A council says it’s secured the first banning order in its area, securing a stop on a rogue letting agent renting...
Archive
A report from Propertymark has laid out the stark and in some cases unforeseen consequence of the Conservative government’s phased removal...
05 August 2024
From: Breaking News
Labour has waded into the increasingly-fractious debate over the Renters Reform Bill. Activists in groups such as the Renters Reform Coalition and...
29 February 2024
From: Breaking News
A prominent industry expert says lettings agents and other property sector insiders should be extra-vigilant over cybersecurity breaches. Neil Cobbold, managing director...
12 February 2024
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is hailing its new Lettings Helpline as a success, just a month after it launched. In that four week period the...
03 November 2023
From: Breaking News
New directives issued by the government put the emphasis firmly on private landlords and their letting agents to take responsibility for...
11 September 2023
From: Breaking News
Industry supplier HomeLet says rent guarantee insurance is now heavily advised because rents have reached what it calls an “astonishing” level. Andy...
14 August 2023
From: Breaking News
Agents who allow rental properties to be let to migrants who do not have the right to be in the UK...
08 August 2023
From: Breaking News
Lloyds Banking Group and homelessness charity Crisis have joined forces in a new two-year partnership including the establishment of a so-called...
18 April 2023
From: Breaking News
Twitter owner Elon Musk and 1,000 other technology leaders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak have called for a pause on the...
11 April 2023
From: Breaking News
A combination of regular inspections and pro-active installation of ventilation can help to reduce the risk of dangerous damp and mould...
03 March 2023
From: Breaking News
Trends in the lettings market “do not bode well for renters on low incomes” according to an analyst. Jack Godby of lettings...
09 December 2022
From: Breaking News
Property professionals need to be more vigilant when it comes to their anti-money laundering processes. That’s the view of the manager of an...
17 November 2022
From: Breaking News
Wandsworth council in south London is considering a review into the feasibility of introducing discretionary landlord licencing. A statement from the authority...
07 October 2022
From: Breaking News
20 September 2022
From: Breaking News
A prominent lettings agent says educating landlords about the need to use agents should be the industry’s number one priority. Agent Rainmaker...
06 September 2022
From: Breaking News
A retired estate agent has pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching fire safety in Devon. Retired Force and Sons agent David...
18 August 2022
From: Breaking News
Renters are being placed at unnecessary risk due to a delay in reforms that would allegedly give them greater protection, it’s been...
22 July 2022
From: Breaking News
A selection of property industry figures have spoken out against the government’s latest proposals to extend Right To Buy to housing...
10 June 2022
From: Breaking News
An activist group in London has launched a scathing attack on councils which it claims have been ineffective in regulating rogue...
04 April 2022
From: Breaking News
The leader of the Generation Rent campaign group has accused Chancellor Rishi Sunak of “stacking the economy against private renters who...
28 March 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
Propertymark has entered the debate about whether buy to let landlords should be amongst those receiving help from the government in...
01 February 2022
From: Breaking News
A Trading Standards team is to carry out what it calls “unannounced inspections” of lettings agencies in one part of London...
13 January 2022
From: Breaking News
Two recent calls for the introduction of a national mandatory landlord register in England have been rebuffed by agents’ trade body...
27 October 2021
From: Breaking News
One in four homes in the UK has a potentially dangerous gas appliance, new research claims. Analysis of inspection figures by Gas...
14 September 2021
From: Breaking News
Landlords are being reminded of their responsibilities for gas safety checks on properties being rented to tenants. Gas Safety Week runs from...
13 September 2021
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent has taken the unorthodox approach of advising tenants to take their landlords to court in a bid to...
31 August 2021
From: Breaking News
How up to date is your knowledge on notice periods, pets in rentals, electrical safety inspections and lodgers? This year we’ve...
18 August 2021
From: Sponsored Content
A Conservative MP says he is to declare a “state of housing emergency” in his constituency because of the loss of...
03 August 2021
From: Breaking News
Councils are failing to protect tenants in three out of four cases where they discover rental homes are unsafe, according to...
29 April 2021
From: Breaking News
An online petition which appears to inaccurately say private tenants can still be evicted “for no reason” has won 30,000 signatures...
23 February 2021
From: Breaking News
Two landlords - one of them an agent - have been given fines totalling £135,000 and must pay costs for failing to...
16 February 2021
From: Breaking News
Labour says the latest extension to the ban on bailiff-enforced evictions doesn’t go far enough to help tenants. The extension to the...
15 February 2021
From: Breaking News
A council claims that as many as a fifth of all the private rental sector homes in its area have a...
07 January 2021
From: Breaking News
Restaurant staff were kept in “dangerous and overcrowded” conditions by a property company and its landlord-director, a court has heard. The company...
18 December 2020
From: Breaking News
Two suspended sentences, community service, a fine and disqualification from being a director - those form the penalty for a rogue...
10 September 2020
From: Breaking News
A landlord taken to court by a council has ended up with a bill in excess of £20,000. Dennis Goodwin of Highbury...
21 August 2020
From: Breaking News
A BBC News investigation has exposed some Airbnb and other short let platform users as flouting lockdown regulations. The probe has found...
07 April 2020
From: Breaking News
A council’s intervention has stopped a landlord forcing his private tenants to use an external staircase to enter their home -...
27 February 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
A council in a leafy area of south east England has issued an emergency prohibition order to a buy to let...
18 February 2020
From: Breaking News
Airbnb is reported to have banned under-25s in Canada from booking whole properties in their local areas to prevent potentially-violent house...
07 February 2020
From: Breaking News
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has backed a five year extension for a massive London council landlord licensing...
28 January 2020
From: Breaking News
There’s been an angry response by the rental sector following the latest attack by campaigning charity Shelter. The organisation claims that private...
15 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The national homelessness charity Crisis has unearthed shocking findings about a common but under-reported form of homelessness – sofa surfing. The report,...
23 December 2019
From: Breaking News
The owner of two properties has been fined £35,000 for breaches of the selective licensiing regime in his local area. At a...
02 December 2019
From: Breaking News
The government and local authorities run by all political parties are keen to advocate measures to curb rogue letting agents and...
12 November 2019
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been fined almost £2,500 for breaching an improvement notice issued by Cambridge City Council. Noelle Salameh was fined after...
09 October 2019
From: Breaking News
Enfield wants to be the latest London council to introduce large-scale additional and selective licensing schemes which would affect most private rented...
05 September 2019
From: Breaking News
Confusion reigns over inventory reports and how letting agents and landlords comply with the Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act 2018. That’s...
07 August 2019
From: Breaking News
A rogue landlord in Chesterfield has received a hefty fine for a second time after the council took her to court...
18 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Weak regulation of private renting is leaving hundreds of thousands of tenants living in hazardous homes in England, claims Citizens Advice. A...
27 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor who let out an unsafe and unlicensed property in London has now been hit with a...
21 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A London council has successfully prosecuted a so-called “dodgy operator” landlord for failing to comply with fire safety regulations and carry...
12 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A compliance company has accused “thousands” of buy to let investors of failing to address major household hazards which render properties...
07 May 2019
From: Breaking News
A dawn raid on unlicensed HMOs in north London last week were the latest sign of a crackdown on rogue operators...
19 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Sub-standard homes remain a key weakness in the private rental sector, which needs to get its house in order in the...
20 February 2019
From: Breaking News
Three brothers and a property management company have received fines and a confiscation order, and must pay costs, following what a...
04 January 2019
From: Breaking News
A landlord and building contractor have been fined after quantities of asbestos fibres were released from the demolition of a conservatory...
02 January 2019
From: Breaking News
A notorious rogue landlord must pay £1.5m or risk spending up to nine years in prison after what is thought to...
06 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A council in the north of England has issued its first-ever Civil Penalty Notice on a landlord - and it involved...
07 November 2018
From: Breaking News
A warning has gone out to the lettings sector to check that rental properties are ‘Gas Safe’ as the colder weather...
02 November 2018
From: Breaking News
Since one London local authority introduced private rental sector licensing in 2013 an extra £5,002,203 in council tax has been collected...
19 October 2018
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been hit with more than £5,500 of fines and costs after he allowed a family with three young...
19 October 2018
From: Breaking News
A landlord who rented out an unlicenced HMO has been fined more than £22,000 after the local council found five people...
08 October 2018
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor that let at least eight people from six different families rent space in his three-storey property...
03 October 2018
From: Breaking News
One of Scotland’s top lettings agents is warning of “an air of criminality” in the rental industry north of the border. His...
26 September 2018
From: Breaking News
Two private landlords have been found guilty of managing Houses in Multiple Occupation with dangerous and sub-standard conditions, following a successful...
26 September 2018
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent described as ‘rogue’ by a London council, along with two lettings companies, have been heavily fined for operating...
19 September 2018
From: Breaking News
The landlord of an HMO who subjected his tenants to insanitary and unsafe living conditions has been told he will no...
13 September 2018
From: Breaking News
A self-employed gas fitter has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after he carried out unsafe gas work while falsely...
06 August 2018
From: Breaking News
Tenants, landlords and buy to let investors are the targets for new online rental guides introduced by the Ministry of Housing,...
27 June 2018
From: Breaking News
A council leader in London, so outraged after a bust of a rogue lettings property, has asked: “What kind of monster...
08 June 2018
From: Breaking News
A survey has revealed that with over 145 individual laws and more than 400 regulations to follow, it’s dangerous for landlords...
23 April 2018
From: Breaking News
The government has set out new measures to mitigate against overcrowded and dangerous living conditions of private tenants in shared homes. From...
16 March 2018
From: Breaking News
A fine of over £29,000 has been imposed on an absentee landlord whose property was said to have put tenants’ lives...
19 January 2018
From: Breaking News
The government has released more details on long-discussed proposals to tighten up licensing in the private rental sector. It wants landlords in...
28 December 2017
From: Breaking News
A buy to let property owner has received a four month prison sentence for letting out a property he had already...
22 December 2017
From: Breaking News
The new online database identifying rogue letting agents and landlords will save lives according to the London Fire Brigade. We wrote about...
21 December 2017
From: Breaking News
A property company and a landlord have been fined over £200,000 after being accused of putting tenants’ lives in danger by...
03 October 2017
From: Breaking News
A rogue landlord in Corby has been ordered to pay over £20,000 and sign up to a Criminal Behaviour Order which...
29 August 2017
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been fined over £15,000 after failing to maintain gas appliances at the domestic property in Haverfordwest. Llanelli Magistrates’ Court...
24 July 2017
From: Breaking News
Two landlords have been fined almost £14,000 for breaching a multitude of property management regulations. Abdul Qadir, 56, and Dr Mohammed Anwar,...
12 June 2017
From: Breaking News
A Newport landlord has been fined £4,400 for operating a dangerous, unlicensed house in multiple occupation and failing to comply with...
01 June 2017
From: Breaking News
A private landlord in Saffron Walden has been fined for letting what the local council describes as “poor and potentially dangerous...
11 May 2017
From: Breaking News
Labour says there would be a ‘consumer rights revolution’ for the private rental sector if the party won the June 8...
02 May 2017
From: Breaking News
A body representing 370 councils in England and Wales wants the government to close a legal loophole which allows the conversion...
12 April 2017
From: Breaking News
The owner of a house in multiple occupation in the leafy Hampstead area of north London has been hit with a...
06 March 2017
From: Breaking News
A Conservative MP has launched a scathing attack on some landlords in his own constituency following a local council initiative to...
28 February 2017
From: Breaking News
A senior Labour politician in a London borough has branded so-called ‘rip off landlords’ as “the scourge of London.” Councillor Laila Butt,...
03 February 2017
From: Breaking News
A landlord is facing prosecution for failing to comply with various HMO regulations. For the last two days, Paul Turner has appeared...
25 January 2017
From: Breaking News
The landlord of a property risked the lives of his tenants and their young family by not undertaking annual safety checks...
19 December 2016
From: Breaking News
An online student lettings agency claims there will be a growing number of students using the holiday season to boost their...
13 December 2016
From: Breaking News
A private landlord has been fined by a London magistrates court for poor and potentially dangerous housing conditions. Monojor Ali was fined...
05 December 2016
From: Breaking News
Unsafe gas appliances have been found in 21 per cent of privately-rented flats and houses according to Gas Safe Register. Investigation data...
17 November 2016
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been found guilty of letting a property with "extremely dangerous electrics" as well as no heating and a...
03 November 2016
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been given a suspended prison sentence following his failure to maintain or check the gas fittings in one of his properties. A...
20 October 2016
From: Breaking News
The landlord of an overcrowded flat which lacked proper fire precautions and had a dangerous boiler has been fined £162,000. Abbas Rasul...