Residential Landlords Association
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Latest property news
‘Suspend Right to Rent’ say landlords as Home Office reconvenes panel
Ongoing complaints from landlords about Right to Rent has persuaded the Home Office to revisit its controversial flagship immigration policy.
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Latest property news
High Court gives green light to Judicial Review of Right to Rent
A High Court judge has given a charity permission to challenge the government on its flagship immigration policy Right to Rent.
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Regulation & Law
Rogue Manchester landlords to have properties bought off them
Greater Manchester's Labour mayor Andy Burnham says landlords who can't achieve minimum standards of service and accommodation will be offered way out, but not at market value.
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Latest property news
Revealed: why house sales are going down every year
Agents who wonder why the number of house sales continues to decline every year, and why it’s harder to find stock and buyers need ponder no more. The answer is that young middle-class buyers has been all but wiped out from the property market by fast-rising house prices over the past twenty years. Or at least that what is being claimed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The venerable organisation has crunched the figures and says that in 1995 65% of those between 25 and 34 years old in the middle 20% income bracket owned their own home, a figure that today is just 27%. The key reason for this, the IFW says, is that house prices have risen too fast. The mean price for a property in the UK has soared by 152% since 1995 when adjusted for inflation while the average family income has barely caught up, rising by just 22% over the same period. This has helped the average income to house price ratio to double from four to eight times, while for 38% of first time buyers the homes they want to buy are ten times their income, up from 9% of FTBs in 1995.…
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Movers & Shakers
RLA welcomes new Director
THE Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is delighted to welcome on board a new Director, former Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Paul Smee.
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Latest property news
Govt tax changes driving landlords into the arms of Airbnb, says RLA
The government’s recent tax changes for landlords are pushing more and more of them out of the long-term rental market and into the arms of short-term websites such as Airbnb, research by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has found. Its data ‘lab’ PEARL says one of the UK’s hotspots for this phenomenon is Cardiff, where the number of landlords offering properties via sites like Airbnb has increased by 259% over the past 12 months. The RLA also says that its research points to one in five properties rented out within the Welsh capital are now short-term, rather than long-term lets. Airbnb bookings The research follows the RLA’s disclosure earlier this year that one in three Airbnb landlords were those driven out of the traditional rental sector by the recent tax change for landlords. “With the tax changes incentivising the use of homes as short-term holiday lets it is tenants who will suffer as fewer properties are available for them rent for the long term,” says Douglas Haig, RLA Vice-Chair and Director for Wales (pictured, left). “The Government wants longer term security for tenants, especially families, and landlords support this, but they need to change their tax policy to achieve it.”…
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Latest property news
Tenant and landlord groups take opposing views on Welsh lettings fees ban
The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and Citizens Advice are at loggerheads over the proposed lettings fees ban in Wales. Citizens’ Advice has published research that reveals tenants in Wales pay at least £3 million a year in lettings fees to move in, at an average of £178 per renter. The network of advice shops, which is funded partly through government grants but also via partnerships with several charities including Shelter, says it wants all fees banned in Wales because they make it hard for tenants to manage their finances and land them in debt as they struggle to pay rent in advance and deposits when starting a tenancy. “Banning letting agent fees would help thousands of renters across Wales, says Fran Targett, Director of Citizens Advice Cymru. “Moving house can be expensive and renters are currently at the mercy of letting agents who set their own charges. Excessive fees can make renting a home prohibitively expensive. “Landlords can choose between letting agents, so they should be the ones who pick up the bill for any charges, not renters. “In order for the ban for be effective, it must be enacted fully and without loopholes. This means that renewal fees and…
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Latest property news
Right to rent is “dangerous, divisive and must be scrapped” says RLA
The government’s Right to Rent checks introduced in February 2016 have been heavily criticised by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) following research among its members. Launched today, the research reveals that nearly half of its member landlords are less likely to rent a property to someone without a passport. “This is a dangerous and divisive policy that is causing discrimination. It must be scrapped,” says the RLA’s Policy Director David Smith. The Right to Rent checks, which were designed to help prevent those without permission to be in the UK to rent a property, are also affecting the 17% of UK adults in the UK who don’t have a passport, the RLA says. Right to Rent has also made landlords more cautious about renting their property to non UK citizens in general; 51% of landlords questioned said they were less likely to considering letting a property to foreigner arriving into the UK whether they have the right to rent here or not. And as uncertainty of Brexit continues, nearly a quarter of the landlords said they were less likely to consider renting their property to someone from the EU. But the research suggests that, rather than being xenophobic landlords are…
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Latest property news
Lost letting fees can be replaced by other income streams, claims referencing firm
Referencing firm Rent4Sure says agents are going to face a “challenging time” when the letting fees ban is introduced, but that there will be ways to replace the lost income. The government’s most recent English Housing Survey revealed that tenants on average pay £223 or more in fees to agents. Some 65% of private renters said they paid an admin fee, 33% a finders’ fee, 7% a non-returnable holding fee, 5% a returnable holding fee while 4% paid ‘other’ fees. “One of the key ways to replace lost fees income is for agents to increase their insurance product uptake, and we’re ready to help them do that,” says Luke Burton, Sales and Marketing Director at Rent4sure. “We want to work actively with our letting agent and landlord clients to deliver additional income streams that benefit tenants and landlords.” The government consultation on a total fees ban ended on June 2nd but the Residential Landlords’ Association recently predicted that, because it will require primary legislation, it is unlikely a ban will be introduced before Autumn 2018. Rent4Sure says it can offer agents both the opportunity to develop alternative income streams and also help them get to speed on tasks that before might…
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty surcharge hitting landlords hard, says Countrywide
The government’s assault on the buy-to-let market is having the desired effect on landlords, latest research from Countrywide reveals. It has revealed that since the additional three percent Stamp Duty was introduced in April last year 56 per cent of all purchases the company handled where a landlord and first time buyer competed for a property, the first time buyer won. Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide (pictured, lefgt), said: “Given their inability to spread the higher rate over a longer period, these micro developers have been the buyers hit hardest by the higher rates. Across the country as a whole, their numbers are running at around half the levels they were.” Countrywide undertook the research between April and December last year and says some 9,000 fewer people buying their first home lost out to landlords than during the same period last year. The shift in activity within the market is down to fewer landlords being prepared to commit to a purchase once a bidding war over a property starts as a raft of measures, including extra Stamp Duty, have dampened landlord enthusiasm for purchasing more properties. This includes a severe reduction in the amount of mortgage interest relief they…
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