News

Despite announcing in 2018 that they were now pursuing landlords for failure to licence HMOs and breaches of HMO Management Regulations under the civil penalty regime, (see £16,000 fine given for non-licence HMO”) the local authority has instead taken …

Following on from the latest article, click here, and Propertymark’s survey of its members indicates the supply of property listed by agencies has halved since 2019
This is, as we have said on many occasions, the inevitable result of the onslaugh…

The living conditions in a couple of council flats in a tower block off Regina Road in South Norwood, Croydon have been condemned as “dangerous squalor” and “appalling” in a devastating television news report: Click here.
The London Borough of Croydon …

Yet again two-faced Birmingham City Council has been found out for renting properties with deadly dampness and mould.  If this were a private landlord they would issue them with  Civil Penalty Fines in the multiple £10,000s
However, guess what

Will helping Ukrainian refugees lead to thousands of homeowners and renters being prosecuted by councils for unlicensed HMOs (Like councils prosecuted those who housed the homeless during Covid)?
Thousands of people appear to be being set up for prosec…

It has come across my desk from more than one local authority and in multiple cases that the Council is checking information with Consumer Credit Reference Companies as part of their enforcement, and they are not making a secret of it!

Have you ever wondered why a council has an Additional HMO Licensing or Selective Licensing Scheme that expires and there is a gap before the next one? The answer is timing and nothing more sinister, BUT read on, it can have very SERIOUS consequences.

Today we had an unusual communication: This morning was one of those mornings where you receive a message and punch your fist in the air with delight – discovering that there are still some good, discipline-fashioned Enforcement Officers standing up an…

Here we go again as yet another local authority, this time Birmingham City Council (BCC), decides to get on the gravy train which is selective licensing, with what is being touted as the largest selective licensing scheme ever attempted.
As always
The …

“Winter drawers on!” was the risqué chorus amongst the women on the shop-floor where I served my engineering apprenticeship, every year, as the weather started getting colder!
And that reminded me that it’s time all landlords were making sure their boi…

We all suffer from bad and nightmare tenants from time to time. They can be bad in many ways.
LEARN how to AVOID getting the wrong tenants in the first place.

AVOID rent arrears
AVOID anti-social behaviour
AVOID council prosecution and fines
AVOID tra…

Finally, some good news for landlords and property developers!
District planning authorities in England issue the fewest number of enforcement notices since records began September 1, 2021. District planning authorities in England issued fewer than 3,0…

London Borough of Redbridge Council “secretly and informally” flouted its own policy in order to fine over 100 landlords in just six months.
Testimony from a senior officer in a 2019 court case reveals the council’s policy to try to resolve issues with…

This is just one of many examples of the risks if a Fire Risk Assessment is not performed forensically. Many landlords consider themselves competent to do their own Fire Risk Assessments. 99% of landlords are not competent because they do not have the …

Nearly a million landlords plan to review their buy to let portfolios over the next two years, with the number planning to sell outnumbering those planning to buy more properties. This is according to new research from the Nottingham Building Society.
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