A new borough-wide landlord licensing scheme is set to launch in the London borough of Brent on April 1, the council...
Archive
![Council attack on private rental sector ‘is next Post Office scandal’ - claim](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/PropertyNews1-400x310.png)
The excessive enforcement of council rules on private landlords while social housing is so poorly run will be ‘the next Post...
12 February 2024
From: Breaking News
![PropTech: yet another coup for fast-growing licensing platform](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/_licensing1-400x310.png)
PropTech firm Kamma - which specialises in information about landlord licensing - has inked another partnership. This latest link is with Goodlord. Kamma’s...
07 November 2023
From: Breaking News
![Ousted Green Party still arguing for rent controls in key battleground](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/Property%20Budget.jpg)
The Green Party - which ran the Brighton and Hove council until being swept from office in May’s local elections -...
25 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Phil Spencer urges letting agents to go on the offensive](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Special%20Logo's/Phil%20Spencer.png)
I was surprised the other day to read statistics from the English Housing Survey about how many landlords use letting agents. In...
05 June 2023
From: Breaking News
![Law service takes swipe at “incompetent letting agents”](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/Court-UK-400x310.png)
Landlords are urged to be cautious and do extensive research before signing up to a letting agent in the face of...
24 May 2023
From: Breaking News
![Landlord licensing info to be supplied to high-end lettings agency](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/_licensing-400x310.png)
Knight Frank is partnering with licensing compliance firm Kamma. The growth of discretionary licensing schemes across the 408 local authorities in the...
10 January 2023
From: Breaking News
![Agency figure warns government not to scare off landlords](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/LearningAgents3-400x310.png)
A senior Savills figure, who chairs the trade body known as The Lettings Industry Council, has issued a warning to the...
29 November 2022
From: Breaking News
![Britain’s most controversial rental licensing - questions being asked](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/_licensing-400x310.png)
A scheme which some regard as the most controversial landlord licensing regime in the country is coming under scrutiny. Labour councillors on...
18 October 2022
From: Breaking News
![Another London council ponders licensing scheme with fees](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/_licensing1-400x310.png)
Wandsworth council in south London is considering a review into the feasibility of introducing discretionary landlord licencing. A statement from the authority...
07 October 2022
From: Breaking News
![Commissioners step in to council with controversial private rental scheme](/upload/images/library/RentalMarketImage-1-400x310.jpg)
The government is intervening further in the running of Liverpool council, which operates a controversial private rental sector licensing scheme. Housing Secretary...
25 August 2022
From: Breaking News
![Rental reform may be bogged down after elections, warns supplier](/upload/images/Logos/aiic-logo400x310.png)
Last month’s local election results could yet impact on the private rental sector, a prominent industry supplier claims. The Association of Independent...
06 June 2022
From: Breaking News
![Vote 2022 - today's elections could change course of rental reform](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/Conservative-logo400x310.png)
A leading lettings sector commentator believes today’s local elections may not directly change the private rental sector but could have a...
05 May 2022
From: Breaking News
![Campaigners demand council introduce city-wide licensing](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/House%20with%20Key.jpg)
Activists in the Acorn campaign group are lobbying a council in a bid to - in its words - “ban slum...
05 April 2022
From: Breaking News
![Landlord licensing will cut stock and hike rents, warns top agency](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/LandlordLicensing-4-400x310.jpg)
One of the leading lettings agencies in Liverpool has issued a warning about the city’s controversial new licensing scheme. The Labour council...
25 January 2022
From: Breaking News
![Top Labour figure plans expanded ‘ethical lettings agency’ concept](/img/default/lat.png)
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...
19 April 2021
From: Breaking News
![London council says licensing needed as third of homes privately rented](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council has embarked on consultation over two new private rental licensing schemes - and says they are needed as...
23 March 2021
From: Breaking News
![Agents 'should guide landlords through blizzard of licensing rules'](/img/default/lat.png)
Letting agents should help landlords through a blizzard of red tape and regulation cause by local licensing schemes, a PropTech entrepreneur...
10 February 2021
From: Breaking News
![Agent speaks out against possible ‘money making’ licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
A lettings agent has spoken out at a local council landlord licensing scheme, suggesting it might just be nothing more than...
29 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![Controversial council files new version of licensing proposal](/img/default/lat.png)
A controversial Labour council that locked horns with the government over landlord licensing is now submitting a new proposal for its...
15 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![Huge licensing crackdown in 2021 gives agents a chance to shine - claim](/img/default/lat.png)
A new assessment of legislation and council rules surrounding the private rental sector suggests a severe crackdown may be coming in...
02 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![Activists gather outside city agency after licensing protest](/img/default/lat.png)
Activists from the so-called renters’ union Acorn have held a protest outside the office of a lettings agency in Oxford. A photograph...
19 November 2020
From: Breaking News
![Right To Rent changes - key webinar tomorrow to help agents](/img/default/lat.png)
Changes to the codes of practice surrounding Right To Rent are introduced on November 2, and tomorrow there’s a useful webinar to...
19 October 2020
From: Breaking News
![Licensing on its way after 92% of HMOs show problems](/img/default/lat.png)
A major north of England local authority wants to introduce landlord licensing for HMOs where three or four tenants live, following analysis...
19 October 2020
From: Breaking News
![Civil penalty notices served on landlords who cannot be named](/img/default/lat.png)
Two landlords have been served with civil penalty notices for operating unlicensed HMOs. The notices were from Wellingborough council; one was for...
09 September 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council proposes controversial city-wide licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Oxford council, which has 49 per cent of its housing stock in the private rental sector, is starting a formal consultation...
02 September 2020
From: Breaking News
![Private tenants urged to check if they can get a rent rebate](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council is telling its private rental sector residents to use a new tool to check whether they may be...
27 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![Controversial council reveals plan for massive licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The controversial Labour-led council in Liverpool has started a lengthy consultation process over its latest proposals for landlord licensing. The authority was...
14 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![Agents invited to comment on two new proposed licensing schemes](/img/default/lat.png)
Charnwood council in the East Midlands is proposing to introduce two different licensing schemes for private landlords, with agents and others...
12 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![London council revives licensing idea with online consultation](/img/default/lat.png)
Greenwich council in London has resuscitated a proposal to extend its existing selective licensing regime, put on ice during the Coronavirus...
10 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![‘Necessary’ licensing scheme still not agreed a full YEAR after consultation](/img/default/lat.png)
Back in March 2019 we covered the story that Weymouth council in Dorset wanted a landlord licensing scheme for a town...
04 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![Licensing scheme scaled back after government rejects original](/img/default/lat.png)
The council in Liverpool is likely to propose a scaled-back private rental licensing scheme after its original suggestion was rejected by...
13 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![£40,000 fines for unlicensed HMOs as council hunts for offenders](/img/default/lat.png)
Four buy to let investors have each been fined £10,000 for letting out unlicensed HMOs. The unlicensed properties , all in the...
09 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![London council wants to charge £550 for five year rental licence](/img/default/lat.png)
A council in London, where landlords yields and margins are already tight, says it wants to charge £550 for a renewed...
03 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![Selective Licensing: Another London council begins consultation](/img/default/lat.png)
Harrow council in north London has launched a formal consultation on its plan to renew its landlord licensing scheme in the...
11 June 2020
From: Breaking News
![Council asks lockdown residents to report illegal HMOs](/img/default/lat.png)
Residents at home during lockdown who may have seen families crammed into overcrowded HMOs are being asked to report the properties...
01 June 2020
From: Breaking News
![Why stop for the virus? Council presses ahead with licensing anyway](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council has pressed ahead with the launch of a borough-wide additional licensing scheme despite the lockdown and uncertainty created...
16 April 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council seeks Judicial Review of landlord licensing refusal](/img/default/lat.png)
Liverpool’s Labour council, which was prevented by the government from extending its city-wide licensing scheme for another five years, is seeking...
06 April 2020
From: Breaking News
![Council may offer improvement loans to favoured private landlords](/img/default/lat.png)
A council says it’s considering lending funds for improvement to landlords who “behave fairly and appropriately” - and buy into a...
13 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![Controversial council uses Foxtons-style ‘big data’ to police lettings](/img/default/lat.png)
The controversial Liverpool council licensing scheme is to be policed through the use of what the authority calls “cutting-edge big data...
06 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![Victory for buy to let as minister stops another licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The government has rejected a council’s bid to extend its licensing scheme for privately rented housing. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local...
28 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council links rogue landlord case to its dispute with government](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor has been hit with a bill of almost £9,500 after being accused of allowing a tenant...
26 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Council claims licensing scheme ‘has improved 3,100 homes’](/img/default/lat.png)
The government has given the green light to a council’s huge licensing scheme, set to cover 18 of its 20 wards...
17 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Council reveals huge administration cost for licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Enfield council in London has confirmed that it will introduce borough-wide additional licensing. It is also seeking consent from the government to...
07 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Huge fine for repeatedly ignoring rental licensing laws](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has ended up with fines totalling over £90,000 after repeatedly ignoring a council’s selective licensing regime. Stephen Ige pleaded guilty...
04 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Government U-turn on the way over Labour licensing scheme?](/img/default/lat.png)
Liverpool’s Labour mayor says he is confident that the city will, after all, be able to renew its city-wide licensing scheme. Housing...
03 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Government backs huge licensing scheme extension until 2025](/img/default/lat.png)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has backed a five year extension for a massive London council landlord licensing...
28 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council wants city-wide licensing and possible £12m windfall](/img/default/lat.png)
Another Labour council wants to introduce a city-wide landlord licensing scheme - a proposal that would require government approval to implement. Last...
24 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Newspaper’s amazing call for massive landlord licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
A newspaper in Liverpool has sharply criticised the government for refusing to allow the city council to continue a huge landlord...
21 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour outrage at licensing scheme extension being rejected](/img/default/lat.png)
The fallout continues over the government’s shock refusal to allow Liverpool council to continue its huge landlord licensing scheme. Yesterday we reported that...
15 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Industry delight at government rejection of licensing extension](/img/default/lat.png)
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has rejected a bid by Labour-controlled Liverpool council to extend its licensing scheme for five years. Government approval...
14 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Revealed: Why council's lettings fine was slashed by £28,000](/img/default/lat.png)
A compliance consultant has explained why a local council’s penalty on a rogue landlord - initially £31,499 - was slashed to...
10 December 2019
From: Breaking News
![Labour council reveals huge rises in landlord licensing charges](/img/default/lat.png)
There’s been a steep rise in the costs of landlord joining a compulsory licensing scheme operated by Labour-controlled Nottingham city council. The...
25 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Labour to end Right To Rent but shift rental sector power to tenants](/img/default/lat.png)
As the battle of political policies continues ahead of next month’s General Election, now Labour has unveiled a raft of initiatives...
22 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![A Farce! Council issues rental licences to just 3% of applicants](/img/default/lat.png)
A controversial private rental licensing regime that has already made the headlines for the wrong reasons has now been branded a...
19 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Fees Ban, Licensing and HMOs: many agents fear they’re breaking the law](/img/default/lat.png)
Just over a fifth of lettings agents questioned in a major industry survey are concerned that may not be complying with...
15 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Don’t scrap licensing, streamline it says accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The safeagent accreditation scheme says the next government should not scrap landlord licensing as some trade groups have requested, but should...
12 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Labour council introduces £850 licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Labour-run Leeds city council is introducing a licensing scheme which requires landlords to pay up to £825 per property. The deadline for...
28 October 2019
From: Breaking News
![Renters 'union' asks tenants to report agents levying illegal fees](/img/default/lat.png)
The controversial tenants union Acorn has set up a web page where disgruntled renters can lodge complaints about letting agents. In the...
24 October 2019
From: Breaking News
![Rental sector must prepare for more older tenants, says top expert](/img/default/lat.png)
The rental sector needs to prepare for the demographic challenge of an increasingly older population, says the head of a high...
23 September 2019
From: Breaking News
![Corbyn's council appoints a private renters' champion](/img/default/lat.png)
A Labour councillor on Islington council - which is controlled by the party and has Jeremy Corbyn as a local member...
17 September 2019
From: Breaking News
![London council returns to licensing five years after humiliating U-turn](/img/default/lat.png)
Enfield wants to be the latest London council to introduce large-scale additional and selective licensing schemes which would affect most private rented...
05 September 2019
From: Breaking News
![“It’s Illegal!” - council licensing scheme blasted by trade body](/img/default/lat.png)
A local authority is being warned that its landlord licensing and accreditation scheme is potentially unlawful. The Residential Landlords Association, which represents...
05 August 2019
From: Breaking News
!['Local councils not doing enough to prosecute rogue letting agents' - NLA](/img/default/lat.png)
Local authorities are failing in their duty to prosecute criminal letting agents, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has warned. The NLA says...
04 July 2019
From: Breaking News
![Housing minister raises concerns over controversial accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Junior housing minister Heather Wheeler MP has written to Hull City Council to express her concerns about the authority's controversial accreditation...
03 July 2019
From: Breaking News
![Council boasts of issuing 133 penalty notices and 23 improvement notices](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council wants to extend its private rental sector licensing scheme - and in doing so is boasting of the...
02 July 2019
From: Breaking News
![Unsafe and unlicensed: big fine for investor after past warnings ignored](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor who let out an unsafe and unlicensed property in London has now been hit with a...
21 June 2019
From: Breaking News
![Anti-rental activists in bust up with council over landlord licensing](/img/default/lat.png)
A group of activists has expressed outrage over a council’s private rental licensing scheme, claiming it is too small to catch...
20 June 2019
From: Breaking News
![Yet more licensing: Consultation underway to extend London scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Consultation is underway to extend a landlord licensing scheme in a London borough where a third of households rents privately. Three types...
12 June 2019
From: Breaking News
![RLA threatens council over 'unlawful' and 'discriminatory' accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is threatening Oxford Council with a judicial review of its landlord and letting agent accreditation scheme. The...
09 May 2019
From: Breaking News
![Should ‘revenue raising licensing schemes’ reinvest in the PRS?](/img/default/lat.png)
Revenue raised by landlord licensing schemes should be used to enforce rental sector regulation, according to PayProp. It says that the money...
09 May 2019
From: Breaking News
![Criminal record for buy to let investor who didn’t have the right paperwork](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor has been left with a £2,000 bill and a criminal conviction after letting out his property...
03 May 2019
From: Breaking News
![Rental sector changes are positive, insists deposit replacement chief](/img/default/lat.png)
A senior figure at a deposit replacement service says the current flurry of changes in the private rental sector are positive. Daniel...
29 April 2019
From: Breaking News
![Ker-ching! Councils cash in as revenue soars from licensing schemes](/img/default/lat.png)
The implementation and costs of landlord licensing schemes in Britain are a lottery. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis of licensing...
20 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![Buy to let investor has £20,000 bill after failing to apply for council licence](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor has been landed with a fine and costs of over £20,000 because he failed to apply...
06 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![See you in court! Licensing scheme may face legal challenge](/img/default/lat.png)
Another controversial scheme licensing landlords who let their homes out may face legal challenge. Middlesbrough council’s formal consultation on the introduction of...
25 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Council admits it: 'We don't have staff to police private rental sector'](/img/default/lat.png)
A local authority in the Midlands has admitted what many people have believed for some time - despite a slew of...
22 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Solicitor renews attack on “unfair” landlord licensing by councils](/img/default/lat.png)
A legal firm has renewed its criticism of local authority licensing schemes, accusing them of “persecuting” landlords. David Kirwan, managing partner at...
15 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Licensing: councils accused of automatically imposing harshest penalties](/img/default/lat.png)
Councils have been accused of routinely pursuing the most serious enforcement option open to them if they find a local licensing...
14 January 2019
From: Breaking News
![Labour threat to create private rental register and more licensing](/img/default/lat.png)
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has made a clear pledge to tighten regulations surrounding the private rental sector. In an interview with The...
31 October 2018
From: Breaking News
![Shocking claim that councils 'interview landlords under caution'](/img/default/lat.png)
The heavy-handed administration of selective licensing schemes is driving out buy to let investors. That’s the claim from David Kirwan of Kirwans...
30 October 2018
From: Breaking News
![Just three weeks until new HMO licensing rules are introduced](/img/default/lat.png)
It is now just three weeks until licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is extended. The new rules, which will require...
10 September 2018
From: Breaking News
![Call for agents to speak out over council licensing schemes](/img/default/lat.png)
A leading PropTech entrepreneur says lettings agents should be more vocal in providing the government with feedback on council rental licensing...
03 August 2018
From: Breaking News
![Council hits buy to let investors with fines in licensing clampdown](/img/default/lat.png)
Two landlords have been hit with hefty court fines for failing to comply with a local licensing scheme. The pair are the...
21 March 2018
From: Breaking News
![Landmark court ruling stops councils over-reaching on licensing conditions](/img/default/lat.png)
The Court of Appeal has ruled that councils cannot use selective licensing conditions to impose new standards on private rented homes. In...
22 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![Landlords fined for flouting selective licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
A local authority has fined four landlords who failed to licence a total of seven properties under its selective licensing scheme. Hastings...
21 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![London council extends licensing scheme as it nears £1m in fines](/img/default/lat.png)
Brent Council has confirmed that the government has approved its request to extend the local selective licensing scheme. The local authority, which...
20 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![Council drops lettings licensing plan after massive backlash](/img/default/lat.png)
This is a rare story: a council has dropped a plan for a lettings licensing scheme as a result of 900...
13 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![Leading PropTech entrepreneur backs stricter HMO regulations](/img/default/lat.png)
The chief operating officer of a leading PropTech company says government proposals to increase mandatory licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation...
25 January 2018
From: Breaking News
![Exclusive: Foxtons asked to prove it’s competent to manage rental properties](/img/default/lat.png)
Letting Agent Today understands that Foxtons has been asked to appear at a hearing staged by a London council to prove...
15 January 2018
From: Breaking News
![£7,000 bill because buy to let investor failed to get HMO licence](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor who failed to purchase a £542 licence for his HMO has been ordered to pay almost...
28 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Council licensing scheme discriminates against rental units with poor EPCs](/img/default/lat.png)
A local authority currently consulting on private rental licensing is using improved energy efficiency as one of the criteria for landlords...
16 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Rare event - council decides not to agree lettings licensing scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The National Landlords Association reports that Bournemouth council has taken the unusual step of rejecting a proposal to introduce a landlord licensing...
10 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Biggest-ever fine for failure to secure buy to let licence](/img/default/lat.png)
Four landlords have been fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £232,155.68 in the first prosecutions of its kind brought by...
19 October 2017
From: Breaking News
![MPs launch new probe into private rental sector regulation](/img/default/lat.png)
The powerful and all-party Communities & Local Government Select Committee of MPs has launched a new enquiry into improving the quality...
13 October 2017
From: Breaking News
![Council forces planning consent for HMO buy to let conversions](/img/default/lat.png)
Greenwich is the latest council to make it compulsory for planning consent to be given before converting homes into Houses in...
05 October 2017
From: Breaking News
![Agent fined £75,000 over rat-infested over-crowded HMO](/img/default/lat.png)
A letting agent named in a case concerning a rat-infested House in Multiple Occupation in Leytonstone, East London, has been fined...
28 September 2017
From: Breaking News
![Fine for BTL investor after unlicensed HMO was let to disabled](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been fined a total of £7,298 for operating an unlicensed house in multiple occupation in Oxford that was...
28 September 2017
From: Breaking News
![Private tenants to have their rents returned after council intervenes](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been prosecuted and ordered to repay over £5,000 to his tenants for letting an unlicensed House of Multiple...