Recent Survey Results
Firstly, a huge thank you to each and everyone who participated in our recent quick survey about what product/feature we should work on next. Here we will outline the survey results. We had so many responses that we had to pay to upgrade the service to view them! This...
COVID-19 Eviction Notice Periods Update for Landlords
Landlords with court orders awaiting action from bailiffs can enforce them from June 1 as the government lifts the coronavirus stay on evictions. Notice periods are also set to be reduced from June 1. County court bailiffs are gearing up for a massive influx of work,...
New Notice Periods and Forms – June 2021
The government has announced new notice periods and forms of notice from 1 June 2021. Also, further changes from 1 August respecting notice periods to be given by landlords in England. There will be a brand new section 21 (form 6A) and section 8 (form 3) which must be...
Queen’s Speech 2021: Major Shake-up for Landlords
After nearly two years of promising changes to the rental market, the government has pledged to bring the Renters Reform Bill to Parliament in the Queen’s Speech. The Bill is likely to include a controversial clause that will scrap Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions for...
No DSS Renter Wins Third Discrimination Case
A landmark court case ended with a landlord and their letting agent paying £4,500 for refusing to show a property to a potential tenant because they were claiming benefits. Often such properties are advertised as 'no dss'. The case was the third time in two years...
New Section 8 Notice (England) From 4 May 2021
The Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (Moratorium Debt) (Consequential Amendment) (England) Regulations 2021 have been published which create a new prescribed section 8 notice for England. The changes of note incorporate information about the...
Guild of Landlords Rent Digest – April 2021
Landlords who have seen falling rents across London may be in for a reversal of fortune. A new survey of the five-year cost of renting 900,000 homes covering every London suburb shows rents have dropped in two out of three neighbourhoods. The main reason is workers...
Cannabis – a Growing Problem for Landlords
Police are appealing for grassroots help from landlords to root out cannabis factories. The plea for help comes after drugs squad officers up and down the country are raiding rented homes almost daily that are set up to farm thousands of cannabis plants. Police say...
Right to Rent: New Rules for Landlords
In-person right to rent checks are set to restart in England as property emerges to some normality as the threat of COVID-19 appears to recede. The Home Office has announced plans for the checks to begin in England from May 17. Right to Rent allowed landlords to check...
Guild of Landlords House Price Digest – April 2021
House prices are up, and the property market is buoyant – but still a third of agreed purchases are failing to complete. This is the Guild house price digest for April 2021. Buyers changing their mind are blamed the most for pulling out of deals, responsible for one...
Buy to Let Profit Gap Splits North and South
The buy to let profit gap has never looked wider as landlords in the South cash in their investments with profits of more than £100,000, while those in the North make so little, they pay no tax. London landlords capitalise the most on selling investment properties,...
Housing Eviction Mediation Service Launched
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has launched a new government-backed mediation service that acts as a go-between for landlords with tenants in possession cases. The free service aims to resolve buy to let problems without a face-to-face court hearing. The goal is to...
Landlords Flouting Fire Safety Face Unlimited Fines
New fire safety laws aimed at preventing another Grenfell Tower tragedy could leave landlords facing unlimited fines and jail terms. Measures in the Building Safety Bill will amend fire safety orders for England from next year and are likely to include houses of...
New Features Added to Tenancy Builder (April 2021)
Tenancy Builder 3 has had some new features added which we hope you find useful. In addition to general bug fixes and performance improvements, the following have been added: New method of adding an EPC to the agreement Background save Adding permission to speak with...
Green Homes Cash for Landlords Scrapped
A green homes scheme offering landlords grants of up to £5,000 to boost energy efficiency buy to let homes has been scrapped. The Green Homes Grant was launched in a frenzy of publicity in September but has collapsed a year early due to excessive red-tape, a lack of...
What Tax Day 2021 Means for Landlords
Tax Day 2021 has arrived with a flurry of government policy documents and consultations aimed at streamlining the way tax works for the next decade. The Treasury released a flood of 30 policy updates on Tax Day 2021 (Tuesday, March 23). The huge number of...
Squalid and Cramped HMO Triggers £327,000 Penalty
A landlord and letting agent must pay a massive £327,000 in fines and costs for running a cramped and squalid house shared by 18 tenants and six children. Magistrates at Bristol were told the families lived in seven small flats at a house in multiple occupation (HMO)...
Builders Ordered To Drop Rip-Off Ground Rents
Buy to let landlords are expected to benefit from a government watchdog ordering two of Britain’s biggest house builders to delete rip-off ground rents from leasehold agreements. The Competition and Mergers Authority (CMA) has told Countryside Properties and Taylor...
Renting Homes Bill Summarised
Point of clarity: when we published this post, we had thought from its wording that it was the Bill to abolish section 21 notices. But, we have been contacted and reliably informed that the Bill mentioned below is simply a private members bill (not a government bill)...
Wales Set to Extend Bailiff Evictions Ban and Increased Notice Lengths
The Welsh Government have announced that regulations have been laid to further extend the current ban on bailiff evictions and that the increased length of notices to be served by landlords is also to be extended. Both are to be extended until 30 June 2021 according...
Coronavirus Guidance
Landlords Building Insurance
Guild subscribers can get preferential rates for landlords buildings insurance especially designed for landlords
