Archive

The Times has named a member of the City of London’s governing council as a key figure behind rogue letting agencies. Luis...

Airbnb, so often criticised for operating in the largely-unregulated short lets market, has called on the UK government to scrap Section...

Housing is back on the political agenda with a bang. The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper sets out sweeping reforms...

A lettings agency employee who diverted over £50,000 of landlords’ money into his own account has been given a suspended sentence. Paul...

Westminster council wants central London to have the same powers as Paris and Amsterdam to stop anti-social behaviour caused by Airbnb...

ARLA Propertymark has identified a key weakness in the government’s ambitious plans to reform the private rental sector as part of...

The Liberal Democrats have proposed sharp restrictions on holiday rentals at the heart of the party’s plans to solve the housing...

A fake lettings operation has been uncovered by a leading legitimate agency - and now the National Trading Standards Estate and...

Police officers are this week raising awareness among agents about the signs of potential cannabis grows. The campaign is being led in...

Local media in Bournemouth report that a man was stopped by the police when he was seen after dark carrying a...

Media reports in Stoke on Trent say a man was arrested after a police raid on the Homes2Let lettings agency in...

The chief executive of Shelter says the experience of Scotland shows that the scrapping of S21 eviction powers produces benefits that...

Agents need to be diligent regarding the the growth of cannabis in rental properties and the devastating lengths tenants will go to...

A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000.  Lee Clarke, 42,...

A six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, has been handed to a former lettings agent from Eastbourne for charges of...

London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has made a new call for power to cap private rents. He’s claimed that rents in the...

A rogue tenant has tried to bribe two letting agents with hush money after they discovered his cannabis growing factory. Anisi Hamollari,...

A lettings agent has told the BBC that he has spotted illegal rental scams using online platforms, but the police have...

Police were called to a protect outside a lettings firm in Oxfordshire after a crowd picketed the office over a dispute...

Many letting agents fail to conduct the obligatory identity checks on landlord clients according to an industry supplier. Blinc UK says that...

Activists from the Acorn renters' campaign group have held a protest outside a branch of Chancellors in Oxford. The group says the...

A landlord who persistently broke residential lettings rules has been banned from operating in a landmark legal ruling. Julie Stoddern, of Camborne,...

Local media in the Homes Counties report that two arrests were made after police were called by a lettings agency where...

Two letting agents have been ordered to pay £16,000 to a landlord after their activities were found to be unregistered and...

Essex Police Force has tweeted a pair of photographs that go to prove agents should check a property before going on a...

A 24 month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work are the price being paid for an unlawful eviction.  Buy to...

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

A lettings agency has called in the police after a protest involving anti-agent activists demanding compensation for past tenants. The Eastern Daily...

There are growing calls for so-called ‘exempt accommodation’ to face the same controls that are exerted over the rest of the...

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

The This Is Money website is carrying a story of a London rental property where the front door was left open...

A fake lettings agent has been caught trying to cheat prospective tenants out of £1,500 which she claimed was a deposit...

A crooked lettings agent stole almost £30,000 from dozens of clients to prevent his business from going bankrupt. Tim Catherall, of Nottinghamshire,...

A police force is warning potential tenants to check before handing over money after scammers conned people into making rent pre-payments...

West Midlands Police have revealed that a major drugs racket being run by a rogue landlord from his properties in Coventry...

A new report demands that online rental platforms and portals allowing direct advertising by clients do more to deter fake landlords...

A Derbyshire estate agent has escaped a driving ban after being found smoking cannabis in a car. Annabelle Lamb was spotted with...

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

Which? is warning prospective renters to beware scam lettings agencies and scam landlords following a case where £5,600 was conned out...

A law firm is warning that agents and landlords should carefully follow correct procedures if they suspect a rented property is...

The extension to the evictions ban will compound the suffering of victims of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour. That’s the view of...

A buy to let investor who kept a group of men as slaves – making them work 90-hour weeks in return...

A commission investigating affordable homes in the UK has called for annual private sector rent increases to be limited to a...

A shocking case of a buy to let HMO that did not even have a working smoke detector has led to...

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

The West Midlands Police force says it’s secured what it calls a “landmark court order” against a rogue landlord who turned...

A jailed letting agent in a long-running legal saga has now been told she must repay her victims some £43,000 -...

Generation Rent - an outspoken organisation sharply critical of lettings agents and many aspects of the private rental sector - is...

A landlord has been ordered to pay almost £20,000 and has been told by a judge that he was meaner than...

One might have thought that if private rental tenants were as badly treated as some people suggest, housing would be their...

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

A leading trade body says the government’s latest injection of funds to help local councils root out rogue operators in the...

A landlord who made a perverted request to take photographs of a teenager in her underwear has had his request for...

A police force has issued a warning to agents and owners of short-let properties to look for signs of modern slavery...

New analysis by Direct Line for Business reveals a surge in the number of police investigations into the theft of electricity,...

A call has been made for the best letting agencies and other rental sector professionals to show how they comply with...

A joint operation between Avon and Somerset Police and North Somerset council has uncovered a string of issues connected with rental...

Police in South Shields have called for the sharing of information about tenants in HMOs - and a council is considering...

An MP says he will raise with local police chiefs a series of claims from landlords and tenants concerning a lettings...

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents says it backs a new Trading Standards-led body which will enforce the Fees Ban starting  on...

Prospective tenants are being warned about a fraud scam that cons people into paying an advance fee to rent a property. The...

An 18 month probe by different authorities has led to a £4,000 fine for an HMO owner in the Highlands. The local...

The High Court has ruled that the government’s Right to Rent scheme breaches human rights law. Under the Right to Rent landlords are...

The head of a Hertfordshire lettings agency has pleaded guilty to managing a brothel, according to a statement from the police. He’s...

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

Council enforcement officers have raided a house in Wembley, north London, and found 19 tenants paying a landlord £1,000 a week. Brent council’s...

A council accused of paying over £500,000 to a landlord it had already ruled as unfit to rent out property is...

A controversial Labour-controlled local authority which already has 91 per cent of its private rental properties inside licensing schemes is now...

Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of a letting agent who appears not to be in any redress scheme, is being investigated by...

The Daily Mail has reported on a massive buy to let fiddle which involved a £10.8m property empire, rents totalling £500,000...

The owner of a buy to let property already shut by police has been fined by a court in Devon.  In June...

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

Two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales brought no prosecutions against private landlords in 2017/18 according to research by the...

The controversial landlord Fergus Wilson says he has purchased a Body Worn Camera for £75 in a bid to avoid at...

A former City marketing executive is suing a lettings agency for £1.4m in a row over alleged harassment in 2010. Agent Caroline...

A property investment company operating a Ponzi scheme based on claims of capital appreciation and rental income has been shut down...

The head of a lettings agency has refused to sign a pledge document put to him by a protest group - and...

One of Scotland’s top lettings agents is warning of “an air of criminality” in the rental industry north of the border. His...

Two private landlords have been found guilty of managing Houses in Multiple Occupation with dangerous and sub-standard conditions, following a successful...

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

A lettings agent described as ‘rogue’ by a London council, along with two lettings companies, have been heavily fined for operating...

There’s a growing call for more police action over tracing a lettings agent who is apparently missing - as is some...

Shadow housing minister John Healey has given his backing to a Labour MP’s attempt to introduce a mandatory national register for...

The police have launched a fraud probe against a Norfolk estate agency which closed in June.  The Eastern Daily Press (EDP) reports...

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...

The government’s controversial Right To Rent policy is to be challenged in the High Court just before Christmas. It was announced in...

A London council has agreed to a TV crew taking part in a raid on an overcrowded and unlicensed HMO. The surprise...

A London landlord has been ordered to pay over £13,000 for breaching the conditions of his licence as a result of...

The former office manager of an estate agency in Scunthorpe conned her employer out of over £34,000, a court has heard. Local...

A letting agent responsible for a property in Huddersfield which caught fire and killed two young boys has been jailed for...

A respected property lawyer says she wants a change in the law to prevent unscrupulous landlords from offering accommodation in return for sex.  Liz...

A newspaper in Northumbria says local police are treating a fire at a lettings agency as a deliberate arson attack. Police are...

The High Court has this afternoon agreed to allow a judicial review of the government’s Right to Rent policy. Right to Rent...

West Midlands Police and Birmingham council teamed up to investigate a property in the city which was riddled with health and...

Letting agents have responded with enthusiasm to the government’s announcement over the Easter weekend that the industry would in future have...

The government has this morning - Easter Sunday - announced a crackdown on rogue letting agents in the shape of a...

The former owner and director of a Plymouth lettings agency are to stand trial on charges of fraud, false accounting and...

A group of criminals threw a large concrete block through a window to gain access to an estate and letting agency. The...

The director of a lettings agency who who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on holidays and other luxuries...

A man is reported to have launched “a campaign of harassment” against a lettings agent just an hour after signing a...

After the series of anti-buy to let measures contained in recent Budgets, it is perhaps unsurprising that a survey of landlords...

Police officers have seized well over £6,000 worth of cannabis and drug manufacturing equipment after being tipped off by a letting...

A dawn raid on a home in north London has discovered 35 men bedding down on mattresses in every room except...

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

The government is being urged by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) to do more to enforce compulsory fee disclosure. Since May 2015,...

Council officers discovered men living mattress to mattress inside a run-down flat above a commercial premises during a dawn raid.   Police and...

A property campaigner says the failure of the police to investigate a lettings agent who was eventually convicted of fraud after...

An inquest into the suicide of a well known local estate agent in the West Country has heard that there had...

Police in Yorkshire are on the look out for empty rental properties which could be used for ‘sting’ operations tackling burglaries...

Research by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has identified that some 93% of local authorities have failed to issue a...

Media reports suggest the Manchester Arena bomber was renting a short-let property in the centre of the city before he committed...

Another London borough is consulting on a further extension of its existing selective licensing - this time it’s Harrow council. It wants...

The controversial landlord who made provocative remarks about some tenants leaving ‘curry smells’ in his properties is now complaining to the...

A landlady has been fined £15,000 for failing to license and manage a house in multiple occupation.    Sharon Jacobs was also ordered...

The director of a letting agency in Devon has been released on bail until June 2.   In November and December, Letting Agent...

A landlord is facing prosecution for failing to comply with various HMO regulations.  For the last two days, Paul Turner has appeared...

A Prohibition Order has been served on the owner of a flat being let to an elderly couple - one of...

A former administrator at a Savills letting office has admitted embezzling around £16,000 from the firm over a five and a...

No fewer than 14 ‘pop up brothels’ have been discovered in one seaside town in six months, with all of them...

A leading personal finance journalist - and a former editor of Landlord Today - has used the columns of right wing...

A local newspaper says a Plymouth lettings agent has been arrested by police on suspicion of theft, fraud and money laundering.    Last...

A letting agent whose office closure prompted a police investigation has issued a statement saying she has had a stroke.   The agency, Drake...

The Residential Landlords Association has roasted the enforcement policies and provisions for the controversial Rent Smart Wales initiative which begins in...

Specialist Build To Rent developer Moda has announced a large scheme on the site of a former police headquarters in Scotland...

Three men have received prison sentences of up to 28 months after a nationwide lettings scam was unearthed by trading standards...

A Norwich landlord has been prosecuted “for putting lives at risk” according to the local council.  Piang Fui Pun has pleaded guilty...

The Thames Valley Police says it wants to speak to a man in connection with an investigation in which a number of...

The problem of cannabis ‘farmers’ using privately rented properties to mass-produce the drug is at its worst in the West Midlands,...

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a letting agency was broken into over the weekend.   At some point between 4.30pm...

A landlord who illegally converted a house to squeeze 28 tenants into just seven rooms has been handed a £20,000 fine...

There has been yet another prosecution over an unsafe house in multiple occupation.   Syed Masum Ali appeared in Stafford Magistrates Court and...

There was a series of raids on HMOs led by a local authority early one morning at the end of last...

A landlord has been prosecuted for both illegal sub-letting and illegal eviction at the same time - an occurrence which is...

The Residential Landlords’ Association has revealed what it calls “worryingly low levels of enforcement of rented housing regulations” by local authorities. Using...

A letting agency is being investigated by a local council and the police after it closed suddenly last month. Dukes Letting Department,...

A tenant has been found guilty of an assault of a letting agency staff member and has been ordered to do...

A London lettings has tweeted that it does not share the view of one of its own branch managers who said...

No action is to be taken over a lettings agency which has closed leaving landlords and tenants with a reported combined loss...

Police in Scotland are clamping down on what they call “gangster landlords” who are using the lettings sector for money laundering.  A...

A letting agency that has been the subject of a BBC investigation and has gone into liquidation in controversial circumstances has...

Letting agents are being urged to help tackle what the police are calling “modern slavery” happening in communities across Britain.  Modern slavery...

A letting agent featured on a BBC Watchdog ‘Rogue Traders’ show has told a local newspaper that he is pursuing legal...

One council’s attempt to crack down on rogue landlords has been branded a "complete failure" because half of its HMOs are...

A series of raids on privately let properties in the westcountry appear to have taken place as a way of holding...

New legislation designed to reform Scotland’s private rental sector could make it harder for agents and landlords to tackle anti-social behaviour...

A police force is appealling to landlords and letting agents to allow their void privately-let properties to be used as potential...

Letting Agent Today last week reported on Lancaster Property Network Management when it went into voluntary liquidation - now the agency...

Elgin Management letting agency in Liverpool is warning tenants following an incident when a bogus letting agent entered the home of...

The manager of a Lancaster letting agency dealing chiefly with students says he will co-operate with any police investigation into his...

A letting agent is reported to have lied to police about his name when he was tracked down by officers investigating...

Right To Rent immigration checks is leading to a situation where lawful tenants are being refused housing according to the Residential...

A letting agent who fled Britain to India, leaving landlords and tenants out of pocket and his staff’s wages unpaid, has...

The police says it is continuing to investigate the disappearance of 59-year-old Alec Warburton, a Swansea landlord. Detectives are carrying out a...

Enforcement officers have swooped on three addresses in east London in the latest bid to clampdown on rogue landlords and so-called...

The owner of a Leeds lettings agent fought back when masked men armed with a hammer, baton and metal bar raided...

Police say a man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following the closure of east of England letting agency Kirby...

There have been angry scenes at a consultation meeting as a local authority seeks to extend its licensing scheme - thought...

Fergus Wilson, the controversial buy to let guru who reportedly owns around 1,000 rental properties, is to stand for Police and...

Mystery surrounds the fate of Kirby Property Management, a letting agency with offices at Cambourne, Cambridge and St Neots in the...

The police have told letting agents and landlords that they are in a unique position to spot - and prevent -...

A local authority has refused to issue a private landlord licence after it was revealed the applicant had a conviction for...

An assistant lettings agency manager in Pinner, Middlesex, has been praised by police after her brave response to witnessing an elderly...

Channel 5 tomorrow airs the first episode of Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords, a six-part series which starts with the story of...

A north of England letting agent has made an outspoken attack on “bad tenants’ who hide behind apparent “legal loopholes.” Tariq Zarin...

An agent wrongly accused of fraud has described the “hell” he went through following allegations that money had been stolen from...

A landlord has been jailed for four years for cultivating cannabis. Sixty-year-old James Sullivan was thought to have been overseeing the cultivation...

Landlords and agents are being warned to remain vigilant as new figures reveal the extent of cannabis cultivation in the UK.  Direct...

"Stop right there. Hands above your head. Don't move. Mavis, dial 999." Mr D Smith (MARLA, NFoPP) removes his Glock 19...

A landlord was punched and kicked by a tenant and then had a bowl of spaghetti thrown at his head.  Rashid Bomedian,...