Channel 5 announce new TV show Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords
Channel 5 has announced a new TV series exploring what they describe as the UK’s housing crisis. Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords provides an insight into the millions of tenants and landlords across the UK, as feuds between them get out of control. Viewers will witness stories including a flat covered in black mould in Peterborough […]
London landlords gained the most last year – but if you want to start or expand a buy-to-let empire now it’s time to look North
London’s landlords gained the most from their rental properties last year thanks to fast-rising prices in the capital, but buy-to-letters looking to start or expand portfolios now may do better by looking north, according to a study. Data from Kent Reliance’s latest Buy to Let Britain Report shows the capital had the highest average annual […]
Buy-to-let continues to soar with another 150,000 landlords
The private rental sector populated in the main by buy-to-let landlords has continued to soar and has grown by nearly 150,000 households in the year to March, with data from Kent Reliance showing rented accommodation accounting for 77.4 per cent of new households created. The second edition of Kent Reliance’s report in the buy-to-let sector […]
Charity claims rogue landlords are responsible for 740,000 unsafe homes in England
Rogue landlords in England are raking in £5.6 billion a year for 740,000 unsafe rented homes that fail to meet legal standards, a new study has found. These privately rented homes present a severe threat to tenants’ health, according to the report from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) with a host of dangers such as […]
UK lettings agents and landlords surprised at proposal for mandatory licensing
The private rented sector in the UK said it is surprised about proposals to introduce a mandatory licensing system due to be in the Queen’s Speech later this week at the opening of the new parliament. Prime Minister David Cameron said in his speech on immigration last week that landlords throughout the country will be […]
Private landlords irate after Citizens Advice says 740,000 homes ‘severe threat’ to health
Private landlord groups have hit back at a major Citizens Advice study which showed that “740,000 households in England live in privately rented homes that present a severe threat to tenants’ health” and called for the government to target “dodgy landlords”. Reacting angrily to the report, the National Landlords Association issued a press release under […]
Landlords buying tenanted properties
Research from Countrywide claimed it is in London and the South East where yields are lowest and where the proportion of landlord purchases with a sitting tenant is highest. There, landlords are most likely to buy a property with a sitting tenant to ensure they receive a rental income immediately, improving their return. This is […]
Social landlords expect cuts to trigger new wave of homelessness
Social landlords are expecting a surge in rent arrears, tenant evictions and homelessness as the government pushes ahead with more welfare cuts and changes, according to new research. The continuing impact of the bedroom tax, together with moves to extend the benefit cap and impose further limits on housing benefit, will put further financial pressure […]
Iain Duncan Smith gets more time to rescue the loathed universal credit by Hannah Fearn
The collective groan that went up when Iain Duncan Smith was reappointed to the Department for Work and Pensions over the weekend could probably be heard from space. For housing workers, it’s five more years of the same: no change in direction, just straight ahead with the pressing business of welfare reform. However, the return […]
Malcolm Cannon: Don’t harm rental sector
It is a popular myth that all landlords are unsympathetic and money-grabbing; and that tenants are a browbeaten community living in less than homely properties. But that is just what it is – “a myth”. While I am not about to use this column to excuse bad landlords or deny that some tenants find themselves […]