The Home Office has announced that the Right to Rent scheme will be extended across England from February 1, 2016. All private landlords, or their agents, in England, including those subletting or taking in lodgers, will have to check new tenants have the right to be in the UK before renting out their property. A pilot…

From 1st October 2015 ALL rental properties must have at least one working smoke detector on each floor. This applies to ALL tenancies, whether new or existing. A property with a solid fuel appliance must also have a working carbon monoxide detector. These must be tested on the first day of the tenancy. NOTE: While…

Landlords will be banned from renting out England and Wales’ draughtiest homes from 2018 in a bid to cut energy bills and carbon emissions. The new regulations are expected to help around a million tenants who are paying as much as £1,000 a year more than the average annual bill of £1,265 because of poorly…

According to the latest official figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), buy to let mortgage lending continues to rise. The CML are the trade body for most banks and building societies lending to landlords . The CML have reported that property investors borrowed £2.4 billion in November 2014. Lending was split roughly 50:50 between…

According to the latest statistics by LSL, average rents in England and Wales hit an all time high last month, averaging £768, 1.5% higher than the same time last year. Across England and Wales, there is a mix of results, with the West Midlands 2.4% lower than a year ago, and a drop of 2.3%…

In an online world where there are many Online Letting Agents to choose from, it’s hard to decide which one to pick. The services offered by each differ slightly, but all basically do the same thing; get your property out there! But that’s not the whole story. It’s not just about getting your property out…

Buy-to-let landlords have millions of ‘ghost tenants’ secretly living in their rented properties and The Online Letting Agents is urging landlords and agents to check their properties, to avoid the possibility of hefty fines resulting from the new immigration legislation. According to recent research*, at least 3 million ghost tenants live in the UK’s 4.5…

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the prices paid for private rental properties by tenants in Great Britain rose by 1.0% in the 12 months to June 2014. Private rental prices grew by 1.0% in England, 1.1% in Scotland and 0.2% in Wales in the 12 months to June 2014. Rental prices increased…

New research reveals that over half of landlords (58%) cite damage to property as the no 1 cause of tenant disputes, followed by redecoration (50%), cleaning and rent arrears (42% respectively). The study*, conducted by The Online Letting Agents, shows that two thirds of landlords went to court to settle disputes and for 20% of…

New research shows that eight out of ten landlords say ‘no’ to LHA tenants, with just 18% happy to let to this group. The study*, conducted by The Online Letting Agents, also reveals that 82% of landlords believe  LHA tenants do not care for the property in the same way as private tenants and the…