Posts Tagged ‘tenants’
Renters move out of town to buy.
According to research by Countrywide plc, the UK’s largest property services group, renters who bought a home in the last year, did so in locations where the average house price was £35,000 lower than where they were renting, this was £93,000 lower for London renters. As house prices rise faster than rents, an increasing number…
Read MoreHousing included in George Osborne’s conference speech
George Osborne reaffirming the Conservative Policy on Housing reportedly told his supporters at their Party Conference in Manchester: “Building doesn’t come easy and especially when it comes to new homes and infrastructure that the country needs.” He reportedly went on to say: “We are going to get many more homes built for families to buy,…
Read MoreLib Dems against social housing RTB
Tim Farron the recently elected leader of the Liberal Democrats made it clear in his speech at their conference this week, that his party were against the government plans for right to buy for tenants of housing association homes. He made it clear he would not allow the government to ‘destroy’ social housing by extending…
Read MorePrivate sector rent controls in Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon is an advocate of rent controls, she has outlined plans in the Scottish Parliament to introduce them through a Private Tenancies Bill, personally I have always thought some form of rent control would be the most sensible way of keeping a cap on private sector rents, however this method of controlling rents should…
Read MoreNLA response to DCLG’s new regulations
The National Landlords Association (NLA) responded yesterday to the Department of Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) new regulations, which are due to come into force on 1 October, they will introduce new obligations on landlords to provide specific information to their tenants, and restrictions on the use of the section 21 notice no fault possession…
Read MoreCharity report on suffering tenants
Shelter the Housing Charity has reported that in the past year over 17,000 tenants have contacted them complaining about landlords who have abused, threatened, assaulted and harrassed them. In a survey by the charity, of 3800 adults questioned 60 claimed their landlords had been abusive to them or another tenant over the last 12 months.…
Read MoreIncrease in supply of rental housing
In their monthly private rented sector report for July the Association of Residential Letting Agents noted an increase in the supply of rental housing, however the demand dipped. A third of ARLA agents expect supply to continue to increase over the next five years, rent increases last month were seen by two fifths of letting…
Read MoreLegionella and HSE Guidance – Why ignorance is not always bliss…
The HSE recently published its guidance document on Legionella risk assessment and control and more specifically the required response from landlords and managing agents (known affectionally as ‘ the duty holder ‘). Wonder if that title comes with an Oscar styled trophy? Love a bit of bling….. 🙂 Anyway; there are many, many, many discussions…
Read MoreRaids on overcrowded properties
Dagenham has again found its way into the news, this time it is all about “Rogue Landlords”. Raids were carried out last thursday on properties in the borough by council officers, they discovered that a total of 55 people were living in 3 houses. The Government has only just recently made it very clear that…
Read MoreHousing becomes a complex challenge
The housing crisis in Britain is a massively complex challenge for the government who quite honestly appear to be finding it difficult to cope with, none of the proposals put forward so far offer any hope of improvement in the near future. Government plans to extend the right-to-buy to housing association tenants is hitting an…
Read MoreRight-to-Rent pilot scheme
A report out yesterday from the Express and Star, publication covering towns throughout the “Black Country” highlights how the scheme to prosecute landlords for letting to illegal immigrants is working or maybe “not working that well”. The scheme was introduced in the towns of Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Birmingham by the government as a…
Read MorePoorest priced out of Oxford.
The National Landlords Association (NLA) is requesting that Oxford City council changes its homes in multiple occupancy licensing scheme (HMOs) and make it easier for landlords to operate them, this comes on the back of claims that strict rules for renting out shared houses is pricing some of the poorest tenants out of Oxford. NLA…
Read MoreLandlords to face jail who rent to illegals.
Illegal immigrants are the focus of a new governemnt crackdown shortly to be included in a forthcoming Immigration Bill, landlords who fail to evict migrants who do not have the right to live in Britain could be jailed for up to five years. Stronger powers will be given to Landlords who will be able to…
Read MoreSet back for right to buy
The House of Lords yesterday voted in favour of a crossbench ammendment to the Charities bill that could see Government plans to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants being scuppered. This is definately a seback for the Tory government who made clear their plans in the election party manifesto, even though the…
Read MoreNew series on housing fraud
This week we see the start of a series of 5 programmes on BBC1 showing how frontline housing officers are dealing with local authority and housing association fraud, “Council House Crackdown will run all week starting at 9.15am each morning. Tenancy fraud in now a criminal offence and carries with it if convicted heavy fines…
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