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Latest property news
Tenants taking less time to evict but it’s still too long, say landlords
Read how the length of time it takes to evict a tenant in England has reduced over the past four years, but still stands at over five months.
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Latest property news
Governnment to consider carrot-and-stick approach to longer tenancies
The Residential Landlords Association claims the government is warming to the idea of longer tenancies created by tax breaks, not law.
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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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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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Think again about “simplistic” longer tenancies, landlords warn government
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has called on the government to think again about its proposed longer tenancies legislation following a meeting with new junior housing minister Heather Wheeler. The NLA’s CEO Richard Lambert met with her yesterday along with representatives of ARLA, RICS, NALS and the RLA to discuss government priorities for the private residential market ahead of a busy year for the government. This will include widening regulation within the HMO sector, the tenant fees ban, stricter energy efficiency regulations and a consumer and industry consultation on longer ASTs to increase tenant security. It is this last measure that is exercising minds at the NLA. During the meeting, the organisation says it pressed Heather Wheeler (pictured, below) to “think beyond simplistic calls for longer tenancies and look at how best to incentivise landlords to offer a wider range of tenancies to cater for the increasingly diverse range of what tenants may need”. ARLA also made an interesting point on longer tenants recently, which is likely to have also been put the minister, based on research by Capital Economics. It suggests that by abolishing tenant fees, which is scheduled to become law next year, the market will favour those…
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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
Tenant Fees Bill is last thing sector needs, Residential Landlords Association tells MPs
A group of MPs leading an investigation into the private rented sector and the draft Tenant Fees Bill got more than they bargained for yesterday afternoon when David Smith (pictured, right), Policy Director at the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) came in to give evidence. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee had convened to hear from the RLA but also the National Landlords Association, a build-to-rent company called PlaceFirst, campaigning group Generation Rent and Citizen’s Advice about how best to police the private rental sector. It’s other task was to find out what the wider world thinks of the proposed lettings fees ban Blunt language David Smith, during a sometimes tour-de-force performance, told the MPs – who included former housing minister Mark Prisk – his views in sometimes blunt language during a two-hour session. His main points, some of which were echoed by the other people giving evidence, were: Fees charged by agents are charged at different levels and employed in varying ways all around the UK, so a blanket ban will be a blunt tool. It’s not true to say fees have been banned in Scotland – they’re now just post-loaded into tenancies, rather than being…
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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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