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Earlier this year, the government introduced a new measure that transferred to landlords the responsibility if ensuring that tenants have the right to live in the UK. At the time, it seemed rather like the government passing the buck to landlords already tangled up in red tape. Now that, for good or bad, we’ve voted to leave the EU, could this create even more difficulties for landlords? The New Scheme The measures,

Every Landlords worst nightmare are problem tenants What do you do when a tenant stops paying rent? You either run to the court or even your solicitor with a load of papers crying that you want him/her out of your property, preferably the following day. “It ain’t going to happen”. Irrespective of whether you have correct paperwork in place, or not, at the commencement of the tenancy this action could take not weeks b

For landlords in the private residential rental sector, having the right to regain control of your property when you need to is a vital power. Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 allows landlords to end an assured shorthold tenancy by serving notice, without having to show any fault on the part of the tenant.  Stephen Eccles, Head of Dispute Resolution law at Pinney Talfourd in Upminster, is our expert in landlord and

The government has released details of the new tax allowance for landlords who furnish their residential properties. It replaces the old wear and tear allowance, but how does it differ and how should you plan for its introduction? Current wear and tear allowance If you’re a landlord of residential accommodation which you let furnished you’ll already know that you can claim a tax deduction for wear and tear of equipme

New requirements for residential landlords to ensure that a tenant or lodger can legally rent a property are coming into effect. The new requirements requires private landlords, including those who sub-let or take in lodgers, to check the right of prospective tenants to be in the country to avoid being hit with a penalty. The changes will start where a tenancy agreement commences on or after 1 February 2016 in Englan

Property letting is generally a good deal for everyone. There’s a small minority of unethical landlords, of course, as well as unethical tenants who can cause problems. In general, though, the more profitable letting is to the landlord, the better choice tenants have. Could this be changing, though? Various recent measures by the government could end up both cutting into the landlord’s profit and creating extra probl

  Landlords in the private rental sector will be watching closely the progress of Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather’s private member’s bill to ban retaliatory evictions. The bill follows claims by housing charity Shelter that there is a crisis in the sector because landlords have been evicting tenants who complain about the standards of their property. Launching her bill, Teather said: ‘All too often tenants out

The backlash from private landlords against selective licensing by local councils appears to be growing. The Daily Telegraph has reported that the National Landlords Association is gathering evidence for legal action against a number of local authorities. One objection is to the way the swelling numbers of buy-to-let landlords appear to be the target for ‘voluntary’ registers presented by councils as measures to tack

When a third of tenants have been evicted or threatened with eviction after complaining to their landlord about the condition of a property, according to research by online community Tenants’ Voice, it’s hardly a surprise that the issue of licensing landlords might be ‘flavour of the month’. Blogging for Landlord Today, Malcolm Harrison says knee-jerk legislation to implement licensing is being considered by ‘every v

Watching the BBC documentary last week called Meet the Landlords was probably frustrating for anyone in my line of business, though it looks as though there’ll be no shortage of debt collection work in the future. The old boy scout motto, Be Prepared, is just as important for anyone considering letting out residential property. From the stories told in the programme it was clear that some owners have not been doing t