Letting agents will be required to publish full details of the fees they charge, under plans announced by the government today.
Ministers have said that the move will ensure a fair deal for landlords and tenants, and will prevent a "small minority" of rogue agents from imposing unreasonable, hidden charges.
The National Landlords Association has responded to the Labour party’s proposals for the private rented sector, branding them “poorly thought through and completely unworkable”.
Ed Miliband announced last week that three-year tenancies would become the norm if Labour came to power, rents would be controlled, and letting agent fees to tenants would be banned.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has announced plans for sweeping reforms of the private rented sector, including actual price controls, which the party says "will help millions of households caught in the cost-of-living crisis".
Speaking in Redbridge, London, at the party's campaign launch for local and European elections on 22 May, Miliband set out detailed plans for three-year tenancies and setting rents which preventexcessive rises.
A landlord has been fined £12,000 for renting out a flat without a so-called selective licence after being taken to court by a council which has itself been branded as "toxic".
Back in 2011 Thanet district council in Kent designated areas of Cliftonville and Margate as a selective licensing area, within which most privately rented properties must be licensed. The measure was introduced to tackle alleged anti-social behaviour.
A housing association has offered tenants a free Crème Egg to thank them for paying the bedroom tax.
In a letter shared widely on Twitter today, Welsh landlord Valleys 2 Coast offered the confectionary ‘as a small thank you’ to affected tenants.
A controversial story recently broke about locals in Newham in receipt of housing benefits. Newham council was looking at sending families in receipt of DSS to other parts of the country as there were not enough landlords who were willing to accept such tenants. The controversial move should never have been necessary. The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is set at the 30th percentile of local rents, which means that, in theory, three out of ten properties should be available to DSS tenants. In practice, many of the homes which should be readily available are owned by landlords who are unwilling to accept LHA dependent applicants, due to mortgage stipulations or social snobbery. However, if you’re in receipt of housing benefits, all is not lost…
Here at Dssmove, we’re committed to finding you a property that says “yes” to DSS. We understand that if you’re in receipt of benefits, you can struggle to find a landlord willing to take you on as a tenant. Some think that DSS makes you a higher risk tenant; some have pre-conceived notions of people on benefits; and some simply don’t understand how DSS works. However, we pride ourselves on helping to find you a landlord with no misplaced prejudice towards those in receipt of benefits. We have hundreds of DSS welcome properties available to rent, with more added almost every day.
Landlords in the UK are reporting that the incidence of void periods are falling, which is good news for the wider private rented sector.
It isn’t just the incidence of voids that are decreasing, indeed the duration of the average void period is falling too, according to research by BDRC Continental commissioned by Paragon Mortgages.
London may routinely win the dubious race to be the most expensive place in the world to buy a home but when it comes to rental property, it comes only fifth.
ECA International, a body that analyses expenses associated with globe-trotting business executives, says high-end rents for an executive's typical apartment - three bedrooms, in a sought-after area of the capital - have risen about two per cent in London in the past year and now stand at £5,000 per month.
Hundreds of tenants have escaped the impact of welfare reform, but their housing association landlord warns the real problem may be how tenants are paying.
Mark Rogers, chief executive of Circle Housing, said 20 per cent of its tenants who were hit by the bedroom tax, and 40 per cent of those hit by the overall benefit cap, were no longer affected by the changes.