Archive

Propertymark has responded to the formal consultation schemes being imposed by a string of local councils - but says such measures...

The embattled short let and holiday let industry has hit out at what it calls the “rampant hypocrisy” of councils when...

Michael Gove’s Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities hit back overnight at critics of the government’s Renters Reform Bill. The Bill...

Propertymark says it will continue lobbying government for the implementation of the Regulation of Property Agents - even though the government...

A major agency has told the government to get on with ensuring the Renters Reform Bill is passed into law as...

A government-supporting newspaper says the Renters Reform Bill will be back in the House of Commons next week. Observers have been expecting...

Tenant groups and charities reacted angrily over the Easter weekend to the proposed changes to the Renters Reform Bill being advocated...

The government has written to Conservative MPs promising changes to the Renters Reform Bill to ease concerns over its anti-landlord bias. Jacob...

Labour has waded into the increasingly-fractious debate over the Renters Reform Bill. Activists in groups such as the Renters Reform Coalition and...

A survey of local council private rental licensing schemes says 19 selective and additional licensing schemes and consultations will be taking...

The long-awaited Third Reading of the controversial Renters Reform Bill will not happen this week according to the Leader of the...

Propertymark's latest research report suggests some letting agents want radical changes to the Renters Reform Bill now going through Parliament.  The aim...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has given what some commentators have interpreted as a sign that private rental sector licensing from councils...

The lettings agency Winkworth has taken the unusual step of criticising policies of a series of councils. The councils are all Labour...

Reapit has inked a deal with fast-expanding PropTech service Kamma to automate information about private rental sector council licensing. This year is...

A high profile lettings agent has written to his local council seeking information about an Additional Licensing scheme which has expired...

Two massive new rental licensing schemes are set to be approved in Brighton - and part of the reason is “uninterested...

PropTech Kamma has entered into a partnership with agency and consultancy JLL. This means JLL’s UK residential agents will have access to...

The letting agents’ trade body ARLA Propertymark is urging the government to regulate Airbnb and other short let platforms but to...

I was surprised the other day to read statistics from the English Housing Survey about how many landlords use letting agents. In...

A left-leaning think tank which says it champions ‘left-behind Londoners’ is demanding a turbo-charged version of selective licensing to be run...

Foxtons is to give its agents access to a compliance management and checking service. Fran Giltinan, Managing Director - Property Management &...

Labour is considering raising the buy to let and holiday home stamp duty surcharge above the current three per cent if...

It already looks like 2023 is on track to see licensing fines for agents and landlords reaching nearly double the 2022...

Letting agents and landlords are invited to join a virtual forum for a further update on new licensing requirements and to...

Knight Frank is partnering with licensing compliance firm Kamma. The growth of discretionary licensing schemes across the 408 local authorities in the...

Propertymark has written to Housing Secretary Michael Gove outlining its concerns about the latest licensing scheme proposal from a local council. The...

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

Last month’s local election results could yet impact on the private rental sector, a prominent industry supplier claims. The Association of Independent...

The massive Belvoir franchise network has signed up 360 of its franchisees to the PropTech service Kamma.  The franchisees include those under...

Industry trade body Propertymark says no Right To Rent checks will be required to be conducted by letting agents on Ukranian...

A PropTech supplier which helps agents and landlords identify private rental sector licensing issues has announced a new partnership. Geospatial technology firm...

Two more London boroughs are consulting about licensing schemes which will require landlords or their agents to pay hundreds of pounds...

Another council is to conduct a consultation process to expand selective and additional licensing schemes for the next five years. Under existing...

A council says it’s considering introducing criminal record checks on individuals who apply to run HMOs as part of a wide-ranging...

PropTech companies Kamma and Veri-Check are consolidating an existing partnership. Kamma users can already access Veri-Check’s instant property licensing checks, but in...

Bristol council has approved plans to introduce licensing in more parts of the city. Additional Licensing and Selective Licensing schemes will be...

PropTech suppliers Kamma and CoreLogic UK have teamed up to help improve the process of buy to let lending and compliance. Kamma...

Two recent calls for the introduction of a national mandatory landlord register in England have been rebuffed by agents’ trade body...

Consultation begins today on a selective licensing scheme for privately rented housing in 25 wards of Birmingham. Under the suggested scheme, all...

Airbnb has backed the Scottish Government's backtrack on pledges to exercise more centralised regulation over short let properties. The country’s ruling SNP-Green coalition...

One of the largest new additional licensing schemes for HMOs anywhere in the country is set to come into force in...

A new partnership with a PropTech supplier means Purplebricks is now offering landlord clients improved compliance over energy efficiency and other...

A proposal for one of the country’s largest ever private rental sector licensing schemes has gone out to consultation. Manchester’s Labour council...

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

Greater Manchester’s Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, says he wants to clamp down on the private rental sector. In his manifesto for next month’s...

A London council has embarked on consultation over two new private rental licensing schemes - and says they are needed as...

A London council describes two new licensing schemes as ‘making renting fairer’ - even though they are launched during the pandemic. Islington’s Labour...

Letting agents should help landlords through a blizzard of red tape and regulation cause by local licensing schemes, a PropTech entrepreneur...

Earlier this week ARLA branded local councils pursuing private rental licensing during the pandemic as “socially irresponsible” - but one of...

ARLA Propertymark has hit out at a growing number of local councils introducing licensing schemes, calling it “socially irresponsible” to do...

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

A private rental licensing consultancy has spotted that an additional licensing scheme run by a London borough council has now lapsed...

Charnwood council in the East Midlands is proposing to introduce two different licensing schemes for private landlords, with agents and others...

David Cox’s departure as chief executive of ARLA Propertymark last Friday was well signposted, particularly when he was advised he could...

The council at the centre of one of the planning controversies involving Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has issued a warning to...

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

A group of local landlords and others in the private rental sector are challenging a local authority’s licensing proposals with their...

Coventry council has been branded as irresponsible by a leading trade body for allegedly ignoring government advice on licensing schemes during...

Several local authorities at different stages of implementing rental licensing schemes have put their proposals on ice until the Coronavirus crisis...

Research by the National Residential Landlords Association and the Which? consumer body has revealed that some 53 councils in England alone...

A London council has pressed ahead with the launch of a borough-wide additional licensing scheme despite the lockdown and uncertainty created...

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...

Not-for-profit accreditation service safeagent says the government should ensure councils delay the introduction of all new private rental sector licensing schemes...

The government has rejected a council’s bid to extend its licensing scheme for privately rented housing. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local...

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 new body representing short let digital platforms like Airbnb and the large number of associated companies that have sprung up...

A newspaper in Liverpool has sharply criticised the government for refusing to allow the city council to continue a huge landlord...

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has rejected a bid by Labour-controlled Liverpool council to extend its licensing scheme for five years. Government approval...

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents has thrown its weight behind an initiative by the Scottish Government to control the growth...

The government has announced an additional £4m in funding for local councils to combat rogue agents and landlords - but it’s...

An inventories supplier is advising that the growing number of sub-letting scams can be reduced by regular property visits by agents...

A controversial private rental licensing regime that has already made the headlines for the wrong reasons has now been branded a...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents and the National Association of Estate Agents have issued their manifesto for next month’s General...

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

The government is being urged to speed up the release details of the future it sees for selective licensing following revelations...

Research by safeagent - the new name for the National Approved Letting Scheme - has found over 130,000 unlicensed properties in...

An umbrella organisation representing councils is calling for greater freedom to introduce more and larger rental sector licensing schemes, without the...

A Labour councillor on Islington council - which is controlled by the party and has Jeremy Corbyn as a local member...

Enfield wants to be the latest London council to introduce large-scale additional and selective licensing schemes which would affect most private rented...

The concept of a so-called rental property passport would rapidly improve the quality of accommodation and landlords, and would be far...

Local authorities are failing in their duty to prosecute criminal letting agents, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has warned. The NLA says...

An independent review into selective licensing in the private rental sector makes a series of recommendations to tighten processes, with the...

Consultation is underway to extend a landlord licensing scheme in a London borough where a third of households rents privately.  Three types...

The National Landlords Association says it’s concerned the Fees Ban coming into effect in just two days’ time may limit access...

Revenue raised by landlord licensing schemes should be used to enforce rental sector regulation, according to PayProp. It says that the money...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card?  My name is Daniel and I’m a director at...

One of the most pro-licensing local authorities in the country has extended its own scheme to include the entire centre of...

A housing minister has pledged that more key reforms for the private rental sector will be revealed soon, despite Brexit political...

Leicester is the latest council to begin consultations on selective licensing in six parts of the city - with the threat...

The implementation and costs of landlord licensing schemes in Britain are a lottery. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis of licensing...

A leading trade body says the argument that councils have insufficient powers to tackle rogue operators isn’t supported by the facts...

A legal firm has renewed its criticism of local authority licensing schemes, accusing them of “persecuting” landlords. David Kirwan, managing partner at...

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

Nottingham council - which recently introduced one of the largest and most controversial selective licensing schemes in the country - now...

Local press reports say that one of the country’s most controversial buy to let licensing schemes has seen thousands of applications...

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has made a clear pledge to tighten regulations surrounding the private rental sector. In an interview with The...

The heavy-handed administration of selective licensing schemes is driving out buy to let investors. That’s the claim from David Kirwan of Kirwans...