Archive

Five Labour MPs have put forward an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling for rent controls - even...

A council that is buying private properties in second home hotspots to let to local people has struck a new agreement...

Agents, landlords and others’ views are being sought in a consultation on proposals to introduce a borough-wide additional licensing scheme for...

A tenant is reported to have sued a lettings agency after its alleged failure to return his £375 deposit. The Get Surrey...

A prominent agent has called on politicians to scrap the Renters Reform Bill . He says it’s “ill thought-through and would be...

New directives issued by the government put the emphasis firmly on private landlords and their letting agents to take responsibility for...

The company which owned and was responsible for a five-storey block of rented flats in Bridlington has been ordered to pay...

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

Three property management companies and a landlord have been fined approaching £80,000 for health and safety failings. Mohammed Ali Abbas Rasool, Cadogan...

A seasoned property lawyer who has specialised in residential landlord and tenant law for 22 years says she is embarrassed at...

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

A lettings agency claims eviction powers may actually increase - not reduce - thanks to the controversial Renters Reform Bill. Knight Frank...

An estate agency has been prosecuted and ordered to pay £35,000 for falling foul of property licensing rules. Green House Estate Agents...

Purplebricks has detailed the price it is paying for a lettings compliance blunder first spotted last year. It predicts that, at worst,...

The Knight Frank lettings and estate agency is warning that it expects house prices to fall in 2023. Tom Bill, its head...

A landlord has been fined a four figure sum for failing to produce documentation for a council. Fathima Syeda Kauser of Luton pleaded...

The government is admitting that its rental reform agenda is aimed primarily at the north of England - which just happens...

The government is widely expected to announce that Section 21 eviction powers will be scrapped in new legislation coming to Parliament...

A property ownership and management company has been fined £20,000 for failing to carry out safety and fire safety improvement works...

A company which operated an unlicensed HMO and its then-director have lost their appeal against the imposition of financial penalties.  Gatwick and...

A lettings company has been caught up in a case where rental accommodation has been described as “atrocious” and a landlord...

Self-managing landlords who think they don’t have the same compliance obligations as agents could face serious repercussions, Trading Standards chiefs have...

A former president of the Association of Residential Letting Agents has lifted the lid on how buy to let came about,...

A report prepared by housing experts in Manchester shows a massive surge in the number of Airbnbs in the city -...

‘Generation rent’ was a term first coined in 2011 by the Halifax in a survey on the future of homeownership. It...

Labour has joined with campaign groups Generation Rent and Shelter in calling for the speediest possible ending of Section 21 eviction...

One of the local authorities with the tightest clampdowns on letting agents has issued a statement celebrating its successes. Tower Hamlets council in...

A leading buy to let mortgage expert has backed the government’s pledge to issue a White Paper and additional consultation before...

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

An agency has been hit with a £330,000 bill after being found guilty of poor management of an HMO. Magistrates have found...

A landlord who persistently broke residential lettings rules has been banned from operating in a landmark legal ruling. Julie Stoddern, of Camborne,...

An online petition which appears to inaccurately say private tenants can still be evicted “for no reason” has won 30,000 signatures...

Two landlords in the same town - one the director of a lettings firm - have been prosecuted as their properties...

A new report from the Nationwide and campaigning charity Shelter puts letting agents in the dock over the standards in the...

The announcement of the Renters’ Reform Bill in the Queen’s speech last December caused a collective groan across the country from...

It’s a year today since the closure of the formal government consultation into scrapping Section 21 powers for agents and landlords. In last...

A landlord taken to court by a council has ended up with a bill in excess of £20,000.  Dennis Goodwin of Highbury...

A law firm is warning that agents and landlords should carefully follow correct procedures if they suspect a rented property is...

One of the country’s biggest lettings agencies is reporting that both revenue and operating profit are “comfortably” up on 2019 levels...

The Welsh Government has temporarily increased the notice period landlords must provide from three months to six months to end Assured...

Two Bristol landlords have been ordered to repay nearly £5,000 following investigations by the council’s so called rogue landlord unit. One, Lucy...

A legal expert says the Court of Appeal ruling on S21 possession orders last week has resolved one of the most...

It’s been revealed that a legal group is considering how courts will consider eviction cases when the current ban is lifted...

Private rents are expected to fall across the UK in the coming three months, but stabilise over the course of the...

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

Hello, and welcome to Wednesday’s guidance and advice for agents and suppliers trying to find a way through the current crisis. If...

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

The government has been called upon to issue specific Coronavirus guidance for the rental sector. The chief executive of the Association of...

With confirmation that Section 21 will be scrapped, how can agents get ready for life after no-fault evictions? The short answer is...

A buy to let investor has been found guilty of letting out poor quality living accommodation that was said to pose...

A council in a leafy area of south east England has issued an emergency prohibition order to a buy to let...

The Renters’ Reform Bill worries many in the private rental sector but the government says there is still no date for...

A judge has ordered two landlords to pay a total of £14,858 for illegally renting out an unlicensed house without working...

A landlord in one of the most scenic parts of Devon had been served with a £18,000 civil penalty because he...

The owner of a Derbyshire property must pay out more than £3,000 after being found guilty of failing to comply with...

Letting agents can beat the upcoming ban on Section 21 by updating key documentation and automating arrears management to reduce the...

A rogue landlord has been fined £1,384 for failing to get a council licence for two buy to let properties. The case...

A landlord has been banned for two and half years after repeatedly putting tenants’ lives at risk by letting unsafe housing. This...

A compliance consultant has explained why a local council’s penalty on a rogue landlord - initially £31,499 - was slashed to...

A rented home in Mansfield was found to have serious health and safety hazards, including a leaking roof and a lack of smoke...

A long-term legal critic of selective licensing is warning that letting agents could be held jointly accountable with the landlords, -...

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...

One of the country’s leading lettings experts has outlined why the government is wrong to suggest that Section 8 powers could...

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

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has submitted its response to the government's consultation on scrapping Section 21 evictions, which closes tomorrow...

The Liberal Democrat conference, which begins on Saturday, is to debate a resolution calling for the scrapping of Section 21 -...

Housing minister Esther McVey has hinted that the government may finally decide as soon as next month on whether to introduce...

A husband and wife pair of buy to let investors have been prosecuted after letting out a property that contained serious...

A local council says it has now successfully prosecuted a landlord for flouting the law that protects the health and safety...

The Guild of Property Professionals has received confirmation that the government’s proposed changes to Section 21 will not be retrospective. “What this...

The first ‘state of the industry’ report on the lettings agency sector since the introduction of the fees ban suggests individual...

An outspoken Conservative party figure says government policies such as the scrapping of Section 21 will play into the hands of...

Tenants on state benefits could be the 'biggest casualties' of the government's 'ill-thought-out' plans to scrap the Section 21 evictions process,...

A London council has successfully prosecuted a so-called “dodgy operator” landlord for failing to comply with fire safety regulations and carry...

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...

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

One of the most pro-licensing local authorities in the country has extended its own scheme to include the entire centre of...

Another think-tank has come up with reforms which it wants the government to make to the private rental sector - and...

Sub-standard homes remain a key weakness in the private rental sector, which needs to get its house in order in the...

A landlord has been ordered to pay over £5,000 in fines and costs in a licensing dispute with a local council.  Almas...

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

A buy to let investor who let out a converted attic room despite it being the subject of a council prohibition...

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

A council has prosecuted a buy to let investor for not making necessary improvements to his property. The landlord, Balwinder Singh Chandi,...

The owner of a buy to let property already shut by police has been fined by a court in Devon.  In June...

A London property firm must repay no less than £60,000 in rent after a council obtained a Rent Repayment Order against...

A council in the north of England has issued its first-ever Civil Penalty Notice on a landlord - and it involved...

The heavy-handed administration of selective licensing schemes is driving out buy to let investors. That’s the claim from David Kirwan of Kirwans...

Croydon council is reported to have become the first local authority to back the scrapping of Section 21 of the 1988...

A London local authority which is part way through its five year additional HMO licensing scheme wants lettings agents to give their...

Labour has outlined its proposals for the private rental sector if it gains power at the next General Election - and...

An overcrowded property let by an unlicensed company with inadequate fire precautions and unheated rooms has led to a £46,620 fine...

An Essex council claims it is one of the first to be granted a rent repayment order - part of legislation...

The Residential Landlords Association has told another council that its plans to introduce selective licensing in areas of its town are...

A buy to let investor has been fined £1,750 because of his alleged “aggressive practices”.  Shafaqat Ali Sadiq, of Derby, has been...

The Residential Landlords’ Association says proposals from Great Yarmouth council to introduce selective licensing in one part of the town contains...

Campaigning group Generation Rent has secured over 20,000 signatures for a petition it says will “end unfair evictions”. The petition, on the...

A gas safety engineer has pleaded guilty with a landlord of falsifying gas safety certificates for a string of private rental...

Two senior London politicians are backing a campaign to scrap the powers of agents and landlords to evict tenants under Section...