Nottingham Letting Agent Property Blog

The latest UK Census shows exactly how much the private rental sector has changed over the past decade, as in 2001 there were 2.6 million households within the private rental sector, but by 2011 the figure had grown to 4.2 million. As more people struggle to get on the housing market, it has become more acceptable to rent long-term, even amongst those people on higher incomes who would previously have bought property. The data from the census shows the private rental sector now accounts for just under 20% of households throughout England and Wales, but is more heavily concentrated in urban...

Mortgage lending for last month declined by 1% compared to the previous month, and by 4% compared to a year ago. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed gross mortgage lending for August was £12.6 billion, compared to £13.1 billion in August 2011. Bob Pannell commented on these figures saying “House purchase activity continues to be a little above year-earlier levels, but the housing numbers are far from strong. We expect to see a stronger take-up of NewBuy over the coming months, helped by a concerted marketing effort by builders and the recently launched Funding for Lending Scheme, which has...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has warned that cannabis factories in privately rented homes are on the increase. Police forces up and down the country have reported more and more are being set up in perfectly ordinary rental properties. The problem is occurring both in the inner city areas as well as suburbia. Over the last two years, the numbers of cannabis farms in Dorset have risen by an incredible 550%, with police discovering a total of 93 farms during the previous twelve months. In comparison, the figures for 2009/10 were just 15. According to data released by the...

Increasing numbers of tenants are choosing to share their homes as a way of coping with rising rents, according to property analytics company Hometrack. Although they found demand for rental property is still strong, many people are struggling to cope with the rising cost of living, and certainly cannot cope with increases in rent. This is particularly true in London, and couples who would have previously rented two-bedroom flat and kept a spare bedroom, are now choosing to let it out to another tenant. The rental market in the UK is split into two distinct sections, as rents in London are...