Search Results for: Tenant Fees Act
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Latest property news
Tax changes will drive 46,000 properties out of private rented sector, says NLA
The number of private rented sector landlords intending to reduce the size of their portfolio is at its highest for ten years, it has been claimed, with 46,000 properties due to be taken out of the rental market. The National Landlords Association (NLA) says 20% of its members plan to shrink the number of properties, largely because the recent tax changes for landlords and the looming tenants’ fees ban are “undermining the viability of many landlords’ businesses”. Research firm Capital Economics were commissioned by the NLA to look into the recent tax changes, which reveal that landlords are set to lose £400m from the changes, which come into full effect in 2020. The research also reveals that ‘moderate earner’ landlords will soon pay “significantly higher taxes” than those who earn comparable incomes through other means. Private rented sector The NLA’s CEO Richard Lambert (pictured, left) says the government’s recent tax assault on private landlords is clearly taking its toll and that “the Government needs to look at the impact these policies will have on the PRS”. Landlords have recently had several tax allowances rolled back including an automatic wear and tear allowance and tax relief on mortgage interest payments, and…
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Supplier advice
Rent collection made simple
Rent collection is one of the tricky areas of letting, but Tim Rooney explains how a new service, PAID & CO by HomeLet, can expand your offering, using Direct Debit.
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Features
Safety in numbers – is it worth joining a franchise?
In a challenging market it can be tough being independent, says Joanne Christie, so could joining a franchise be your key to success?
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Latest property news
Finally! CIELA to launch in April and tackle rogue agents head on
The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents or CIELA has revealed that it will launch on 2nd April 2018 despite several false starts. Soft launched in March to gauge levels of support among independent agents, it then announced in June that it had too few members to go to a full launch, then revealed that it would kick off a full membership plan in July before announcing in October that it would cancel everything. CIELA now says it believes there is a place for an organisation because, its recent research among the industry and members shows, many agents view rogue operators as the biggest threat to the industry, not online agents, the tenant fees ban or corporates. In a statement released this morning, CIELA says it believes looming government regulation of the industry via organisation such as the NAEA and ARLA will not be effective. Rogue directory Instead, it is to launch a directory of legally-compliant agents that can be searched by anyone and be used by any agent regardless of size to prove their integrity and download a certificate. A system to enable rogue agents to be reported for non-compliance with industry regulations and relevant UK laws will…
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Features
Why did you buy into an agent franchise?
Four property franchise holders talk to Lawrence Higgins about their businesses.
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Latest property news
A Question of Property: Liz Brown, MD of Connells, Midlands
How big is your part of Connells? I look after 55 branches and approximately 140 staff in the Midlands for Connells including land, new homes, mortgages services, sales and lettings. Are online/hybrid agents making headway? They were during the first six months of the year when the market was more buoyant, and the instruction-to sale conversion rate was high up at the 80%. It’s then that we saw a considerable take-up among vendors for hybrid agents. But as the market has become tougher, so this has changed. Vendors are realising the hard way that in more difficult markets, you need a little more expertise and proactive support to achieve a sale. You’ve got to know your customer base much better and be able to be able to put chains together. We are picking up instructions from online agents, which fall into two categories. These are either failed online attempts to sell – people who’ve tried online and haven’t sold and who are then seriously annoyed when they have to pay twice. Then there are the people who do get an offer via a hybrid-type agency listing, but the sale goes nowhere, and they have to abandon the offer and start…
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Latest property news
Lettings legislation: is Government listening to the professionals?
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s autumn budget has failed to address the challenges faced by Britain’s ten million renters, says Belvoir CEO Dorian Gonsalves (pictured). “We are disappointed that despite persuasive arguments from many key financial and industry experts, there has been no reversal of the punitive tax changes that were imposed on landlords by George Osborne in 2015,” says Dorian. “We believe that reversing those tax changes would have been an important factor in helping to increase the supply of rental properties in this country and would alleviate some of the pressure on a Private Rental Sector (PRS) that is facing unprecedented stress as tenant demand continues to increase and less good quality housing is available to accommodate this. Dorian says that it isn’t just a lack of a deposit and affordability issues in buying a home that aree driving tenant demand – “In many ways this budget seemed almost to put an unhealthy emphasis on home ownership and failed to recognise that many young people are actively choosing to rent rather than to become first time buyers. “The reasons for renting are numerous, the English Housing Survey of 2015-16 showed that first time buyers are increasingly likely to live in…
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Resources
Rising rents across the UK
UK Rents rose by more than two per cent during September, new HomeLet figures reveal.
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Latest property news
Airbnb trials sharing rental fee income with landlords
Airbnb in the US has struck a deal with a major build-to-rent landlord in its home city of San Francisco to share profits when tenants sub-let their homes via its home-sharing service. Veritas Investments, which owns and manages over 200 mainly Art Deco buildings containing some 5,000 apartments within the city, is to pilot a scheme that will enable some of its tenants to rent out their apartments via Airbnb, which will then share its fees with the company in return. A separate property management company called Pillow Residential will then handle the bookings and change overs. Five blocks that include 100 apartments in the city belonging to Veritas are included in the pilot scheme and the company is to take 10% cut of any vacation rental fees generated by Airbnb bookings. “If you look at the business models of the 1980s and 1990s you had very clear boundaries, but when you look at companies like Airbnb you realise they are both collaborating and competing on different levels – so it’s not a clear like is used to be, and may never be again,” says James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Director at 3D viewings firm Matterport. More affordable Veritas told The San…
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Features
What happened to the traditional Autumn price ‘bounce’?
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the monthly property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Hold on to your hats! The Autumn ‘bounce’ has not happened this year and is unlikely to do so now, but if demand falls, supply may as well, blowing a chilly wind through the market.”
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