four letting agencies being expelled by The Property Ombudsman - and...

Four separate estate and letting agencies have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman and from registration for lettings redress...

A letting agent who stole more than £400,000 from clients has had her sentence appeal dismissed by judges. Amy Williams, who part-owned Williams...

A letting agency and one of its landlords have been fined over £20,000 and given criminal records for failing to licence...

It appears that Wandsworth Council has backed away from a decision to implement a new landlord licensing scheme.   Research by London Property...

Campaign group Generation Rent has returned to attacking mode with an article criticising letting agents’ fees to tenants and effectively urging...

An industry body says agents and landlords who ignore tenants' complaints about damp and mould could be putting their property at...

A millionaire landlord who built an illegal outbuilding at his home has been forced to demolish it after pressure from his...

A landlord has been left with a court bill totalling more than £6,000 after allowing a house in to fall into...

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

Letting agents in Scotland have started to sign up to a new compliance programme which has the aim of stamping out...

As we reported yesterday, The Property Ombudsman has expelled two letting agencies and is warning consumers about the firms, which are...

Consumers are being warned by The Property Ombudsman redress scheme about the actions of two lettings agents based in Southampton.  Both agencies,...

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

Three lettings groups have modified their advertisements after complaints were received by the Advertising Standards Authority. The UK Association of Letting Agents...

A former letting agent has pleaded guilty of nine offences of fraud involving the retention of deposits and rents belonging to...

A legal expert is claiming that changes to S21 eviction procedures introduced back in October are not being adhered to by...

Labour MP Karen Buck is accusing local authorities of taking a ’softly, softly’ approach to rogue letting agents and landlords. Buck, whose...

Who are you? I’m the Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme. I previously worked for Legal & General PLC dealing...

The huge increase of social media as a business tool has changed the way in which we communicate with our customers....

Another survey suggests that approaching 50 per cent of tenants experience unreasonable delays in getting repair work done - and one...

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

The number of enquiries concerning lettings issues received by The Property Ombudsman in the past year was almost double the number of...

Labour MP Karen Buck want private tenants to be able to sue their landlords if they rent in what are considered...

Some 88 per cent of tenants say they are unaware of the new law introduced this week intended to protect them...

A landlord whose Home in Multiple Occupation was closed down by the local council has been left with a court bill...

New student tenants have been urged to be vigilent and not fall victim to fake online letting agents and landlords. The National...

Bruten & Co Limited, a sales and lettings agent based in Notting Hill Gate, London, has been expelled from membership of...

A survey of 500 landlords suggest the vast majority want to avoid contact with tenants and instead want letting agents to handle property...

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation period for its proposed Code of Practice for Letting Agents.  The proposed Code of Practice...

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks, known as the AIIC, has announced the details of two new training courses taking place...

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks, known as the AIIC, has announced the details of two new training courses taking place...

Tenancy deposit protection scheme mydeposits says almost a third of its notified disputes between tenants and agents or landlords do not...

The Property Redress Scheme has expelled a letting agency following non-compliance with a redress decision. The complaint regarded a holding deposit. The...

A local authority has refused to issue a private landlord licence after it was revealed the applicant had a conviction for...

A council in an area with one of the country’s largest private lettings sectors says it has launched investigations into more...

Allen & Crane Estates, a sales and lettings agent based in Burnham near Slough, has been expelled from membership of The...

A landlord who did not have the required licence for the number of tenants living in his property, and who also...

An agency has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme for a minimum of two years after failing to comply with...

The internet and rapidly evolving digital landscape has revolutionised the way people buy and sell properties. With some reports suggesting 95 per...

Watch the latest weekly video roundup of news from Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today, featuring stories on complaints lodged...

This month has marked a real change in the way the private lettings sector is perceived - and it’s a perception...

Yesterday we heard about the letter from the CMA warning agents about anti-competitive behaviour. Today, in a scoop for Estate Agent...

An officer from The Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPO) and a member of staff from Northwood recently switched roles for a week...

Earlier this week we passed the official deadline for letting agents to fully publicise their fees as well as providing evidence of which...

OK, you’ve had your fun. Now let’s leave the regulators regulate and work for the public. If you don’t know what...

So, a sigh of relief.  Most agents will be pleased with the election result - even if they are not Tory supporters...