Demand from tenants continues to reach record levels
Propertymark’s Private Rented Sector Report for August shows a record-breaking month with the number of new prospective tenants continuing to rise, along with the average letting agent branch registering 101 new tenants, breaking July’s previous record. Click here to go to the original article.
Government must clear tenant debts before second wave hits
A rent guarantor service says the rental sector has investors and landlords who are happy for tenants to defer rent payments but cannot countenance having nothing at all – and so government action to clear debt is absolutely essential. That’s the view of Housing Hand which says the situation is worsening thanks to the dilemma […]
How will the end of the furlough scheme affect the rental market?
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, better known as the furlough scheme, was introduced by the chancellor Rishi Sunak in March to help employers deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Official estimates suggest that by the end of August, over 9.6 million employees had been furloughed by more than 1.2 million employers at […]
A missed opportunity ‘to provide support to individual landlords’
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s new ‘Job Support Scheme’, unveiled last week, has been welcomed by millions of workers across the country, but the initiative in its existing form fails to provide a much needed boost to help landlords facing financial hardship. Click here to read the original article.
Renters Reform Bill pushed into the long grass?
It appears that the Renters Reform Bill – a key measure in the 2019 Conservative General Election manifesto – has been pushed into the long grass. The pledge was for this Bill to include the scrapping of Section 21 eviction powers and the start of the concept of lifetime deposits transferable from one property to […]
Government urged to introduce hardship loans for tenants in England
The government is once again being urged to follow the example set in Wales and Scotland and develop interest free, guaranteed hardship loans to help tenants pay off rent arrears built as a result of the existing pandemic. Research by YouGov for the National Residential Landlords Association shows that the total rental income lost by […]
Why have house prices in England shot up since the 1990s? – video explainer
Since the 1990s, house prices have risen from roughly four to eight times the average national income. Many reasons, such as a million homes lying empty and rising buy-to-let demand, are cited as reasons for exploding property prices while some factors are missed out entirely. We explore some of those potential causes and see what […]
Is Buy-to-Let still a good investment?
At a time when the stock markets are volatile and savings rates remain low, many with lump sums to invest are looking for alternative forms of investments with buy-to-let (BTL) becoming increasingly popular, especially with the raising of the stamp duty threshold to £500,000 until March 31 2021 making buying a property more attractive to […]
Have your say on plans to introduce licensing schemes
Landlords are being encouraged to give their views on plans to introduce licensing schemes in a number of regions across the country. There are a number of local authorities currently consulting on licensing plans, and the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) wants landlords to respond to all local authority licensing consultations that affect them. […]
Channel 5 show to follow yet more difficult tenants
Channel 5 will continue to provide an insight into a number of tenants and landlords across the UK, as feuds between them get out of control. Extreme Nightmare Tenants, a companion series to ‘Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords’, delves further into the dark side of the housing crisis. Click on this link to go to […]