Yet another social landlord has had to ask for help after getting into trouble with it’s loans. Cosmopolitan Housing Group, who are the largest social landlord to get in to difficulties so far, own nearly 14,000 properties in the north-west of England.  With over £110 million of government funding, sources have revealed that it may…

Britain’s biggest energy supplier, British Gas, and the housing charity Shelter have announced a five-year partnership aimed at improving standards in the private rented sector. The campaign, called Better Homes for Britain, will commission what it calls the widest-ever census of private rental living. Figures cited by the campaign include statistics from the Government’s English Housing…

Launched just a year ago, Shawbrook Bank, is offering buy-to-let landlords a range of short-term loans. These include a loan for investors looking to buy, refurbish or release equity from the after-works value of a property, and short-term loans for acquisition, such as at auction. The bank also offers a short-term loan for light refurbishment….

A Norwich landlord has been ordered to pay £53,500 after being prosecuted by Norwich City Council for putting his tenants at risk. Joseph Howman from Grosvenor Road in Norwich pleaded guilty to nine offences and was deemed not to meet the standards required of a landlord. Norwich Magistrates Court heard how Howman’s house on Unthank…

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, speaking on BBC Radio 5 on Friday, was asked whether he agreed with proposals from senior Conservatives to restrict housing benefit for people under 25 years of age.  When asked whether he supported a ban on under 25’s receiving housing benefit, he said: “A complete blanket ban on providing…

Housing association and council tenants may receive rent increases of no more than 3.1 % (not including up to £2 a week extra that some tenants could pay under rent convergence rules) following the inflation figures announced this morning by the Treasury. The retail price index, one of the key measures for economic growth, fell in September to 2.6…

The latest report from Buy to Let Mortgages has revealed that gross yields from rental properties continues to rise as demand for properties remains strong. Gross yields have increased across all types of buy to let properties in the last quarter (except for semi-commercial, eg flats above shops). Across the last 4 quarters, multi-unit freehold…

The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) has been granted approval by the UK government to run an insurance-based deposit protection scheme in England and Wales.  The new scheme will run alongside the DPS’s existing custodial scheme. The DPS currently operates the only custodial based deposit protection scheme in England and Wales and will be the only…

Landlords with rental properties in the London borough of Newham must license all their properties in the borough by January 1st. Approximately one in three households in Newham borough, an estimated 35,000, are rental properties. Newham Council is charging £150 for applications made before the end of this year. After this time, the fee for…

Private landlord, Salah Ali, 52, of Wembley, has been fined a record £1.4m after converting a house in Willesden Lane, north-west London, into 12 flats without planning permission. If he does not pay within 6 months, Ali has been warned that he could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years. A judge at…