Archive

Red tape and a hostile attitude towards landlords from government is fuelling Scotland’s housing crisis, experts warn. John Blackwood, chief executive of...

Airbnb has ripped into politicians in Scotland who have implemented restrictions on short lets. The former SNP-Green coalition government allowed local councils...

The Generation Rent activist group has once again repeated its demand for a series of reforms surrounding the scrapping of Section...

Julian Richer - the founder of Richer Sounds, the UK's largest hi-fi retailer - says he may set up a landlord...

Rent controls are at the heart of the local election manifesto of the Green Party of England and Wales. Co-leader Carla Denyer,...

The controversial proposal for permanent rent controls in Scotland, published just ahead of the Easter holiday, doesn’t go far enough for...

The Scottish Government’s Housing Bill allows SNP and Green politicians to create rent control areas, triggered by local authorities, and this...

Members of the union UNISON who participate in round-table discussions with activist group Generation Rents are to receive gift vouchers for...

The so-called ‘Boris bounce’ in the housing market after the last General Election failed to materialise, an estate agency chain claims. Winkworth,...

While parts of Britain are considering tightening rules over Airbnbs and other short lets, the Channel island of Jersey appears to...

The Government quietly announced population projections towards the end of January that could have major implications for the types of homes...

Airbnb has given its backing to a proposal from Housing Secretary Michael Gove to introduce a mandatory register of short let...

Campaigning charity Shelter - which has frequently been critical of landlords and their alleged treatment of poorer tenants - is advertising...

Rents across the UK continue to retreat from their 2023 highs, falling by 2.9 per cent over the last three months,...

A think tank says rents set in the social sector should reflect the energy efficiency of a property. It’s one of a...

A building society is calling upon politicians, government, the Bank of England and local councils and other bodies to cooperate on...

New rent control proposals put forward by politicians are unnecessary and too costly according to a leading property expert.  David Alexander -...

A Labour politician has returned to the subject of rent controls - even though the party has officially abandoned this as...

Britain’s top 100,000 taxpayers footed an average income and capital gains tax bill of £559,000 each in 2021/22. That’s up by 18...

The UK’s Office for National Statistics will soon have access to data on short-term lets listed on Airbnb, Booking .com and...

A controversial ‘housing emergency’ declared by a city council is the result of decades of low investment in social housing according...

Recent data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show that 24,260 households served a valid Section 21 notice...

More details have emerged of what appears to be a stay of execution for Section 21 eviction powers in the short term. The...

A local authority’s teach-in for private tenants this weekend is to be addressed by a group which is known for its...

The National Residential Landlords Association hosts a meeting at Labour’s annual conference tomorrow - but it admits the party’s rental policies...

A new analysis suggests homes in England are less affordable and in worse conditions than in most other developed nations. The Home...

The hardline activist group Acorn - part of the Renters Reform Coalition involving Generation Rent - now claims that some 600,000...

Politicians meeting at party conferences this week are being urged to listen to property professionals before setting policies about the private...

A leading lettings industry figure says politicians should have the repeal of Section 24 as a major priority. Section 24 removes a...

A countryside property organisation has added its voice to the calls for an extension to a licensing scheme for Airbnbs and...

Whoever forms the next government must put the private rental sector at the heart of its housing policy. That’s the view of...

Trade bodies and short let landlords have made a last-ditch appeal to politicians to stop new rules which could see the...

An uneasy relationship exists between UK politicians and the residential property market. Emotions have been running particularly high recently. More details were...

Rents in England their upward path last month, rising 0.1 per cent to an annual rate of 4.7 per cent according...

The body representing local councils is backing the government’s Renters Reform Bill - even though Labour dominates most local authorities. Councillor Darren...

Politicians have rejected calls for rent controls, open ended tenancies and slower evictions - although this has not happened on the...

One of Scotland’s largest lettings agencies is voicing concern over what it calls “the lack of balance” in the Scottish government’s...

A think tank is accusing landlords of being unwilling to spend money on insulating draughty rental properties. The cross-party Social Market Foundation...

The Green Party’s co-leader Carla Denyer has branded the government’s Right To Buy scheme as a “slum landlord’s charter”.  Denyer made the...

Politicians in the Scottish Parliament have backed a controversial cap which means rent rises for private tenants mid-tenancy cannot exceed 3.0...

The Welsh Government should consider tax incentives to support improvements to the energy efficiency of private rented housing, according to a...

A leading property industry figure has exploded the myths that lie behind the calls for private rent controls. Ian Fletcher, director of...

A nine-page legal document outlining landlords’ arguments has effectively stopped a controversial housing minister and campaigning organisations giving evidence to a...

Ruling politicians in Scotland have agreed that from April private rents can rise by 3.0 per cent in a 12 month period...

Two Members of the Scottish Parliament have broken rank with their own party to query the motivation behind a new property...

Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer has set out a radical programme of devolution to local authorities at city and county level...

The agents’ trade body Propertymark says it wants the Welsh Government to do more to support landlords letting in tourist hotspots. The...

The government has announced that it’s going to work on a new second homes policy with one particular council - if...

What has been billed as the bigger change ever to housing law in Wales comes into force today and is described...

A website that describes itself as promoting “popular capitalism” is urging the government not to consider raising Capital Gains Tax on...

It’s disappointing to say, but once again the rhetoric from both the Labour and Conservative party conferences towards the private rented...

The so-called emergency rent freeze and eviction ban in Scotland “can serve as a Europe-wide template for protecting tenants rights” according...

A prominent supporter of landlords has accused Labour and nationalist politicians of making the supply shortage of private rental properties in...

The National Residential Landlords Association has joined with other landlord and agent bodies to seek legal opinion on whether Scotland’s rent...

Labour is backing a rent freeze in Scotland and flirting with one in England - but it’s just stopped one being...

The government’s expected U-turn on the future of Section 21 eviction powers has provoked an explosion of anger from Generation Rent...

Private renting voters could be critical in deciding the outcome of the next General Election, according to Shelter. The campaigning charity -...

The Scottish Government’s dramatic immediate introduction of a rent freeze and eviction ban could mark the beginning of the end of the...

An emergency rent freeze in the private and public sectors has been announced this afternoon in Scotland. It will last until...

A row is brewing on the Channel Island of Jersey over the make-up of a Rent Control Tribunal. Although the island’s landlords...

Cabinet minister Michael Gove and junior minister Eddie Hughes - architects of the pro-renter White Paper issued last month - are staying...

Housing groups have united to appeal to politicians to step back from new laws that threaten to “devastate” the number of...

There has been an angry response by some politicians in Wales to the decision by the Labour administration to delay implementation...

A group delivering tenant relations training claims thousands of illegal evictions are made possible because many local councils have no trained...

The cost of living crisis and soaring fuel bills mean landlords may have to rethink the concept of all-inclusive rents. That’s the...

A report from the Public Accounts Committee on the regulation of the private rented sector (PRS) was issued with little notice...

Politicians in a city with one of the UK’s most frenzied short lets markets are pledging to return Airbnb style units...

A leading lettings industry figure is warning politicians that they risk shrinking the size of the private rental sector if they...

The Renters’ Reform Coalition, a combination of some 20 groups of activists wanting to transform the lettings sector, has set its...

Plans to extend tenants’ rights that were introduced as an emergency measure during pandemic will have a ‘devastating’ effect on the...

The National Residential Landlords Association is trying to head off the growing clamour for rent controls by setting out its own...

A prominent lettings agent says politicians wanting an open door policy for refugees from Ukraine do not explain how they will...

A prominent Conservative has branded the rush towards rent controls by some politicians as “heavy-handed and economically illiterate”. Janet Finch Saunders, an...

A protest by Welsh nationalists has called for a new Property Act to be passed by the Welsh Parliament, which would...

A prominent property website, which monitors the lettings market, suggests that rent controls would drive a proportion of rental stock to...

The government’s pledge to scrap Section 21 eviction powers for landlords and agents is  “the worst form of gesture politics in...

Government plans to rectify dangerous cladding are riddled with confusion and risk needless delays to addressing the problem. That’s the warning from...

A newspaper is suggesting that proposals for rent controls could be scuppered because of the relatively large proportion of elected politicians...

A government housing minister says the Boris Johnson administration wants to shift the balance of power in the rental sector favour...

A senior figure in a newly-enlarged agency that wants to become a national force in lettings has thrown his weight behind...

The new coalition of the Scottish National Party and the Greens in Scotland has pledged to introduce rent controls - and...

Some 6,000 signatures have so far been added to an online petition calling on the Welsh Parliament to “address” the issue...

The Green Party says the fact that some landlords increased rents during the Coronavirus pandemic shows the need for rent controls. The...

Activists’ group Generation Rent says it’s to lobby MPs on Tuesday next week against the return of normal eviction notice periods...

Rent controls, possibly ensuring that rents do not exceed 25 per cent of household income, are poised to be introduced into...

Politicians of both major parties have voiced concern over former council houses being used as Airbnb and other short lets in...

Welsh Nationalist politicians are complaining about a finance company which identified part of Wales as having attractive yields for buy to...

Momentum for pets to routinely be allowed in rental properties has chiefly come from politicians and tenant groups - but now...

The Welsh Government says the mandatory six month notice period which landlords must give their tenants will now last until the...

The government has pledged to  bring forward a White Paper in the Autumn, focussing on its commitments to reform the private...

Activists are aiming to make the eviction ban a central theme in this spring’s local elections. In early May there are elections...

One of the country’s best known Labour politicians wants the eviction ban extended yet again. Currently there is a moratorium on bailiff-enforced evictions...

A tenant organisation has written to almost 130 politicians asking them to do more to protect renters - especially lone females -...

A so-called Citizens Assembly set up by a leading politician has called for rent controls. The Citizen’s Assembly of Scotland was launched...

Both Labour and the Scottish National Party have spoken out over online platforms carrying advertisements from landlords seeking sexual favours in...

Labour politicians, union leaders and Shelter are amongst those writing to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon demanding an eviction ban. The protest...

The leading landlord trade body wants a new and regular study of housing in Wales, to make its politicians better-informed. The National Residential...

The recent decision to abolish The Fair Rents (Scotland) Bill demonstrates the difficulty of introducing lettings regulation amid ongoing uncertainty, while...

Three years after the Grenfell fire, 257 tower blocks in Britain, housing about 56,000 people, are still to be made safe,...

New guidance from ARLA Propertymark’s legal helpline aims to provide landlords and letting agents with greater clarity based on frequent queries they...