September 2017

This week marks the seventh annual Gas Safety Week. Poorly maintained gas appliances cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and even carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and can cause serious injury and even death. The Gas Safety Week campaign, co-ordinated by Gas Safe Register, aims to raise awareness of this, and has issued six simple steps to staying ‘gas […]

The post How much do you know about Gas Safety? Take our quick quiz appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Today has been revealed as the BUSIEST day of the year for tenancies coming to an end, according to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). The September 21st date has been calculated using statistics recorded over the last ten years. Last year on the third Thursday in September, TDS saw 18,000 tenancies coming to an end, […]

The post ‘Busiest’ day for tenancies ending is here-but don’t be alarmed appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

This week is Gas Safety Week, and to mark this our Call of the Week focuses on a member who called us with a query about a gas safety certificate. The query was about a property being rented by the caller’s son. The son shares with four other students, and they are all on separate […]

The post Call of the Week-student property has no gas safety certificate appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Landlords in Doncaster are celebrating after tenants successfully challenged the council in a row over the level of benefit paid to landlords providing homes to common households. Here Bill Irvine, the RLA’S UC adviser and trainer who represented the tenants at the hearing explains what happened. He said: “Two landlords operating in Doncaster helped their […]

The post Common households – landlords celebrate tribunal win appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Lack of supply, increased regulation and stagnating incomes are the real issue, when it comes to affordability, says RLA policy manager John Stewart There is widespread concern that housing is becoming unaffordable. The barriers for first time buyers are well documented and string of government interventions have sought to boost declining levels of home ownership. […]

The post Private renting and affordability: where to point the finger? appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

The RLA has met with housing minister Alok Sharma to discuss issues affecting the PRS and to press for greater support for landlords. RLA chairman Alan Ward was invited to meet the minister with conversation centring around issues of affordability and supply and the personal consequences of changes in tenancies. Mr Ward also pressed the […]

The post RLA meets with housing minister appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

Gas safety is a serious business with poorly maintained gas appliances causing gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Shock statistics show one in six homes across the country has an unsafe gas appliance – and with the potentially fatal consequences landlords must take their responsibilities seriously. This week marks the seventh annual […]

The post Gas Safety Week – What you need to know appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

The last two years have seen a number of changes announced that could adversely impact your letting business. This includes changes to mortgage interest relief, stamp duty land tax, proposed letting agent fee ban, capping of tenancy deposits, licensing schemes and more. Last year we launched our first quarterly survey on the finance and tax […]

The post Launch of Finance and Tax Quarterly Survey appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

This week is Gas Safety Week, and a member asked a question on our forum recently asking a question about advice she had received from an engineer about gas safety certificates. The member was in the situation where two gas safety certificates had expired at two of her properties. She had booked her usual engineer […]

The post Forum Spotlight: Gas Safety Week-make sure your engineer is registered appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.

A former letting agent from Kettering has been ordered to pay a confiscation order of £1 million after lying to landlords and tenants about the cost of repairs. Harpreet Garcha, who ran property lettings franchises Belvoir in Kettering, Desborough and Corby, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 2016. The court […]

The post Rogue letting agent hit with £1m penalty appeared first on RLA Campaigns and News Centre.