Taking the Strain

Taking the Strain: The Private Rented Sector in the Recession is a research document published by Shelter and the Money Advice Trust.

Setting out the impact the recession has had so far on both landlords and tenants, it's readable but depressing. You'll need a small sherry and a warm mince pie before you get to the end of it.

The data used in this piece of research was from a sample of landlords who are all members of the NLA and the report makes the point that as these landlords are members of a trade body and have access to advice from the NLA, they are less likely to be struggling in the recession and their data may not be representative of all landlords. It doesn't say whether the landlords they sampled were PropertyHawk subscribers and readers but there we are.

You may not agree with all of the recommendations but near the beginning of the report there are some interesting and sometimes startling findings in it: the level of repossessions of BTL mortgagees is now at the same level as for homeowners and the rate of tenant rent arrears is highest among landlords who are themselves falling behind with their own financial commitments and struggling to meet their payments.

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Discount Letting Christmas Special Offer

Propertyhawk.co.uk has teamed up with Discount Letting to bring an amazing 25% Christmas discount offer. This offer is only available throughout the month of December 2009, so hurry if you wish to take advantage of this amazing offer.

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Attention all Landlords: This offer is only available throughout the month of December 2009, so hurry if you wish to take advantage of this amazing offer. Visit www.discountletting.co.uk before the end of December 2009 to take advantage of this offer or call 020 8 697 0984. Please use discount code 5bdl7a8q when completing the online registration form.

As an additional bonus Discount Letting are offering:

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House prices could fall for a generation..

The sky may fall in, the mother in law might be nice, the chancellor may get his sums right.

Life's full of surprises.

Despite all this we know that there is one certainty.

House prices will go on rising. Look at the latest figures that show prices are up for the 7th month in a row and are almost back to the level they were a year ago.

Well may be not.....

According to the latest article in Moneyweek house price rises may soon be on hold for a generation because of :

1. Rising unemployment
2. Lack of buy to let finance
3. Low interest rates won't last
4. Surging supply

Find out more by reading the full artice

Don't agree - post your views


Landlord Insurance - where do professional landlords go...

Nottingham seeks further licensing powers (HMO)

Landlords who think they may have escaped the curse of the landlord licence, in this Parliamentary session at least need to be reminded that the Housing Act 2004 allows local authorities to introduce their own licensing regime that goes beyond the licensing arrangement for HMO properties.

We have talked before of the prospect of this legislation could be used by some councils to create licensing through the back door.

Many landlords do not realise they have an HMO.

Many landlords who have relatively small properties may not realise that under the Housing Act they indeed have a HMO property. A flat or house which is let to 3 or more tenants and form two or more households who share a bathroom and kitchen would actually constitute an HMO.

This means a couple and a single tenant sharing a house with one kitchen and bathroom would actually constitute an HMO under the legislation. The current arrangement means that there are certain caveats which means that not all HMO properties actually require a mandatory licence.

However, the Housing Act 2004 allows local authorities to extend their powers of licensing.

Nottingham City Council seeks additional HMO powers

Nottingham City Council are currently looking to use just these powers to extend their controls over many more landlords by forcing them to take up an expensive licence, currently £640.

The argument from the council is that areas of the city are suffering because of high concentrations of HMO properties. The reality is that any moves will be an attempt to place onerous conditions on any landlord about how they operate their property. Landlords wishing to register their objections to the scheme have until the 11th December to register their objections.

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NLA calls for urgent review of LHA

The NLA is calling for more action on LHA reform with total rent arrears across the UK relating to LHA possibly as high as £220 million.

These rental arrears are leaving increasing numbers of landlords struggling under the financial pressure of tenants failing to pass on rent payments.

Read full article here

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Review of Water Charges

The Walker Review of water charges has finally been published.

The report recommends that water companies should stop passing unpaid bills from tenants on to their landlords.

Hurrah!

Read the full report here

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