Insurance giant Aviva is urging consumers to be on their guard after seeing a seven per cent increase in customer claims...
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![Timetables demanded for smoke alarm and electrical safety changes](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/Propcert%20March%20blog%202%20-%20Why%20carbon%20monoxide%20alarms%20are%20important%20.jpg)
Propertymark has responded to two consultations on the proposals to introduce electrical safety standards and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in...
22 December 2023
From: Breaking News
![Labour complains about asylum seeker HMOs being unlicensed](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/_licensing-400x310.png)
The Labour-run London Assembly says it is concerned about government plans to allow landlords to house asylum seekers for two years without...
28 June 2023
From: Breaking News
![Over £25,000 fine for property management firm boss](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/Fine-3-400x310.png)
The head of a property management company has been fined £25,800 after serious safety issues were discovered at a shared house...
16 March 2023
From: Breaking News
![Rental Revolution Tomorrow - new contracts issued for lettings agents](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/LegalAdvice-400x310.png)
A new lettings regime that is described as the biggest change in many decades comes into effect tomorrow in Wales, with...
30 November 2022
From: Breaking News
![Agents Ultimate Guide to next month’s new alarms laws](/upload/images/library/Carbon-monoxide-alarm400x31.png)
The law around the requirement for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in rental properties will change in England on October 1. Propertymark...
05 September 2022
From: Breaking News
![Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm changes start in seven weeks time](/upload/images/Miscellaneous/FireSafetyInBlock-695x395.png)
Yet another revision to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations takes effect from October 1 - that’s just under...
15 August 2022
From: Breaking News
![Updated guidance for agents on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms](/upload/images/Developments%20%26%20Projects/Construction%20and%20Maintenance/Alarm-400x310.png)
The government has issued detailed guidance ahead of a change in the law around smoke and carbon monoxide alarms coming into...
01 August 2022
From: Breaking News
![Propertymark group lobbying politicians ahead of rental reforms](/upload/images/Locations/WalesFlag-400x310.jpg)
Propertymark has set up a working group of experts, agents, landlords and stakeholders in response to radical reforms to the private...
18 July 2022
From: Breaking News
![Essential to involve agents and landlords in reform - agency chief](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/BridgingImage-InArticle.jpg)
Comprehensive rental reform requires the buy in and understanding of letting agents and landlords from the outset - and not as...
24 June 2022
From: Breaking News
![“What’s taking so long?” - Agents amazed at latest reform delay](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/360x280_Return_on_Time.png)
Agents have reacted with amazement to the latest delay that the Labour-run Welsh Government has announced for its much-hyped rental reform. The...
01 June 2022
From: Breaking News
![Carbon Monoxide rule change - agents urged to prepare](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/RegulationStamp-400x310.jpg)
Agents are being urged to prepare for changes to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations which may come in this...
19 April 2022
From: Breaking News
![Alarm Law Change: trade body backs ‘equality’ measures](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/smoke%20alarm.png)
The UK Association of Letting Agents says it welcomes new rules for alarms which put the social and private rental sectors...
02 December 2021
From: Breaking News
![Agents Alert: new Carbon Monoxide alarm laws revealed](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/Court-Fine-400x310-min.jpg)
The government has announced that carbon monoxide alarms must be fitted in all private rental properties with fixed appliances such as...
24 November 2021
From: Breaking News
![Millions of tenants ‘experience illegal landlord or agent behaviour’](/upload/images/Logos/shelter-logo400x310.png)
Almost half of renters in England have been victims of illegal behaviour from landlords or lettings agents, Shelter claims. The stark allegations...
14 September 2021
From: Breaking News
![Health and Safety: Time limit announced for smoke alarms](/img/default/lat.png)
Rental and other households should replace optical smoke alarms every 12 years unless manufacturers recommend otherwise, according to a study by...
01 July 2021
From: Breaking News
![Media publish photographs of agency’s filthy property after big fine](/img/default/lat.png)
The local media in Manchester have published photographs of a property operated by a lettings agency was found to have multiple...
09 June 2021
From: Breaking News
![Sub-letting tenant illegally posing as landlord caught out by council](/img/default/lat.png)
A head tenant who posed as a landlord has been taken to court by a London council. Sonia Nascimento rented a converted...
11 March 2021
From: Breaking News
![Don’t force agents to test alarms on first day of tenancy - call](/img/default/lat.png)
The government has been urged to backtrack on proposals for letting agents to check smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on day one...
22 January 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
![Councillor claims agents using virtual viewings show ‘better’ properties](/img/default/lat.png)
A Labour councillor in Yorkshire claims letting agents are not showing the actual properties available to rent when they use virtual...
18 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council links rogue landlord case to its dispute with government](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor has been hit with a bill of almost £9,500 after being accused of allowing a tenant...
26 February 2020
From: Breaking News
![Fatal fire in unlicensed house leads to fine and entry on rogues database](/img/default/lat.png)
A judge has ordered two landlords to pay a total of £14,858 for illegally renting out an unlicensed house without working...
30 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![New carbon monoxide lettings rules set to be adopted by Assembly](/img/default/lat.png)
The Welsh Government says new regulations are to be introduced to combat carbon monoxide poisoning. The regulations will require landlords and their...
14 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Concern grows about increased safety risk from faulty smoke alarms](/img/default/lat.png)
Almost 40 per cent of battery-powered smoke alarms failed to activate in residential fires in England in the past year –...
11 December 2019
From: Breaking News
![Dawn raid finds 17 tenants crammed into sub-let HMO](/img/default/lat.png)
A dawn raid by enforcement officers from a London council has discovered 17 men sleeping on mattresses in a three bedroom...
29 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Fine after improvement notice on rented home was partly ignored](/img/default/lat.png)
A rented home in Mansfield was found to have serious health and safety hazards, including a leaking roof and a lack of smoke...
11 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Ex-Premiership footballer fined £25,000 for series of rental offences](/img/default/lat.png)
Former QPR and Nottingham Forest striker Dexter Blackstock has been fined over £25,000 and branded a rogue landlord after admitting 12 licencing offences. He...
21 October 2019
From: Breaking News
![Death Trap: fine for tenant who converted home without owner’s consent](/img/default/lat.png)
A tenant pretending to be landlord has been ordered to pay more than £21,000 after he carved up five family homes...
31 July 2019
From: Breaking News
![Stricter HMO rules: “awareness remains limited” claims top agent](/img/default/lat.png)
Six months on from the introduction of stricter licencing for Homes in Multiple Occupation, awareness “remains limited” according to one of...
21 May 2019
From: Breaking News
![Rogue landlord ignored Improvement Notice and safety regulations](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been convicted of three offences relating to his failure to comply with fire safety requirements in a privately...
11 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![Tragic anniversary reminds agents about smoke alarm regulations](/img/default/lat.png)
A regional fire service says a tragic anniversary is a good opportunity for agents and landlords to remember their legal obligations...
01 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![Tenants Fees Bill is now law as clock ticks down to June 1](/img/default/lat.png)
The Tenants’ Fees Bill has now become law, receiving formal Royal Assent yesterday afternoon - and within minutes, the government issued...
13 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Beds In Sheds scandal - 19 tenants found at four bedroom property](/img/default/lat.png)
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...
08 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Rental flat repossessed after being converted into illegal HMO](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor has lost possession of his flat after converting it into an Illegal House in Multiple Occupation...
22 January 2019
From: Breaking News
![Hefty fine after unsafe overcrowding in unlicensed HMO loft](/img/default/lat.png)
A buy to let investor that let at least eight people from six different families rent space in his three-storey property...
03 October 2018
From: Breaking News
![Rental standards up, but sector still needs to improve - new report](/img/default/lat.png)
There have been “significant leaps forward” in the standards of the private rental sector in the past four years, but safety...
20 September 2018
From: Breaking News
![Fees ban: MPs announce further proposals to protect tenants](/img/default/lat.png)
MPs have proposed a series of amendments to the Tenant Fees Bill as part of its Report Stage and Third Reading...
06 September 2018
From: Breaking News
![Letting agency hit with £10,000-plus fine for smoke alarm failings](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council has fined a letting agency over £10,000 for failing to install smoke alarms in a rental property. Waltham Forest...
05 September 2018
From: Breaking News
![Airbnb and short-let platforms under scrutiny again - this time from MPs](/img/default/lat.png)
It’s been a difficult summer for Airbnb and other short-let platforms operating in the UK. Recently the European Commission gave Airbnb until the...
31 July 2018
From: Breaking News
![Tenant who sub-let death trap property must pay over £26,500](/img/default/lat.png)
A tenant who was ripping off other tenants in an overcrowded bungalow "death trap" has been fined tens of thousands of...
23 July 2018
From: Breaking News
![Jailed: the letting agent whose inaction led to two boys' deaths](/img/default/lat.png)
A letting agent responsible for a property in Huddersfield which caught fire and killed two young boys has been jailed for...
20 July 2018
From: Breaking News
![Shock results as 30 lettings agencies probed by undercover teams](/img/default/lat.png)
A consumer group which conducted 30 undercover viewings in five different UK cities claims letting agents are showing potential tenants around...
03 July 2018
From: Breaking News
![Prison sentence after buy to let property's truly shocking fire risk](/img/default/lat.png)
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
![New rental sector consultation - smoke and carbon monoxide alarms](/img/default/lat.png)
Yet another formal government consultation is under way, this time into smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the private rental sector...
09 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Fine for BTL investor after unlicensed HMO was let to disabled](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been fined a total of £7,298 for operating an unlicensed house in multiple occupation in Oxford that was...
28 September 2017
From: Breaking News
![Build To Rent firms say housing survey show need for new sector to grow](/img/default/lat.png)
The findings of the most recent English Housing Survey, an annual report published by the Department for Communities and Local Government,...
20 July 2017
From: Breaking News
![Hefty fine for HMO owner who failed to buy council licence](/img/default/lat.png)
The owner of a house in multiple occupation in the leafy Hampstead area of north London has been hit with a...
06 March 2017
From: Breaking News
![Rip-off landlords are scourge of London says Labour politician](/img/default/lat.png)
A senior Labour politician in a London borough has branded so-called ‘rip off landlords’ as “the scourge of London.” Councillor Laila Butt,...
03 February 2017
From: Breaking News
![Multiple health and safety issues lead to court and fine](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been prosecuted and fined for failure to comply with two Improvement Notices “resulting in a catalogue of health...
19 January 2017
From: Breaking News
![Faulty wiring and broken smoke alarms lead to hefty court fine](/img/default/lat.png)
A private landlord has been fined by a London magistrates court for poor and potentially dangerous housing conditions. Monojor Ali was fined...
05 December 2016
From: Breaking News
![Trade body accuses agents of 'failing to get a grip' on new laws](/img/default/lat.png)
A trade body has accused some letting agents and landlords of “failing to get to grips” with several recent legal changes...
12 October 2016
From: Breaking News
![Letting agents and landlord fined for overcrowding](/img/default/lat.png)
A letting agency has been fined after one of its landlords was found to be cramming six families into an unlicensed...
21 September 2016
From: Breaking News
21 September 2016
From: Breaking News
![Complaint over letting firm's claim on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms](/img/default/lat.png)
A lettings sector supply company has had to amend an advertisment after a complaint about its “misleading” statement over smoke and...
31 August 2016
From: Breaking News
![£40,000 bill after squalid HMO found to be massively overcrowded](/img/default/lat.png)
A rogue landlord faces a court bill of almost £40,000 after being caught cramming 24 people into a house in north...
18 August 2016
From: Breaking News
![Property management firm gets £30,000 bill for over-crowding](/img/default/lat.png)
Property managers operating through a company have been ordered to pay more than £30,000 following a dawn raid that uncovered more...
12 August 2016
From: Breaking News
![Private rental sector licences costing up to £900 being introduced](/img/default/lat.png)
Yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme is being drawn up with the claim that it will improve standards of...
01 August 2016
From: Breaking News
![Patricia Barber, Chairman of AIIC](/img/default/lat.png)
Who are you? Patricia Barber What does it say on your business card? Chairman of the Association of independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) How long has...
08 April 2016
From: 60 Second Interview
![Carbon monoxide and smoke alarms - new pads to satisfy council checks](/img/default/lat.png)
One of the UK’s largest suppliers of carbon monoxide and smoke alarm testing products has launched a record-pad to help agents...
23 February 2016
From: Breaking News
![Lettings management firm and director hit with huge fines for HMO breaches](/img/default/lat.png)
A property company managing an HMO in prime central London has been £47,900. The fine is in relation to 24 charges under...
18 February 2016
From: Breaking News
![Ban for landlord who let out sub-standard converted garage](/img/default/lat.png)
It’s not been a happy Christmas for a Leicestershire landlord who has been banned from renting out a converted garage after...
30 December 2015
From: Breaking News
![One in three agents and landlords have 'refused' a repair, claim tenants](/img/default/lat.png)
Another survey suggests that approaching 50 per cent of tenants experience unreasonable delays in getting repair work done - and one...
03 December 2015
From: Breaking News
![15% of house/flat-share tenants have no working fire alarm - claim](/img/default/lat.png)
A survey of house- and flat-share private tenants shows 15 per cent claiming not to have a working smoke alarm in...
04 November 2015
From: Breaking News
![Another landlord gets a hefty fine for flouting council regulations](/img/default/lat.png)
A landlord has been handed fines totalling £3,250 and costs of £1,426 for running an unlicensed and unsafe House in Multiple...
07 October 2015
From: Breaking News
![ARLA hits out at government as Section 21 and alarm deadline arrives](/img/default/lat.png)
The Association of Residential Letting Agents says it strongly supports new health and safety legislation coming into effect today - but...
01 October 2015
From: Breaking News
![Defer Right To Rent until 2016 demands leading agent](/img/default/lat.png)
One of the UK letting industry’s leading agents says politicians should defer the new Right To Rent immigration checks until the start...
18 September 2015
From: Breaking News
![At last - smoke and carbon monoxide regulations confirmed](/img/default/lat.png)
Parliament has approved the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 - the regulations which looked in jeopardy after a...
17 September 2015
From: Breaking News
![Most landlords don't know new regs - yet deadline nears](/img/default/lat.png)
As if to prove the lettings industry’s concern over a lack of publicity for upcoming health and safety regulation changes, a...
11 September 2015
From: Breaking News
![Agents team up with fire service to launch smoke alarm initiative](/img/default/lat.png)
A group of estate agents have teamed up with a local fire and rescue service to launch an initiative aimed at...
27 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Agents and landlords - get your free alarms….](/img/default/lat.png)
Around 445,000 smoke alarms and 40,000 carbon monoxide alarms have now been issued to the 46 fire and rescue authorities in...