Inventories are a key tool to ensuring they, and the properties they let, comply with the law. That’s the claim from industry...
Archive
04 April 2022
From: Breaking News

A lettings agency employee who diverted over £50,000 of landlords’ money into his own account has been given a suspended sentence. Paul...
08 February 2022
From: Breaking News

A major Select Committee of MPs has launched an enquiry into so-called exempt rental sector accommodation - a niche sector that...
09 December 2021
From: Breaking News

A six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, has been handed to a former lettings agent from Eastbourne for charges of...
16 September 2021
From: Breaking News

A London council has secured banning orders against rogue property agents who were previously fined over £70,000 for letting an unlicensed...
28 May 2021
From: Breaking News

There are just two weeks left for letting agents to register with HM Revenue & Customs if they want to be...
27 May 2021
From: Breaking News

A landlord who persistently broke residential lettings rules has been banned from operating in a landmark legal ruling. Julie Stoddern, of Camborne,...
08 March 2021
From: Breaking News

There are growing calls for so-called ‘exempt accommodation’ to face the same controls that are exerted over the rest of the...
21 December 2020
From: Breaking News

A Labour MP and a newspaper have joined forces to campaign against so-called ‘exempted rental accommodation’. One of Birmingham’s MPs - Jack...
30 November 2020
From: Breaking News

Three lettings agents who kept tenants’ rent instead of passing it to the landlords have been ordered to pay almost £100,000...
30 October 2020
From: Breaking News

A local authority is launching a six month probe into rooms let out but exempt from rental sector regulation. The project is...
22 October 2020
From: Breaking News

A crooked lettings agent stole almost £30,000 from dozens of clients to prevent his business from going bankrupt. Tim Catherall, of Nottinghamshire,...
28 September 2020
From: Breaking News

Media reports from Gateshead claim two brothers opened fire on a lettings agency with an air pistol when they were told they...
11 August 2020
From: Breaking News

A buy to let investor has been sentenced to two years in prison after claiming income support despite being a professional portfolio...
03 August 2020
From: Breaking News

A landlord from Plymouth has been sentenced after failing to maintain gas appliances and failing to have landlord’s gas safety checks...
18 March 2020
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been ordered to pay back no less than £190,000 - equivalent to nine years’ rent - after he...
27 February 2020
From: Breaking News

A jailed letting agent in a long-running legal saga has now been told she must repay her victims some £43,000 -...
25 February 2020
From: Breaking News

A former letting agent has been censured over the handling of tenancy deposits following an investigation by a local council. Andrew Rhys...
10 February 2020
From: Breaking News

A London council tenant who for a period of seven years failed to disclose that he owned three houses, has been...
29 January 2020
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been banned for two and half years after repeatedly putting tenants’ lives at risk by letting unsafe housing. This...
18 December 2019
From: Breaking News

Number 10 briefings to the national media suggest that the scrapping of Section 21 - long talked about by the previous...
17 December 2019
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been ordered to pay almost £20,000 and has been told by a judge that he was meaner than...
10 December 2019
From: Breaking News

A north of England letting agent who conned home owners out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to pay it back...
12 November 2019
From: Breaking News

Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...
18 October 2019
From: Breaking News

New analysis by Direct Line for Business reveals a surge in the number of police investigations into the theft of electricity,...
17 October 2019
From: Breaking News

Energy market regulator Ofgen is considering an amnesty for tenants and landlords, amongst others, to own up to ‘stealing’ energy through...
23 August 2019
From: Breaking News

A man who claimed he needed a council house but was actually a landlord has been ordered to pay back more...
07 August 2019
From: Breaking News

New guidance from the government on its controversial Right To Rent scheme would see agents and landlords breaking the law if...
05 August 2019
From: Breaking News

Both sides of the Right To Rent debate are squaring up for their latest court battle. Earlier this year the High Court...
11 July 2019
From: Breaking News

The number of landlords admitting to not paying tax has soared in the past year, according to new data. During 2018/2019, 16,110...
08 July 2019
From: Breaking News

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have been given a message from a consortium of groups this morning - Scrap Right To...
24 June 2019
From: Breaking News

A landlord who illegally converted a London home into two flats without planning permission has been given a prison sentence after...
20 June 2019
From: Breaking News

More nightmare tenants have been the subject of investigation in a Channel 5 TV programme to be shown this evening. In the...
17 June 2019
From: Breaking News

A London council has won one of the largest-ever Proceeds of Crime claims from an unscrupulous buy to let investor. Andre Charles Trepel,...
02 May 2019
From: Breaking News

Cornwall council has confirmed that it’s to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to win compensation for victims of...
25 April 2019
From: Breaking News

A buy to let investor who hid families in windowless rooms after failing to get planning permission for a block of...
28 March 2019
From: Breaking News

A crooked letting agent took £220,000 from tenants and landlords and has been exposed as buying a home in Florida, renting...
18 March 2019
From: Breaking News

A landlord who left his tenant homeless after changing the locks while he was on holiday has been hit with a...
19 February 2019
From: Breaking News

A buy to let investor who converted three family homes to HMOs without securing planning permission has been jailed for falsifying...
18 February 2019
From: Breaking News

The National Approved Lettings Scheme has taken the unusual step of commenting on, and welcoming, the outcome of a court case...
01 February 2019
From: Breaking News

A crooked lettings agent who illegally pocketed tenants’ deposits to pay for his gambling addiction and lavish lifestyle has been convicted...
24 December 2018
From: Breaking News

A court has ordered a husband and wife pair of buy to let investors to pay back £322,282 in illegal income. A...
18 December 2018
From: Breaking News

A couple from east London who illegally converted a town centre office block into 14 flats have been ordered to pay...
10 December 2018
From: Breaking News

A notorious rogue landlord must pay £1.5m or risk spending up to nine years in prison after what is thought to...
06 December 2018
From: Breaking News

We regularly carry stories about fines for landlords and letting agents who have apparently broken council or national laws - but...
26 November 2018
From: Breaking News

Luton landlord Mervyn Kupshik has been ordered to pay nearly £30,000 to the Local council - and if he doesn’t do...
19 November 2018
From: Breaking News

A man who submitted false VAT returns for the Lincoln franchise branch of Martin & Co for a period of six...
08 October 2018
From: Breaking News

The landlord of an HMO who subjected his tenants to insanitary and unsafe living conditions has been told he will no...
13 September 2018
From: Breaking News

A self-employed gas fitter has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after he carried out unsafe gas work while falsely...
06 August 2018
From: Breaking News

A respected property lawyer says she wants a change in the law to prevent unscrupulous landlords from offering accommodation in return for sex. Liz...
10 July 2018
From: Breaking News

A head tenant who changed the locks on a property that was illegally sublet to no fewer than 35 men has...
22 June 2018
From: Breaking News

The cash value of tenancy deposits crooked landlords and letting agents have been convicted of pocketing in 2018 has already passed...
27 February 2018
From: Breaking News

The director of a lettings agency who who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on holidays and other luxuries...
16 February 2018
From: Breaking News

A fake agent who made thousands from letting out rooms that didn’t exist has been arrested - a month after being...
01 February 2018
From: Breaking News

A letting agent has been spared jail despite stealing over £7,600 from tenants to subsidise his failing business. Simon Cawley, from Kingsbridge...
29 January 2018
From: Breaking News

A representative of the Landlords’ Union has posted an apology on the Property118 website for accidentally using a photograph of the...
23 January 2018
From: Breaking News

Crooked letting agents and landlords have raided close to £1m from tenancy deposit accounts in 2017, new figures show. Campaigning agent Ajay Jagota,...
29 December 2017
From: Breaking News

A buy to let property owner has received a four month prison sentence for letting out a property he had already...
22 December 2017
From: Breaking News

The owner of a property firm who reportedly misled tenants and let an illegally converted property has been jailed for 155...
29 November 2017
From: Breaking News

Crooked letting agents have been convicted of stealing almost £700,000 of tenants’ deposits in the first half of 2017. Campaigning letting agent...
27 July 2017
From: Breaking News

An agency staff member has received a suspended prison sentence after stealing £11,500 in unclaimed deposits from a branch of Connells. Amy...
02 May 2017
From: Breaking News

A body representing 370 councils in England and Wales wants the government to close a legal loophole which allows the conversion...
12 April 2017
From: Breaking News

A letting agent has been jailed for keeping more than £15,000 in client deposits. Thirugnanaselvam Damayantharan ran See Own Properties in Purley and...
04 April 2017
From: Breaking News

The Residential Landlords’ Association has written to an immigration minister to express its concern over possible ‘further sanctions’ for landlords who...
30 March 2017
From: Breaking News

A convicted Surrey letting agent who used his clients’ money to cover his business debts has been ordered to pay £25,000...
23 February 2017
From: Breaking News

A report out today claims foreigners and Britons without passports, particularly from ethnic minorities, are being discriminated against in the lettings...
13 February 2017
From: Breaking News

A fraudster has been jailed after being convicted on nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery relating to property firms which...
09 February 2017
From: Breaking News

A letting agency specialising in student accommodation in Nottingham city centre and its director have admitted a series of breaches of...
23 January 2017
From: Breaking News

The landlord of a property risked the lives of his tenants and their young family by not undertaking annual safety checks...
19 December 2016
From: Breaking News

New parts of the Immigration Act 2016 come into effect today, consolidating the Right To Rent regulations that came into effect...
01 December 2016
From: Breaking News

Three men have received prison sentences of up to 28 months after a nationwide lettings scam was unearthed by trading standards...
20 October 2016
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been given a suspended prison sentence following his failure to maintain or check the gas fittings in one of his properties. A...
20 October 2016
From: Breaking News

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has responded to the latest government recommendations for tighter controls on the private rental sector...
19 October 2016
From: Breaking News

A man who posed as a letting agent to swindle landlords and tenants has been jailed for just over two years. Legal...
02 August 2016
From: Breaking News

A landlord who waged what a local authority describes as “a war of intimidation” against tenants living in his property has...
19 July 2016
From: Breaking News

A letting agent who scammed dozens of tenants and landlords out of more than £220,000 of rents and deposits has been...
29 June 2016
From: Breaking News

A former letting agent has received a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to ten counts of fraud. Nicholas Dowse, also known...
23 May 2016
From: Breaking News

A leading trade body says it’s time for the private rental sector to take gas safety more seriously following a spate...
11 May 2016
From: Breaking News

A warning is being issued that the types of mortgages still being extended to buy to let investors risks them becoming...
10 May 2016
From: Breaking News

A chef who is reported to have battered a letting agent over the head with a cricket bat in a row...
10 May 2016
From: Breaking News

A 24-year-old from Luton has been jailed after being found guilty of six counts of fraud in relation to obtaining properties...
28 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A letting agent who closed his New Malden firm leaving 17 landlords some £27,000 out of pocket has been jailed for...
26 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A landlord has received a suspended six month prison sentence after he ignored repeated warnings about arranging an annual gas safety...
26 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A managing agent who tried to force out his tenants by filling the stopcock chamber with cement so that they would...
25 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A lettings agency in south London has been found to be the front for a cannabis growing operation, with drugs grown...
19 April 2016
From: Breaking News

An unregistered gas fitter has been received a suspended prison sentence for illegally installing a gas boiler and undertaking landlord’s gas...
07 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A London landlord has been given an eight week suspended prison sentence after failing to have a gas boiler in a...
22 March 2016
From: Breaking News

The Local Government Association says recent prosecutions show that councils are cracking down on illegal evictions by landlords and their agents...
01 February 2016
From: Breaking News

The Right to Rent legislation rolls out in February 2016, so all landlords and letting agents in England must check the...
19 January 2016
From: Sponsored Content

An opinion poll's findings, released to back up a call for tougher controls in the private rental sector, suggests 71 per...
24 September 2015
From: Breaking News

Right To Rent immigration checks is leading to a situation where lawful tenants are being refused housing according to the Residential...
07 September 2015
From: Breaking News

Letting agents and property managers of blocks with fire doors are being urged to take their responsibilities more seriously. The warning comes...
02 September 2015
From: Breaking News

There has been a mixed reaction to the government’s announcement that agents and landlords face jail if they fail to conduct...
04 August 2015
From: Breaking News

Agents and landlords who fail to identify and evict tenants who are illegal immigrants face up to five years in jail...
03 August 2015
From: Breaking News

A student landlord has been sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay over £12,400 after pleading guilty to...