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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.

Announced in the Summer Budget, along with other welfare changes, freezing of Local housing Allowance (LHA) payments has been confirmed by Government. The RLA has training available to help landlords make the most of the changes. The Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Local Housing Allowance Amendments) Order 2015 SI 2015/1753 provides that LHA rates will remain at the April 2015 levels (or be set at the 30th percentile point for local market rents, if this is lower). In the Summer Budget 2015 (para 1.137) the Chancellor announced that these rates will be frozen from 2016/17 to 2019/20.

In a new press release from the DCLG and Housing Minister Brandon Lewis, the Government claims that new measures are to be introduced to tackle ‘rogue’ landlords ‘head on’. This relates to a new discussion paper outlining plans to improve standards of shared homes by extending mandatory licensing to smaller and medium sized properties…

From 1st February 2016 all landlords will be required to check the ‘Right-to-Rent’ status. In preparation the RLA has prepared a guide to make sure that landlords are on the right side of the law. Prepared by the RLA Landlord Advice Team (LAT) and Policy the information in the guide will answer any questions you may have about the checks…

MPs scrutinising the Government’s latest immigration proposals used RLA background briefings to challenge Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire MP, over discrimination, the criminalisation of landlords and the retrospective nature of the changes.

RLA Policy Director David Smith has penned the following article on the Right-to-rent checks that landlords will be required to conduct for all tenancies from 1st February 2016. David considers the role of agents doing right-to-rent checks and the implications of training staff and having a procedure in place to mitigate any threat of sanction…