The government could be forced to make changes to its controversial bedroom tax policy following a Court of Appeal ruling this week. The “bedroom tax” comes in to force from April 2013, and effects social housing tenants of working age with spare bedrooms.  The policy means tenants who’s houses are deemed under occupied will face…

According to Homelet, the UK’s largest supplier of referencing and specialist insurance to the lettings industry, the average rent is still rising, and the private rental sector continues to boom. In March this year, the average rent achieved across the UK was £764, a huge 5% increase on the same time last year.  London saw…

Housing minister, Grant Shapps, has pledged that criminal landlords trapping vulnerable people in ‘suburban shanty-towns’ will get the justice they deserve. He allocated a £1.8 million fund to areas blighted by so-called ‘beds in sheds’, to tackle the problem head-on and end this growing practice by ruthless landlords. Mr Shapps appealed to councils who may…

Fire enforcement notices are issued where a landlord has failed to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.  They set out corrective measures that landlords are legally obliged to complete within a specific timescale. Research carried out by Inside Housing reveals that over the last six months for which records are available (between…

All private landlords and letting agents taking deposits for assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales are required to safeguard them with a Government-authorised tenancy deposit protection scheme. The Deposit Protection Service (DPS), which is the only custodial scheme, celebrated it’s 5th birthday on April 6th this year, having proved popular as the only…

The new green deal scheme, due to launch in October, enables households to install energy efficient measures, such as increased insulation, at no up-front cost.  Instead, private companies pay for the work and recover the cost through the resultant savings in the household’s energy bills. The scheme  has received criticism from former climate change committee…

Legal 4 Landlords are specialists within the lettings industry, offering landlord services from tenant referencing and insurance to evictions and debt recovery. Increasing it’s staff and turnover, Warrington-based Legal 4 Landlords has moved offices into a new building three times larger than it’s former headquarters.  Currently they employ 25 people, but are recruiting a further 10,…

The story that Newham council is looking into sending families in receipt of housing benefits to other parts of the country brought a lot of media interest to the issue of housing benefit payments. The controversial move to house tenants outside their communities is, however, unnecessary. There is much that could be done to improve the way the Local Housing Allowance (LHA)…

A survey* by the National Landlords Associaion (NLA) has found that “more than half of landlords can no longer afford to rent to Housing Benefit tenants because of cuts to the allowance”.  Nearly half of landlords (46.9%) believe tenants aged 35 and under will be hit hardest by the changes, and almost 69% of landlords say…

According to the housing charity Shelter, families need to earn in excess of  £52k per annum to afford to rent a two bed home in London. The cost of renting in London was analysed during Shelter’s “Homes for London” campaign, and found that in order to afford a two bed property, a family would need…