Archive

Four buy to let investors have each been fined £10,000 for letting out unlicensed HMOs. The unlicensed properties , all in the...

Shelter is calling for stricter enforcement against letting agents in Northern Ireland which it claims are illegally charging tenants fees for...

The militantly pro-tenant Generation Rent group says it’s working with local councils to have a new “tenants’ charter” introduced. The new director...

A property built without planning consent and then illegally let to a family has been knocked down by Ealing council in...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? My Name is Rob Trotter. I’m married to a vet,...

The next formal review of lockdown processes in Wales takes place today, with high expectation that the housing market is likely...

The so-called King and Queen of Buy To Let, the controversial husband and wife team of Fergus and Judith Wilson, are...

Residents at home during lockdown who may have seen families crammed into overcrowded HMOs are being asked to report the properties...

Government advice to local authorities to sit tight with new licensing proposals during the Coronavirus pandemic appears to have been ignored...

A document outlining options for the future regulation of Airbnb and other short let platforms in the UK is to be...

A group of local landlords and others in the private rental sector are challenging a local authority’s licensing proposals with their...

A raft of measures from government and courts intended to help private tenants during the Coronavirus lockdown may be storing up a...

A leading supplier says the current market standstill is an opportunity for the industry to rethink how short lets can be...

A local authority has postponed the extension of its private rental sector licensing regime - but it’s warning agents not to...

All court possession orders are being suspended from today as part of the changes to the private rental sector to cope...

The landlords’ newly-merged trade body has renewed its call for the government to do more to help the private rental sector...

There is no doubt that the BBC News article in early February caused something of a stir within the Deposit Free...

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

A landlord has been ordered to pay back no less than £190,000 - equivalent to nine years’ rent - after he...

New regulations mean highest risk rental properties may not have legally binding electrical safety cover for a prolonged period of time. That’s...

A London council says nearly half of the Airbnb-style short let properties available in its patch last year exceeded their legal...

Enfield council in London has confirmed that it will introduce borough-wide additional licensing. It is also seeking consent from the government to...

Another Labour council wants to introduce a city-wide landlord licensing scheme - a proposal that would require government approval to implement. Last...

Councils that have been awarded additional cash injections by government could use their windfalls to enhance their enforcement of the private...

A council getting government cash for rental enforcement is using it to introduce a review service allowing tenants to comment on...

A Labour council serving one of the largest private rental communities in the country is reported to have failed to have...

The Labour party has mocked the government’s £4m new funding for councils to combat rogue agents and landlords as “puny.” A statement...

The government has announced an additional £4m in funding for local councils to combat rogue agents and landlords - but it’s...

A dawn raid by enforcement officers from a London council has discovered 17 men sleeping on mattresses in a three bedroom...

Labour’s policies for the private rental sector are “too extreme ... unrealistic and will be hugely damaging to housing supply in...

Labour has given shocking new details of its proposals for the private rental sector including £100.000 fines if properties are deemed...

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

The safeagent accreditation scheme says the next government should not scrap landlord licensing as some trade groups have requested, but should...

A leading trade body says the government’s latest injection of funds to help local councils root out rogue operators in the...

The government has given an extra £3.8m to councils to come up with ways of catching rogue landlords - and in...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents and the National Association of Estate Agents have issued their manifesto for next month’s General...

One of the industry’s leading trade bodies has revealed that the number of laws creating an obligation on landlords in the...

The owner of a house believed to be occupied by multiple tenants has been prosecuted by a Kent council for failing...

Former QPR and Nottingham Forest striker Dexter Blackstock has been fined over £25,000 and branded a rogue landlord after admitting 12 licencing offences. He...

An east London lettings agency must pay more than £2,500 after a six-foot-high pile of waste was found fly-tipped on land...

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

The government has this week published a learning toolkit for local authorities to help them with enforcement against rogue landlords and...

A call has been made for the best letting agencies and other rental sector professionals to show how they comply with...

An umbrella organisation representing councils is calling for greater freedom to introduce more and larger rental sector licensing schemes, without the...

An estimated 20 per cent of letting agents have still not signed up for a Client Money Protection scheme, six months...

A rogue landlord who divided his three-bedroom home in central London into eight flats has ended up with a bill of...

Last week’s revelation that approaching 50 per cent of letting agents surveyed in London were in breach of the law is...

Landlords in a part of Teesside are to be allowed to operate a “collaborative” licensing scheme after a council backed down...

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

It can be done - a council has U-turned on plans for a licensing scheme for landlords. The move by Hounslow council...

A landlord has been ordered to pay £14,500 after he was found to be illegally letting his property out to 11...

A council has used a drone with a thermal imaging camera to identify illegal ‘sheds’ where tenants are being rented beds...

Some of the private rental sector’s most experienced and respected experts believe it’s almost inevitable that a housing market crash is...

A joint operation between Avon and Somerset Police and North Somerset council has uncovered a string of issues connected with rental...

A Labour council which has become famous for its critical approach to the private rental sector has now been given almost £200,000...

A lettings agent in London has been fined for the third time in as many years – this time for failing...

A rogue landlord who housed more than 25 tenants in a rundown property has been found guilty of serious housing and...

A tenant pretending to be landlord has been ordered to pay more than £21,000 after he carved up five family homes...

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents says it fears the government needs to do more to prevent the possibility of banned...

Local authorities are failing in their duty to prosecute criminal letting agents, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has warned. The NLA says...

A London council wants to extend its private rental sector licensing scheme - and in doing so is boasting of the...

A rogue landlord has been ordered to pay over £60,000 after - in the words of the council - “being found...

A buy to let investor who let out an unsafe and unlicensed property in London has now been hit with a...

Local authority officers have found three tenants living inside a shed in the garden of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Brent,...

A landlord who illegally converted a London home into two flats without planning permission has been given a prison sentence after...

Two housing organisations have come together to fund a major research programme to improve standards in the private rental sector. They are...

The government has agreed that a council in London where all 51 councillors are Labour should go ahead with a five...

A rogue landlady has been hit with a fine of £24,000 after conning her tenants and the local authorities with a...

A London council has won one of the largest-ever Proceeds of Crime claims from an unscrupulous buy to let investor. Andre Charles Trepel,...

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents says it backs a new Trading Standards-led body which will enforce the Fees Ban starting  on...

Average monthly UK rent is now at its lowest level for three years according to the Deposit Protection Service. Average rent fell...

The government has beefed up its support for councils identifying and prosecuting rogue landlords. Yesterday the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local...

Figures given through a Parliamentary answer have revealed just how bad councils in England are at policing and enforcement action against...

A buy to let investor who hid families in windowless rooms after failing to get planning permission for a block of...

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

A dawn raid on unlicensed HMOs in north London last week were the latest sign of a crackdown on rogue operators...

Hull council has won a legal case in the High Court against a local trade body, the Humber Landlords Association. The claim...

A leading trade body says the argument that councils have insufficient powers to tackle rogue operators isn’t supported by the facts...

New figures from a leading trade body suggest that councils across England have cut by a quarter the amount they are...

A buy to let investor who converted three family homes to HMOs without securing planning permission has been jailed for falsifying...

The Tenants’ Fees Bill has now become law, receiving formal Royal Assent yesterday afternoon - and within minutes, the government issued...

ARLA Propertymark is warning members to be diligent in how they promote the letting agents’ code of practice.  ARLA has issued a statement...

Council enforcement officers have raided a house in Wembley, north London, and found 19 tenants paying a landlord £1,000 a week. Brent council’s...

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

A buy to let investor has lost possession of his flat after converting it into an Illegal House in Multiple Occupation...

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

More than 50 councils across the country will share nearly £2.4m of extra government funding to crack down on rogue landlords. Among...

Councils have been accused of routinely pursuing the most serious enforcement option open to them if they find a local licensing...

The government has made the controversial claim that the ban on the levying of fees on tenants will not produce “significant...

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has revealed that it will shortly choose which local authority will be the...

A lettings agency has been banned from running an Airbnb let in a residential block. It relates to a block in Glasgow...

The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill has achieved Royal Assent, meaning that it will soon become an act of Parliament. Put...

A court has ordered a husband and wife pair of buy to let investors to pay back £322,282 in illegal income. A...

A local authority claims that a court decision may set a legal precedent for other councils across the UK using the...

Famous buy to let landlord Judith Wilson has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay almost £15,000 costs for failing to...

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

Shock figures released by an insurance company suggest that councils are woefully unable to police new regulations regarding mandatory HMO licensing. Figures...

A notorious rogue landlord must pay £1.5m or risk spending up to nine years in prison after what is thought to...

The National Approved Letting Scheme has published the latest version of its Effective Enforcement Toolkit - aimed at helping councils clamp...

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

Two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales brought no prosecutions against private landlords in 2017/18 according to research by the...

A leading PropTech entrepreneur says agents who accept that the lettings fee ban is coming and who plan positively for its...

We regularly carry stories about fines for landlords and letting agents who have apparently broken council or national laws - but...

Today sees the Second Reading in the House of the Lords for the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill, promoted by...

A landlord is almost £42,000 worse off after repeatedly ignoring council orders to stop illegally letting so called “beds in sheds”...

One of Britain's highest profile landlords is to be sentenced on December 11 - and she must show the court details of...

A lettings trade body has welcomed extra government funding for English councils to clamp down on criminal landlords. But the Residential Landlords...

Local authorities across the UK are to get another £2m to crack down on rogue operators in the buy to let...

Two property companies which failed to follow a local council’s lettings sector licensing scheme have been fined a combined £32,000. Owners of...

Industry bodies have given their support to a wide ranging review of safety regulations governing the private rental sector. The government announced...

A landlord has been hit with more than £5,500 of fines and costs after he allowed a family with three young...

A property management company which kept up to 23 adults in overcrowded conditions has been fined £7,500 by a council in...

A lettings agent who let a tiny room behind a kitchen in a property in London has been ordered to pay...

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

The policy director of the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is calling on local councils to use the 'extensive powers' they have...

The House of Commons has published a briefing paper on tenancy deposit schemes ahead of the Report Stage of the Tenant...

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

In 2014 The Properties Misdescriptions Act was repealed and replaced with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, otherwise known as...

The council behind a controversial private rental sector licensing scheme is trying to justify its introduction on health and safety grounds. On...

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

A tenant who was ripping off other tenants in an overcrowded bungalow "death trap" has been fined tens of thousands of...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has heaped praise on a local authority which has fined 27 lettings and managing agents...

Three agencies have been heavily fined after a property in London was being used for multiple occupation with 11 people living...

Property expert Kate Faulkner says the massive surge in new regulations, legislation and fiscal measures aimed at the private rental sector...

A head tenant who changed the locks on a property that was illegally sublet to no fewer than 35 men has...

A council leader in London, so outraged after a bust of a rogue lettings property, has asked: “What kind of monster...

Today Trading Standards teams across the country will highlight the work they do to protect landlords and tenants from rogue letting...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? Ben Robinson, Director of Agency Services at Landmark What is Landmark...

The industry has reacted angrily to the announcement yesterday that the Tenants’ Fees Bill is now formally starting its progress through...

The government’s review into building and fire safety regulations is missing the opportunity to assess fire safety regulations on a wider...

The Property Ombudsman is the latest property industry player to throw its support behind the introduction of mandatory qualifications and a...

A council says it is adopting a new approach to proactively tackling poor housing conditions in privately rented homes in one...

A property company that failed to repair a pigeon-infested loft has been fined a total of £31,026, including an order to...

The government has this morning - Easter Sunday - announced a crackdown on rogue letting agents in the shape of a...

A Select Committee of MPs investigating the proposed ban on agents’ fees levied on tenants says the measure could save renters...

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

Two buy to let investors have been fined a total of more than £27,000 under enforcement powers introduced in Burnley to...

This is a rare story: a council has dropped a plan for a lettings licensing scheme as a result of 900...

A London council is marking 125 successful prosecutions against agents, landlords and sub-letting tenants since 2016. The authority, Brent, says the convictions...

Trade bodies including ARLA, RICS, NALS and landlord organisations have met with the government to send a clear message - think...

Landlords in Wales who manage their own properties are being reminded that they must submit their licence application to Rent Smart...

The Residential Landlords’ Association has released details of the evidence it put to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee which...

Politicians in London and Scotland are looking at new controls which could be imposed on home owners letting out their properties...

Two landlords and two tenants were fined a total of over £11,000 after losing their appeal against housing convictions concerning property...

The select committee monitoring the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government will continue its deliberations today on the government’s ban...

The chief operating officer of a leading PropTech company says government proposals to increase mandatory licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation...

The chairman of the Residential Landlords Association has written in the Labour-supporting New Statesman magazine about the need for the lettings...

There have been more expressions of support from industry bodies for the Private Members’ Bill from Labour’s Karen Buck MP which...

A lettings agent has been charged £1,000 after telling a new tenant to dump waste left by a previous occupier into...

Buy to let expert Kate Faulkner says tenants should undertake more research on agents, landlords and properties before choosing a place...

Today sees the return of MPs to Parliament following the Christmas break, and one early task is to hear oral evidence...

The new online database identifying rogue letting agents and landlords will save lives according to the London Fire Brigade. We wrote about...

A new team of investigative council officers are hitting the streets of the capital to tackle unlawful nightly letting using websites like...

The owner of a property firm who reportedly misled tenants and let an illegally converted property has been jailed for 155...

The National Landlords Association reports that Bournemouth council has taken the unusual step of rejecting a proposal to introduce a landlord licensing...

A buy to let investor has been fined over £12,000 for illegally renting out a basement underneath an outbuilding at his...

The government has announced that all letting agents will be required to “satisfy minimum training requirements” in order to trade. The provision...

Industry figures have broadly welcomed the latest consultations and proposed additional regulation for the lettings sector, announced by the government yesterday.   The...

The powerful and all-party Communities & Local Government Select Committee of MPs has launched a new enquiry into improving the quality...

Letting agency Saxons has been fined more than £3,000 after pleading guilty to the offence of displaying an unauthorised To Let...

A buy to let investor reported to be receiving rental income of £150,000 a year must pay over £340,000 after illegally...

Trading Standards says representatives from 15 departments will today visit lettings and property management firms across London in a bid to...

A dawn raid on a home in north London has discovered 35 men bedding down on mattresses in every room except...

A London council has won its appeal against Foxtons using the term “administration fees” in its lettings charges.    Back in 2015 Camden...

A buy to let investor who kept 24 adults and children in what a local council calls “appalling conditions” has a...

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

The government is being urged by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) to do more to enforce compulsory fee disclosure. Since May 2015,...

A landlord who was found guilty of illegally converting a hotel into 26 flats has been given three months to pay...

A new report identifies in detail over 145 laws and regulations governing the private rental sector, varying across the four countries...

A London council is using dawn raids in its clampdown on illegal subletting and on so-called ‘beds in sheds’ where tenants...

If you think Airbnb and similar platforms have received a rough ride from some UK letting agencies and the hospitality industry,...

A man who illegally housed tenants inside his converted garage has been ordered to pay £173,141 by a court.   Amir Golesorkhi turned...

A lettings sector trade body is warning that contradictory and outdated fire safety guidance needs updating.    At present, landlords or their agent...

More than 100 criminal prosecutions have been secured against landlords since the start of an enforcement crackdown by Brent council in...

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

A landlord has been fined over £15,000 after failing to maintain gas appliances at the domestic property in Haverfordwest.   Llanelli Magistrates’ Court...

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

Large letting agents found to be flouting the incoming ban on letting agent fees should receive fines up to £30,000 to...

Research by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has identified that some 93% of local authorities have failed to issue a...

A family of rogue landlords who crammed 31 tenants into a 'Slumdog Millionaire'-style shanty home have this month been found guilty...

Agents and landlords with properties in Wales have been reminded they could be breaking the law if they're not signed up to...

Agents and landlords are being warned by a property management agency to prepare for the next round of energy-efficiency regulation changes...

A buy to let expert says there should be stronger enforcement and streamlining of legislation in the private rental sector. In a...

A man who rented out rooms above a town centre bar has been banned from being a buy to let landlord...

Letting agents who have broken the law are set to be ‘named and shamed’ by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,...

The Residential Landlords Association has broken ranks with the Association of Residential Letting Agents by opposing an ARLA-backed public database of...

An east London landlord, who was also director of a letting agency, has been forced to pay out over £235,000 for...

The government’s formal consultation on its proposed ban for fees levied on tenants by agents has been greeted with derision and...

The working group set up by the Department of Communities and Local Government to consider Client Money Protection says the scheme...

A buy to let landlord who converted an Uxbridge house into two flats without planning permission has been ordered to pay...

A letting agency specialising in student accommodation in Nottingham city centre and its director have admitted a series of breaches of...

The National Landlords Association has rejected a central plank of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan for housing - the introduction of yet more...

A new report by think tank IPPR supports those who feel the so-called ‘sharing economy’ - short lets via Airbnb and...

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

The NALS Fair Fee forum - an initiative launched last month - has now set up a working group to consider,...

The Residential Landlords Association has roasted the enforcement policies and provisions for the controversial Rent Smart Wales initiative which begins in...

Councils in eight of London's 32 boroughs have failed to prosecute even a single landlord for providing unsafe accommodation during the...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has responded to the latest government recommendations for tighter controls on the private rental sector...

Two landlords must pay a combined total of over £300,000 following legal action by a central London council.    Westminster council claimed that...

A landlord guilty of breaching a planning enforcement notice has been ordered to pay £700,000 in fines and costs - the...

Two landlord associations have criticised local councils for a lack of enforcement and failing to prosecute criminal landlords.  The Residential Landlords Association...

A letting agency has been fined after one of its landlords was found to be cramming six families into an unlicensed...

The newly-elected mayor of Bristol and the city’s council have endorsed a so-called ethical lettings charter created by a group known...

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

The landlord of a London flat is almost £18,000 worse off and has a criminal record after failing to make renovations to...

Yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme is being drawn up with the claim that it will improve standards of...

A Birmingham MP is to put a Bill to the House of Commons after the summer in his bid to stop...

A raid on a house has uncovered appalling conditions including a Slumdog Millionaire-style shanty town shack made from wood offcuts, pallets...

A landlord who waged what a local authority describes as “a war of intimidation” against tenants living in his property has...

A landlord who illegally converted a house to squeeze 28 tenants into just seven rooms has been handed a £20,000 fine...

Burnley Council has brought a series of prosecutions against people responsible for unlicensed rented houses in the borough. The council has introduced...

Specialist eviction service Landlord Action has outlined the quickest way to evict tenants under new regulations introduced by the Ministry of...

The National Approved Letting Scheme has created a toolkit which it says will help local authorities tackle rogue letting agents who...

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

Havering council has successfully prosecuted a landlord who must now pay £101,300 for building illegal flats at her property. Jaghtar Khaira was...

Before new London mayor Sadiq Khan has had his first working day in office, his proposals for a private rental sector...

The Residential Landlords’ Association has revealed what it calls “worryingly low levels of enforcement of rented housing regulations” by local authorities. Using...

Two buy to let investors who breached planning regulations by converting a house into seven studio flats have been ordered to...

An unauthorised outhouse with a concealed entrance constructed at the back of a residential property in west London - one of...

A council has asked agents in its area to tell landlords of additional planning powers taken by the authority which may...

Enforcement officers from Barking and Dagenham council, one of the most active in chasing up private rental sector issues, has discovered...

Landlords or agents acting for them will no longer be immediately criminalised for failing to pick up illegal tenants according to...

A report by the British Hospitality Association appears to reveal the latest estimates of the impact of people who use Airbnb...

The ability of the government to enforce controversial elements of the Right To Rent policy has been thrown into doubt by...

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

The Right to Rent legislation rolls out in February 2016, so all landlords and letting agents in England must check the...

Four well-known figures in the worlds of compliance and agency training have joined forces to launch the Property Professionals Support Centre. PPSC...

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

Generation Rent, the lobby group which recently narrowly escaped folding because of a lack of financial support, wants the public to...

A previously-convicted landlord has been ordered to pay over £200,000 by a court for illegally converting two properties into flats without...

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

New funding will help up to 65 councils tackle rogue landlords who let out substandard homes including the hated Beds In...

The specialist eviction company Landlord Action says it is in full support of the government’s latest proposal to crack down on...

A rogue landlord who illegally converted one house into a nine flats has been handed a maximum £20,000 fine after being...

Two rogue landlords who collected rent from more than 30 tenants in five sub-standard houses all on the same street have...

Two unauthorised outbuildings occupied by five adults and a child have been demolished by a London council after a landlord failed...

A landlord has a bill of more than £85,000 for unlawfully letting a basement flat. As part of a council planning enforcement...

A senior Conservative MP is urging the government to give councils the power to issue rogue landlords with on-the-spot fines. Oliver Colville,...

Eviction specialists at Landlord Action are raising concerns as to whether there are sufficient resources, especially at local council level, to...

A campaign has started to enable more eviction cases to be transferred from county court to High Court in a bid...

Enforcement officers have swooped on three addresses in east London in the latest bid to clampdown on rogue landlords and so-called...

Students in rented housing are being let down by a small number of bad landlords and a failure by local authorities...

A couple from Cambridgeshire have been fined £10,000 and ordered to hand over in excess of £75,000 after repeatedly renting out...

Unitary local authorities where trading standards and environmental health teams work to the same objectives are more successful at clamping down...

An amnesty on the licensing of houses in multiple occupation is being held in Barnet in north London following the successful...

The Residential Landlords Association is calling for better enforcement of existing laws and regulations to protect tenants in private rented housing. In...

A property consultancy specialising in licensing regimes for privately-let properties says there have been 580 housing prosecutions in London under the...

The Residential Landlords Association says it has “deep concerns” over the Panorama programme broadcast early this week claiming that landlords were...