The Scottish National Party, which as part of an alliance with the Greens introduced controversial rent controls in Scotland in 2022,...
Archive
20 June 2024
From: Breaking News
Political parties should stop bickering and instead work together to improve the private rental sector. That’s the view of the Lettings industry...
17 April 2024
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is joining a growing chorus demanding an annual uprate of working age benefits and Local Housing Allowance. LHA rates have been...
25 March 2024
From: Breaking News
Shelter is calling for the construction of 90,000 rental properties each year for a decade - and it claims this would...
27 February 2024
From: Breaking News
Labour says it will keep the controversal Right To Buy policy in England if it wins this year’s General Election. This is...
02 January 2024
From: Breaking News
Private sector tenants in rural areas are facing the brunt of growing rents, according to new research. Whilst some measures suggest tenants...
14 December 2023
From: Breaking News
Low-income renters will get a boost next spring - but a pressure group wants more government help for this sector. The Chancellor’s...
12 December 2023
From: Breaking News
New figures have shown that 2,086 people were found to be sleeping on London’s streets for the first time between July...
07 November 2023
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is urging the government to use next month’s Autumn Statement to support low-income households in the private rented sector in...
26 October 2023
From: Breaking News
Social housing provider Caridon Property is hosting a series of free seminars to prepare letting agents for the migration of Housing...
09 October 2023
From: Breaking News
Shelter has published what it calls a General Election manifesto with rent controls at its heart. Called The Way Home: a manifesto to...
25 September 2023
From: Breaking News
The Competitioin and Markets Authority is to probe five activities involving letting agents and landlords and their responsibilities to private tenants. Sarah...
25 August 2023
From: Breaking News
Citizens Advice is calling on the government to provide an unspecified amount of assistance to renters during the current cost of...
31 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Crisis, the homelessness charity, has slammed the government over the growing gap between housing benefit levels and even the lower end...
28 July 2023
From: Breaking News
New research shows a 41 per cent reduction in the number of London properties available for private rent since the Covid-19...
06 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is today charing a crisis meeting of mortgage lenders, as calls mount for him to take action to...
23 June 2023
From: Breaking News
Propertymark has told a group of MPs that many benefit recipients are excluded from the private rented sector due to the...
15 May 2023
From: Breaking News
Campaigning charity Shelter is angry with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over his Budget While most in the property industry have expressed relief that there...
16 March 2023
From: Breaking News
Shelter claims government figures show 5,940 households were “threatened with homelessness” in England as a result of Section 21 evictions between April...
29 November 2022
From: Breaking News
The average gap between housing benefit rates and the actual cost of rents has grown by more than 40 per cent...
31 October 2022
From: Breaking News
London faces a possible homelessness spike this winter due to the cost-of-living crisis and increases in private rents, a group of...
05 September 2022
From: Breaking News
Zoopla is warning that low-income renters across England are facing a ‘housing black hole’ due to soaring rents and the freeze...
25 August 2022
From: Breaking News
It has emerged that Generation Rent and Shelter are amongst the charities that have written to Conservative leadership contenders Liz Truss...
17 August 2022
From: Breaking News
A newspaper probe has discovered that sow-called exempt accommodation - often for the most vulnerable tenants - has received a Hugh...
04 July 2022
From: Breaking News
The government is admitting that its rental reform agenda is aimed primarily at the north of England - which just happens...
12 May 2022
From: Breaking News
Lettings accreditation and training service Safeagent is calling on the government to make more public cash available for councils to exercise...
19 April 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
Thousands of tenants have no choice but to accept “appalling conditions” according to the chief executive of campaigning charity Shelter. Polly Neate...
14 April 2022
From: Breaking News
Private rental property conditions and the enforcement of regulations by councils and government have all been in the firing line from...
13 April 2022
From: Breaking News
A report from the House of Lords has condemned the private rental sector as being ”increasingly unaffordable” as well as being...
11 January 2022
From: Breaking News
Landlords selling up or converting to short lets have led to a growing housing crisis, according to a trade body of...
14 December 2021
From: Breaking News
ARLA Propertymark is backing a call for the government to set a clear vision for how it sees the private rental...
13 December 2021
From: Breaking News
The National Residential Landlords Association says average rent debt owed by tenants as a direct result of the pandemic is still...
09 December 2021
From: Breaking News
A major Select Committee of MPs has launched an enquiry into so-called exempt rental sector accommodation - a niche sector that...
09 December 2021
From: Breaking News
Not-for-profit accreditation scheme safeagent wants the government to help tenants clear Covid-related arrears through an overhaul of Discretionary Housing Payments. Enhancing these...
30 September 2021
From: Breaking News
Private tenants and landlords across the country face a cliff edge as the end of furlough coincides with cuts to benefit...
21 September 2021
From: Breaking News
Earlier this week Propertymark revealed it had co-signed an open letter criticising proposed government cuts to benefits. That open letter was co-signed...
19 August 2021
From: Breaking News
Propertymark has joined a series of charities and a landlord body to warn about the poverty risk of expected changes to...
17 August 2021
From: Breaking News
A leading trade body says the rental sector must not discriminate against tenants on benefits - and has told government it...
25 June 2021
From: Breaking News
A property investment platform has taken the unusual approach of accusing the government of driving up homelessness through its policy of...
15 June 2021
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency which markets private rental properties and units operated by a housing association has apologised for its ‘No DSS’...
27 May 2021
From: Breaking News
Activists from the Acorn renters' campaign group have held a protest outside a branch of Chancellors in Oxford. The group says the...
04 May 2021
From: Breaking News
Another lettings agency has been found to have unlawfully discriminated against a tenant receiving benefits. Worthing County Court declared that Michael Jones & Company unlawfully...
21 April 2021
From: Breaking News
Rent guarantees and upfront cash payments from local authorities are the most effective means of opening the private rented sector to...
09 April 2021
From: Breaking News
A think tank says large scale intervention in the rental market via loans to tenants is the only way of addressing...
16 February 2021
From: Breaking News
While the Westminster government has extended its version of the eviction ban in England until February 21, a longer ban -...
11 January 2021
From: Breaking News
Letting agents have joined forces with other players in the rental industry to demand the government finally get a grip on...
08 January 2021
From: Breaking News
The Resolution Foundation has added its voice to that of many charities and other think tanks demanding more government support for...
17 November 2020
From: Breaking News
A local authority is launching a six month probe into rooms let out but exempt from rental sector regulation. The project is...
22 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency that told a prospective tenant it had a policy of not offering tenancies to housing benefit recipients has...
10 September 2020
From: Breaking News
ARLA and the NRLA have teamed up with charities - some usually critical of letting agents and landlords - to lobby...
01 September 2020
From: Breaking News
A property litigation expert is warning letting agents and landlords about far-reaching consequences of the recent ruling which declared a blanket...
06 August 2020
From: Breaking News
Can technology bring about the lasting change needed to the property industry? The industry has felt the effect of lockdown and...
28 July 2020
From: Sponsored Content
The Prime Minister has stepped into the ongoing row over a Labour claim that last week’s stamp duty holiday was merely...
16 July 2020
From: Breaking News
Campaigning charity Shelter says it is “doubling up” its efforts to make sure letting agents comply with anti-discrimination legislation when it...
15 July 2020
From: Breaking News
Two Bristol landlords have been ordered to repay nearly £5,000 following investigations by the council’s so called rogue landlord unit. One, Lucy...
24 June 2020
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor who kept a group of men as slaves – making them work 90-hour weeks in return...
04 June 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
The Generation Rent pressure group, fiercely critical of agents and landlords in recent months, wants the government to implement a 12 month...
14 April 2020
From: Breaking News
Families living in private rented accommodation are more exposed to the economic shock of the Coronavirus than homeowners, which could mean...
09 April 2020
From: Breaking News
All court possession orders are being suspended from today as part of the changes to the private rental sector to cope...
27 March 2020
From: Breaking News
The Property Ombudsman is warning agents not to discriminate against tenants through a No DSS or any similar policy. Following the legal...
05 March 2020
From: Breaking News
The private rental sector has come under attack for its conditions and costs to tenants in a report looking into health...
26 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A new service called Cornwall Housing Private Lets has been set up in the west country to try to lure private...
11 February 2020
From: Breaking News
Plans to end the freeze on housing benefits will still leave many tenants unable to afford rent say landlords. Following the announcement...
15 January 2020
From: Breaking News
As the battle of political policies continues ahead of next month’s General Election, now Labour has unveiled a raft of initiatives...
22 November 2019
From: Breaking News
Higher housing costs - including private sector rents - have reduced incomes and increased inequality as the poorest families have borne...
11 November 2019
From: Breaking News
A new piece of legislation has been invoked to ban a landlord from any involvement in the private rental sector for...
30 October 2019
From: Breaking News
Two housing charities have called for the government to invest more in housing benefit so it rises in line with private...
10 October 2019
From: Breaking News
The private rented sector would shrink by 20 per cent if Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions are abolished, according to an economic...
30 September 2019
From: Breaking News
A Shropshire man has become the first in England to be banned from being a landlord. In a case brought by Telford...
19 September 2019
From: Breaking News
Universal Credit is causing tenants to fall behind with their rent according to lettings sector trade body the Residential Landlords Association. It...
27 August 2019
From: Breaking News
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing and Care for Older People has sharply criticised the PRS as being ill-equipped to cater...
18 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Tenants on state benefits could be the 'biggest casualties' of the government's 'ill-thought-out' plans to scrap the Section 21 evictions process,...
05 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Private landlords are being asked to consider letting out their properties through the local council. Slough council is looking for flats and...
13 June 2019
From: Breaking News
30 April 2019
From: 60 Second Interview
Rightmove has fallen in line with Zoopla and is banning the term ‘No DSS’ from its lettings agents’ listings from the...
16 April 2019
From: Breaking News
Figures given through a Parliamentary answer have revealed just how bad councils in England are at policing and enforcement action against...
29 March 2019
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords Association has given its backing to Zoopla’s ban on agents and landlords advertising properties to rent as ‘No...
18 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Zoopla says it’s introducing new measures to minimise the presence of what it calls “blanket restrictions” imposed on tenants who receive...
15 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Momentum is building in the campaign to end ‘No DSS’ discrimination against private rental sector tenants in receipt of housing benefit. Late...
05 March 2019
From: Breaking News
The government says it wants “an immediate change” in the policy of some letting agents and landlords who advertise ‘No DSS’...
04 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Doncaster council has paid £100,000 to a private landlord who threatened to take it to court over alleged slander. Local media outlets say...
28 February 2019
From: Breaking News
You may be forgiven for thinking that rent takes up an ever-greater proportion of tenants’ income - but new figures out...
14 February 2019
From: Breaking News
A lettings sector trade body has put the blame firmly on government for the scale of poverty amongst those who privately...
11 February 2019
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords Association says the government’s changes to Universal Credit don’t go far enough to prevent rent arrears. The RLA says...
07 February 2019
From: Breaking News
The owner of a buy to let property already shut by police has been fined by a court in Devon. In June...
18 December 2018
From: Breaking News
An angry lettings agent has emailed Cabinet minister James Brokenshire to show his disgust at the government’s U-turn over deposit caps. In...
06 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A pressure group that in the past has protested outside letting agency branches has staged more direct action - this time against...
26 November 2018
From: Breaking News
A substantial study by university academics suggests that changes to the benefit system lie behind the long-term rise in homelessness from...
21 November 2018
From: Breaking News
The Labour MP who chairs the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee in the House of Commons is pressing the government...
06 November 2018
From: Breaking News
Two lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme for failing to pay awards. One is OJ Residentials Limited trading...
05 November 2018
From: Breaking News
A landlord had been ordered to give back almost £4,000 that was paid to him while operating without a licence. The case...
29 October 2018
From: Breaking News
Urgent action is needed to tackle discrimination against benefit claimants by buy to let mortgage providers according to a leading trade...
22 October 2018
From: Breaking News
An Essex council claims it is one of the first to be granted a rent repayment order - part of legislation...
31 August 2018
From: Breaking News
The ongoing debate over some letting agents and landlords allegedly refusing to accept tenants in receipt of housing benefit has now...
24 August 2018
From: Breaking News
The National Approved Lettings Scheme has issued a sharp rebuke to Shelter and the National Housing Federation following their controversial ‘End...
23 August 2018
From: Breaking News
Lettings agents’ representatives have hit back at an accusation of discrimination made against the industry. A report by Shelter and the National...
22 August 2018
From: Breaking News
An influential think tank is calling on government to radically reform the private rental sector because a generation of young people...