Category: Tennants

Landlords Urged to Introduce Longer Tenancy Agreements

A growing number of young professionals in Britain are opting to rent instead of buy their first property. Ten years ago most young professionals had little trouble getting into the housing market, however today it is almost impossible for them to do so. As more and more people look to make their first home in rented properties, they are also looking to landlords to create longer tenancy agreements so that their residence feels more permanent and there is less chance of landlords being […]

Landlord pays the price for overcrowding one of his properties

A private landlord from Watford has been given a £18,000 fine for offences relating to overcrowding his property. Mohammed Rehman was taken to court after council officers found an illegal number of tenants crammed into the semi-detached home.
Watford Borough Council launched their investigation after receiving an anonymous report of overcrowding at the property seven months ago. Two council environmental health officers went to inspect the property and questioned the landlord about the number of tenants living in the house, as well as the large number […]

Thin end of the wedge?

With the confirmation that private landlords in Northern Ireland will now be allowed direct payment from housing benefits when applicable, landlords in the rest of the UK are asking why they can’t be treated the same.
It has long been a bone of contention for private landlords that they cannot be paid direct from housing benefit and it has led to many landlords refusing to take tenants who are on housing benefit fearing their clients will fall into arrears. Now that Lord Freud, the Welfare Minister, […]

Property owner given huge fine and suspended sentence

In a case that will disturb all decent landlords with an interest in landlord insurance, a Warwickshire landlord has been given a massive £30,000 fine and a six month suspended jail sentence after one of the properties he rented out was described as looking more like a cave than a home.
Landlord Steven Boote was prosecuted after an inspector went to the property and found it was overrun with damp, mould and moss. The inspector put in his report that the property was the worst house […]

Tenant ordered to clear garden by landlord

A female tenant from Cambridge has been ordered by her housing association landlord to clear her garden within two weeks or risk having everything seized.
The tenant, Liz Osborn, received a letter last week from the Luminus Group telling her to clear the garden directly underneath her living room window at the house she shares with her partner and two teenage children.
Luminus Group are widely known for their innovative approach to providing social housing, focusing on providing homes which are all covered by landlord insurance and […]

Tenants and landlords feeling the pinch

Tenants across the UK are showing signs that the austerity measures imposed by the Government in the second half of 2010 are gradually impacting on their purse strings. Their landlords are worried about the consequences of their hardship impacting on them as well.
A survey directed at landlords by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) shows that tenants are beginning to get behind with their rental payments. The survey found that 40% of landlords questioned were experiencing some level of trouble getting payment from tenants […]

House prices in Scotland fall by £8 a day

There was another blow for the housing market in Scotland when figures released showed average prices had dropped by almost £3,000 over the last 12 months.
Despite an average increase of £5,000 throughout the United Kingdom, homeowners north of the border saw their property value fall by £8 per day. South Lanarkshire was one of the worst areas, with a £5,641 drop in average values. This is according to figures released from a leading property information website. Falling prices are another worry for landlords with landlord […]

Young couples make the choice to flat share

Property websites report an increase in the number of young couples being forced to move in with flatmates because they can’t afford to buy their own home. Since the start of 2010 the number of young couples searching the web for a shared, double room in a large house has increased greatly.
Websites who specialise in house and flat sharing have seen a huge increase in demand in places like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow. Nearly 8% of the 1,000,000 visitors to the website Easyroommate […]

Fuel poverty set to hit one million tenants

People living in social housing may fall into fuel poverty because of the coalition government cuts to benefits and increased rents according to the NLGN (New Local Government Network).
The coalition recently announced a 10% cut in the council tax benefit budget, and have now also said that anyone claiming jobseekers allowance for 12 months will have their housing benefit cut by 10%. At the moment there are around 3.1 million social housing residents who receive means tested benefits in England; this includes 2.7 million who […]

Landlord association asks for help in mortgage procurement

A leading landlord association is calling on the government to offer help to residential landlords just hours after the Coalition Government gave the green light to Social Landlords to up their rents.
The National Landlords Association (NLA) believes that as a result of the austerity measures announced in the Spending Review, the private rental sector is going to have to provide more housing over the next four years. Many experts believe that the new measures introduced to cover social housing may well create problems and the […]