Archive

Managing agents in London have been instructed to pay a £15,000 fine for operating a House in Multiple Occupation without the...

The all-party House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee has urged the government to get on with establishing a regulator of...

Companies House has new powers from this week to combat fraud. These are measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act...

Propertymark says the regulation of property agents and the creation of a statutory Code of Practice can improve the transparency of...

The excessive enforcement of council rules on private landlords while social housing is so poorly run will be ‘the next Post...

A survey of local council private rental licensing schemes says 19 selective and additional licensing schemes and consultations will be taking...

The number of private tenants in properties that are hard to heat has fallen, a council claims. As agents will know private...

Labour is using a Bill currently going through Parliament as a backdoor method to introduce the regulation of lettings, estate and...

The boss of a prominent UK lettings and property management agency says new regulations planned for the industry are to be...

A prominent housing market commentator says Labour would introduce a tougher version of the Renters Reform Bill if it forms the...

A register launched to shed light on overseas property ownership in the UK now has over 30,000 registrations.  The Register of Overseas...

Propertymark has listed a string of legal reforms it wants as part of the government’s modernisation of the court process -...

Measures contained in the Renters Reform Bill will fail without sufficient resources to ensure they can be enforced. The warning comes from...

Scores of councils that enforce licensing regimes on the private rental sector claim they are on the verge of bankruptcy. Almost one...

Parts B and C of the process to improve material information disclosure in property listings are published today within comprehensive new guidance...

A prominent housing expert has told MPs that letting agents could be used to police the standards off homes made available...

Changes put forward to the Renters Reform Bill to crack down on rogue landlords, protect vulnerable residents and improve the safety of...

Propertymark has called on the government to retain the option of fixed-term tenancies in the private rental sector where it is...

Propertymark has written to Housing Secretary Michael Gove to remind him of the importance of regulating letting and estate agents. The trade...

More details have emerged of what appears to be a sort of stay of execution for Section 21 eviction powers. The abolition...

A new manifesto calling for rent controls and a raft of other measures is accusing the current rent rises of being...

Local media in one of Britain’s busiest cities for rentals says tenants have been left in tears as a result of...

Westminster’s Labour controlled council is stepping up its war on Airbnbs and other short lets. It was a mandatory registration system for...

A survey of local authorities in some of the poorest areas of the country - bodies which enforce many private rental...

The Competitioin and Markets Authority is to probe five activities involving letting agents and landlords and their responsibilities to private tenants. Sarah...

The Nationwide Foundation - a pressure group funded by the Nationwide - says more effective enforcement is required for the private...

Agents representing landlords of HMOs In Portsmouth are being warned by the council that their need to be licensed or face...

PropTech Kamma has entered into a partnership with agency and consultancy JLL. This means JLL’s UK residential agents will have access to...

HM Treasury has published a consultation on reform of the anti-money laundering supervisory system, giving four options. Currently the supervisory system is...

Landlords of more than 5,000 homes must register for a license and ensure their tenants have good quality housing or face...

Propertymark has put forward a six-point plan to slash economic crime in the property sector. The trade body says a series of...

A new action plan to tackle issues around HMOs is being drawn up by a Midlands council next week. West Northamptonshire council’s...

London letting agents and landlords have so far been hit with more than £900,000 in fines in the first half of...

Six letting agencies across the London borough of Haringey have been fined a total of £12,000 after a council clampdown. Trading Standards...

  A council has told letting agents to ‘get a move on’ as it admits there’s been a slow start to its...

The Renters Reform Bill can be the perfect opportunity for the industry to become more professional - just so long as...

A management company and a lettings agency involved in running a London HMO have been prosecuted for fire safety failures. Monsoon Properties...

The Competition and Markets Authority is beefing up its enforcement work against illegal cartels and offering a reward of up to...

The Nationwide Foundation - a charitable foundation founded by the Nationwide Building Society - says the Renters Reform Bill should be...

I was surprised the other day to read statistics from the English Housing Survey about how many landlords use letting agents. In...

A left-leaning think tank which says it champions ‘left-behind Londoners’ is demanding a turbo-charged version of selective licensing to be run...

The pro-tenant anti-landlord Renters Reform Bill has at last been published by the government which first promised it in 2019. It has...

A London lettings agency has been ordered to pay over £12,000 in a fine and costs for its part in running...

Several lettings agents have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme; they are amongst eight named as having been kicked out...

New legal provisions within Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 that form the latest part of the Home Office's...

Corrupt elites and criminal gangs who abuse the property and financial sectors will be identified and stripped of their cash, the...

A veteran Conservative is calling on his government to clamp down on HMOs and ensure there is better council regulation and...

The letting agent’s trade body Propertymark is concerned that the court system could buckle if eviction case numbers rise as a...

Landlords and agents acting on their behalf are to be given more powers to evict unruly tenants who ruin neighbours’ lives...

The agency and landlord responsible for letting a two-bedroom flat in Dagenham have been found guilty in court for providing extremely...

A council has prosecuted an agency and landlord for not producing the right paperwork. Luton local authority has prosecuted Poplar Homes Ltd...

A PropTech expert is warning that letting agents can expect hefty fines if they fail to comply with complex Client Money...

We’re only in February and it’s already clear that this year will set the future direction of the private rented sector...

Propertymark has hit out at a proposal from a group of MPs that there should be a single Ombudsman covering the...

The activist group Generation Rent is backing a call by MPs for the government to tighten up proposals to scrap Section...

Knight Frank is partnering with licensing compliance firm Kamma. The growth of discretionary licensing schemes across the 408 local authorities in the...

Propertymark auditors are offering in-person visits to branches to improve their compliance.  The trade body says this is in response to demand from...

Three councils will be sharing £1.21m in public cash over the next two years to tackle poor quality properties in the...

Propertymark has given its backing to a clampdown by Housing Secretary Michael Gove on private landlords - although landlords themselves appear...

Propertymark says letting agents should have clear policies and priorities to help ensure properties are kept to the highest standards possible.  The...

Propertymark backs government plans to introduce a social housing-style Decent Homes Standard in the private sector.   But it says there must be...

Propertymark says there’s already been a decline in the number of homes available for rent in Scotland because of rising costs...

Emergency legislation containing a private sector rent freeze is to be debated by Scottish politicians this week - and the surprise...

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations says its members are key to tackling the cost of living crisis but rent freezes,...

A controversial database which will allow widespread access to the identities of rogue letting agents and landlords has been backed by...

The law around the requirement for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in rental properties will change in England on October 1. Propertymark...

Agents can now sign up to register their interest in Rightmove’s new qualification, the Level 3 Certificate for Estate and Letting...

PropTech firm Kamma says total fines for agents and landlords have now topped £8m in London alone with a £238,000 increase...

Fourteen Trading Standards authorities across a swathe of England are embarking on an enforcement project to check lettings agency compliance.  The Central England...

The government has released the full details of what it calls the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper. This is to form...

A property law expert is aiming to demystify the upcoming rental legislation for agents at a webinar tomorrow. Robert Bolwell, senior partner...

A collection of rental experts in a body called The Lettings Industry Council have set out what they want to see...

The chief executive of industry accreditation service Safeagent has made another plea for unity within the private rental sector. In a response...

A new and huge private rental licensing scheme has launched in County Durham. A total of at least 29,000 properties, or 42...

Lettings accreditation and training service Safeagent is calling on the government to make more public cash available for councils to exercise...

ARLA Propertymark has hit back in this week’s debate on the quality of private rental property, following sharp criticism in a...

Thousands of tenants have no choice but to accept “appalling conditions” according to the chief executive of campaigning charity Shelter. Polly Neate...

Private rental property conditions and the enforcement of regulations by councils and government have all been in the firing line from...

A council says it’s considering introducing criminal record checks on individuals who apply to run HMOs as part of a wide-ranging...

Housing is back on the political agenda with a bang. The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper sets out sweeping reforms...

Politicians across the UK appear to be growing more vocal in their support for rent controls. The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru...

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants is introducing a new qualification and training for borough council housing enforcement officers to...

ARLA Propertymark has identified a key weakness in the government’s ambitious plans to reform the private rental sector as part of...

PropTech companies Kamma and Veri-Check are consolidating an existing partnership. Kamma users can already access Veri-Check’s instant property licensing checks, but in...

MPs and the wider public have been presented with a lengthy report on the growth of Airbnb and similar platforms across...

Propertymark has strongly opposed a proposal by the Scottish Government to radically reform the private rental sector. The proposals put out for...

The lettings agency boss at the centre of a major industry takeover has fired a warning shot about rent controls and...

ARLA Propertymark has launched a radical programme of reform for the private rental sector - getting in before the government’s own...

ARLA Propertymark is backing a call for the government to set a clear vision for how it sees the private rental...

A report by the National Audit Office claims that the way private renting is regulated makes the sector unfair to renters. It...

Bristol-based lettings management company Iletpro Ltd has been ordered to pay a total of £2,700.06 in fines and costs for failing...

A London property managing agent has been ordered to pay more than £80,000 for safety failings which “exposed a potentially large...

A lettings agent who also runs a tenant complaint insurance service has renewed his attack on landlords and local authorities. Ajay Jagota...

The UK Association of Letting Agents says it welcomes new rules for alarms which put the social and private rental sectors...

Effective enforcement is crucial to stamp out rogue lettings agents and protect consumers says safeagent. In the latest edition of its Effective...

Council-imposed fines on letting agents and landlords that fall foul of licensing regulations have risen dramatically in the past month alone. Research...

It’s understood there will be a Christmas truce with tenants not enduring bailiff-enforced evictions between December 13 and January 10. HM Courts...

Two recent calls for the introduction of a national mandatory landlord register in England have been rebuffed by agents’ trade body...

Consultation begins today on a selective licensing scheme for privately rented housing in 25 wards of Birmingham. Under the suggested scheme, all...

ARLA Propertymark is calling on the government to properly fund local authorities so they can combat rogue operators in the private...