The husband-and-wife directors of a Cornish lettings and estate agency have been disqualified from being company directors for a combined 12...
Archive
Two London agents who traded fraudulently through their lettings business and scammed victims out of over £24,000 have been sentenced. After a...
13 May 2024
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is demanding equal treatment with the social housing sector. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove intends to boost standards in social housing...
11 April 2024
From: Breaking News
The Chancellor has one last chance to come good on the election promise of lowering the burden of business rates –...
06 March 2024
From: Breaking News
A letting agent who stole over £40,000 from her employer was caught when a bank queried the use of a company...
22 February 2024
From: Breaking News
The boss of a prominent UK lettings and property management agency says new regulations planned for the industry are to be...
27 December 2023
From: Breaking News
Harlow council says it wants to take a harder line against agents and landlords who knowingly let unsafe and substandard properties...
20 October 2023
From: Breaking News
The Property Redress Scheme has released its latest list of expelled agents - mostly for rental misdemeanours and/or failure to pay...
24 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Colliers, the agency and property consultancy, has issued another outspoken attack on government policy - this time prompted by a formal...
17 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Foxtons is to give its agents access to a compliance management and checking service. Fran Giltinan, Managing Director - Property Management &...
19 May 2023
From: Breaking News
The Property Redress Scheme, one of two government-approved redress services, has produced a list of recently-expelled agencies. All agencies must be a...
26 April 2023
From: Breaking News
Two agents who helped establish a multi-million-pound drugs ring in two cities have been jailed. Ossama Omar and Mohamed Latif ran Platinum...
21 April 2023
From: Breaking News
Several lettings agents have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme; they are amongst eight named as having been kicked out...
06 April 2023
From: Breaking News
The head of a Martin & Co office in Wolverhampton has been jailed over fraudulent activity. A court heard that Bhavander Singh...
16 January 2023
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent has been banned from holding office in a company for 11 years for abusing Covid loans - but...
04 January 2023
From: Breaking News
Five agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme - all for compliance failures. The first is Home Trader Properties, in...
04 October 2022
From: Breaking News
An accreditation scheme says the government database of rogue letting agents should be expanded. The government is committed to creating a new Property...
27 September 2022
From: Breaking News
The former president of ARLA Propertymark has made an outspoken attack on the government for failing to regulate the agency industry. Maxine...
30 June 2022
From: Breaking News
David Votta from the Kent-based Votta Sales and Lettings has been revealed as the new ARLA Propertymark President. He has been in...
21 June 2022
From: Breaking News
Propertymark has hit back at the latest demand by politicians for rent controls. The London mayor Sadiq Khan renewed his call for...
21 February 2022
From: Breaking News
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants is introducing a new qualification and training for borough council housing enforcement officers to...
17 February 2022
From: Breaking News
Two agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme for failing to pay compensation awards. Thamlet Estates, based in east London,...
20 January 2022
From: Breaking News
A council is warning letting agents to adhere to health and safety laws or else face the legal consequences. Telford & Wrekin...
10 January 2022
From: Breaking News
ARLA Propertymark has launched a radical programme of reform for the private rental sector - getting in before the government’s own...
15 December 2021
From: Breaking News
A letting agency has been issued with penalty notices worth £3,000 for operating illegally. Back in 2014 it became a legal requirement...
03 December 2021
From: Breaking News
Effective enforcement is crucial to stamp out rogue lettings agents and protect consumers says safeagent. In the latest edition of its Effective...
30 November 2021
From: Breaking News
The deal to introduce rent controls in Scotland - the result of a deal between two parties in the Scottish Parliament...
27 August 2021
From: Breaking News
New rules out for consultation concerning block management aim to improve professionalism across the sector, root out rogue agents, and increase...
23 August 2021
From: Breaking News
The Property Ombudsman and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors are seeking views of agents, landlords and tenants on a new...
13 August 2021
From: Breaking News
There has still been no formal response to a government consultation on the database of rogue agents and landlords, 25 months...
11 August 2021
From: Breaking News
A local Trading Standards team is clamping down on rogue letting agents. Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service has launched...
23 June 2021
From: Breaking News
The local media in Manchester have published photographs of a property operated by a lettings agency was found to have multiple...
09 June 2021
From: Breaking News
A London council has secured banning orders against rogue property agents who were previously fined over £70,000 for letting an unlicensed...
28 May 2021
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents' wing of Propertymark says the recent expulsion of three agents from The Property Ombudsman demonstrates the...
04 May 2021
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency director has been issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order for unlawfully evicting a tenant back in 2019. CFDP Ltd, trading as...
30 April 2021
From: Breaking News
An agency has been hit with a £330,000 bill after being found guilty of poor management of an HMO. Magistrates have found...
16 March 2021
From: Breaking News
A huge trading standards operation clamping down on lettings agents who fail to abide by Client Money Protection rules has been...
25 February 2021
From: Breaking News
An overwhelming 98 per cent of agents who are members of The Property Ombudsman scheme pay compensation when an investigation is...
01 December 2020
From: Breaking News
A lettings firm has been ordered to pay over £18,000 after failing to provide adequate living conditions for his tenants. Chelmsford magistrates...
11 November 2020
From: Breaking News
An agent has been banned from being a company director after tax offences involving hundreds of thousands of pounds, or possibly...
02 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A Liberal Democrat Baroness says she is to make a last-ditch bid in the House of Lords tomorrow to stop evictions...
22 September 2020
From: Breaking News
A Liberal Democrat bid is underway to accelerate the government timetable to scrap Section 21. The Renters’ Rights Bill put forward by government...
27 July 2020
From: Breaking News
The Property Ombudsman has announced the expulsion of eight agencies, all for contravening TPO codes of practice. Most of the expulsions were...
04 May 2020
From: Breaking News
The safeagent accreditation business says it has helped secure the conviction of a rogue lettings agent who falsely claimed membership of...
05 March 2020
From: Breaking News
A lettings agent who stole over £23,000 from tenants to pay for his gambling habit and pay off debt has escaped...
24 February 2020
From: Breaking News
An agent has been disqualified from managing companies for five years after she failed to safeguard £28,000 worth of tenants’ deposits...
12 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A London council has caught out a rogue lettings agency for illegally operating two properties, with issues ranging from gas safety...
27 January 2020
From: Breaking News
Councils that have been awarded additional cash injections by government could use their windfalls to enhance their enforcement of the private...
20 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The Labour party has mocked the government’s £4m new funding for councils to combat rogue agents and landlords as “puny.” A statement...
06 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents and The Guild of Property Professionals have both given their backing to the government’s latest...
06 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The government has announced an additional £4m in funding for local councils to combat rogue agents and landlords - but it’s...
03 January 2020
From: Breaking News
The government has this week published a learning toolkit for local authorities to help them with enforcement against rogue landlords and...
03 October 2019
From: Breaking News
Two London agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme for failing to honour two compensation awards. The first is Chase...
19 September 2019
From: Breaking News
There’s a warning this morning that the root-and-branch reform of the agency industry recommended by a government-backed working party will be...
19 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Local authorities are failing in their duty to prosecute criminal letting agents, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has warned. The NLA says...
04 July 2019
From: Breaking News
The Tenant Fees Act comes into effect in England tomorrow - but a senior lettings expert is questioning whether it will...
31 May 2019
From: Breaking News
A former employee of Martin & Co has admitted operating a fraud scheme that involved agency clients paying money into his...
26 April 2019
From: Breaking News
A rogue letting agent has been ordered to pay £42,596 in fines and costs of £10,626 after pleading guilty to a...
23 April 2019
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents says it backs a new Trading Standards-led body which will enforce the Fees Ban starting on...
18 April 2019
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency and its director have been fined a total of £30,000 for failing to licence HMOs and giving sham...
13 February 2019
From: Breaking News
The news this week that even individual private landlords must join a redress scheme is just the latest in an onslaught...
25 January 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 rental campaigner claims the amount of money stolen this year by crooked lettings agents and landlords has topped the £1.3m...
20 December 2018
From: Breaking News
The National Approved Letting Scheme has published the latest version of its Effective Enforcement Toolkit - aimed at helping councils clamp...
05 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A lettings trade body has welcomed extra government funding for English councils to clamp down on criminal landlords. But the Residential Landlords...
09 November 2018
From: Breaking News
The Guardian says the government is committed to making a datebase of rogue letting agents and landlords available to tenants. The newspaper quotes...
26 October 2018
From: Breaking News
November 5 is the next key date for the passage of the Tenants’ Fees Bill, the measure which is likely to...
19 October 2018
From: Breaking News
A managing agent who used ‘ghost tenants’ as a front so that she could cram 16 people into one overcrowded house...
16 October 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 Association of Residential Letting Agents has heaped praise on a local authority which has fined 27 lettings and managing agents...
11 July 2018
From: Breaking News
This week marks a major milestone in Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's efforts to crack down on the capital's rogue letting...
23 May 2018
From: Breaking News
A leading PropTech entrepreneur says he welcomes reforms currently moving through Parliament to professionalise the lettings sector - but he wants...
09 May 2018
From: Breaking News
The government has this morning - Easter Sunday - announced a crackdown on rogue letting agents in the shape of a...
01 April 2018
From: Breaking News
Romans has thrown its weight behind the banning orders being introduced in April which could see rogue letting agents and landlords...
26 January 2018
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents and other trade bodies have not yet responded to the government’s announcement over the holiday...
02 January 2018
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
The first London boroughs are now rolling out the Greater London Authority’s ‘Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker’ - allowing tenants to...
20 December 2017
From: Breaking News
Industry figures have broadly welcomed the latest consultations and proposed additional regulation for the lettings sector, announced by the government yesterday. The...
19 October 2017
From: Breaking News
PropTech firm PayProp has welcomed the latest measures to clamp down on rogue elements within the lettings industry - but warns...
11 October 2017
From: Breaking News
Trading Standards says representatives from 15 departments will today visit lettings and property management firms across London in a bid to...
26 September 2017
From: Breaking News
Newham council is to set up the UK’s first letting agents rating scheme to protect residents and landlords from rogue agents. The...
07 August 2017
From: Breaking News
Crooked letting agents have been convicted of stealing almost £700,000 of tenants’ deposits in the first half of 2017. Campaigning letting agent...
27 July 2017
From: Breaking News
The National Approved Lettings Scheme has called for the London Mayor’s new rogue agents’ database to be extended to include those...
28 April 2017
From: Breaking News
Letting agents who have broken the law are set to be ‘named and shamed’ by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,...
27 April 2017
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords Association has broken ranks with the Association of Residential Letting Agents by opposing an ARLA-backed public database of...
27 April 2017
From: Breaking News
The government’s formal consultation on its proposed ban for fees levied on tenants by agents has been greeted with derision and...
10 April 2017
From: Breaking News
A leading letting agent campaigning against rental sector deposits is warning that the industry might be hit with “astronominal” insurance premiums...
10 April 2017
From: Breaking News
New legislation coming into force today gives local authorities in England tough new powers to crack down on rogue agents and...
06 April 2017
From: Breaking News
As the industry awaits the delivery of today's Spring Budget, the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has called on the government...
08 March 2017
From: Breaking News
A trade body has backed government plans to introduce so-called ‘banning orders’ for rogue letting agents and landlords, but it says...
17 February 2017
From: Breaking News
One of London’s leading politicians has created guidelines to help individuals ‘secret shop’ in a bid to expose what she claims...
03 January 2017
From: Breaking News
The government has launched an official consultation process on a package of measures to crack down on what it calls ‘rogue...
14 December 2016
From: Breaking News
An estate agent from Devon who conned landlords, tenants and even his friends out of a total of £157,250 has been...
11 October 2016
From: Breaking News
The Local Government Association, representing 370 councils across England and Wales, is calling on the public to speak out against rogue...
11 July 2016
From: Breaking News
The demonisation of agents continues with the launch of a web-based application designed to “enable local authorities to take action against rogue...
23 March 2016
From: Breaking News
The Local Government Association says recent prosecutions show that councils are cracking down on illegal evictions by landlords and their agents...
01 February 2016
From: Breaking News
MPs have given their backing to a government proposal to ban rogue letting agents and landlords who repeatedly break private rental...
13 January 2016
From: Breaking News
Eviction specialist company Landlord Action wants the government to complement its action against rogue letting agents and tenants with a ‘rogue...
05 January 2016
From: Breaking News
The Housing and Planning Bill returns to the House of Commons tomorrow when the remaining stages of the legislation resume after...