Nottingham Letting Agent Property Blog

According to minister, Grant Shapps, the government is considering drawing up a charter with the aim of simplifying the private rental sector. The charter of requirements would be intended for both tenants and landlords, and could include rules covering antisocial behaviour, and rules covering legal fire safety standards.The question arose in the House of Commons after Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders asked Grant Shapps if the government had thought about simplifying the private rental sector in the same way the planning system has recently been simplified. The intention would be to reduce the regulatory burden on landlords while helping to improve...

Increasing numbers of tenants are asking to see that the landlord does have permission from their lender to rent out the property, and this is beginning to affect those landlords who have been forced to rent out their property until they can sell it. Unfortunately many of these so called ‘reluctant landlords’ have failed to get permission from their lender as this would push up the interest rates on their mortgage.The problem faced by tenants is that they are at risk if the landlord subsequently defaults on their mortgage, and could find themselves homeless. According to the Association of Residential Letting...

It looks as if rents in the private sector could be beginning to stabilise, as data from the Association of Residential Letting Agents shows that only half of its member reported increased achievable rent levels, down from 60% nine months ago. The average length of time between lettings is also up to an average of three weeks, and this period has now risen for two consecutive quarters.In addition, ARLA members have reported a decline in the number of contracts for new tenancies. This could be due to decreasing demand from tenants, or it could be due to rents becoming more unaffordable....

During the final quarter of 2011, members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents saw a 47% increase in the number of rental properties coming onto the market because owner occupiers were unable to sell. A year earlier this percentage was just 18%, and illustrates the sluggishness of the property market. These owners are being forced to turn to the private rental sector to solve the problem.Most of these landlords are likely to be looking for short-term lets. Short-term lets can range from as little as one week to three months, but according to ARLA there are a few pitfalls new...

A new report from Savills and Rightmove, called Rental Britain, is forecasting that 20% of households in the UK may be in rental properties by 2016. This means another 1.1 million rental homes would need to become available. The funding required to provide this many homes is estimated to be £200 billion, and just one quarter of this is forecast to come from buy to let funding.At the moment there are around 4.8 million homes in the private rental sector, whereas in 2002 there were just 2.5 million homes. The private rental sector in London already accounts for 27% of all...

An article by the Association of Residential Letting Agents has highlighted the changes recently made to HSE Legislation regarding the private rental sector. The recent changes mean that all owners of private residential rental property, and who are responsible for the water systems in the premises must now have a Legionnaires' risk assessment carried out. Many landlords are already aware of this responsibility, but others may not know about these changes.Legionella is a bacterium which is commonly found in rivers and lakes and artificial water systems. Whenever you hear about an outbreak of Legionnaires ’ disease it's usually in larger facilities...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) is hoping the forthcoming budget on March 21 will give a boost to the private rental sector. They are hoping the government will support growth of the private rental sector, and that landlords will be treated as entrepreneurial businesses. They point out supporting growth in this sector would encourage greater investment, which in turn would help boost the economy. There is still a healthy demand for good quality private rental homes, and there are 3.4 million tenants who rely on the private rental sector. This number has increased by 1 million since 2005.The association...

A new survey by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), suggests the number of long distance landlords in the private rental sector is increasing, and the trend is especially prevalent in the capital and Scotland. ARLA thinks this trend is likely to continue as more owners may be forced to, or will choose to rent out property when moving to another part of the country. There is also an increasing trend for parents who have bought a property for their children to use while at university, to continue renting it out after the child has graduated.ARLA points out that being...

The British Property Federation has given its support to the government backed Montague Review which is aiming to encourage greater institutional investment in what has been called ‘build to let’ homes. The review will be led by Sir Adrian Montague and will look at how existing barriers are preventing greater investment into this sector, and how the supply of this type of property can be increased to meet growing demand. Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at the BPF will be part of the nine strong expert industry panel and is hoping the property industry will support the review by sending its...

Latest figures show that just 66% of homes are owner occupied, down from a peak of 71% nine years ago. This means one third of homes are rented from the council or housing association, or are privately rented. This is the largest percentage seen since 1988 when the push towards home ownership was at its peak. It's no surprise to hear that the major obstacle facing young people is trying to afford a mortgage, and data from the Department for Communities and Local Government shows just 10% of homeowners are less than 35 years of age.Young people have been amongst the...

Latest research from an independent consultancy shows that in spite of newspaper reports about the burgeoning buy to let business, many professional landlords are feeling the pinch. Research by BDRC Continental, who is the largest independent market research consultancy in the UK, shows a substantial rise in the number of portfolio landlords making a loss. According to them the fourth quarter of last year showed that the number of portfolio landlords making a loss increased from 1% during the previous quarter to 8%. They classify portfolio landlords are those owning 20 properties or more. Their research also showed this group of...

According to the Association of Residential Letting Agents, last year saw more private rental landlords buy and sell property, but it looks as if this won't continue this year. Their research shows the percentage of landlords selling property during the last 12 months increasing from 6% to 8% during the last quarter of the year, while the number buying property increased from 23% to 25%. However the percentage of those intending to buy properties during the coming 12 months fell from 27% to 25%, while the number of those intending to sell property has increased slightly from 8% to 9%.Apparently private...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents is predicting a mixed year for the private rental sector, and even though recent measures unveiled by the government could help to get the housing market going once more there are concerns that things may get worse before they get better. It will be quite some time before the full impact of the new measures can be assessed and in the meantime it is expected that there will continue to be a lack of rental property. A recent survey showed that nearly three quarters of ARLA members had more potential tenants than available rental properties,...

There has been a lot of news recently about the buy to let boom, as many first-time investors are putting their money into bricks and mortar rather than the banks, while first-time buyers are still struggling to save for a deposit. However experts are now issuing a word of caution and are warning landlords that annual rental yields won't always be this high, and could fall substantially at a later stage.One lender has found buy to let mortgages have increased tenfold since last year, and according to LSL Property Services the average rent is now £720 a month with rents having...

The National Landlords Associations annual conference was held last week in Manchester, and underlined the importance the private rental sector will play in the UK property market during the coming years. The keynote speaker at the conference was Terrie Alafat, director of housing growth and affordable housing at Communities and Local Government. He explained to attendees that housing is definitely high on the government agenda, especially as demand is continuing to grow, with the private rental sector having increased by 1 million since 2005. One of the things he touched upon was the changing face of the private rental sector in...

The government released its consultation on its Green Deal last week and announced an additional £200 million worth of funding including a special introductory offer which it is hoped will boost early uptake of the scheme. It's important for landlords because after 2018, rental properties must have a low EPC rating otherwise they will be banned from the market.Energy secretary Chris Huhne expects the initiative to decrease household fuel bills by up to 7% by 2020, but this will be partially offset by the £8 billion annual bill taxpayers which will fund new nuclear power stations, wind farms and a new...

The plans announced on Monday to boost the property market have been welcomed, but some experts are concerned that they won't have a significant impact for quite some time. The measures included a brand-new £400 million fund to boost house building, and builders will be able to obtain grants to develop land currently considered economically unviable. However this £400 million fund is expected to provide funding for just 16,000 new homes, when estimates put the need for new houses as being anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000. First-time buyers will also be able to borrow up to 95% of a property's value,...

Proposed EU legislation which is intended to regulate the buy to let sector could have several unpleasant and unintended consequences. The new legislation could result in mortgage availability becoming restricted, and some landlords may be forced to sell which could affect house prices and reduce the already overstretched private rental sector.The Treasury already decided two years ago that further intervention in the housing market wasn't necessary, but in spite of this, this new EU directive looks set to take effect in 2012, and seeks to regulate buy to let mortgages in the same way as residential mortgages. The effect of this...

A new report by Savills predicts that rents will rise more than house prices over the next five years. The report, which has to be music to every landlord's ears has made this forecast due to rising demand for rental property. It thinks it unlikely that the current supply of rental property will keep pace with demand, and that competition amongst renters will push rents up. It is predicting that average rents could rise by as much as 20.5% by the end of 2016, which is pretty amazing when compared to house price growth which is predicted to be just 6%...

In spite of the fact that most people would prefer to own their own home, more and more are becoming resigned to renting property for the longer term, and it's likely attitudes towards renting will change. It's only during the last few decades that Britain has become a nation of homeowners, as at the end of the First World War just 23% of property was owner occupied, and those who owned property tended to be the middle classes or landed gentry.As standards of living gradually increased, so did the trend of buying your own home. This policy really took off when...