Why do landlords refuse to let to housing benefit / DSS tenants?
Article by Tessa Shepperson Landlord Law Blog The tenants organisation DIGS is organising a #YesDSS campaign this month. They are angry that so many landlords and letting agents in London refuse to let to DSS tenants. This is set out on the DIGS website here in a post which makes several points: That ‘No DSS’ […]
HMRC’s £3.5bn crack down on SME VAT underpayment
HMRC has raised an additional £3.5bn in the last year through inquiries into the under-payment of VAT by small businesses, according to research by tax investigation insurance company PfP which suggests this sector is coming under increasing scrutiny. Additional VAT revenue accounted for almost half (45%) of the additional tax take in 2014/15 from investigations […]
Landlords beware: Sub-letting on the rise
New research by landlord insurance provider Direct Line for Business reveals that one in six (17%) tenants in the UK admits to having rented out part or all of their property to someone who isn’t on the lease agreement. A quarter of tenants who sub-let their property didn’t check the terms of their lease to […]
HMRC must clarify new wear and tear allowance, say tax experts
Agents acting for landlords replacing furniture and other domestic items in homes to let should be given detailed guidance from the HMRC to avoid future problems. That is the view of the Association of Taxation Technicians, given in its formal submission to the Treasury on proposals to change wear and tear tax relief for landlords. […]
High proportion of UK landlords considering ways to combat tax change
Some 40% of landlords in the UK are either seriously considering forming a limited company in order to limit their exposure to changes that will restrict mortgage interest or will be looking into the option in the coming months, according to new research. However, the research from the National Landlords Association (NLA) found that so […]
Landlords reap bumper returns as rents and house prices soar
Landlords are raking in their best returns in more than a year as rents and house prices rise rapidly. The average annual return for landlords in January 2016 was 12% of their buy-to-let investment, or £21,988, reports the monthly buy-to-let index by the Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents. That includes both income from […]
House prices up 6.7% in 2015
House prices in the UK rose by 6.7 per cent in 2015, down from 7.7 per cent in the year to November. The average UK house price is now £288,000 says the Office for National Statistics. Prices increased fastest in England at 7.3 per cent, and slowest in Scotland, where they fell 0.2 per cent […]
Young will be “pushed out of rented housing”
Government changes to remove housing benefit from 18 to 21-year-olds from April will make it far more difficult for them to access rented housing, according to landlords. A survey of more than 1,000 landlords has found that 76% will be reluctant to rent accommodation to this age group because they fear that they may not […]
Section 21 accelerated possessions hit an all-time high
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has released its landlord possession statistics for October to December 2015, which reveals total evictions last year reached a record high of 42,728. Whilst overall possession claims fell during the year to 148,043, the number of accelerated possession cases continued their upward trend reaching 37,663 in 2015, up 4.5% on […]
Will government interference in BTL drive rents up?
A new report conducted by Belvoir has confirmed that Government policies aimed at cooling the Buy to Let market are making landlords cautious about their future investment plans for 2016, increasing pressure on the Private Rental Sector. Furthermore, although 68% of landlords surveyed had not raised their rent in the last 12 months, 86% believe […]