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Features
Fixing our broken housing market
The UK housing market has very grave issues, affordability, supply, location… we have a housing crisis and we need urgent action to confront those issues and resolve them. The Housing White Paper: ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ was published on 7th February, introduced in Parliament by the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid. The response from the housing industry was, in the main, lukewarm.
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Features
How HMOs are getting trickier
Buying HMOs – Houses in Multiple Occupation – is an attractive option for investors, but, says Jeremy Leaf FRICS, – is it worth the cost and effort?
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Resources
Costs set to rise for landlords
Average annual UK rental price inflation fell to 1.7 per cent in December, the latest HomeLet Rental Index reveals, down from 3.8 per cent in December 2015...
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Latest property news
Rents ‘tumble’ on Southern Rail strike routes
The ongoing disruption caused by the Southern Rail strikes, estimated to be hindering hundreds of thousands of passengers each day, could also be damaging the desirability of areas of the South East, according to new research from buy-to-let lender Landbay’s Rental Index, powered by MIAC. The pace of rental growth slowed in five out of six key areas affected by the strikes in the second half of 2016, falling into negative territory in Surrey, and only accelerating in Brighton and Hove. The strikes began in August, but the issues began affecting commuters in July, when Southern Rail implemented an emergency timetable. Comparing rental growth in the second half of the year to the first, suggests landlords are having to either limit rent increases or cut rents, to meet dwindling levels of demand. In Surrey, which hosts major Southern stations such as Guildford and Dorking, rents which were growing by 0.12% in H1, fell by -0.02% in H2. In East Sussex, home to Hastings station, rental growth slowed from 0.26% to 0.15%, while West Sussex saw a slowing from 0.24% to 0.19%. Kent (0.27% to 0.19%) and the town of Milton Keynes (0.34% to 0.17%) also saw cooling rental growth in…
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Features
Cautious landlords hedge their bets
Cautious landlords seeking to balance tenant affordability with the need to generate returns are easing back on the rate at which they raise rents, HomeLet’s latest research shows. Across the UK, rents on new tenancies were just three per cent higher in October than in the same month of last year. With the average cost of renting a home now £902 a month, October was the second successive month in which rents rose by an average of only three per cent; in March rental inflation was 4.5 per cent a year. Landlords are aware that their properties must be affordable, as their own costs rise – the higher Stamp Duty rates on buy-to-let purchases and forthcoming reduction in tax relief on buy-to-let mortgage interest – they have so far been reluctant to ask tenants to pay significantly more. This caution may reflect anxiety about the uncertain economic outlook, with the Bank of England forecasting lower economic growth and higher inflation. Landlords are also aware that wage settlements have generally lagged inflation over the past two or three years, squeezing tenants’ disposable income. The restraint shown by landlords has encouraged tenants to remain in their properties for longer – now averaging…
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Housing Market
Rental market inflation slows
Rents agreed in September were 3 per cent higher than a year ago, New data from the September HomeLet Rental Index reveals, but the pace at which rents are rising is continuing to slow, as landlords strive to ensure that tenancies remain affordable.
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Latest property news
Beehive, tenants – it doesn’t belong to you
Direct Line for Business has published a new report which reveals that 30 per cent of people who have rented a property in the last five years think it is acceptable to take items that don’t belong to them when they move out.
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Features
Why I don’t think Airbnb rentals are legal, reliable or safe
Demand for short-term residential lettings is rising, particularly in city centres, says Jeremy Leaf, but what are the risks for landlords?
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Latest property news
Bill banning tenant fees gives Minister room to exempt
The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) says that the proposed total ban on fees charged by letting agents to tenants may be subject to exemptions following an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill currently passing through the Lords. The amendment, which was published on Friday by the legislation’s sponsor, Baroness Grender (pictured, left), said that although a total ban on fees was being sought, she had introduced an amendment to to replace the previous prescriptive list that she says would have led to “new names for charges to get round it” and enable the Secretary of State to allow certain kinds of fees. “If evidence emerges of services in respect of which there is value to the tenant in charging a particular fee, this can be done”, she said. “I do not anticipate any such fees but my new amendment allows for the possibility, if concrete evidence was indeed found that a fee for a specific service would be in the best interest of the tenant in some way”. NALS believes this is significant development because it appears to recognise the legitimate charging of reasonable fees by letting agents setting up tenancies. “This amendment is a welcome one. NALS has long campaigned…
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Latest property news
Picture of the week: Purrfect lettings?
There was a time when ‘not pets allowed’ was the norm in rental adverts and most landlords were happy to steer clear of drooling dogs and sharp-clawed cats. But the rise in the number of accidental landlords who rent out their homes while travelling round the world or who relocate to a new job but can’t take their four-legged friend with them, is driving a rise in the number of rental properties available to rent with one unusual caveat included in the listing; to look after the ‘house cat’. Agents clearly don’t think it’s a ‘purrfect storm’ to ask potential tenants to feed and look after a feline friend as part of the monthly rent, and there have been several recent examples. In Cardiff agent Northwood was recently asked to list one such ‘miaowse’ house; a two-bedroom terraced property to rent on Daisy Street near Victoria Park (pictured), two miles west of the city centre. The furnished property has recently been let despite coming with an unusual rental ‘claws’; to feed and look after the property’s resident cat. Northwood’s listing also included a picture of the mog, which is called Smokey (see above). The property was advertised for £650-a-month and described…
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