Archive

A housing company has been fined £528,000 after an employee repairing a fence post inadvertently struck an underground cable, suffering burns...

A call has gone out from an industry group for letting agents to be sure they know the distinctions between statutory...

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

A lettings agency has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme following itsfailure to pay £1,100 out of an adjudicated award...

An organised crime group involved in producing and distributing an estimated £2.4m of cannabis has been found to have e used...

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

Two property company bosses have been sentenced following an Insolvency Service investigation which found they had abused a £30,000 Bounce Back...

Controversial website content by the high profile website GetAgent must never appear again, according to the ad industry watchdog. The Advertising Standards...

The Competition and Markets Authority’s in depth investigation into the controversial deposit alternative concept has been welcomed by one of the...

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

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

A rogue lettings agency in London has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme but is still thought to be trading. Hawks...

The BBC says discussions are underway to extend the Renters Reform Bill to specifically outlaw any rental listing banning families and benefit recipients...

A fraudster lettings agent must repay £122,922.68 to her old firm within three months - or face yet more time in...

HM Courts and Tribunals Service has halted the work of bailiffs on safety grounds.  An incident is under investigation, and it’s believed...

Platforms like Facebook are infiltrated by fake review factories, despite the imminent publication of a new Bill which will look to make...

Any lettings portfolio should receive ongoing care and maintenance. A disorganised portfolio, weighed down by junk data, loose ends or lax...

A lettings agency maintenance manager stole almost £100,000 from her company - but has escaped prison. Farida Mughal was working at the...

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

An investigation by the BBC and Zoopla shows the sharp drop in the volume of available rental units in the past...

The head of a property investment firm has been disqualified from being a director for 12 years following the discovery that...

A national campaign warning about the dangers of damp and mould could help save lives, a property industry insider says. A recent...

It’s been revealed that agents have been kicked out of The Property Ombudsman in recent months for failing to pay compensatory...

A young family have started 2023 in their new permanent home after a London council recovered the property from an illegal...

A landlord has pleaded guilty to four offences which involved the creation of fake letting agencies in order to help him...

A lettings agent has been banned from holding office in a company for 11 years for abusing Covid loans - but...

The Property Ombudsman has reported a big rise in enquiries over last year and a huge rise since the pre-Covid year,...

A property management chief has been disqualified as a director for 12 years after using his firms to take out £135,000...

The government is intervening further in the running of Liverpool council, which operates a controversial private rental sector licensing scheme. Housing Secretary...

A retired estate agent has pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching fire safety in Devon. Retired Force and Sons agent David...

Agents have only four weeks to respond to a committee of MPs’ ‘call for evidence’ ahead of an investigation into the...

Renters are being placed at unnecessary risk due to a delay in reforms that would allegedly give them greater protection, it’s been...

A jury has ruled that a lettings agency has been guilty of illegally evicting tenants in Margate - with locks changed,...

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

The sole director of a lettings agency, who was recently made the subject of an anti-social behaviour injunction and banning order,...

Propertymark has said that the government’s ban on ground rent on new leasehold properties should go further. The government revealed over the...

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

A local authority is launching an investigation into what housing options there are for younger people within its patch, and whether...

A lettings agency employee who diverted over £50,000 of landlords’ money into his own account has been given a suspended sentence. Paul...

The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland wants to investigate the existing qualification and training requirements for letting agencies in that...

A leading lettings agent has warned tenants against using social media to find rental properties.  David Alexander - head of DJ Alexander,...

A PropTech firm claims to have saved a client more than £160,000 by preventing a criminal from illegally renting one of...

Property fraud is on the rise and early in 2022 agents will have an opportunity to attend a webinar featuring a...

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 fake lettings operation has been uncovered by a leading legitimate agency - and now the National Trading Standards Estate and...

A letting agency has been issued with penalty notices worth £3,000 for operating illegally. Back in 2014 it became a legal requirement...

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

A landlord and the property company of which he is director have been convicted and ordered to pay more than £17,000...

Westcountry agency Stags has been the subject of a low level complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. The complaint concerned fees not...

A lettings agent has told the BBC that he has spotted illegal rental scams using online platforms, but the police have...

The director of a company targeting ‘flipping’ property investors has been disqualified from holding directorships for no less than 14 years.  Mitchell...

The local media in Manchester have published photographs of a property operated by a lettings agency was found to have multiple...

A lettings agency director has been disqualified for seven years after he emptied its bank account following its liquidation. Ghanshyam Sarup Batra, from...

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

A property company and its director will have to shell out £10,000 after a blaze left six tenants homeless in the...

Some 39 agents and landlords have had banning orders over the past three years according to a report in The Guardian. Under the...

An investigation is underway into a lettings agency which has gone into liquidation owing almost £500,000 in rent to landlords and in...

Local media in the Homes Counties report that two arrests were made after police were called by a lettings agency where...

A clampdown on letting agents who fail to safeguard landlords’ and tenants’ money is now underway.  A statement from the National Trading Standards...

The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team is appealing to the industry to be eagle-eyed for scams. This follows the...

A 24 month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work are the price being paid for an unlawful eviction.  Buy to...

The debate over rental properties listed on portals with ‘No DSS’ statements has reignited over the weekend. This follows a BBC investigation...

Restaurant staff were kept in “dangerous and overcrowded” conditions by a property company and its landlord-director, a court has heard. The company...

A new assessment of legislation and council rules surrounding the private rental sector suggests a severe crackdown may be coming in...

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 crooked lettings agent stole almost £30,000 from dozens of clients to prevent his business from going bankrupt. Tim Catherall, of Nottinghamshire,...

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...

Two suspended sentences, community service, a fine and disqualification from being a director - those form the penalty for a rogue...

The renters’ group ACORN, which has held numerous protests at individual letting agents’ offices, has apologised after one of its local...

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

Online lettings agency Upad is offering to refund users whose rental listings did not appear on Zoopla and PrimeLocation as they...

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

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

Landlords or their agents wanting to obtain possession of their property should act sooner rather than later despite the current ban. That’s...

Rent to the value of £10,982.25 is to be returned to tenants by a landlord who was operating without a licence. Mrs...

A buy to let investor who kept a group of men as slaves – making them work 90-hour weeks in return...

Agents and other property professionals have a week to submit their views to an enquiry into the impact of Coronavirus on...

A BBC News investigation has exposed some Airbnb and other short let platform users as flouting lockdown regulations. The probe has found...

One of the major deposit alternative operators has announced 31 new letting agency branches have signed up, from three high-profile brands. Zero...

A newspaper claims multiple councils are opening investigations into agents allegedly defying the tenant fees ban - and at least one...

The leaseholder of a council property in central London has been found guilty of advertising it on Airbnb and the Booking.com...

A jailed letting agent in a long-running legal saga has now been told she must repay her victims some £43,000 -...

A lettings agency owner has spoken about his bid to restore his firm's reputation after it was destroyed by a former employee. Earlier...

An agent has been disqualified from managing companies for five years after she failed to safeguard £28,000 worth of tenants’ deposits...

Three more deposit alternative supplier have issued statements seeking to distance their product from criticisms raised in a BBC investigation. Yesterday we carried...

A BBC investigation suggests some agents may be mis-selling deposit alternative schemes. Tenants are then hit by what the probe says are...

A former letting agent has been censured over the handling of tenancy deposits following an investigation by a local council. Andrew Rhys...

A London council has caught out a rogue lettings agency for illegally operating two properties, with issues ranging from gas safety...

An undercover investigation by the LBC radio station has revealed unscrupulous landlords who expect sex from women tenants in return for...

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favour of deposit alternative scheme flatfair in a dispute which began with a complaint...

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

A former Labour councillor and solicitor Muhammad Harun has been jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to two counts of...

The growing chorus of calls to professionalise the short lets sector has won influential backing from a senior PropTech entrepreneur. Neil Cobbold...

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

The government is being urged to speed up the release details of the future it sees for selective licensing following revelations...

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...

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

New analysis by Direct Line for Business reveals a surge in the number of police investigations into the theft of electricity,...