Archive

A new borough-wide landlord licensing scheme is set to launch in the London borough of Brent on April 1, the council...

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

PropTech firm Kamma - which specialises in information about landlord licensing - has inked another partnership. This latest link is with Goodlord.  Kamma’s...

The Green Party - which ran the Brighton and Hove council until being swept from office in May’s local elections -...

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

Landlords are urged to be cautious and do extensive research before signing up to a letting agent in the face of...

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

A senior Savills figure, who chairs the trade body known as The Lettings Industry Council, has issued a warning to the...

A scheme which some regard as the most controversial landlord licensing regime in the country is coming under scrutiny. Labour councillors on...

Wandsworth council in south London is considering a review into the feasibility of introducing discretionary landlord licencing. A statement from the authority...

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

Last month’s local election results could yet impact on the private rental sector, a prominent industry supplier claims. The Association of Independent...

A leading lettings sector commentator believes today’s local elections may not directly change the private rental sector but could have a...

Activists in the Acorn campaign group are lobbying a council in a bid to - in its words - “ban slum...

One of the leading lettings agencies in Liverpool has issued a warning about the city’s controversial new licensing scheme. The Labour council...

Greater Manchester’s Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, says he wants to clamp down on the private rental sector. In his manifesto for next month’s...

A London council has embarked on consultation over two new private rental licensing schemes - and says they are needed as...

Letting agents should help landlords through a blizzard of red tape and regulation cause by local licensing schemes, a PropTech entrepreneur...

A lettings agent has spoken out at a local council landlord licensing scheme, suggesting it might just be nothing more than...

A controversial Labour council that locked horns with the government over landlord licensing is now submitting a new proposal for its...

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

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

Changes to the codes of practice surrounding Right To Rent are introduced on November 2, and tomorrow there’s a useful webinar to...

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

Two landlords have been served with civil penalty notices for operating unlicensed HMOs.  The notices were from Wellingborough council; one was for...

Oxford council, which has 49 per cent of its housing stock in the private rental sector, is starting a formal consultation...

A London council is telling its private rental sector residents to use a new tool to check whether they may be...

The controversial Labour-led council in Liverpool has started a lengthy consultation process over its latest proposals for landlord licensing. The authority was...

Charnwood council in the East Midlands is proposing to introduce two different licensing schemes for private landlords, with agents and others...

Greenwich council in London has resuscitated a proposal to extend its existing selective licensing regime, put on ice during the Coronavirus...

Back in March 2019 we covered the story that Weymouth council in Dorset wanted a landlord licensing scheme for a town...

The council in Liverpool is likely to propose a scaled-back private rental licensing scheme after its original suggestion was rejected by...

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

A council in London, where landlords yields and margins are already tight, says it wants to charge £550 for a renewed...

Harrow council in north London has launched a formal consultation on its plan to renew its landlord licensing scheme in the...

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

A London council has pressed ahead with the launch of a borough-wide additional licensing scheme despite the lockdown and uncertainty created...

Liverpool’s Labour council, which was prevented by the government from extending its city-wide licensing scheme for another five years, is seeking...

A council says it’s considering lending funds for improvement to landlords who “behave fairly and appropriately” - and buy into a...

The controversial Liverpool council licensing scheme is to be policed through the use of what the authority calls “cutting-edge big data...

The government has rejected a council’s bid to extend its licensing scheme for privately rented housing. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local...

A buy to let investor has been hit with a bill of almost £9,500 after being accused of allowing a tenant...

The government has given the green light to a council’s huge licensing scheme, set to cover 18 of its 20 wards...

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

A landlord has ended up with fines totalling over £90,000 after repeatedly ignoring a council’s selective licensing regime. Stephen Ige pleaded guilty...

Liverpool’s Labour mayor says he is confident that the city will, after all, be able to renew its city-wide licensing scheme. Housing...

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has backed a five year extension for a massive London council landlord licensing...

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

A newspaper in Liverpool has sharply criticised the government for refusing to allow the city council to continue a huge landlord...

The fallout continues over the government’s shock refusal to allow Liverpool council to continue its huge landlord licensing scheme. Yesterday we reported that...

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has rejected a bid by Labour-controlled Liverpool council to extend its licensing scheme for five years. Government approval...

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

There’s been a steep rise in the costs of landlord joining a compulsory licensing scheme operated by Labour-controlled Nottingham city council. The...

As the battle of political policies continues ahead of next month’s General Election, now Labour has unveiled a raft of initiatives...

A controversial private rental licensing regime that has already made the headlines for the wrong reasons has now been branded a...

Just over a fifth of lettings agents questioned in a major industry survey are concerned that may not be complying with...

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

Labour-run Leeds city council is introducing a licensing scheme which requires landlords to pay up to £825 per property. The deadline for...

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

The rental sector needs to prepare for the demographic challenge of an increasingly older population, says the head of a high...

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

Enfield wants to be the latest London council to introduce large-scale additional and selective licensing schemes which would affect most private rented...

A local authority is being warned that its landlord licensing and accreditation scheme is potentially unlawful. The Residential Landlords Association, which represents...

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

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

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

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

A group of activists has expressed outrage over a council’s private rental licensing scheme, claiming it is too small to catch...

Consultation is underway to extend a landlord licensing scheme in a London borough where a third of households rents privately.  Three types...

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is threatening Oxford Council with a judicial review of its landlord and letting agent accreditation scheme. The...

Revenue raised by landlord licensing schemes should be used to enforce rental sector regulation, according to PayProp. It says that the money...

A buy to let investor has been left with a £2,000 bill and a criminal conviction after letting out his property...

A senior figure at a deposit replacement service says the current flurry of changes in the private rental sector are positive. Daniel...

The implementation and costs of landlord licensing schemes in Britain are a lottery. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis of licensing...

A buy to let investor has been landed with a fine and costs of over £20,000 because he failed to apply...

Another controversial scheme licensing landlords who let their homes out may face legal challenge. Middlesbrough council’s formal consultation on the introduction of...

A local authority in the Midlands has admitted what many people have believed for some time - despite a slew of...

A legal firm has renewed its criticism of local authority licensing schemes, accusing them of “persecuting” landlords. David Kirwan, managing partner at...

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

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has made a clear pledge to tighten regulations surrounding the private rental sector. In an interview with The...

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

It is now just three weeks until licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is extended. The new rules, which will require...

A leading PropTech entrepreneur says lettings agents should be more vocal in providing the government with feedback on council rental licensing...

Two landlords have been hit with hefty court fines for failing to comply with a local licensing scheme. The pair are the...

The Court of Appeal has ruled that councils cannot use selective licensing conditions to impose new standards on private rented homes. In...

A local authority has fined four landlords who failed to licence a total of seven properties under its selective licensing scheme. Hastings...

Brent Council has confirmed that the government has approved its request to extend the local selective licensing scheme. The local authority, which...

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

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

Letting Agent Today understands that Foxtons has been asked to appear at a hearing staged by a London council to prove...

A buy to let investor who failed to purchase a £542 licence for his HMO has been ordered to pay almost...

A local authority currently consulting on private rental licensing is using improved energy efficiency as one of the criteria for landlords...

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

Four landlords have been fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £232,155.68 in the first prosecutions of its kind brought by...

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

Greenwich is the latest council to make it compulsory for planning consent to be given before converting homes into Houses in...

A letting agent named in a case concerning a rat-infested House in Multiple Occupation in Leytonstone, East London, has been fined...

A landlord has been fined a total of £7,298 for operating an unlicensed house in multiple occupation in Oxford that was...

A landlord has been prosecuted and ordered to repay over £5,000 to his tenants for letting an unlicensed House of Multiple...

Greenwich is licensing all Houses in Multiple Occupation from October 1 - just the latest London council to tighten its private...