November 2015

The Residential Landlords Association is backing an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill, proposed by ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) to protect money received from clients and held by agents, such as rent due to landlords.

TODAY’S announcement of a higher stamp duty on the purchase of buy to let homes will only worsen the current shortage of accommodation and drive up the cost of rents say landlords.

After the measures contained in the Summer Budget received Royal Assent last week, RLA Policy Manager, John Stewart, speculates on what tomorrow’s Spending Review and Autumn Statement will hold for landlords.

Registration and licensing applications will open for ‘Rent Smart Wales’ on Monday 23rd November 2015. Landlords will be able to register with Rentsmart Wales and begin their licensing applications. Agents will also be able to begin their licensing applications. Landlords letting property in Wales have one year to comply. ..

Local authorities that charge landlords for licences solely to collect information on the number of landlords in an area have been exposed for doing so without reason. A new letter sent to all councils in England from the Department for Communities and Local Government has made it clear that they already have the power to ask tenants for information about a property’s tenure and landlord identity. This enables every local authority to build a register of landlords.

RLA trainer, housing benefit (HB) and Universal Credit (UC) expert Bill Irvine returns with news of the Department Work and Pension (DWP) starting to get it right when it comes to Universal Credit payments. Bill has been working alongside RLA Policy Consultant (and Treasurer) Richard Jones and both are keen to commend DWP for acknowledging previous shortcomings and making the system work better…

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has today welcomed new £5m of new funding to help councils tackle rogue landlords who let out substandard homes…

On Friday 6 November 2015, the government published a consultation paper on changes to mandatory Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing in England. A new definition for HMOs could bring in smaller properties under mandatory licensing…

RLA Policy Director David Smith gives his views on the Planning & Housing Bill which is now at the committee stage. On Tuesday 10th November, David gave oral evidence on the proposals. You can read David’s thoughts below and view RLA briefing for MPs as well as written evidence…

New regulations on the provision of heat and energy in HMO properties have the potential to affect a great many HMO landlords. RLA Policy Director David Smith comments on metering and billing heat network. A European Union Directive on Energy Efficiency was updated in 2012. One of the key elements of energy efficiency is ensuring that those people who are directly using energy can see what they are using and take steps to reduce their usage. It is this that the directive is targeted at.