October 2016

As a first for the industry RentProfile https://www.rentprofile.co/ has launched a service that can verify a landlord’s credentials for any UK rental opportunity, helping prevent rental fraud. The service aims to provide greater peace of mind to renters who are transferring large amounts of money in deposit and first rent payments. In 2015, Action Fraud received 3193 […]

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RLA partners and property experts Paul Shamplina and Kate Faulkner have joined forces to share their expertise in a one-day course for investors and landlords. The course will explore the realities of buy-to-let and the ups and downs of being a landlord. Kate, who runs Propertychecklists.co.uk and is the author of the Which? property books, […]

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Following the PRA announcement that new underwriting standards will be introduced for buy-to-let mortgages RLA company secretary Richard Jones has produced a briefing informing landlords how the new rules will affect them. The Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has now issued new underwriting standards for buy to let mortgages which they regulate. The […]

The post Underwriting standards – how will they affect you? appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

A conference & training day on information and trends in the PRS will be held in London this December. Entitled ‘Are you up to date? Information, Trends & What Matters to You’ the event, on December 7th is organised by London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS) and UK Landlord Accreditation Partnership (UKLAP). Speakers include RLA policy […]

The post Rental trends under the spotlight appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

New minimum room sizes for HMOs have been announced by Housing Minister Gavin Barwell. The new rules have been brought in in a bid to tackle overcrowding and the criminal landlords who pack tenants into tiny spaces. The proposals will close a loophole which lets some landlords let out rooms far too small for an […]

The post Minimum room sizes for shared homes appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Today’s call of the week is answered by Michael Wright, from RLA partner organisation, the tax advisory service RITA4Rent. Question: We purchased a buy-to-let property at a very good price, however, at a consequence of it being in poor condition. One major expense was that the whole property had to be rewired as the electrics, […]

The post Call of the Week: Is this a Capital or Revenue Cost? appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Plans to severely restrict the number of new shared houses in two popular student areas of Cardiff will be decided this week. Cardiff Council is set to vote on the proposed Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) that will severely restrict new houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in the city, particularly in Cathays and Plasnewydd. The council […]

The post Decision on plan to ‘ban’ new HMOs due within days appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Over the last year significant changes have been announced by the UK Government that will impact the future of the private rented sector. To assess the effect of these changes, we have developed a longitudinal research project to assess the state of the sector over the long term through a series of quarterly surveys. Currently […]

The post A million families to face rent increases due to tax changes appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Shelter’s ongoing assault on the private rented sector is plain wrong. As it today publishes statistics on the standard of rented housing in the UK, Shelter fails to explain why the English Housing Survey found 82% of PRS tenants are satisfied with their accommodation – a higher proportion than the social rented sector. Shelter’s report refers to the instability […]

The post Shelter wrong on rented housing appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

The 3% surcharge on buy-to-let homes will continue to be levied in Wales – despite hopes it would be ditched when the new Land Transaction Tax comes into force. Stamp duty land tax will be devolved in April next year and RLA has been campaigning for Westminster’s 3% stamp duty levy on the purchase of […]

The post Welsh Government will not axe 3% surcharge on buy-to-let homes appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.