Archive

The Open Property Data Association has released a new version of its property data standards framework to help letting agents comply...

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

A lettings agency has initiated new systems to ensure there is no repeat of a mistake that left some client properties...

Law firm Brevis Law is shedding light on the difficulties agents and landlords have in meeting Right To Rent requirements in...

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

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

A property firm which admitted misleading tenants on their rights and threatening them to leave has been ordered to pay £8,000. Four...

A property company director who admitted misleading tenants on their rights and threatening them to leave has been ordered to pay...

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

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

A lettings company called Trophy Homes Limited, based in Liverpool, has pleaded guilty to failing to apply for an HMO licence...

The Lomond Group has strengthened its position in Scotland by acquiring two more independent agencies and adding some 600 properties to...

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

A holiday letting agency has criticised the introduction of licensing for short term rentals in Scotland as “poorly thought-through and ill-timed”.  Iain...

The first step within the UK to officially monitor Airbnb-style short lets comes into effect on Saturday, which is October 1. Scotland’s...

A lettings agency says the cost of living crisis calls into question the viability of a selective licensing scheme in its...

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

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

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

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

Over £80,000 pounds of fines have been imposed on a letting agency and its director. Zenith Accommodation Ltd’s boss, Mohammad Mallick of...

There’s been a huge 263 per cent increase in the value of fraudulent tenant applications in just three months, it’s been...

A new property identification system which has won the backing of ARLA Propertymark and substantial parts of the industry has said...

What’s life-changing, involves months of anticipation, and ends with a big arrival? You might think we’re talking about pregnancy. But research...

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

Liverpool's mayor Joe Anderson has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. Anderson has been an outspoken...

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

The Generation Rent pressure group has made a last-ditch argument in favour of keeping the evictions ban, which will lapse at the...

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...

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

Research by the National Residential Landlords Association and the Which? consumer body has revealed that some 53 councils in England alone...

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 has prosecuted five private landlords who failed to get licences for the properties they let out. Oldham council says its...

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

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

Officers from a local council simultaneously staged 10 dawn raids on properties owned by unlicensed landlords. All the terraced homes, in Slough,...

The new body representing short let digital platforms like Airbnb and the large number of associated companies that have sprung up...

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

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

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

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

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

A new piece of legislation has been invoked to ban a landlord from any involvement in the private rental sector for...

safeagent’s Rent Smart Wales training course has been given the scheme’s top ‘High Assurance’ rating following its latest audit. Rent Smart Wales,...

A Shropshire man has become the first in England to be banned from being a landlord.  In a case brought by Telford...

The Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act - which bans fees levied by agents and landlords on tenants - comes into...

Do you know how much your deposits should be? Since June 1 of this year, the government has capped deposits at...

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

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

Six months on from the introduction of stricter licencing for Homes in Multiple Occupation, awareness “remains limited” according to one of...

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

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

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

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

Shock figures released by an insurance company suggest that councils are woefully unable to police new regulations regarding mandatory HMO licensing. Figures...

One of London’s most enthusiastic councils for additional and selective licensing has pushed back the date for enforcement action against landlords...

A council says it has been preparing prosecution and penalty notices “for hundreds of private landlords that have failed to apply...

Since one London local authority introduced private rental sector licensing in 2013 an extra £5,002,203 in council tax has been collected...

There’s less than a week to go to the introduction of new rules broadening the range of houses including in mandatory HMO...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has issued a reminder to the industry of the need to understand and abide by...

The council behind a controversial private rental sector licensing scheme is trying to justify its introduction on health and safety grounds. On...

A local authority has taken the unusual step of naming seven buy to let landlords prosecuted in the past month in...

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

A Bill which is likely to end up banning letting agents’ fees levied on tenants in Wales has been introduced into...

A buy to let investor has been found guilty of 35 HMO-related offences - and has to pay a total fine...

The government has set out new measures to mitigate against overcrowded and dangerous living conditions of private tenants in shared homes. From...

A survey by consumer group Which?, working with landlords’ associations, reveals that 70 local authorities now have selective or additional licensing...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents is reminding its members - and all letting agents - of the need to be...

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

Research by NALS has revealed extensive increases in the cost of licensing of lettings properties and landlords by local authorities in...

Homes in Multiple Occupation produced average yields of 8.9 per cent in 2017, the highest of all buy to let property...

HM Revenue & Customs has launched a consultation on adding tax checks to private rental sector licensing schemes - in other...

This month’s prosecution of a letting agency for issuing ‘sham licences’ that suggested occupiers had no right to challenge eviction and...

Agents and landlords are unwittingly issuing incorrect Section 21 notices, resulting in thousands of pounds being wasted on aborted possession claims...

A student landlord has been fined for failing to obtain the appropriate licences for two rental properties. Lisa Chatfield was ordered to...

A new task group is being set up to explore how a council can tackle what it calls “problems with private...

A group of landlords and buy to let investors that has already successfully persuaded a council to scrap plans for a...

Rent Smart Wales, a controversial scheme that require letting agents to be trained, comes into effect today after a troubled lead...

A landlord has been prosecuted and ordered to pay a £12,000 fine as well as over £12,000 in court costs, after...

With just nine weeks to go before the deadline, only a small proportion of Welsh agents and landlords have registered for...

A landlord operating in Wales has been fined almost £3,000 for failing to renew the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licences...

A company operating a number of buy to let properties has been ordered to pay more than £15,000 by magistrates for...

Yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme is being drawn up with the claim that it will improve standards of...

A consumer group dedicated to reducing tax says recent fiscal changes introduced by the government will end up hurting private rental...

A local council has halted proposals to introduce a licensing regime for a town’s privately let properties after what a newspaper called...

A landlord has become the first to be prosecuted by Waltham Forest council for failing to obtain one of its controversial...

The government should rein in its plans to transform the way Houses in Multiple Occupation are licensed. That is the view of...

Councils that charge landlords for licences solely to collect information on the number of landlords in an area have been accused...

The Residential Landlords Association is calling on MPs to support a measure being proposed in the House of Commons that would...

Two rogue landlords who collected rent from more than 30 tenants in five sub-standard houses all on the same street have...

Barnet is the latest council appearing to edge towards increased private rental sector licensing as it enters the final two weeks...

A letting agency that failed to apply for House of Multiple Occupation licences at three properties in Birmingham has been fined...

Landlords have launched a legal challenge to plans by a local authority to charge for licences to manage properties. The Croydon Guardian...

An amnesty on the licensing of houses in multiple occupation is being held in Barnet in north London following the successful...