Has Rightmove got letting fees disclaimer wrong?
Popular property website Rightmove has added disclaimers to all home rental adverts after letting agents were carpeted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The move follows a decision by the...
View ArticleLandlords see yo-yo rents edge up again
Rents are starting to recover in many parts of the UK, but not enough to stop another monthly average drop across the country. More than half of regions in the UK recorded increases in February 2013,...
View ArticleBuy to let licensing plan faces legal challenge
Landlords in Northampton are threatening to take legal action against a council licensing scheme for buy-to-lets and shared houses. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has written to...
View ArticleBudget 2013 and buy to let landlords
Buy to let landlords have found little to gain from Chancellor George Osborne’s tax neutral Budget 2013. Osborne made clear that he was giving and taking from the same pot and no extra money was...
View ArticleEU agrees to keep buy to let loans out of new directive
Buy to let mortgage restrictions proposed under the European mortgage directive look like being struck off the agenda. Lenders expect the directive to exclude buy to let mortgage lending in the UK. The...
View ArticleStealth Budget scraps another property tax relief
Landlords have lost a back-door stamp duty relief worth around £1,500 on buy to let property in disadvantaged areas in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget 2013. As politicians and the press focus on...
View ArticleLandlords protest at HMO licensing plans
Landlord pressure group Say No to Article 4 is campaigning against plans to tighten up controls on shared housing in Worcester. The group aims to stop Worcester City Council from introducing Article 4...
View ArticleHMRC wins buy to let CGT relief case
The tax man is taking a tough line on property investors claiming capital gains tax relief on second homes and buy to lets. The latest tax tribunal case highlights HM Revenue & Customs is setting a...
View ArticleOvercrowded HMO landlord claimed he ran a hostel
Ten people were crammed in to an overcrowded house that did not even have a finished kitchen. When challenged by Lewisham Council, the landlord claimed the home did not need a house in multiple...
View ArticleSkint renters take 23 years to save a deposit for a home
Just how much renters need financial help from the government’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee plans is revealed by new figures that show most would take 23 years to save enough money for a deposit....
View ArticleLandlord fined for reconnecting faulty boiler
A buy to let landlord was fined £17,000 ignored safety rules and left a family at risk by asking an unregistered fitter to reconnect a dangerous gas supply. Sima Yaqub, of Sharrow, Sheffield, admitted...
View ArticleSetting rents is easier with new official data
The mystical art of setting competitive rents has just been made a lot easier with new data about private lettings across England going online. The government’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA) – the...
View ArticleSerious rent arrears increase for landlords
Buy to let landlords have had more tenants struggling with serious rent arrears in the past three months, according to a new report from a rent debt firm. Tenants with rent late by two months or more...
View ArticleLand banking scam shut by High Court
Land banking scammers who conned thousands of pounds out of investors have been closed down by the High Court. The fraudsters claimed the value of farm land would sky rocket on the back of planning...
View ArticleNew tax year is a chance for landlords to make buy-to-let less taxing
With a new tax year commencing, and repeat warnings that HMRC are cracking down on tax evasion amongst residential landlords, the Landlord Syndicate is offering advice to landlords on how to make their...
View ArticleLandlords have more deposit protection choice
Landlords have more choice over how to safeguard tenant deposits after changes in the market at the start of April 2013. The law about protecting deposits has not changed – just the number of firms...
View ArticleInventories more important than ever
Inventory Management An Inventory is more than just a list of items; in the property industry we are more concerned with condition. The point of an inventory is ensuring that everything within that...
View ArticleNeighbours flee buy to let cannabis farm fires
Neighbours have had to flee three separate blazes in buy-to-let homes used as cannabis farms by tenants. The first, in Erdington, Birmingham, broke out in the early hours of the morning. Neighbours...
View ArticleHMO landlords for poorly managing rental homes
Two more landlords have faced the courts for poor standards and failing to licence houses in multiple occupation (HMO) as councils continue to crackdown on offenders. Mark Tomlinson, of Trojans Estate...
View ArticleHMO landlord must repay £32,000 housing benefits
A landlord who illegally let rooms in unlicensed HMOs has been ordered to pay back £32,000 housing benefit a council paid him for giving homes to tenants. Mehmet Parlak was prosecuted by Haringey...
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