News

Tenants on benefits are showing increasing signs of desperation as they search for private landlords who will accept them.  

There are the first signs of a possible tipping point in the rental market, with LSL today reporting that the number of tenants is dropping as first-time buyer numbers rise. 

Greater powers for local councils to crack down on bad landlords, a legal requirement to include landlords’ contact details in all tenancy agreements, faster evictions, and a cultural shift towards longer tenancies have been recommended in this morning’s major report into the private rented sector.

The Communities and Local Government select committee makes no fewer than 47 recommendations covering a wide range of issues from Houses in Multiple Occupation to selective licensing schemes. 

A Communities and Local Government select committee report out today on the private rented sector said moving people out of London was the only way councils could mitigate the impact of benefit caps.

Cuts to benefits had left local authorities with too few properties in their boroughs where they could afford to house claimants, the MPs found. 

Chancellor George Osborne is considering lowering the benefits cap by a further £6,000, one of his aides confirmed today.

The Treasury will base a decision on whether to make the further cut depending on the effectiveness of the current benefit cap, which began its national roll-out on Monday, in reducing the welfare bill. 

Hounslow Council has launched a new incentive for landlords to help local families at risk of becoming homeless.

The scheme includes offering up to £1,000 for landlords to house tenants needing a home, and grants of up to £15,000 for improvement works. 

The government's total weekly benefit cap has begun rolling out across Britain.

Single parents and couples aged 16 to 24 will now only be able to claim a total of £500 a week in benefits, whilst people living alone will be capped at £350. 

The “national roll-out” of Universal Credit will now only see the new system running at a handful of JobCentres across the UK this year, ministers confirmed.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, insisted that Universal Credit remains on track and will fully operational by 2017. A more gradual timetable means the reform will be delivered “safely,” he said. 

Private landlords will be breaking the law if they let to illegal immigrants without first doing checks.

Penalties would be £1,000 per tenant for a first offence, and £3,000 for a repeat offence. Landlords with HMOs could lose their licences. The penalties would also apply to letting agents. 

Nearly 100,000 private tenants are now more than two months behind on their rent, according to figures published today.

During the second quarter of 2013, the number of tenants in severe arrears rose by 3.3% (to 98,000) on the previous three months, LSL Property Services reports. 

Census figures newly released show that the number of private tenants has doubled, while the proportion who own a home has fallen sharply.

The figures from the Office of National Statistics show that one in five families in England – equivalent to 1.2 million households – was renting from a private landlord in 2011, a number that has doubled since 2001. 

The minimum cost of living has soared by a quarter since the start of the economic downturn creating an "unprecedented erosion of household living standards", according to research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The research finds rising inflation and flat-lining wages are two of the key reasons for the additional pressure on families along with increasing childcare, food and housing costs. 

Monthly rents will hit an average of £800 in England and Wales in two years’ time, while one in five people will be living in private rented accommodation.

The claims came from Lucy Jones, operations director at LSL, speaking at a Council of Mortgage Lenders conference. 

A letting agent has been ordered by a court to pay £41,200 after admitting 13 offences at five Houses in Multiple Occupation.

Strats Estate and Letting Agents of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was taken to court by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. 

The amount of rent money owed by private tenants in England and Wales fell 2.1 per cent during May, according to a network of lettings agents.

LSL Property Services in its latest buy-to-let index out today shows the total amount of late or unpaid rent decreased to £276 million last month, compared to £282 million in April. 

The number of people seen rough sleeping in London has risen by 13% in the past year, a new report has revealed.

The ‘Street to Home 2012/13’ report shows that 6,437 people were seen sleeping on the streets of the capital between 1 April, 2012 and 31 March, 2013 - compared to 5,678 the previous year. 

Young people across the UK face being locked out of the property market for an average 14 years, new research has revealed.

The report, from housing charity Shelter, shows that would-be first-time buyers with families could face a wait of more than a decade before they can get themselves on the property ladder. 

Landlords have expressed their deep concern over the impact of Universal Credit on the private rented sector.

Most (70%) of those who let to tenants currently in receipt of Local Housing Allowance said they are worried about the welfare changes. 

Tenants are continuing to vote with their feet in the most expensive parts of London, by moving out to cheaper areas.

Agents are reporting the ongoing exodus, amid an over-supply of properties, with landlords having to freeze or cut rents. 

Councillors representing 36 local authorities have urged the government to abolish its controversial bedroom tax policy.

At a special summit held at Manchester Town Hall last week, Labour councillors representing Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham and 31 other cities outlined the damage they believe is being caused by the under-occupancy policy.