Lettings expert says portals should be forced to display agents’ fees
One of the country’s top lettings experts says last year’s law changes concerning the increased transparency of agents’ fees have “missed the target” and portals should be obliged to display agencies’ charges to landlords and tenants. David Lawrenson, founder of the LettingFocus consultancy, says tenants are as in the dark as ever about fees despite […]
Landlords may soon be able to report tenants who pay rent late to credit scorers
Landlords may soon be able to report tenants who pay rent late to credit scorers and have a black mark put on their file. Credit reference agency Experian has urged landlords and letting agents to encourage tenants to pay rent through website Credit Ladder. It passes the cash onto landlords and records if the tenant […]
Buy-to-let landlords should face new affordability tests, Bank says
Buy-to-let landlords should face new limits on the amount they can borrow, the Bank of England has proposed. It suggested that lenders should be much stricter when deciding whether or not to grant landlords a mortgage. Instead of just taking their rental income into account, the Bank wants lenders to look at their wider financial […]
Tenants’ lives put at risk by lack of smoke alarms, survey finds
Fifth of privately rented homes not fitted with device despite law requiring landlords install them on every floor. Unscrupulous landlords are putting lives at risk, it has been warned after figures showed a fifth of privately rented homes have no smoke alarms. The most recent figures from the English Housing Survey revealed that while 88% […]
Buy-to-let market will ‘drop like a stone’ after April stamp duty hits landlords
There will be less supply of rental housing and higher rents after the April tax hike for buy-to-let investors, according to a letting agents association. Conservative Chancellor George Osborne is increasing stamp duty by 3% for purchases of additional property as he targets the buy-to-let industry to raise money for policies to support first-time buyers, […]
Stamp Duty Loophole Revealed
A stamp duty loophole that has thus far flown under the radar could allow landlords to claim multiple dwellings relief to offset the changes to stamp duty. In the 2015 autumn Statement the Chancellor announced a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on second homes and buy to let properties. Corporate landlords with 15 or […]
Landlords under fire for rejecting housing benefit tenants
Are tenants blaming the wrong people for DSS discrimination? A group which fights for renters’ rights has launched a campaign to stop landlords and letting agents routinely rejecting potential tenants claiming housing benefit. Digs, which supports tenants in Hackney, kicked off its #YesDSS campaign last month with a protest in East London. Between December 2015 […]
First prosecution under council’s controversial lettings licensing scheme
A landlord has become the first to be prosecuted by Waltham Forest council for failing to obtain one of its controversial so-called Private Rented Property Licences. The Private Rented Property Licencing scheme was introduced last April in what was described at the time as a bid by the authority “to improve living standards in the […]
Anti-landlord policies fuel first rent rises since autumn
The latest report from Your Move and Reeds Rains has shown that as the private rental sector braces itself against a wall of hard to swallow government policies, the first monthly rent rises since autumn 2015 are kicking in and take average rents to £791 per month across England & Wales. According to the data, […]
BUDGET 2016: CGT cut – but not for landlords
George Osborne has slashed the capital gains tax (CGT) rate – but not for landlords, prompting an angry response from the industry. Osborne announced in the Budget that the CGT 18% rate will reduce to 10% and the 28% rate will reduce to 20% for chargeable gains. However the new rates do not apply to […]