One of the UK’s most high profile lettings agents is calling on politicians to change course on rent controls. David Alexander of...
Archive
22 August 2024
From: Breaking News
Propertymark has come out with a strongly-worded statement accusing politicians in the Scottish Parliament of ignoring the industry’s views on rent...
20 August 2024
From: Breaking News
Rightmove has admitted to shareholders that it’s to lose 8% of its lettings listing from next month - the equivalent of...
07 August 2024
From: Breaking News
The Property Energy Professionals Association - a trade group representing accreditation schemes for energy assessors - is complaining that it’s not...
21 June 2024
From: Breaking News
Letting agents’ trade body Propertymark has backed a call by consumer group Which? for radical reforms to Energy Performance Certificates. Yesterday we...
19 June 2024
From: Breaking News
The government’s failure to act on the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) working party - chaired by Lord Richard Best and...
22 April 2024
From: Breaking News
Propertymark’s training arm, Propertymark Qualifications, says there’s been a strong uptake across the board with the first of its candidates passing...
11 March 2024
From: Breaking News
The chief executive of Propertymark has made an outspoken attack on the government in response to its latest attempt to extract...
04 March 2024
From: Breaking News
There’s growing anger over restrictions on private homeowners using their properties via Airbnb and other short let platforms. Earlier this week Housing...
21 February 2024
From: Breaking News
The government has ruled out any reform to the council tax system. There has been long standing criticism of council tax because...
06 February 2024
From: Breaking News
Controversy surrounds a government idea - floated over the weekend - to allow renters to secure mortgages with just one per...
22 January 2024
From: Breaking News
A trade body representing short lets operators has slammed government housing failures. The Short Term Accommodation Association says it’s analysed local authority...
01 December 2023
From: Breaking News
Last week’s Autumn Statement - which fell short of expectations in terms of help for the private rental sector - is...
27 November 2023
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency has removed a video of an apartment where a murder took place, following an approach by a national...
11 September 2023
From: Breaking News
HM Treasury has published a consultation on reform of the anti-money laundering supervisory system, giving four options. Currently the supervisory system is...
27 July 2023
From: Breaking News
The Renters’ Reform Bill is finally due to be published and introduced into Parliament next week. Housing Secretary Michael Gove has told Sky...
04 May 2023
From: Breaking News
Energy Performance Certificates must change to properly support reaching net zero, tackling fuel poverty and improving buildings, according to an energy...
02 March 2023
From: Breaking News
A news website is reporting that a landlord cut the asking rent of a property after social media criticism of its...
22 November 2022
From: Breaking News
Boomin, the online property portal founded by the former boss of Purplebricks, has called in liquidators according to a Sky News...
31 October 2022
From: Breaking News
The National Audit Office has made scathing criticisms of government efforts to build more affordable housing. The public spending watchdog says the...
13 September 2022
From: Breaking News
Foxtons has issued a welcome statement to its new chief executive as it seeks to return to past glories. Guy Gittins -...
06 September 2022
From: Breaking News
Holiday lets and second homes in one hotspot in the UK have not, after all, impacted on house prices and affordability,...
18 July 2022
From: Breaking News
Speculation in national newspapers suggests that the government is considering giving local mayors some powers over parts of the private rented...
28 June 2022
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is the latest part of the lettings sector to fight back against criticism and claims of extreme evictions made by...
03 May 2022
From: Breaking News
ARLA Propertymark has hit back in this week’s debate on the quality of private rental property, following sharp criticism in a...
14 April 2022
From: Breaking News
The criticism by landlords aimed at Housing Secretary Michael Gove for some of his comments regarding the cladding issue, has now...
25 February 2022
From: Breaking News
An agency has issued a statement strongly rejecting the negative mood music surrounding the private rental sector. Chris Wood and Ross McDonald...
29 December 2021
From: Breaking News
A politician is raising the possibility that people who live in private blocks and let out their apartments via Airbnb or...
29 November 2021
From: Breaking News
The government says it’s finalising plans for a new tax regime to apply to additional homes, and in particular those used...
09 November 2021
From: Breaking News
Labour has joined with campaign groups Generation Rent and Shelter in calling for the speediest possible ending of Section 21 eviction...
03 November 2021
From: Breaking News
The short lets sector - already receiving political and community criticism for eroding the wider private rental sector - needs better...
07 October 2021
From: Breaking News
The House of Commons Library, an independent body not controlled by government, has published a detailed history of the many measures...
28 September 2021
From: Breaking News
The farcical implementation of the government’s Green Homes Grant scheme has been sharply criticised by Propertymark. Timothy Douglas, the organisation’s policy and...
09 September 2021
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent who has made a series of outbursts against landlords and councils, has now turned his anger on proposed...
10 August 2021
From: Breaking News
Airbnb has issued a lengthy statement in response to a recent raft of criticisms about the effects of soaring numbers of...
09 August 2021
From: Breaking News
A fund instituted by Airbnb to help compensate for the effects of short let accommodation should be extended, local politicians say. In...
02 July 2021
From: Breaking News
Airbnb, which has been criticised by some for its impact on local rental markets, is to set up its own ‘tax’...
07 June 2021
From: Breaking News
Letting agents body ARLA Propertymark has joined the criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan who wants to be given the power...
12 April 2021
From: Breaking News
An influential group of MPs wants an end to repeated last minute extensions to the ban on evictions and instead wants financial support...
31 March 2021
From: Breaking News
Rent controls are being discussed again as candidates prepare for May's local elections. In London Green Party mayoral candidate Sian Berry -...
29 March 2021
From: Breaking News
An influential group of MPs has called for the replacement of “outdated” Energy Performance Certificates with new ‘Building Renovation Passports’. Currently EPCs...
23 March 2021
From: Breaking News
Recent debate about urgent need for reform and better collaboration within the property industry, has once again come under the spotlight...
04 December 2020
From: Sponsored Content
Government intervention, which in recent years has seen scores of legal and regulatory changes to the private rental sector, may be...
05 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A rent guarantor service has rejected criticism of so-called Coronavirus break clauses in rental contracts. There’s been criticism in recent months of...
01 September 2020
From: Breaking News
The author of a book described as being about “insecure renters haemorrhaging cash” has used her newspaper column to make a...
19 August 2020
From: Breaking News
A leading lettings sector trade body has set out reasons why the eviction ban should be lifted - which may help...
19 August 2020
From: Breaking News
Housing minister Chris Pincher has entered the row over Labour claiming that the stamp duty holiday announced last week was in...
15 July 2020
From: Breaking News
Campaigning charity Shelter, which has been outspoken in its criticism of many letting agents in recent years, has now produced a...
15 May 2020
From: Breaking News
One of the major deposit alternative operators has announced 31 new letting agency branches have signed up, from three high-profile brands. Zero...
12 March 2020
From: Breaking News
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
Three more deposit alternative supplier have issued statements seeking to distance their product from criticisms raised in a BBC investigation. Yesterday we carried...
11 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A trade body has come out against a council’s HMO licensing scheme, claiming that its consultation period was too short -...
21 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The appeal by Labour’s Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to be given powers to introduce rent controls have been dealt a...
15 November 2019
From: Breaking News
A new trade body is being set up in a bid to professionalise the short lets sector. The sector - which embraces...
31 October 2019
From: Breaking News
The controversial tenants union Acorn has set up a web page where disgruntled renters can lodge complaints about letting agents. In the...
24 October 2019
From: Breaking News
A group of landlords in the North East are the latest to criticise Labour's plans to introduce a Right to Buy...
04 October 2019
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents appears to have joined the chorus of criticism against Labour’s controversial right to buy policy...
04 September 2019
From: Breaking News
Claims that the use of Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notices is the leading cause of homelessness in the UK are...
16 August 2019
From: Breaking News
The first ‘state of the industry’ report on the lettings agency sector since the introduction of the fees ban suggests individual...
15 August 2019
From: Breaking News
A short lets management firm which was earlier this year at the centre of an advertisement controversy is now partnering with...
08 August 2019
From: Breaking News
A leading industry trade body says the latest English Housing Survey report proves that criticisms of the private rental sector’s costs...
18 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have been given a message from a consortium of groups this morning - Scrap Right To...
24 June 2019
From: Breaking News
Despite criticism from some within the industry about the effects of short lets, the high-end agency Knight Frank has spoken of...
20 June 2019
From: Breaking News
Airbnb has issued a statement distancing itself from controversial advertisements from a short lets management service. Hostmaker - which describes itself as...
07 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A prominent consumer group claims that one in 10 tenants currently renting say they have at some point been evicted “for...
05 June 2019
From: Breaking News
Airbnb and short let management service Hostmaker - at the centre of a dispute involving a landlord trade body and the...
04 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A company appearing to call on landlords to abandon tenants and instead let their properties to short-let visitors is now trying...
28 May 2019
From: Breaking News
A crooked letting agent took £220,000 from tenants and landlords and has been exposed as buying a home in Florida, renting...
18 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Another controversial scheme licensing landlords who let their homes out may face legal challenge. Middlesbrough council’s formal consultation on the introduction of...
25 February 2019
From: Breaking News
A legal firm has renewed its criticism of local authority licensing schemes, accusing them of “persecuting” landlords. David Kirwan, managing partner at...
15 February 2019
From: Breaking News
Councils have been accused of routinely pursuing the most serious enforcement option open to them if they find a local licensing...
14 January 2019
From: Breaking News
The heavy-handed administration of selective licensing schemes is driving out buy to let investors. That’s the claim from David Kirwan of Kirwans...
30 October 2018
From: Breaking News
Airbnb, the short lets platform that has received substantial criticism from the buy to let sector over its largely unregulated status,...
16 August 2018
From: Breaking News
Britain’s most controversial buy to let investor, Fergus Wilson, has hit back and given his side of events on a series...
24 July 2018
From: Breaking News
A high-profile landlord says the upcoming ban on letting agent fees 'can't come soon enough'. Writing a column in the Evening Standard's...
30 May 2018
From: Breaking News
The industry has reacted angrily to the announcement yesterday that the Tenants’ Fees Bill is now formally starting its progress through...
03 May 2018
From: Breaking News
A leading property disputes solicitor has joined a growing chorus of criticism of how Right To Rent will cope with issues...
30 April 2018
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency has written to MPs setting out an eloquent case for a cap on agents’ fees levied on tenants...
10 January 2018
From: Breaking News
London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has repeated his criticism of the government’s decision to cap security deposits at the level of...
06 November 2017
From: Breaking News
Trade organisatons have reacted predictably to the government’s latest announcements and publications concerning the private rental sector. Yesterday the Department of Communities...
02 November 2017
From: Breaking News
The housing charity Shelter - which in recent years has been aggressively critical of letting agencies and landlords in the private...
29 September 2017
From: Breaking News
ARLA Propertymark says letting and managing agents should be aware that they can raise ‘safeguarding alerts’ if they are concerned about...
22 August 2017
From: Breaking News
A prominent lettings industry campaigner says the head of a tenancy deposit scheme has “serious questions to answer” after his comments...
10 July 2017
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords’ Association says recent fiscal changes hitting the private rented sector are hurting tenants but failing to achieve their...
04 July 2017
From: Breaking News
After criticism of many younger voters allegedly failing to turn out during the June 2016 EU Referendum, new analysis of voter...
26 June 2017
From: Breaking News
Agencies are responding to the latest criticism of their fees on tenants, levied by the pressure group Generation Rent. The group -...
11 May 2017
From: Breaking News
Opponents of the proposed change to mortgage interest tax relief for landlords have promised what they call a “shock and awe”...
16 February 2017
From: Breaking News
Airbnb’s new protocol seeking to stop London hosts short-letting their properties for more than 90 days a year without formal consent,...
22 December 2016
From: Breaking News
The news editor of London financial daily City AM has made an outspoken attack on the government’s fiscal assaults on the...
07 September 2016
From: Breaking News
An outspoken attack on Chancellor George Osborne’s fiscal measures against the private rental sector have questioned whether he is really a...
04 April 2016
From: Breaking News
More criticism of Chancellor George Osborne’s raft of buy to let reforms has appeared in the mainstream media, with much emphasis...
01 April 2016
From: Breaking News
The financial editor of The Guardian newspaper claims that - despite widespread criticism within the lettings industry of the latest buy...
31 March 2016
From: Breaking News
The government has been told to back off its criticism of buy to let landlords and instead do more to address...
22 March 2016
From: Breaking News
A letting agency has been criticised by local students after sending a touting letter to landlords saying it could increase rents...
18 March 2016
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords’ Association is taking legal advice on whether George Osborne’s buy to let tax changes are a breach of...
20 January 2016
From: Breaking News
Treasury proposals to hand greater powers to the Bank of England to make access to buy to let lending harder risks...
21 December 2015
From: Breaking News
It is not often that a national newspaper dedicates an article to praising buy to let - and even rarer for...
30 November 2015
From: Breaking News
The publication of the Immigration Bill giving details of the government's expectations of letting agents and landlords to conduct checks on...
22 September 2015
From: Breaking News
If supporters of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget restrictions on tax breaks for buy to let landlords thought opposition would die off...