Archive

The new Labour government has a “golden opportunity its” to resolve the rental crisis, but must give clarity to the industry...

Compliance issues are on the increase in the private rented sector according to a prominent industry supplier. Inventory and software chief Nick...

Zoopla lettings chiefs have told the government it should tighten up its imminent Renters Rights Bill by demanding all lettings agents...

A prominent lettings agent says banning agents and landlords conducting bidding wars for a rental property is not addressing the real...

The trade union UNISON has partnered with activist group Generation Rent to demand root-and-branch reform of the private rental sector. Four key...

A council has placed a Banning Order on a lettings agency operating unlicensed Houses in Multiple Occupation. Trophy Homes Ltd was hit...

London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan says he will build 6,000 “affordable” rental homes by 2030 - with their rents capped. Khan, standing...

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

Shelter is asking for public support for radical changes to the Renters Reform Bill, now going through Parliament. The campaigning charity is...

Propertymark has called on the UK Government to prevent a mass exodus of student landlords.   The news comes as a poll conducted...

Franchise giant Belvoir is the latest agency group to sign a deal with geospatial technology firm Kamma. The partnership will offer all...

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

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

London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan is calling on the government to allow him to levy effectively uncapped council tax bills on...

The Renters Reform Bill can be the perfect opportunity for the industry to become more professional - just so long as...

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

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

The anti-agent pro-renter group Acorn has protested outside some agents’ offices in Bristol demanding an end to rival bids for properties...

A landlord has pleaded guilty to four offences which involved the creation of fake letting agencies in order to help him...

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

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

The large majority of players in the lettings industry wants the rental reform programme outlined by the government, an agent claims. Laura...

Wandsworth council in south London is considering a review into the feasibility of introducing discretionary landlord licencing. A statement from the authority...

An accreditation scheme says the government database of rogue letting agents should be expanded.  The government is committed to creating a new Property...

A controversial database which will allow widespread access to the identities of rogue letting agents and landlords has been backed by...

David Votta from the Kent-based Votta Sales and Lettings has been revealed as the new ARLA Propertymark President. He has been in...

ARLA Propertymark is warning the government that it should not delay further on its long-awaited Renters Reform Bill, because of the...

An activist group in London has launched a scathing attack on councils which it claims have been ineffective in regulating rogue...

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

Walsall council is proposing additional licensing to improve conditions and management of HMOs in five wards where there are high numbers...

One of the country’s major regional newspapers has launched a campaign for the urgent introduction of rent controls. The Bristol Evening Post,...

A lettings company has been caught up in a case where rental accommodation has been described as “atrocious” and a landlord...

Politicians across the UK appear to be growing more vocal in their support for rent controls. The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru...

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants is introducing a new qualification and training for borough council housing enforcement officers to...

It’s now been made clear that there will be a detailed White Paper in the spring explaining radical changes to the...

ARLA Propertymark has identified a key weakness in the government’s ambitious plans to reform the private rental sector as part of...

The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper, revealed this morning, includes a radical reshaping of the private rental sector. Section 21 eviction...

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

A lettings agent who also runs a tenant complaint insurance service has renewed his attack on landlords and local authorities. Ajay Jagota...

Council-imposed fines on letting agents and landlords that fall foul of licensing regulations have risen dramatically in the past month alone. Research...

One of the local authorities with the tightest clampdowns on letting agents has issued a statement celebrating its successes. Tower Hamlets council in...

ARLA Propertymark is calling on the government to properly fund local authorities so they can combat rogue operators in the private...

A new survey has revealed that just 11% of people think Michael Gove, who was announced as the new Housing Secretary...

A landlord and the property company of which he is director have been convicted and ordered to pay more than £17,000...

There has still been no formal response to a government consultation on the database of rogue agents and landlords, 25 months...

An analysis of the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Letting Agent Checker shows that since it was introduced in 2018...

A controversial lettings agent who has set up a business to sell rental insurance has accused landlords of not taking their...

Bury council in Greater Manchester has adopted new measures to fine agents or landlords up to £30,000 if their properties fail...

The local media in Manchester have published photographs of a property operated by a lettings agency was found to have multiple...

The online lettings platform Mashroom has set out a list of guidelines it’s offering to prospective tenants to avoid them falling...

Some 39 agents and landlords have had banning orders over the past three years according to a report in The Guardian. Under the...

A landlord who persistently broke residential lettings rules has been banned from operating in a landmark legal ruling. Julie Stoddern, of Camborne,...

A council says it’s looking for lettings agencies that worked with a rogue landlord who's been issued with a four year banning order. Bristol...

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

Two landlords - one of them an agent - have been given fines totalling £135,000 and must pay costs for failing to...

Lambeth council is consulting agents, landlords and others on its latest licensing proposals for Houses in Multiple Occupation. The new proposals would...

A lettings firm has been ordered to pay over £18,000 after failing to provide adequate living conditions for his tenants. Chelmsford magistrates...

A new report from the Nationwide and campaigning charity Shelter puts letting agents in the dock over the standards in the...

A London council has launched a strategy it claims will protect private tenants and ensure they live in good quality and...

A Liberal Democrat Baroness says she is to make a last-ditch bid in the House of Lords tomorrow to stop evictions...

West Midlands Police have revealed that a major drugs racket being run by a rogue landlord from his properties in Coventry...

Two suspended sentences, community service, a fine and disqualification from being a director - those form the penalty for a rogue...

Two landlords have been served with civil penalty notices for operating unlicensed HMOs.  The notices were from Wellingborough council; one was for...

A new report demands that online rental platforms and portals allowing direct advertising by clients do more to deter fake landlords...

A London council is telling its private rental sector residents to use a new tool to check whether they may be...

A landlord taken to court by a council has ended up with a bill in excess of £20,000.  Dennis Goodwin of Highbury...

The author of a book described as being about “insecure renters haemorrhaging cash” has used her newspaper column to make a...

Rogue landlords have been accused of tax evasion which could cost the Treasury as much as £1.73 billion a year. The accusation...

A Liberal Democrat bid is underway to accelerate the government timetable to scrap Section 21. The Renters’ Rights Bill put forward by government...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, has told the government of “illegal evictions by letting agents” - without specifying the incidents he refers...

The council in Liverpool is likely to propose a scaled-back private rental licensing scheme after its original suggestion was rejected by...

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

Two Bristol landlords have been ordered to repay nearly £5,000 following investigations by the council’s so called rogue landlord unit. One, Lucy...

A westcountry landlord is only the second in England to have received a banning order preventing him from letting or managing...

Rent to the value of £10,982.25 is to be returned to tenants by a landlord who was operating without a licence. Mrs...

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

A landlord from Plymouth has been sentenced after failing to maintain gas appliances and failing to have landlord’s gas safety checks...

A shocking case of a buy to let HMO that did not even have a working smoke detector has led to...

A buy to let investor has been found guilty of letting out poor quality living accommodation that was said to pose...

Pressure group Generation Rent claims half of London’s councils did not fine any landlords for letting out unsafe homes in the...

The West Midlands Police force says it’s secured what it calls a “landmark court order” against a rogue landlord who turned...

A landlord has been ordered to pay back no less than £190,000 - equivalent to nine years’ rent - after he...

A landlord has been ordered to pay nearly £6,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to harassing and financially exploiting...

A council’s intervention has stopped a landlord forcing his private tenants to use an external staircase to enter their home -...

A buy to let investor has been hit with a bill of almost £9,500 after being accused of allowing a tenant...

The government has failed the private rental sector says the Residential Landlords Association. In a statement released even before the resignation of...

The government’s hugely-publicised database for rogue letting agents and landlords has been running for almost two years and has…wait for it…just...

A London Labour council wants to introduce rent controls to its borough. The South London Press reports that Lambeth councillors have voted through...

A council has prosecuted five private landlords who failed to get licences for the properties they let out. Oldham council says its...

A judge has ordered two landlords to pay a total of £14,858 for illegally renting out an unlicensed house without working...

Another Labour council wants to introduce a city-wide landlord licensing scheme - a proposal that would require government approval to implement. Last...

Councils that have been awarded additional cash injections by government could use their windfalls to enhance their enforcement of the private...

The fallout continues over the government’s shock refusal to allow Liverpool council to continue its huge landlord licensing scheme. Yesterday we reported that...

The Labour party has mocked the government’s £4m new funding for councils to combat rogue agents and landlords as “puny.” A statement...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents and The Guild of Property Professionals have both given their backing to the government’s latest...

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

No date has been set by government for the second reading of the Renters' Reform Bill 2019-20. The Bill was announced in...

A rogue landlord has been fined £1,384 for failing to get a council licence for two buy to let properties. The case...

A rogue landlord has been found guilty of unlawful harassment and misleading and aggressive practices, and will be sentenced next month. Ragoopathy...

A landlord has been banned for two and half years after repeatedly putting tenants’ lives at risk by letting unsafe housing. This...