A district judge has slammed a rogue landlord for his crimes against tenants. In his ruling, the judge told the court that the landlord, George Lindsay from Birmingham, was worse than Scrooge and he wished he had the powers to send him to jail. Sadly, he didn’t, so he was fined £19,970 instead…
The next General Election is just around the corner. So, to help you out, we have looked at what each party has planned for the buy to let sector. Read on to find out what your choices are.
Landlord repossessions are on the rise. Data released this week has revealed that 800k landlords had their properties repossessed in Q3 of 2019, which is a huge 40% rise on the same period of the previous year. Serious mortgage arrears have risen by 9%, although arrears overall are slightly below the figures from last year.
The Tenant Fees Act came into force in June. It is designed to prevent landlords and letting agents from overcharging tenants. Since this has come into force it’s meant that landlords must now refund any part of a tenant’s deposit that exceeds the statutory five-week cap.
Heat and hot water are two things a landlord must provide. Bedrooms should be at least 18 degrees Celsius and living areas 21 degrees Celsius. Most tenants expect to have control over when the heating comes on, for how long, and also whether there is any hot water…
A leading alternative deposit provider is calling on the government to incentivise deposit reforms by offering landlords tax breaks if they move away from traditional upfront deposits.
An Edinburgh landlord has been fined after claiming his flat was a holiday let when it clearly wasn’t. He told the tribunal the property was owned by an overseas relative and he was only the manager rather than the legal owner, and as such he was ignorant of his duties. However, this defence was firmly […]
Around 7% of landlords in the UK are “accidental”. They are the landlords who never intended to let out properties. Some are forced into the sector when they can’t sell their home but have to move anyway; others inherited a property and are not yet ready to relinquish it.
A famous pop singer and former X-Factor judge has been ordered to pay a landlord nearly £70k, which includes interest and costs, after allegedly trashing his rental flat. Tulisa Contostavlos denies damaging the £1 million flat, but the judge still told her to pay up.
Generation Rent gets a lot of press. It’s common knowledge that the younger “millennial” generation (25-34) are far less likely to own their own home. They can’t afford to save up for a deposit and high property prices have put homeownership well out of their reach. But what the press rarely remarks upon is the […]
A Telford landlord has been banned from anything to do with letting in the first case of its kind.
Members of two of the UK’s biggest landlord organisations have voted in favour of a merger, which will take place in January 2020. The new association, which will be called the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), will have more than 80,000 members and, therefore, will have a louder voice in the buy to let sector.
The fees ban legislation caps rental deposits at 5 weeks rent and this has meant that landlords and letting agents are thinking outside the box when it comes to pets. Traditionally landlords and letting agents have charged a higher deposit when letting to tenants with pets. Having pets in a property can represent a higher […]
Most landlords ask tenants to pay a deposit when they start a tenancy. New rules in England means this is typically 5 week’s rent, but where the annual rent exceeds £50,000, a 6 week deposit can be taken. The deposit is there to cover any accidental damage or other issues, so the landlord can deduct […]
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