Capital Gains Tax changes: owners advised to seek financial advice
A tax expert is urging owners of second homes, as well as property investors and existing landlords, to seek independent financial advice if they are considering selling their home – particularly if they anticipate the sale process going beyond April 6 next year. On that data the Capital Gains Tax rules change, obliging owners of […]
Over half of all landlords have had to call an emergency contractor to visit one of their properties this year
Floods, fires, pest infestations. It’s the stuff of nightmares for tenants and landlords alike. Household emergencies in the UK private rental sector have hit almost nine million instances in the last five years. According to the latest figures released by Direct Line for Business, emergencies in the home have forced 53% of landlords to call […]
Professional Airbnb subletters exposed by BBC in new documentary
Airing tonight at 7:30pm on BBC London, Freesat channel 950 and on Sky channel 954, a new episode of BBC Inside Out highlights the growing number of people making a business out of their tenancy via short-term rental platforms, without their landlords’ permission. The show covers the story of a landlord who ended up £10,000 […]
Long delays continuing with tenant deposit return times
According to recent data released by the Ministry of Housing, the average time it is taking to return deposits is between 29 and 37 days regardless of whether the money is due back to the landlord or tenant. These long delays continue despite the various tenancy reforms that have passed into housing law of late, […]
Exodus of landlords is turning into a crisis, leading association warns
The exodus of landlords from the private rented market is rapidly turning into a crisis as the government’s ‘failed’ policies wreak havoc, it has been claimed. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) claims more landlords are now selling up than those who are buying after it canvassed 2,700 of its members. Click this link to read […]
Ending Section 21 – a fairer deal, or calling foul?
Residential tenants’ rights in the UK reached their zenith under the Rent Act 1977. This provided that landlords could only charge fair rents and were unable to recover possession automatically from tenants who had fallen into arrears. Policy-makers’ attitudes changed in the 1980s, when it was recognised that these burdens led some residential landlords to […]
It’s a drag: agency’s advice on tackling tenants who smoke
Government data suggests that almost 54 per cent of the UK’s remaining smokers are tenants – and against that backdrop, an online property management firm has set out a strategy to minimise the problem for landlords and other tenants. Howsy says smoking can devalue a landlord’s property, as nicotine and chemicals can build up in […]
UK house prices ‘subdued’ amid Brexit impasse
Residential property price growth remains subdued owed largely to the ongoing uncertainty created by the Brexit shenanigans in Parliament. The data from Rightmove shows that the average asking price for homes sold via its website was 0.6% higher in October than in September, well below the average 1.6% rise seen for the time of year […]
Buy To Let Property Renting Is A Business
Many landlords are employed in business or professions; private renting is an additional income, perhaps to provide an income in older age, so I am fully aware that many have successful additional careers. But if the main income source was from a business they were running themselves, would they survive if they used the same […]
Ex-Premiership footballer fined £25,000 for series of rental offences
Former QPR and Nottingham Forest striker Dexter Blackstock has been fined over £25,000 and branded a rogue landlord after admitting 12 licencing offences. He appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court where he faced charges relating to 12 unlicensed properties he owned and were required to be licensed under either Part 2 or 3 of the Housing […]