Scotland needs to match Labour’s English housebuilding target to tackle the country’s housing emergency according to a high profile lettings agency...
Archive
12 July 2024
From: Breaking News
![Call for a new Ministry of Housing with long-term minister](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/AgentHouseInHand_400x310.png)
The next Government should create a separate Ministry of Housing and encourage MPs of all parties to work together to solve...
24 June 2024
From: Breaking News
![Buy To Let investors compete with owner occupiers - Nationwide](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/Buy-to-let-2-400x310.png)
Owner occupiers have been competing with landlords in the battle to purchase smaller properties, new figures show. Smaller properties are often preferred...
02 January 2024
From: Breaking News
![Radical EPC rating B target demanded by business consortium](/upload/images/_EPC6-400x310.png)
A business consortium is calling for bold measures to encourage landlords and owner occupiers to retrofit their homes, with the introduction...
24 October 2023
From: Breaking News
![More tenants struggling to pay rent - government figures](/upload/images/shutterstock_424330099.jpg)
More people are struggling to pay their rent according to a new government survey. The study, by the Office for National Statistics,...
12 September 2023
From: Breaking News
![EPCs and Energy Efficiency - Agents' five point plan for change](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/_EPC5-400x310.png)
Propertymark has set out a five point plan to improve the status and usefulness of the Energy Performance Certificate and to...
18 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Large numbers of HMOs “scare” home owners - MP’s claim](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/BTR%20and%20affordable%20housing%20-%20By%20Andy%20Jones%20Property%20Investor%20Today%20BuildToRent-400x310.png)
An MP says owner occupiers are “scared, unable to sleep at night, worried about their safety and even concerned about whether...
11 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Propertymark's legal plea to government - ‘be fair to rental sector’](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/PropertyNews-400x310.png)
Propertymark has issued another plea to the government to be fair to the private rental sector - this time regarding a...
03 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Evictions set to take longer and cost more from today](/upload/images/shutterstock_1783457318.jpg)
The new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service kicks in today - it offers early legal advice, free of charge, to anyone...
01 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Stricter EPCs - Rightmove warns it could take DECADES to retrofit](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/Low_EPC-400x310.png)
A new analysis by Rightmove suggests it could take literally decades for the private rental sector to conform with stricter energy...
28 July 2023
From: Breaking News
![Chancellor’s Crisis Meeting - pleas for rental help mount](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/Tenant_Dispute-400x310.png)
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is today charing a crisis meeting of mortgage lenders, as calls mount for him to take action to...
23 June 2023
From: Breaking News
![Eco-experiment with zero interest loans for ‘greener’ homes](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/GreenEnvironment-400x310.png)
The Nationwide Building Society is embarking on an experiment - at first for owner occupiers only - which may be extended...
22 May 2023
From: Breaking News
![Mortgage rates could fall by a quarter despite latest rise - claim](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/MortgageRatesdecrease_400x310.png)
Interest rates may be on the way up right now following the latest Bank of England decision but there’s good news...
03 February 2023
From: Breaking News
07 December 2022
From: Breaking News
![Solar panel installations boom in push for improved EPCs](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/EPC-2-400x310.png)
As energy prices have increased 70 per cent in the UK this year, so more homeowners have fitted small-scale solar panel...
17 November 2022
From: Breaking News
![Warning that renters will have poorer retirement than owner occupiers](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/Over55Tenant-400x310.png)
There’s a warning that renters are likely to endure a less affluent retirement than owner occupiers. Business consultancy Hargreaves Lansdown says 16.3...
07 October 2022
From: Breaking News
![OnTheMarket’s new features aim to boost lettings pipelines and leads](/upload/images/library/SearchingPropertyOnline-400x310.png)
OnTheMarket Group says new functionality coming in the autumn will improve letting agents’ client relationships while generating leads and developing their...
02 September 2022
From: Breaking News
![Agents told to encourage landlords to better energy-efficiency](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/EnergyEfficiency-2-400x310.jpg)
Propertymark says the new boiler upgrade scheme, which comes into effect this week, is an opportunity for letting agents to promote...
26 May 2022
From: Breaking News
![Stop Sniping At Private Renting! Agency chief tells politicians to stop](/upload/images/Locations/ScotlandFlag400x310.png)
The coming year should be about promoting harmony in the lettings market says the head of an agency that’s now part of a...
04 January 2022
From: Breaking News
![Heatpump proposals may be hot air, suggests PropTech platform](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/GreenEnvironment-400x310.png)
PropTech investment platform Houzen has raised concerns over the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy. This is the satrategy that offers rental sector...
01 November 2021
From: Breaking News
![Energy Crisis: Almost two thirds of homes have relatively poor EPCs](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/EnergyEfficiency-1-400x310.jpg)
As energy efficiency becomes increasingly key for the private rental sector and owner occupiers alike, new data from PropTech firm Sprift...
19 October 2021
From: Breaking News
![Rise in investor demand for properties to continue, predicts Zoopla](/upload/images/Logos/ZooplaNewLogo2016-400x310.jpg)
There’s been a 21 per cent rise in demand for properties from buy to let investors according to a new analysis...
26 August 2021
From: Breaking News
![Climate Change Targets: Agents demand cash help for rental sector](/img/default/lat.png)
Propertymark says new figures detailing the costs of energy efficiency improvements in the private rental sector show the need for a...
16 July 2021
From: Breaking News
![Big rise in energy efficiency of private rented homes says government](/img/default/lat.png)
The latest English Housing Survey shows a dramatic rise in the energy efficiency of private rental property. Some 38 per cent of...
09 July 2021
From: Breaking News
![Is the private rental sector in retreat?](/img/default/lat.png)
A new analysis of the private rental sector suggests it was reducing in size for some years before the pandemic. Nationwide’s specialist...
04 May 2021
From: Breaking News
![Letting agent tells of “heartbreaking” need for affordable homes](/img/default/lat.png)
A letting agent in Cornwall has told local TV how she finds herself in ”heartbreaking” situations because of the lack of...
27 April 2021
From: Breaking News
![Agents demand radical overhaul of eco-targets for rental sector](/img/default/lat.png)
Agents and other industry players have penned an open letter to government demanding a radical overhaul of targets for energy efficiency in the...
07 April 2021
From: Breaking News
![Renters more likely than ever to remain in lettings sector](/img/default/lat.png)
New research suggests even those renters who want to be owner occupiers are likely to remain in the lettings sector in the...
01 February 2021
From: Breaking News
![New fire and smoke alarm laws delayed until early 2022](/img/default/lat.png)
The Scottish Parliament has postponed new fire and smoke alarm legislation for 12 months. This move, by its local government committee, follows...
23 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![Buy to let investors urged to act before stamp duty benefit wanes](/img/default/lat.png)
A specialist buy to let mortgage broker is urging prospective investors to buy sooner rather than later if they want to...
21 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![Agents' warm welcome for £5,000 Green Homes Grant scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents has given a warm welcome to this week’s news that buy to let investors as...
10 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![Total ban on evictions for three months, with blessing of trade groups](/img/default/lat.png)
The government has announced a complete ban on evictions in the private and social sectors for any tenant affected by the...
19 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![Clampdown on lettings agents triggered by MPs’ own experiences - claim](/img/default/lat.png)
A prominent member of the House of Lords has given a surprising insight into how the fiscal and regulatory clampdown on...
30 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Shelter’s latest attack on private rental sector rejected by industry](/img/default/lat.png)
There’s been an angry response by the rental sector following the latest attack by campaigning charity Shelter. The organisation claims that private...
15 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Almost half of renters believe they will never own a home](/img/default/lat.png)
Some 45 per cent of those who don’t yet own a home think they never will, according to a new report. While...
19 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Tenants’ biggest election issue? Well, it’s not housing...](/img/default/lat.png)
One might have thought that if private rental tenants were as badly treated as some people suggest, housing would be their...
18 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Over a third of tenants say: We’ll be renting for life](/img/default/lat.png)
Around 40 per cent of tenants currently in the private rental sector believe they will never be able to buy their...
06 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Warning of rocketing rents as buy to let investors quit the sector](/img/default/lat.png)
A trade body says the private rental sector is facing a major crisis - more landlords are selling properties than buying...
25 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
![Oops - tenants less likely to vote, despite politicians wooing Generation Rent](/img/default/lat.png)
It may seem as if governments and councils are falling over themselves to change the private rental sector to win the...
23 August 2019
From: Breaking News
![New redress scheme 'must be free for renters' insists consumer group](/img/default/lat.png)
The government’s new redress system, announced last week and to be implemented later this year, must be free for renters to...
30 January 2019
From: Breaking News
![Up to 90 S21 notices to be issued this week by controversial landlord](/img/default/lat.png)
The man who is arguably Britain’s most controversial landlord - Fergus Wilson - is likely to be issuing up to 90...
15 January 2019
From: Breaking News
![Owners turning to rental sector in bid to be ‘chain-free’ says agent](/img/default/lat.png)
Former owner occupiers who want to be ‘chain-free’ if they buy again are pouring into the private rental sector according to...
13 December 2018
From: Breaking News
![Airbnb planning consent - could it cross the water and happen here?](/img/default/lat.png)
The Republic of Ireland has adopted new policies requiring owners in 'high housing demand areas' to secure planning consent if they...
01 November 2018
From: Breaking News
![Late November date for MPs to debate tenants' Creditworthiness Bill](/img/default/lat.png)
The second reading of the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill is to take place in the House of Commons on November 23 -...
31 October 2018
From: Breaking News
![Tory voters want S21 eviction powers scrapped, claims pressure group](/img/default/lat.png)
Generation Rent, the controversial pressure group campaigning alongside Shelter and others for the scrapping of landlords’ rights to evict under Section...
29 August 2018
From: Breaking News
![Online platform urges landlords to handle viewings to avoid agents](/img/default/lat.png)
An online property platform that last year said tenants prefer to deal directly with landlords has returned to the theme with...
14 June 2018
From: Breaking News
![Another £1.4m of public funding for PropTech 'help tenants buy' projects](/img/default/lat.png)
The government says that later this year it will allocate a further £1.4m to PropTech firms looking at how tenants’ rent...
21 March 2018
From: Breaking News
![BTL investors who sold last year made an average £86,651 - Countrywide](/img/default/lat.png)
The average landlord who sold their rental property in 2017 did so for £86,651 more than they paid for it, having...
12 March 2018
From: Breaking News
![New parliamentary bid to have rent records added to credit ratings](/img/default/lat.png)
Lord John Bird, the founder of Big Issue, is tomorrow launching his own Bill in the House of Lords in a...
23 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Nationwide warns that Brexit could cut demand for rental units](/img/default/lat.png)
The Nationwide has set out a comprehensive study of how migrstion impacts on housing demand in the UK, especially in the...
02 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Under-35s pay approaching half the UK's total rent bill, says Savills](/img/default/lat.png)
The increasing number of renters and low interest rates for existing home owners mean that the total rent bill is now...
04 October 2017
From: Breaking News
![Big rise in mortgage choice for buy to let and owner occupier sectors](/img/default/lat.png)
The number of mortgage products has more than doubled over the past two years, according to new data released by sourcing...
12 July 2017
From: Breaking News
![The Great Buy To Let Debate 2017 - who said what](/img/default/lat.png)
Letting Agent Today’s Conor Shilling was in the audience of The Great Buy To Let Debate - always one of the...
01 March 2017
From: Breaking News
![Agents back beefed-up campaign against changes to mortgage tax relief](/img/default/lat.png)
The campaigners against planned changes to mortgage interest tax relief - set to come into effect from April, phased over four...
29 December 2016
From: Breaking News
![Private rental arrears less than half the rate of owner-occupiers](/img/default/lat.png)
The proportion of private landlords in arrears is substantially under half the proportion of owner occupiers in the same position according...
01 December 2016
From: Breaking News
![ARLA speaks out against council's possible ban on To Let boards](/img/default/lat.png)
Earlier this month we reported on Belfast council’s decision to open a public consultation on whether To Let boards should be...
16 November 2016
From: Breaking News
![Vote of confidence for buy to let despite Brexit uncertainties](/img/default/lat.png)
A major survey has given a vote of confidence to buy to let despite the wave of fiscal, political and economic...
08 November 2016
From: Breaking News
![Housing minister claims buy to let tax changes will create a fairer system](/img/default/lat.png)
Housing minister Brandon Lewis has backed the raft of measures seen by many as anti-buy to let, including the restriction on...
21 April 2016
From: Breaking News
![Tory peer launches damning critique on government buy to let attacks](/img/default/lat.png)
A Conservative peer has criticised the government's ongoing attacks on the private lettings industry saying that the Cameron administration should be...
18 March 2016
From: Breaking News
![Every UK region will see rental sector growth in next decade - PwC](/img/default/lat.png)
All regions of the UK will see falling owner-occupation levels and more private renting over the next decade, with particular rises...
29 February 2016
From: Breaking News
![Bank of England preparing new buy to let mortgage controls](/img/default/lat.png)
It appears almost certain that the Bank of England is preparing for new mortgage controls in a bid to dampen what...
02 December 2015
From: Breaking News
![Choices chief condemns lack of 'level playing field' on BTL tax breaks](/img/default/lat.png)
The chairman of Choices letting agency says the government is wrong to say its proposed tax changes will create a level...
14 October 2015
From: Breaking News
![Private rental sector now 22% of UK households, claims think tank](/img/default/lat.png)
The private rental sector accounts for 22 per cent of all households in the UK according to a think tank. In an...
06 October 2015
From: Breaking News
17 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Industry thumbs-down to Green Deal scrapping](/img/default/lat.png)
Lettings chiefs have responded with disappointment to the government’s announcement that it is scrapping the Green Deal. The scheme offered cashbacks and...