Archive

The latest market report from Propertymark’s lettings agents suggests the demand is slowing. The latest data - for March - shows that...

A politician is claiming that second home council tax premiums, where owners pay up to double the normal rate, is resulting...

Average rent arrears claims climbed to £1,816 in the first quarter of this year. That’s a rise of 27% from £1,435 in...

Lettings giant Foxtons has hired merger and acquisition bankers from Rothschild following pressure from shareholders to sell itself for £160m, the...

Seventeen housing organisations have sent an open letter to the government rejecting its idea of prioritising British families when it comes...

There’s growing optimism that tomorrow’s Bank of England monetary policy committee meeting will see base rate held for another month -...

The classified ad website Gumtree is issuing an alert about what it claims is the growing threat of rental fraud. It says...

New figures suggest soaring numbers of tenants are at risk from criminals taking advantage of the tough rental market. Scammers place fake...

Trading Standards has stopped a lettings agency owner from being a company director after he defrauded customers by over £80,000. Francis Smart,...

Jo Eccles, director of London-focussed buying agency and property consultancy Eccord, says she is witnessing some landlords willing to quit the...

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

Propertymark’s latest rental market snapshot shows that since February, the number of new tenants wanting to register on agents’ books has increased...

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, organisations worldwide lose $4.7 trillion to fraud each year, with real estate suffering...

A team of experts has released a report that responds to government reform plans - and it insists that if Section...

Trading Standards is calling for more due diligence checks to be made following the jailing of a rogue letting agent for...

A former lettings agent has been jailed for almost three years after admitting conning landlords out of over £80,000. The sentence for...

Rents have seen the highest jump since records began in 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics. It says UK-wide rents...

A letting agent who stole over £80,000 from landlords is awaiting sentence. Frank Smart - owner of Smart Residential Letting Agents in...

The financial fall out from Purplebricks’ disastrous lettings compliance crisis is likely to be revealed next week. The troubled agency says it...

The sales director of a property investment firm says high house prices, rising interest rates and the broader cost of living...

A rogue tenant occupying a property for up to nine months and refusing to pay rent could cost a combined £10,000...

Rental growth continues to roar ahead across prime areas of London, according to Savills. Prime London rental values increased a further 3.3...

Rental portal Rentd says the pandemic-long decline in the London rental market is now “reversing at speed”. Rental values are climbing annually...

Campaigning charity Shelter says new government figures reveal an increasing number of renters are facing eviction.  And it warns that more renters are...

The Build to Rent sector is being targeted by criminals with a 364 per cent rise in fraudulent tenant applications in...

More and more people are committing tenancy fraud and it’s having a massive impact on the industryAs a lettings agency, you...

Propertymark is telling politicians to stop demonising letting agents and landlords. The unusualy bluntl message has come in response to the latest...

A statement from ARLA Propertymark has hinted that it believes politicians may be out of touch with the reality of how...

There’s a new warning the rental fraud could be on the rise. Due diligence firm Homeppl says the combination of possible job...

A property investment platform has taken the unusual approach of accusing the government of driving up homelessness through its policy of...

An estimated 840,000 private tenants have arrears over the past year since the first eviction ban was announced, according to a...

The pandemic has had a major impact on the student rental market with landlords suffering significant losses of income. A new analysis...

The takeover of Hunters by The Property Franchise Group means the combined operations will manage over 70,000 tenanted properties across the...

A top property law firm is questioning whether the government’s current eviction moratorium - effectively banning evictions until mid-January at the...

Hamptons International has given a rental market forecast for 2021 - and it doesn’t make for happy reading. The agency says the rental...

A leading trade body has broadly welcomed the Winter Economy Plan outlined by Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday, but says this still...

The largest survey yet conducted about rent payments during the pandemic shows the claims of pressure groups about widespread evictions are unfounded. Over...

There’s a warning this morning that the consequences of the Coronavirus crisis mean that rents will fall at least five per...

Buy to let landlords specialising in student accommodation are facing huge challenges with increased government legislation and the impact of Coronavirus. That’s...

Labour’s latest suggestion for the private rental sector - a rent holiday for tenants during the Coronavirus crisis - has been...

Although the worst of the stock market bloodletting triggered by Coronavirus now appears to have gone, franchise agency group Belvoir has...

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

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

There’s been a fierce outcry from Conservative MPs and the lettings industry in response to Labour’s threat to give private rental...

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

New research shows that some buy to let investors in London could typically lose over £19,000 a year if Berlin-style rent...

The head of an automated payment system for the rental sector says lettings agents can help offset losses caused by the...

Cornwall council has confirmed that it’s to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to win compensation for victims of...

Increased use of PropTech by lettings agencies should allow staff to be freed up to engage in all-important face-to-face contact with...

The JLL lettings agency is warning that the five week deposit cap enshrined in the Tenant Fees Act is likely to...

The private rental sector in Wales could be offered incentives and other support to house those most in need, the Welsh...

A call has been made for the government to review the section 8 possession process as part of its call for...

PropTech repairs service Fixflo has published its latest annual report on the industry, based on information from over 400 lettings professionals...

The head of the online lettings agency recently scooped up by Emoov says traditional lettings agents have made a rod for...

There has been a furious response from landlords and tenants to a police letter which says a local force is not...

The chief executive of mydeposits has hit back at a Which? report calling for reform - or possibly even replacement -...

A prominent campaigner for alternatives to traditional rental sector deposits is welcoming the government’s commitment to consider the issue in the...

One of the PropTech companies at the centre of the Rent Recognition Challenge contest is calling on letting agents to use...

The industry has reacted angrily to the announcement yesterday that the Tenants’ Fees Bill is now formally starting its progress through...

Well over half of those investors who recently secured buy to let mortgages risk facing losses when mortgage interest tax changes...

The UK Association of Letting Agents has launched a deal with insurance firm Let Alliance to allow total loss client money...

According to recent government figures, the average letting agent’s fee is £223 and 4.3 million householders pay this amount or thereabouts...

Letting agents across the UK must prepare now for a ban on fees charged to tenants says a PropTech company -...

The majority of MPs speaking at a House of Commons debate yesterday acknowledged they are wary of the 'unintended consequences' of...

Letting agents using insured deposit protection schemes have been urged to switch to a custodial model in order to compensate for...

The Dispute Service (TDS) has announced today that it will provide dispute resolution for a new deposit replacement company.  The 'long-term strategic...

An economics academic says the country’s taxpayers should be “very angry” with the government for failing to collect taxes to which...

The head of the parent firm of mydeposits is warning tenants and landlords tempted to enter into new ‘no-deposit’ schemes to...

ARLA has led a call by many letting agents on hearing the Queen’s Speech - what was the point of a...

The Lettings Hub is broadening its offer to agents by launching a utility management service on top of its traditional referencing...

A legal firm claims up to 70 per cent of eviction notices issued could be defective, leaving agents and landlords open...

A letting agent who stole more than £400,000 from clients has had her sentence appeal dismissed by judges. Amy Williams, who part-owned Williams...

Who are you? I am David d’Orton-Gibson What does it say on your business card? It says I am the Managing Director of an...

Thanks to Accountancy Age for drawing to our attention to the fact that not every country is tightening up on the tax...

Measures which discourage investment in the private rented sector can only push up rents and harm tenants more than landlords, a...

The Residential Landlords Association has launched a new campaign ‘toolkit’ to enable opponents of the proposed buy to let tax changes...