Search Results for: renters' rights bill
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Features
Changing perceptions
Let’s create a more positive private rented sector, says Isobel Thomson, Chief Executive, National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS)
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Latest property news
Fees to tenants should be banned
LibDems demand that all letting agency fees to tenants should be outlawed.
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Latest property news
Client Money Protection amendments
In the House of Lords the debate has been raging about Client Money Protection. Lord Monroe Palmer (left) who proposed the changes to the Housing Bill wrote, “The Government has back-pedalled and tenants have won.” “The Housing Bill has continued in its long worn out path through the Lords. The Liberal Democrats have been battling to make changes to a Bill which will currently only worsen the housing crisis, reducing the availability of housing and moving the first rung of the housing ladder even further out of reach. “Across the past fortnight, the Government has been forced to back pedal on a number of measures. This week they made a significant concession on protections for tenants at the hands of rogue letting agents. An amendment with my name on it had been put forward which ensured that money belonging to tenants for use as holding fees, deposits, rent, or service charges by letting agents, was protected. 20 per cent of the letting agent sector does not have protection for client money. “The amendment we put down was targeted at protecting the fifth of the industry in which tenants and landlords remain at risk. People risk losing their money if a…
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Housing Market
NLA slams CAB report
A new report which claims that landlords earn in the region of £5.6 billion a year from unsafe homes which fail to meet legal standards has been slammed by the National Landlords Association (NLA). The Citizens Advice study report, A Nation of Renters, says 740,000 households in England now reside in privately rented homes which present a severe threat to tenants’ health from problems like rat infestations and damp. Gillian Guy, Chief executive of Citizens Advice, said, “Rogue landlords are putting profits before safety.” The Government is planning to give councils new powers to tackle unscrupulous landlords which own homes with a category 1 hazard, as part of number of proposals to be tabled in a new Immigration Bill. The details of the Bill, which will be a central part of the new Government programme will be announced in the Queen’s speech this week. “The Government has rightly said it wants to tackle the country’s housing crisis – it must make targeting dodgy landlords, giving tenants better rights and driving up standards a major part of that effort,” Guy added. But while recognising that bad practice does exist in private housing, “and that it needs to be stamped out”, Richard…
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Housing Market
Political leaders vow to tackle housing crisis
High residential property prices are the single biggest concern among home-hunters, a new Rightmove survey reveals. The latest data from the property portal shows that asking prices for homes on sale in England and Wales hit an all-time of £288,133, on average, in the month to early April, pushed up by a drop in the number of properties on the market, creating a lack of choice in the market, which incidentally, is the second biggest concern for house-hunters. Miles Shipside (right), Rightmove Director and Housing Market Analyst, commented, “April’s Rightmove House Price Index reported an all-time high in asking prices this week of £286,133, setting an interesting challenge for political leaders. Failure to meet house-building targets since the eighties, nineties and noughties to match forecast housing demand has been a major factor in upwards price pressure both in the property sales and private rented sectors. “ As the cost of housing is a key concern for many home-hunters Rightmove asked David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg for their proposed solutions to make more affordable homes available, and what else they would do to try and solve the UK’s housing problems. Here are extracts from the interviews with the three…
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Latest property news
Landlords’ body voice concerns over sub-letting
The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has expressed concern over controversial plans to allow private tenants to sub-let their tenancies in England, announced by the Chancellor in the Budget last month. The Chairman of the RLA, Alan Ward (left), has written to DCLG Director General, Peter Schofield, seeking greater clarification over the detail of the proposals and has raised various questions as to how this would affect landlords with leases, licensing, and mortgage conditions, and why it is that this proposal has been put forward with no consultation. You can read Alan Ward’s letter in full below. Last month, tenant eviction firm, Landlord Action, also expressed grave concern over Government plans to allow private tenants to sub-let from their tenancies, claiming that it would be “catastrophic” for the rental market. “This appears to have slipped in under the radar which, if it goes ahead, will throw up a magnitude of problems in the buy-to-let industry,” said Paul Shamplina (right), Founder of Landlord Action. “We have never seen so many sub-letting cases going to court because of unscrupulous tenants trying to cream a profit from a property they have rented,” he added. Shamplina believes that “the risk of nightmare sub-tenants” and subsequently…
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