Landlords, there are NO exceptions to the tenancy deposit rules. This means YOU
I am constantly being contacted by landlords who have just discovered that they did not protect their tenancy deposit in time and are unable now to serve a valid section 21 notice. Basically, they want me to tell them that the tenancy deposit rules do not apply to them. But this is not something I […]
Private landlords group blasts BBC for ‘misleading’ Panorama programme
A group representing private landlords has slammed the BBC for its ‘misleading’ Panorama programme showing appalling conditions in the PRS and said there are “over 100 Acts of Parliament” which protect renters. Residential Landlords Association (RLA) chairman Alan Ward claimed the BBC ignored “the views of those bodies representing the vast majority of responsible landlords […]
Tenants’ group slams Labour’s plans to crack down on rogue landlords as ‘incredibly weak’
A leading tenants’ group has called Labour plans to crack down on rogue landlords ‘incredibly weak’ – claiming it could take at least a decade to enforce. Ed Miliband, who is this week focusing on housing in the final fortnight before polling day, launched a raft of pledges aimed at improving privately-rented homes. They include […]
Labour To Cap Rents To Help ‘Generation Rent’
Labour plans to bar private landlords from raising rents faster than inflation over a three-year period if it wins power after the General Election. Party leader Ed Miliband described Labour’s blueprint as “a plan for a stable, decent, prosperous private rental market where landlords and tenants can succeed together”. The move forms part of a […]
Councils pay private landlords up to £4,000 to house tenants
Housing charities say widespread practice underlines difficulties for councils housing tenants in market where landlords hold balance of power. Councils are offering landlords cash payments of up to £4,000 to accommodate homeless families as a shortage of social housing forces authorities to court the private sector with taxpayer-funded incentives. The revelation comes in the same […]
UK landlords without cast iron inventory losing out in tenant disputes
Since the start of the tenant deposit schemes in 2007 in the UK more tenants than landlords are continuing to be awarded 100% of the disputed amount at adjudications, new research shows. Data from the Tenant Deposit Scheme Annual Review 2014, shows that over the last eight years, tenants have been awarded 20.25% the whole […]
Landlords face bringing draughty UK homes up to scratch
New legislation will see landlords banned from renting out properties in England and Wales that are draughty as part of a drive to cut energy bills and carbon emissions. Landlords with properties rated F and G will be unable to let them out from 01 April 2018 and it also means that from April next […]
Landlords have two months to register deposits – or face £3,600 fine
Buy-to-let investors have until June 23 to sign up to an official deposit scheme or pay costly penalties. Thousands of landlords with long-standing tenants could face a £3,600 shock penalty unless they register deposits by this summer. The Government is running a 90-day amnesty for buy-to-let investors who have yet to put their tenants’ deposits […]
Chris Town: A failed system hits tenants and their landlords
“IT becomes less and less logical for a private landlord to also be a decent landlord.” This was the poorly-judged recent conclusion by one self-claimed representative of tenants and goes straight to the heart of the problem with debate over the private rented sector. It is too often polarised as landlords against tenants. The reality […]
Tories plan council house sales to fund extension of Right-to-Buy
David Cameron has set out plans to extend the government’s Right-to-Buy scheme to social housing tenants, to be funded by forcing local authorities to sell off high-value council homes. Setting out the Conservative’s manifesto today, Cameron said the party was offering people security at every stage of life. As well as helping more people to […]