Archive

International research suggests that short lets - Airbnb and similar platforms - cause housing shortages and push up private rents. Research by...

A new HMO and co-living property management platform launches today, aimed at optimising tenancy occupancy.  The service - called COHO - claims...

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

A Labour MP and a newspaper have joined forces to campaign against so-called ‘exempted rental accommodation’. One of Birmingham’s MPs - Jack...

Online lettings company Monkey vs Owl - also known as MOVO - has expanded from a regional and mostly student service...

A lettings firm has been ordered to pay over £18,000 after failing to provide adequate living conditions for his tenants. Chelmsford magistrates...

Airbnb is undertaking a widespread social media campaign in the UK about its attempts to crack down on anti-social behaviour and...

Opposition Labour councillors on a local authority says HMOs should only be let if each bedroom has an en suite bathroom.  The...

A local authority is launching a six month probe into rooms let out but exempt from rental sector regulation. The project is...

Asking rents outside London have hit a new high according to Rightmove’s latest market snapshot. The pressure comes from record demand from...

Much has been made of the backlog of court cases - including landlords’ possession attempts - and now the Ministry of Justice...

New research from Countrywide brand Hamptons International suggest tenants are joining vendors in a trend towards leaving cities and heading for more...

One of the leading figures in the PropTech world is warning that letting agents must not be tempted into charging illegal...

A landlord taken to court by a council has ended up with a bill in excess of £20,000.  Dennis Goodwin of Highbury...

Two London landlords and their lettings agents will have to pay tens of thousands of pounds after a home they were letting...

A new floorpan tool has been launched which its founder claims to be “quicker and easier to use” than predecessors. Agents can add...

The lettings market in Wales reopened almost fully yesterday. ARLA Propertymark, which has analysed the restrictions that were in place until this...

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

A council wants buy to let landlords with one-bed flats or rooms in shared homes to help it find homes for...

Nearly half of households in the private rental sector have regrets about their home according to a survey by the HomeOwners...

Student lettings and management company Uni2 Rent has expanded its business with the acquisition of Nottingham West Lettings, for an undisclosed...

A new renovation start-up is working with letting agents and landlords to allow key workers to use empty rental properties for...

Gas and electrical safety certificates should be extended for six months to cover for the impact of the Coronavirus.  The call comes...

The developers behind the prestigious Television Centre scheme and its nearby White City Place development in west London are showing support...

There’s been a sharp drop in rental churn since the Coronavirus outbreak worsened according to a flat-sharing website. SpareRoom says that across...

It’s easy to forget in the Coronavirus frenzy but from tomorrow, Friday March 20, all tenancies are to become subject to...

A newspaper claims that a short lets management firm that handles properties let on Airbnb and similar platforms is scrambling for...

Two bedroom properties produce the best yields for buy to let investors according to the latest research. Lettings management platform Howsy has...

A survey by lettings agency Carter Jonas has revealed what the firm calls the top priorities for tenants as the 2020s...

A room-finding portal, along with the owners of a London lettings agency and management firm, must pay over £100,000 for letting...

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

Specialist letting agency and property management company Student Housing has had its busiest quarter, it says. The Lincoln-based agency added 30 new...

A company that slots temporary tenants into properties that it manages has been found guilty of 15 charges connected with Homes...

An undercover investigation by the LBC radio station has revealed unscrupulous landlords who expect sex from women tenants in return for...

A compliance consultant has explained why a local council’s penalty on a rogue landlord - initially £31,499 - was slashed to...

A dawn raid by enforcement officers from a London council has discovered 17 men sleeping on mattresses in a three bedroom...

The London Airbnb property management company previously known as AirAgents, has rebranded as Nestor. Established in 2015, AirAgents went on to win...

A lettings agency has marked six months in business by embarking on a £100,000 project to create what it calls its...

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

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

A landlord has been found guilty of failing to license an HMO - and has ended up with a bill of...

As winter is coming, it’s time to think about how to protect your property from damp and mould. This silent assassin...

The cost of renting a room in the UK remained steady during Q3, according to SpareRoom. The country's biggest flatsharing site says...

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

Young adults aged 20 to 29 spend up to a third of their pre-tax income on rent for a room according...

A landlord has been ordered to pay £14,500 after he was found to be illegally letting his property out to 11...

A tenant pretending to be landlord has been ordered to pay more than £21,000 after he carved up five family homes...

Warwick district council has issued its first civil penalty to the landlord of an HMO. Glenn Gamblin, the landlord of the property...

An online room-letting platform claims rents have risen up to eight per cent in wake of the Tenant Fee Act. ideal flatmate...

A rogue landlord has been ordered to pay over £60,000 after - in the words of the council - “being found...

A managing agent and several landlords have been fined almost £5,000 after forcing tenants to live in unacceptable conditions in a...

Controversial London lettings agency Flintons has again been named by a BBC TV programme for allegedly unreasonable behaviour in relation to...

A survey of 500 undergraduates has given a rare insight into what they want as accommodation priorities.  The study, by a landlord...

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

New data looking specifically at room rental rates suggest that across the UK rents rose by an average three per cent...

A new PropTech start-up that claims to make student house-hunting easier is offering free listings to lettings agents with London properties. Polygon...

A national newspaper story suggests that a couple seeking an apartment to rent in Brixton were signed up to the wrong...

Agents and prospective buy to let investors keen to grab a slice of the capital’s growing lettings market now have a...

London’s lettings sector is changing with tenants still wanting to buy but increasingly accepting they must rent for longer in the...

A buy to let investor who hid families in windowless rooms after failing to get planning permission for a block 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 lettings agency has withdrawn a leaflet which featured a woman’s cleavage; the leaflet had been the subject of a complaint...

A rogue lettings agent has been fined over £72,000 after being found guilty of 15 separate offences relating to three illegally established houses...

Foxtons has given a relatively upbeat assessment of the capital’s rental market in its survey of the sector in 2018. It says...

Rental values in prime London show early signs of bottoming out, says Savills, with the annual rate of falls now at...

A lettings agency and its director have been fined a total of £30,000 for failing to licence HMOs and giving sham...

The latest property completed in the ever-growing Build To Rent sector is a 44 storey tower standing at 141 metres tall. The...

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...

There’s been a big rise in the volume of purpose-built student accommodation in the UK, suggesting that the market may be...

A buy to let investor has lost possession of his flat after converting it into an Illegal House in Multiple Occupation...

Three brothers and a property management company have received fines and a confiscation order, and must pay costs, following what a...

There’s been a broad welcome from the industry to new guidance on room sizes on rented homes. The guidance was released just...

In an announcement made just hours before much of the industry started its Christmas break, the government has clarified its guidance...

Online lettings platform HomeRenter says its property listings are now more detailed and more compelling thanks to a new ‘property creation flow’...

New data from online buy to let agency Yieldit claims to give an insight into which property types produce the best...

The website TheHouseShop says it aims to recruit some 30 per cent of the country’s letting agents by the end of...

The party conferences of the two main political parties threw up some interesting developments with regards to housing and the rental...

The Republic of Ireland has adopted new policies requiring owners in 'high housing demand areas' to secure planning consent if they...

A newspaper claims landlords who ‘game’ the current tax regime for short term lets and lodging may be in the firing...

A landlord who rented out an unlicenced HMO has been fined more than £22,000 after the local council found five people...

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

An overcrowded property let by an unlicensed company with inadequate fire precautions and unheated rooms has led to a £46,620 fine...

The landlord of an HMO who subjected his tenants to insanitary and unsafe living conditions has been told he will no...

It is now just three weeks until licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is extended. The new rules, which will require...

A London local authority is looking for the landlord of a bungalow which had two bedrooms but was home to 15...

SDL Group is celebrating its 2,000th tenant in the new but fast-growing Build To Rent sector.  SDL works with developer Sigma Capital Group...

A Build To Rent operator is marking its 2,000th new-build home - an indication of how the sector is starting to...

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

Government plans aimed at stopping the abuse of the current Rent A Room tax perk may overcomplicate the system and deter...

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

An investor has been fined £2,525 after failing to licence her property and allegedly providing inadequate living conditions for her tenants. Adeola...

The government has suggested that it is at least considering changing the terms of its Rent A Room system which could...

Three agencies have been heavily fined after a property in London was being used for multiple occupation with 11 people living...

A consumer group which conducted 30 undercover viewings in five different UK cities claims letting agents are showing potential tenants around...

A buy to let mortgage firm says it’s likely that there will be a spike in refinancing enquiries as landlords meet...

A city council is to investigate the impact of Airbnb and other short let online platforms on the local housing market...

A buy to let investor has ended up with a bill for thousands of pounds after being found guilty of breaching...

A rental sector supplier claims huge numbers of tenants are extremely ignorant of the health and safety issues surrounding their rental...

A lettings agency has been fined over £20,000 for failing to licence an overcrowded semi detached house in London. The fine was...

There’s been a huge 43 per cent rise in the number of London properties registered to be short let on Airbnb...

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

The government’s review into building and fire safety regulations is missing the opportunity to assess fire safety regulations on a wider...

A rogue lettings agency which is no longer trading is to be featured in a TV documentary this evening on Channel...

The Observer newspaper has published a story alleging that a London lettings agency “pressured” prospective tenants into accepting accommodation without viewing...

Spotahome, a London-based student lettings platform, has acquired another platform aimed at students, Erasmusu, in a bid to expand its international...

Three head tenants who sub-let a three bedroom house to 35 men have been hit with over £23,000 in fines. Gheorghe-Valentin Lingurar...

A fake agent who made thousands from letting out rooms that didn’t exist has been arrested - a month after being...

Virtual Staging is about presenting a property in the most appealing way to potential buyers. Many consider virtual staging is deceiving...

The government has announced new minimum space requirements for private lettings in a bid to reduce problems of overcrowding. In addition to...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents and other trade bodies have not yet responded to the government’s announcement over the holiday...

There has been a record number of new student accommodation bed spaces delivered in 2017, with possible consequences for future buy...

A claim has been made that as many as 80 per cent of prospective tenants have been put off renting a...

A senior housing official at Bristol city council says the increasing popularity of Airbnb has had the effect of taking “hundreds”...

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

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has issued a 10 point guide for tenants - with the emphasis very much on...

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

A buy to let investor who kept 24 adults and children in what a local council calls “appalling conditions” has a...

More landlords are quitting conventional letting and resorting to holiday lets or, increasingly, Airbnb-style short lets.    The move is particularly acute in...

A London council is using dawn raids in its clampdown on illegal subletting and on so-called ‘beds in sheds’ where tenants...

The agent behind London’s newest letting opportunity says it’s the most luxurious property in the capital’s most presigious neighbourhood - and...

Prime central London is seeing the rise of the micro-apartment, according to new research, as squeezed accommodation budgets have seen singles...

It is being reported that one of the major providers of purpose-built student accommodation to let - Unite - could temporarily...

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

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

A north London landlord who housed a family of five, including three children, in a cramped attic has been prosecuted by...

A man who rented out rooms above a town centre bar has been banned from being a buy to let landlord...

The landlord of a west London property, described by a judge as a "deathtrap" and an "accident waiting to happen", has...

University Cribs, the student property search engine, is expanding to list accommodation in the London market.    The service says that with its...

A landlord of a shared house in Hove, near Brighton, has been found to be ‘putting people’s lives at risk’ and ordered to pay...

You might not want to read this as you’re tucking into an early Easter egg, but an interiors firm has compiled...

Build To Rent operator Essential Living has won planning consent for 221 new homes in Brentford - part of the firm’s...

There are now over 38,000 active listings of London properties on Airbnb according to a monitoring service that analyses the platform’s...

Labour MP Karen Buck has introduced a 10-minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons to highlight the dangers of Airbnb-style...

It seems prop-tech is exploding at a scary rate, and the latest brands are all trying to grab our attention by...

The Residential Landlords Association has spotted small print from the Budget that may suggest the government is about to review Rent...

A BBC survey claims that private sector landlords are more likely to accept potential tenants who own pets than ones who...

The Loughborough Building Society is launching a Buy For Uni mortgage product seeking to encourage students to buy a home -...

A letting agency which has pleaded guilty of poorly managing a house in multiple occupation has ended up with a bill...

New research has revealed that the vast majority of tenants have experienced problems with damp or poor drainage. A survey of 1,000...

A property investment financing specialist says an increasing number of buy to let investors are converting properties into Houses in Multiple...

Figures from investment company London Central Portfolio suggest that re-lets of older properties to new tenants showed a fall in rents...

Airbnb’s decision to enforce the London-specific legislation which limits hosts to letting their properties for no more than 90 nights a...

Specialist mortgage lender OneSavings Bank is the latest to announce that it is introducing stricter affordability assessments for all new buy...

A major buy to let mortgage provider has eased the criteria to be met by landlord investors who want to borrow...

Affordability pressures in the private rental sector mean that far fewer tenants are now renting properties with spare bedrooms according to...

Damp and mould can mean big problems for landlords, letting agents and tenants. It can cause stress and even health issues...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has responded to the latest government recommendations for tighter controls on the private rental sector...

The landlord of an overcrowded flat which lacked proper fire precautions and had a dangerous boiler has been fined £162,000. Abbas Rasul...

A trade body has accused some letting agents and landlords of “failing to get to grips” with several recent legal changes...

Zoopla has moved into a new headquarters, a 45,000 square foot property adjacent to Tower Bridge in central London.   The new offices...

Two landlords must pay a combined total of over £300,000 following legal action by a central London council.    Westminster council claimed that...

A landlord guilty of breaching a planning enforcement notice has been ordered to pay £700,000 in fines and costs - the...

The Associaton of Independent Inventory Clerks is warning agents and others in the lettings sector to be careful when preparing advertising...

A letting agency has been fined after one of its landlords was found to be cramming six families into an unlicensed...

Average rents in some of the UK's most popular university locations have increased significantly over the last year, according to SpareRoom.co.uk. As...

A pair of landlords have been slapped with a hefty fine for allowing people to live in damp-riddled rooms without fire...

Student accommodation provider Student Cribs has secured £200m in funding from institutions to expand its portfolio - and it’s looking for...

The owner of a series of flats to let in Cardiff has been fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £200 costs...

London agency Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings says student rents have risen by 55.5 per cent over the past 20 years,...

A rogue landlord faces a court bill of almost £40,000 after being caught cramming 24 people into a house in north...

Reports from the United States suggest that Airbnb, which has already created a revolution in short-lets, is considering asking house builders...

Rents for individual rooms to let are rising fastest in Swansea, Bradford, Portsmouth and Swindon, with all of these locations seeing...

Savills is the only organisation with an agency wing represented on the first board of the UK Apartment Association, a new...

A hospitality start-up company claims the Brexit vote adds to uncertainty in the sales market - and it wants vendors to...

The Select Property Group has won planning permission for 506 residential apartments in a prime Manchester city centre location.   The two buildings...

A landlord faces a bill of over £9,000 for putting his tenants at risk of harm.   Jack Kensell of Folkestone was prosecuted...

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

An investment company claims government and councils should do more to stamp out so-called rogue landlords who, it says, are giving...

Average rents for single rooms across the UK increased at a faster rate than those in London, according to spareroom.co.uk. The rental...

A landlord has been fined almost £25,000 for a series of failings relating to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). Birmingham-based Salih...

Institutional investment in purpose built student accommodation has 'polarised' the market, according to Knight Frank's head of student housing. James Pullen says...

A student accommodation specialist is warning about the potential pitfalls of investing in individual student rooms or small pods as opposed...

It’s several weeks on from our story about a local authority setting up its own private letting agency and having only...

A local council has closed down what it describes as a ‘House of Horrors’ let to a family despite being in...

Lettings companies and an organised group of criminals described as a “gang of chancers” have been hit with fines and costs...

A new online offering wants to allow people to let out what it calls ‘dead space’ - in other words, the...

A property company managing an HMO in prime central London has been £47,900. The fine is in relation to 24 charges under...

A letting agent who unlawfully evicted a tenant from a property has been ordered to pay a total of £4,315. Alan Croft...

The highly-publicised attempt by the founder of flat-sharing website SpareRoom to let two rooms from the London home “for what you can...

A landlord who let out dark, damp and overcrowded rooms has been hit with a huge £67,000 fine. Rogue landlord Liakath Ali,...

It’s probably a question you’ve never asked yourself but one online flat sharing agency has calculated the most expensive and the...

A local authority is considering introducing measures to prevent landlords turning family homes in one of its conservation areas into HMOs.  Reading...

The specialist eviction company Landlord Action says it is in full support of the government’s latest proposal to crack down on...

The government is proposing a national minimum bedroom size and a re-defining of what constitutes a House in Multiple Occupation in...

There is uproar in Brighton as a result of students being let rooms in an HMO - despite the property’s owners...

They might be set to squirm in discomfort under Lord Sugar's scrutiny in the boardroom, but Zoopla has revealed the luxurious...

Two of Britain's most controversial landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, claim demand from prospective tenants is at a record high with...

A landlord has received a six month suspended jail sentence, has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service...

The shortage of rental accommodation in some university towns is so great that up to 22 people are competing for every...

Parliament has approved the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 - the regulations which looked in jeopardy after a...

A new lettings sector index to be launched later this month claims new “insight into the UK private rented sector.” The index...

A letting agent in London has ditched the usual euphemisms and gone for the blunt approach by describing rooms to let...

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

Newham Council has reported that in the two and a half years since its licensing scheme came into force it has...

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

The Property Redress Scheme has expelled a letting agency following non-compliance with a redress decision. The complaint regarded a holding deposit. The...

Around 445,000 smoke alarms and 40,000 carbon monoxide alarms have now been issued to the 46 fire and rescue authorities in...

Changes announced to the amount of money ordinary home owners can secure, tax-free, from letting out rooms in their homes have...

I don't think there is one person in lettings and property management who isn't alarmed at the scenes just over the...

Father and son rogue landlords have been fined for failing to register their property as a house in multiple occupancy. Sabbir and...