Archive

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

Thousands of homes in central London may have been lost to Airbnb and other short let platforms, a Labour candidate claims. Rachel...

The government has won a landmark legal challenge against a freeholder forcing it to fix serious building safety issues in a...

Managing agents in London have been instructed to pay a £15,000 fine for operating a House in Multiple Occupation without the...

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

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

Changes put forward to the Renters Reform Bill to crack down on rogue landlords, protect vulnerable residents and improve the safety of...

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

HM Treasury has published a consultation on reform of the anti-money laundering supervisory system, giving four options. Currently the supervisory system is...

A new action plan to tackle issues around HMOs is being drawn up by a Midlands council next week. West Northamptonshire council’s...

Six letting agencies across the London borough of Haringey have been fined a total of £12,000 after a council clampdown. Trading Standards...

A management company and a lettings agency involved in running a London HMO have been prosecuted for fire safety failures. Monsoon Properties...

Propertymark auditors are offering in-person visits to branches to improve their compliance.  The trade body says this is in response to demand from...

Propertymark has given its backing to a clampdown by Housing Secretary Michael Gove on private landlords - although landlords themselves appear...

Propertymark says letting agents should have clear policies and priorities to help ensure properties are kept to the highest standards possible.  The...

PropTech firm Kamma says total fines for agents and landlords have now topped £8m in London alone with a £238,000 increase...

A new and huge private rental licensing scheme has launched in County Durham. A total of at least 29,000 properties, or 42...

MPs and the wider public have been presented with a lengthy report on the growth of Airbnb and similar platforms across...

Bristol-based lettings management company Iletpro Ltd has been ordered to pay a total of £2,700.06 in fines and costs for failing...

The UK Association of Letting Agents says it welcomes new rules for alarms which put the social and private rental sectors...

Effective enforcement is crucial to stamp out rogue lettings agents and protect consumers says safeagent. In the latest edition of its Effective...

Agents and landlords are being warned that the Fire Safety Act 2021 will make a huge impact on their responsibilities -...

A consultation is to begin next month regarding the designation of an entire city as a Short Term Let Control Area. If...

Campaign group Generation Rent has set out a 10-point plan for reform of the private rental sector in favour of tenants. Its...

Agents are being warned about a crackdown on compliance issues surrounding rental property management. No Letting Go, the country’s largest provider of...

The government has admitted that “hundreds of thousands” of people will use the new Breathing Space system, during which they cannot...

A prominent industry figure says lettings agents will have a key role educating landlords over the controversial Breathing Space scheme introduced...

There’s been an urgent change to the arrears process over the weekend to dovetail with the government’s new Breathing Space initiative. From...

Landlords and managing agents of HMOs could face unlimited fines following new measures being brought in to strengthen fire safety, the...

An agency has been hit with a £330,000 bill after being found guilty of poor management of an HMO. Magistrates have found...

ARLA Propertymark is reminding agents about the controversial Breathing Space legislation coming into effect on May 4. The new rules are known as...

It is “extremely likely” there will be an extension to the current ban on bailiffs conducting evictions even after court orders...

Today is the start of the official Christmas eviction ban ‘truce’ in the private rental sector - and it continues until...

A long-running case about a house divided up and let out without planning permission has resulted in a fine of nearly...

ARLA Propertymark has given a detailed response to a government consultation on how the pandemic has hit the private rental sector. The...

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

Labour has written to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick demanding the return of the eviction ban - even though, to all intents...

It is thought likely that the new four week lockdown in England coming into effect on Thursday will mean evictions will...

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

The lettings industry is today preparing for the current ban on repossessions to be lifted on Sunday with courts to hear...

Ahead of the evictions ban being lifted on Sunday, ARLA Propertymark has written to Housing Minister Robert Jenrick, setting out a...

Landlords operating in England are increasingly seeking evictions advice from their Scottish counterparts, according to property management firm Apropos. The platform says...

An influential think-tank wants private rental properties to have a minimum EPC rating of B by 2030. The Institute for Public Policy...

Four buy to let investors have each been fined £10,000 for letting out unlicensed HMOs. The unlicensed properties , all in the...

Government advice to local authorities to sit tight with new licensing proposals during the Coronavirus pandemic appears to have been ignored...

A document outlining options for the future regulation of Airbnb and other short let platforms in the UK is to be...

A local authority has postponed the extension of its private rental sector licensing regime - but it’s warning agents not to...

The landlords’ newly-merged trade body has renewed its call for the government to do more to help the private rental sector...

A local council claims it has received over 500 complaints from private rental tenants since the start of April - approaching...

One of the industry’s leading trade bodies has revealed that the number of laws creating an obligation on landlords in the...

The owner of a house believed to be occupied by multiple tenants has been prosecuted by a Kent council for failing...

Former QPR and Nottingham Forest striker Dexter Blackstock has been fined over £25,000 and branded a rogue landlord after admitting 12 licencing offences. He...

Landlords in a part of Teesside are to be allowed to operate a “collaborative” licensing scheme after a council backed down...

A Labour council which has become famous for its critical approach to the private rental sector has now been given almost £200,000...

Figures given through a Parliamentary answer have revealed just how bad councils in England are at policing and enforcement action against...

Today the long-awaited Homes (Fitness For Human Habitation) Act comes into force, pioneered by Labour MP Karen Buck and giving people...

New figures from a leading trade body suggest that councils across England have cut by a quarter the amount they are...

A buy to let investor who converted three family homes to HMOs without securing planning permission has been jailed for falsifying...

The council at Brighton & Hove has won an extra £34,820 in public money from the government to help it build...

A buy to let investor has lost possession of his flat after converting it into an Illegal House in Multiple Occupation...

A controversial Labour-controlled local authority which already has 91 per cent of its private rental properties inside licensing schemes is now...

One of London’s most enthusiastic councils for additional and selective licensing has pushed back the date for enforcement action against landlords...

Local authorities across the UK are to get another £2m to crack down on rogue operators in the buy to let...

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...

The council behind a controversial private rental sector licensing scheme is trying to justify its introduction on health and safety grounds. On...

A council says it is adopting a new approach to proactively tackling poor housing conditions in privately rented homes in one...

The select committee monitoring the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government will continue its deliberations today on the government’s ban...

A London council has won its appeal against Foxtons using the term “administration fees” in its lettings charges.    Back in 2015 Camden...

A landlord has been fined over £15,000 after failing to maintain gas appliances at the domestic property in Haverfordwest.   Llanelli Magistrates’ Court...

The Residential Landlords Association has broken ranks with the Association of Residential Letting Agents by opposing an ARLA-backed public database of...

The National Landlords Association has rejected a central plank of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan for housing - the introduction of yet more...

The controversial Welsh private lettings sector scheme called Rent Smart Wales had around 65 per cent of agents and landlords register...

Councils in eight of London's 32 boroughs have failed to prosecute even a single landlord for providing unsafe accommodation during the...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has responded to the latest government recommendations for tighter controls on the private rental sector...

Two landlords must pay a combined total of over £300,000 following legal action by a central London council.    Westminster council claimed that...

Yet another council private rental sector licensing scheme is being drawn up with the claim that it will improve standards of...

A landlord who illegally converted a house to squeeze 28 tenants into just seven rooms has been handed a £20,000 fine...

Burnley Council has brought a series of prosecutions against people responsible for unlicensed rented houses in the borough. The council has introduced...

The National Approved Letting Scheme has created a toolkit which it says will help local authorities tackle rogue letting agents who...

Enforcement officers from Barking and Dagenham council, one of the most active in chasing up private rental sector issues, has discovered...

Generation Rent, the lobby group which recently narrowly escaped folding because of a lack of financial support, wants the public to...

New funding will help up to 65 councils tackle rogue landlords who let out substandard homes including the hated Beds In...

A property consultancy specialising in licensing regimes for privately-let properties says there have been 580 housing prosecutions in London under the...