Archive

Actual lettings and sales clients were contacted during a training event led by a renowned property industry coach. Fine & Country hosted...

Regulation of lettings and estate agencies must be a priority for the government elected tomorrow, a PropTech entrepreneur demands. Sián Hemming-Metcalfe of...

The Property Ombudsman received a record number of enquiries with 57,635 people seeking support with their property and housing related issues...

Lettings agency giant Belvoir has struck a partnership with a PropTech firm majoring in inventories. InventoryBase Academy has been appointed as Belvoir's...

Two London agents who traded fraudulently through their lettings business and scammed victims out of over £24,000 have been sentenced. After a...

Half of all private renters would not know where to turn to if a letting agent failed to address a problem...

A new guide from Propertymark explains the rights which private rental tenants have - and sets out how they can challenge...

There’s been a large rise in complaints and a huge increase in compensation according to figures out today from the Property...

Two thirds of private renters have experienced a problem with the quality or condition of their property in the past six...

Labour is using a Bill currently going through Parliament as a backdoor method to introduce the regulation of lettings, estate and...

Measures contained in the Renters Reform Bill will fail without sufficient resources to ensure they can be enforced. The warning comes from...

The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued advice to agencies on how to comply with data protection law.  The UK data protection regulator...

Parts B and C of the process to improve material information disclosure in property listings are published today within comprehensive new guidance...

New directives issued by the government put the emphasis firmly on private landlords and their letting agents to take responsibility for...

The Competitioin and Markets Authority is to probe five activities involving letting agents and landlords and their responsibilities to private tenants. Sarah...

The Nationwide Foundation - a pressure group funded by the Nationwide - says more effective enforcement is required for the private...

New figures released this morning from The Property Ombudsman show that the overwhelming number of disputes in the past year involved...

A planning committee meeting discussion on an application for 100 new apartments in Manchester turned into a forum for complaints about...

Landlords of more than 5,000 homes must register for a license and ensure their tenants have good quality housing or face...

The Scottish Government does not intend to abandon its licensing scheme for Airbnbs and other short term lets, nor to delay...

A property firm which admitted misleading tenants on their rights and threatening them to leave has been ordered to pay £8,000. Four...

A property company director who admitted misleading tenants on their rights and threatening them to leave has been ordered to pay...

A trade body has criticised the various UK governments for “rushing blindly” into poorly-constructed regulation of short lets. The angry words from...

Several lettings agents have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme; they are amongst eight named as having been kicked out...

Introduce yourself A: My name is Sean Hooker. I have worked for the HFIS group for sixteen years, originally helping set...

There’s been a big rise in the number of complaints about agents lodged with the Property Redress Scheme, which says it’s...

Propertymark has hit out at a proposal from a group of MPs that there should be a single Ombudsman covering the...

The head of a Martin & Co office in Wolverhampton has been jailed over fraudulent activity. A court heard that Bhavander Singh...

A landlord has pleaded guilty to four offences which involved the creation of fake letting agencies in order to help him...

The Property Redress Service claims to be the largest lettings redress service now, with over 13,250 letting agency branches on board. In...

A former lettings agent who now helps tenants take legal action against landlords says 25 per cent of the complaints he...

The Observer newspaper has investigated the way letting agents apply so-called zero deposit schemes - and claims that in some cases...

A news website is reporting that a landlord cut the asking rent of a property after social media criticism of its...

Small and medium sized lettings agencies which have had running disputes with banks are being offered a lifeline - but must...

A council’s Trading Standards team is warning letting agents of a new clampdown on compliance failures. Stoke-on-Trent Trading Standards says it’s received...

The Property Ombudsman has reported a big rise in enquiries over last year and a huge rise since the pre-Covid year,...

One of the two official redress bodies, the Property Redress Scheme, has announced a beefed up advisory panel with a substantial...

Trading Standards is calling for more due diligence checks to be made following the jailing of a rogue letting agent for...

A former lettings agent has been jailed for almost three years after admitting conning landlords out of over £80,000. The sentence for...

A letting agent who stole over £80,000 from landlords is awaiting sentence. Frank Smart - owner of Smart Residential Letting Agents in...

Many agencies have long-standing and unresolved banking complaints, for example regarding client accounts: now it’s been declared they have only six...

Senior figures in the agency industry have backed new guidance from the National Trading Standards Estate and Lettings Agent Team regarding...

One of Britain’s largest cities wants to regulate Airbnb and other short let platforms. The proposed scheme in Glasgow follows legal changes...

Agents with landlord clients who let properties in Central West Bromwich are being reminded to check if they should apply for...

More than four in 10 landlords claim their letting agents charge too much - and one in six has been hit...

A new survey gives an indication of how quickly properties with poor Energy performance Certificates are falling out of favour in...

PRS, one of the two official redress services for the lettings and sales agency sectors, says it’s seen an increase in...

A property ownership and management company has been fined £20,000 for failing to carry out safety and fire safety improvement works...

Private rental property conditions and the enforcement of regulations by councils and government have all been in the firing line from...

A study by the Tenancy Deposit Service has found that garden maintenance remains one of the most common reasons behind deposit...

An agent’s plea to councillors to renew the HMO license for a landlord client fell on deaf ears in a controversial...

Westminster council wants central London to have the same powers as Paris and Amsterdam to stop anti-social behaviour caused by Airbnb...

ARLA Propertymark has launched a radical programme of reform for the private rental sector - getting in before the government’s own...

How can agents improve their position in society? A report has been published following a roundtable discussion between prominent agency figures...

A letting agency has been issued with penalty notices worth £3,000 for operating illegally. Back in 2014 it became a legal requirement...

A lettings agent who also runs a tenant complaint insurance service has renewed his attack on landlords and local authorities. Ajay Jagota...

Many young Britons allegedly live beyond their means, blaming high rents and “unforseen” agency charges as contributory reasons.  A home insurance company...

A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000.  Lee Clarke, 42,...

Lettings once again dominated the complaints received by The Property Ombudsman according to its latest annual report - out today but...

New rules out for consultation concerning block management aim to improve professionalism across the sector, root out rogue agents, and increase...

The Property Ombudsman and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors are seeking views of agents, landlords and tenants on a new...

Propertymark has given its support to a free and independent dispute resolution service, the Business Banking Resolution Service, which is being offered to...

A controversial lettings agent who has set up a business to sell rental insurance has accused landlords of not taking their...

There’s a warning from an industry trade body that some agents may have failed to take compliance obligations seriously enough.  Paul Offley,...

Complaints referred to the Property Redress Scheme against its members grew by more than a quarter during 2020. In its annual report...

A lettings agent who wants tenants to take out policies to fund complaints against agencies and landlords has branded the social...

The man behind an early version of deposit replacement for the private rental sector has now set up a service encouraging...

A London council has taken a landlord company to court after complaints of poor housing conditions in five of its rented...

Councils are failing to protect tenants in three out of four cases where they discover rental homes are unsafe, according to...

The managing director of Fixflo, Rajeev Nayyar, says the pandemic has changed the context in which agents should view tenants’ complaints. In...

A lettings agent in Slough, called Saville Park Ltd, has been excluded from The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay an outstanding award of £300.  TPO received a complaint from tenants...

As we emerge out of the pandemic there is a growing need for agents to reflect on how the lettings business...

A council claims that as many as a fifth of all the private rental sector homes in its area have a...

The architect of the Regulation of Property Agents working group - which has called for agents to be trained and licensed...

An overwhelming 98 per cent of agents who are members of The Property Ombudsman scheme pay compensation when an investigation is...

Activists from the so-called renters’ union Acorn have held a protest outside the office of a lettings agency in Oxford. A photograph...

Three lettings agents who kept tenants’ rent instead of passing it to the landlords have been ordered to pay almost £100,000...

A major north of England local authority wants to introduce landlord licensing for HMOs where three or four tenants live, following analysis...

A London council has launched a strategy it claims will protect private tenants and ensure they live in good quality and...

Three agents have been expelled by The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay compensation awards.  In the case of Foremost Lettings Ltd...

A council has won a planning appeal banning the use of a property for short lets - considered a landmark case...

The author of a book described as being about “insecure renters haemorrhaging cash” has used her newspaper column to make a...

Airbnb is doing a U-turn with its global leader pledging to slash the number of professional landlords using the platform and...

A new web platform is launching encouraging reviews of landlords - but it claims not to be another opportunity for tenants...

The BBC has shone a spotlight on lockdown parties being held in contravention of social distancing rules at properties advertised on...

There’s been a substantial 20 per cent rise in formal complaints about agents taken up by The Property Ombudsman.  The figures refer...

The Property Ombudsman has announced the expulsion of eight agencies, all for contravening TPO codes of practice. Most of the expulsions were...

A leading PropTech expert has urged lettings agents to improve their administration and paperwork if they want to avoid what could...

A lettings agency has given a full apology after a letter - not approved by the company - was sent out...

The Property Ombudsman is warning agents not to discriminate against tenants through a No DSS or any similar policy. Following the legal...

The controversial Acorn group of anti-letting agent activists has been accused of intimidation of female staff during a protest outside and...

The Property Ombudsman has expelled five agencies, mostly for failures to honour awards: four of them are lettings operations and one...

Confusion among renters over the complex Tenant Fees Act could trigger a surge in complaints about agents to redress schemes -...

Airbnb is reported to have banned under-25s in Canada from booking whole properties in their local areas to prevent potentially-violent house...

Property auctions – online or otherwise – can be hugely helpful to sellers, buyers and estate agents. Online auctions, in particular, are...

A leading trade body is voicing concern over yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme - with particular worry over...

New research claims that one in every 50 homes in the capital is let on a short-term platform like Airbnb or...

The Times claims there have been well over 200 complaints lodged with redress schemes, alleging that lettings agents tried to charge...

A Southampton lettings agency owner has been jailed after defrauding landlords and tenants out of £230,000. Andrew Whitehead has been jailed for...

The Liberal Democrats is the first of the major parties to release its party manifesto for the December 12 manifesto, and...