The rental market slowed down in the run up to the festive season, according to figures published by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). Their statistics show that the average number of new tenants looking for a property to rent fell during December.
A well-known tory councillor has suffered the embarrassment of being prosecuted by his own council for being a rogue landlord. Jonny Bucknell, former Camden Conservatives’ spokesperson for housing, appeared at Highbury Magistrate’s Court to answer charges of failing to carry out improvement works on a rented property he lets out in upmarket Primrose Hill.
A man looking for somewhere to live in Glasgow’s trendy West End had a bit of a shock when he turned up to a viewing to discover that the ‘cosy’ living space with its own amenities was actually a dilapidated bathroom and he would be expected to sleep in the bath.
Chancellor George Osborne’s changes to the buy to let market are beginning to have an effect, according to data from leading property portal Rightmove. The site says there has been a big jump in the number of two-bed flats available to buy; a property that is traditionally very popular with first time buyers.
Rent arrears are on the increase. Figures show that reported rental arrears went up by 13.8% between Q2 and Q3 last year. Furthermore, the NLA’s own research backs this up: 37% of landlords said they had experienced rental arrears.
An amendment to the Housing Bill, which was put forward by Labour MP and shadow housing minister, Teresa Pearce, has been defeated in the House of Commons.
Two landlords seeking to challenge the government on their buy to let tax strategies have had huge success raising money via a crowdfunding site to fund their fight. They began their campaign on Crowd Justice on Boxing Day and just nine days later, 700 donors have already pledged £50k to help them.
One couple have had a bad start to 2016 after letting their London flat out for the night via short-term letting website Airbnb. They thought the tenant only wanted a bed to sleep in, but it soon became apparent that the young lady who had paid £128 to spend the night actually wanted a party […]
A group of wealthy landlord property investors are refusing to take George Osborne’s tax changes lying down. Instead they have taken legal advice and are plotting to launch a legal challenge against proposed tax changes.
According to the Financial Times, the governor of the Bank of England is very concerned about the buy to let housing sector and is watching it closely. He is hinting that the bank may soon introduce further restrictions on buy to let borrowing:
The Bank of England has expressed concern about the buy to let lending sector as landlords take on more debt to buy increasingly expensive properties. The bank is worried that the inflated buy to let mortgage sector could cause far-reaching instability if another financial crisis hits.
Leading buy to let lender, Kent Reliance, has seen mortgage applications from landlord limited companies triple in September, compared to the same period last year. This is as a result of landlords scrambling to beat biting tax cuts unveiled by the Chancellor in his Summer Budget.
The Residential Landlords Association is warning that the Chancellor’s stamp duty hike is almost certainly going to have a negative impact on the private rental sector.
Local authorities have been implementing landlord licensing schemes for several years now. One of the reasons given by many local authorities for starting a licensing scheme is to collect information about landlords and their properties, with the intention of creating a landlord register.
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