Latest News
Change to Repossession Law Announced
Margaret Beckett, UK Housing Minister, has finally announced the long-awaited change to the law that guarantees that all UK tenants will receive a notice to leave the home in case the landlord has defaulted on his or her mortgage payments at least 2 months prior to repossession of the property. However, it is important to note that only tenants,... Read more
Landlords Prefer Renting Out to Benefit Claimants
Latest Landlords Panel report, presented by the BDRC research agency suggests that more UK landlords, operating in the residential property sector, are renting their properties out to housing benefit claimants. As landlords suffer an increase in the cost of buy to let mortgages and a decrease in their availability, UK tenants find themselves... Read more
UK Tenants Are Deeply Indebted
Latest BBC report suggests that tenants in the United Kingdom find themselves as indebted as they were in 1980’s. The news is especially bad for residential landlords, who already face problems when collecting rent payments and managing rental arrears. Statistics demonstrates that currently 1/3, or 30%, of all residential landlords across... Read more
Problems with Tenants Must Be Solved Quickly and Firmly
Susan Prince, an expert in the in property litigation, says that in the near future a large number of private sector landlords will go bankrupt , because they are too slow in acting when a tenant falls into arrears or causes material damage. The trouble is that private sector landlords are most in danger of losing money, as many of these... Read more
Landlords Are Encouraged to Check Tenant’s Legal Status
UK’s major estate agency, Young’s, has published a list of 10 tips for landlords who are new to the buy to let sector and for experienced landlords who fear that the level of rental arrears might increase. Young’s suggests that landlords check the financial status and legal status in the United Kingdom of their prospective... Read more
The Number of Unemployed Tenants Increases Sharply
UK national statistics reveal that the amount of tenants renting a flat or a house from private residential landlords has sharply increased in the last year. At the moment, 7.8% of all UK tenants are unemployed, which represents a significant increase over the course of the year. In spring 2008 only 3.1% of UK tenants got redundant. Experts... Read more
Housing Associations Increase Rents and Service Charges
Most housing associations across Great Britain have increased rents in April by at least 5%, which caused fierce opposition by tenants. The rents were calculated on the basis of the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation as of last September. However, the increases in rent are far higher than current rate of inflation. At the moment... Read more
Property Repossession Should Be Deferred
Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) recently said that more and more tenants face homelessness as their rented homes are being repossessed because landlords fail to comply with their loan commitments. The property industry is broadly joining the campaign aimed at protecting private tenants who face eviction with no notice through no fault of... Read more
The DPS Scheme Is Proved to Make Tenants Feel More Secure
Tenancy deposit, which was introduced two years ago in April 2007, has proved to be an effective tool of delivering a secure system of tenant protection. The idea of the DPS scheme is to protect the deposit and to reduce the risks for both parties, the landlord and the tenant. On the one hand, the landlord who fails to register the deposit will... Read more
Tenants Better Served with GHA
86% of tenants believe that they are being better served under the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) rather than with the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council. That is why housing associations around the city voted to stay within GHA and ignored any plans associated with the move to second stage transfer. Some 86% of tenants believe... Read more