Archive

The decision of property developer Berkeley Group to enter the private rental sector is bad news for tenants, it’s claimed. Berkeley plans...

The Deposit Protection Service's charitable foundation claims that a significant proportion of tenants who have recently moved are cutting back on...

Knight Frank is suggesting that a growing degree of uncertainty is hitting the rental market, particularly the high-end sector in the...

Agents, and others in the lettings industry, have given a sceptical response to the Conservative manifesto and its varied pledges about...

The director of a London lettings agency says buy to let landlords are entitled to feel downtrodden but claims it’s still...

Tenants today spend 12% longer in the same property before switching, than they did a decade ago. Analysis of the English Housing...

Tenants renewing an existing contracts have been faced with high rent rises according to Hamptons lettings agency. It says they rose 8.3%...

A third of homes currently for sale can be bought with a mortgage and monthly repayments that cost less than the...

The latest market report from Propertymark’s lettings agents suggests the demand is slowing. The latest data - for March - shows that...

Rightmove says there are still nearly 50,000 rental properties needed to head back to the pre-pandemic level of rental supply. The latest...

There’s been at most a one per cent reduction in landlords in the buy to let sector, a think tank claims...

Towns within commuting distance of big cities have seen some of the UK’s largest rent rises in recent years, says Zoopla. The...

Corporate student accommodation provider Unite Group has reported a big jump in earnings on the back of a shortage of lets...

A trades union has slammed the Bank of England over its decision to keep base rate at 5.25 per cent, saying...

A consultation to introduce boilers into homes and the private rented sector needs ‘more carrot than stick’ according to a prominent...

A prominent industry supplier is urging agents and landlords to lobby MPs to suggest improvements to the Renters Reform Bill.  PayProp UK...

Zoopla has issued the first major private rental sector market forecast for 2024. Rental growth this year is on track to end...

More people are struggling to pay their rent according to a new government survey. The study, by the Office for National Statistics,...

Private rents have continued to soar in Scotland according to DJ Alexander, the largest lettings agency in the country.  It says rental...

Average rents in Scotland for new tenancies in the private rented sector have risen by double digits for the third time...

A prominent group of economists has predicted the measures in the Renters Reform Bill will backfire on the government. Matthew Lesh, Director...

Senior Labour figures have come out with sharply opposing views on whether the party backs rent controls. Shabana Mahmood, a senior MP...

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases in November came to 46,075 according to the Bank of England. The 46,075 figure...

Propertymark has written to Housing Secretary Michael Gove outlining its concerns about the latest licensing scheme proposal from a local council. The...

Foxtons says London’s market is finally cooling - at least a little - for the Christmas period. November followed the seasonal downward...

Activist groups which previously focussed much of their fire on landlords are now attacking letting agents, accusing them of encouraging higher...

A lettings agency chief has listed how rent controls have failed across the world. Writing in The Scotsman, David Alexander - chief...

Famous London agency Foxtons has enjoyed a shares boost on the back of a 25 per cent spike in revenue in...

A floorplan supplier to the agency industry claims such plans lead to higher rents for comparable properties. However, the sample used by...

A prominent letting agency on the south coast of England, Mishon Mackay, says PropTech is allowing it to offer a unique...

A senior lettings chief says the supply drought is making the rental market as overheated now as at any time in...

Propertymark has dismissed suggestions from critics of the lettings industry that higher rents are leading to more homelessness.  The trade body says...

The costs of upgrading properties to meet new energy efficiency standards are likely to be passed on to tenants via higher...

New research commissioned by the landlords’ trade body shows that the UK needs almost 230,000 new private rented homes a year...

A leading lettings agency wants next week’s Budget to unveil incentives to bolster supply in the long term rental sector. Richard Davies,...

Letting agents body ARLA Propertymark has joined the criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan who wants to be given the power...

A call has gone out for the longer-term buy to let rental sector to have a similar tax regime as the largely-unregulated...

The next 12 months could be a surprisingly good year for the private rental sector despite some obvious challenges, according to...

The Tenant Fees Act 2019’s 12-month transition period came to an end on 31 May, prohibiting various payments and charges that...

Rents are higher for Londoners living near busy high streets - for the moment at least.  Research by rental platform Spotahome has...

New research claims to show that the lockdown could end up with higher rents as demand in the lettings sector outstrips...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has made an uncompromising set of demands on the government, asking it to implement a...

Generation Rent - an outspoken organisation sharply critical of lettings agents and many aspects of the private rental sector - is...

Nearly half a million properties could be removed from the long-term lettings market as disenchanted landlords move to short-lets. A survey by...

New investment in private rented housing has fallen since 2016 as some private landlords have dipped out of the sector in...

An overwhelming proportion of letting agents - 84 per cent - say rents will rise next year, well up on the...

There’s been a steep rise in the costs of landlord joining a compulsory licensing scheme operated by Labour-controlled Nottingham city council. The...

A collective of activist renter groups has set out a manifesto of what it wants from the winner of next month’s...

The number of tenants experiencing rent rises following the introduction of the Tenant Fees Act continued its upward curve in August. The...

There is increasing evidence of the so-called unintended consequences of the tenant fee ban according to a major regional lettings agency. Linley &...

A leading trade body is urging the candidates to lead the Conservative Party to adopt a more positive approach to the...

A trade body has hit out at government policy following a think tank’s claims that young people are less mobile because of...

The JLL lettings agency is warning that the five week deposit cap enshrined in the Tenant Fees Act is likely to...

More than a third of landlords are looking to cut their annual spending - and many of them are considering ending...

The latest rental market snapshot from YourMove suggests that typical rents rose 1.8 per cent across England and Wales in the...

The head of a lettings agency has launched a petition in opposition to a bid by a local council to extend...

Figures drawn up for the London region of the GMB union claim that across the capital’s 33 boroughs private rents have...

The number of available properties to rent is falling at an alarming rate, particularly in Greater London, according to property platform...

The chief of what is described as Britain’s largest lettings agency has told an influential group of MPs that the proposed...

The government has responded to a petition calling for it to abolish the 3% stamp duty surcharge and reintroduce full buy-to-let...

A prominent campaigner for alternatives to traditional rental sector deposits is welcoming the government’s commitment to consider the issue in the...

The industry has reacted angrily to the announcement yesterday that the Tenants’ Fees Bill is now formally starting its progress through...

A range of factors - including fierce competition under the supplied housing market, rising property prices and political uncertainty – have...

UK rents grew by a tiny 0.56 per cent in 2017 according to specialist lender Landbay. However, in a special exercise, the...

Automated rental payment provider PayProp has joined the call for private rent payments to be counted towards tenants’ credit scores in...

Government proposals to ban letting agent fees levied on tenants next year are unlikely to make renting cheaper as new research...

Average rents across the UK rose a modest 0.9 per cent in the year to October, taking the country's average to...

A family-run lettings agency says its viability is seriously threatened by the likely fees ban to be introduced in 2018 -...

Rents in the UK rose by an average of 2.1 per cent during September according to HomeLet.   HomeLet says last month’s rise continues...

Rents are gently rising again after some months of small dips according to HomeLet.    It says the average new tenancy signed during...

With a host of changing regulations hitting the private rental sector, some landlords may be put off using letting agents, but...

Rents fell in June by 0.3 per cent when compared to the same time last year, the second successive month in...

The government’s formal consultation on its proposed ban for fees levied on tenants by agents has been greeted with derision and...

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is writing to the Office for Budget Responsibility asking it to provide clarification on controversial tax...

Members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents predict a fall in the number of homes being available to let next...

  Industry groups have warned that the government’s ban on letting agency fees levied on tenants in England will backfire, with most...

The government will today announce that it is banning letting agents’ fees levied on tenants - meaning the fees will instead...

One the leading letting agencies in Brighton has sharply criticised a proposal by the local council to introduce a selective licensing...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents is warning that proposals to enforce minimum room sizes in HMOs in the privste rental...

The financial downturn was “probably the best thing that could have happened” to this country’s private rental sector according to lettings...

A letting agency has been criticised by local students after sending a touting letter to landlords saying it could increase rents...

A tenant who describes herself as “a seasoned renter” says women may end up paying higher rents than men for similar...

The three per cent stamp duty surcharge proposed for purchases of buy to let and holiday homes risks being seen as...

Rents across England and Wales rose by an average of 3.4 per cent in 2015 - the fastest annual growth rate...

Britain's largest letting agency says rents grew by an average of 3.1 per cent in 2015, taking the average monthly rent...

Tenants should not be coerced into paying higher rents to redecorate their landlords’ property according to the Association of Independent Inventory...

Franchise letting agency giant Winkworth is warning that London’s tenants face higher rents as some landlords sell investment properties in the...

Local councils are being urged to drop landlord licensing schemes following the publication of new laws showing that they are not...

Two of Britain's most controversial landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, claim demand from prospective tenants is at a record high with...

The country’s biggest buy to let landlord is to raise rents by up to 33 per cent, and puts the blame...

A survey suggests that renters are worried that landlords who have to pay more tax as a result of changes in...

A survey for a lettings organisation has confirmed the belief that the government’s removal of tax breaks on landlords will almost...

Agents have expressed their disappointment at the decision by the government to restrict mortgage interest relief for Buy To let investors...

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that mortgage interest tax relief for buy-to-let homebuyers are to be restricted to basic rate of...

One of five people vying for selection as Labour’s candidate in the 2016 London Mayoral election says private sector rents can...

OK, you’re being spoilt. This column is now going to be on a bi-weekly rather than monthly basis. You lucky people,...