Archive

It’s time to abolish what is colloquially called Landlord Licensing. If you’re a casual reader and perhaps not in our industry, a...

Happy New Year and welcome to what’s looking like a busy - perhaps even hectic - 2024! I thought it worth running...

Agents are hoping for further support for the housing market north of the border as the Scottish Government prepares to set...

The factor most likely to influence the housing market next year is entirely outside the industry’s control: the General Election. Knight Frank...

The private rental landscape has been undergoing a profound transformation, with technology playing a pivotal role in shaping the way tenancies...

It may be a measure of the government’s incompetence in the area of housing that two recent major announcements were sorely...

Introduced to Parliament in May, the Renters (Reform) Bill seeks to improve the private rental sector for both tenants and landlords....

The term mixed-tenure development usually refers to residential developments where different residential tenures are provided on the same site. Typically, tenure was...

Like most parts of the UK, the one I live in has a bit of a beef about parking. More precisely,...

It’s not a sentence that I thought I would be writing, but Housing Secretary Michael Gove has indeed finally done something...

The proposals to shake the Private Rental Sector (PRS) to its foundations will, depending upon your political persuasion and housing status,...

Despite most businesses across industry now adopting some form of digital alternative to traditional work methods, many in the private rental...

When Jeremy Hunt sat down in the Commons after delivering his first Spring Budget, I imagine there were many who felt...

So next week we get to know how high housing is on the Government’s list of priorities. As we wait to see...

Vaboo is a Customer Engagement and Reward Platform enabling Tenants and Landlords to give their insights into the relationships that matter...

If journalists believed everything they received in their inboxes, you’d be forgiven for thinking the private rental sector was a shiny,...

Is it really just a year ago that we were nervously wondering whether yet another Christmas would be Covid-affected? Little did we...

The property sector braced itself for the chill wind of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement this week. His pre-Budget comment that he...

And…breathe. For a while back there, the only certainty for the housing market was uncertainty. That isn’t to say the election of Rishi...

Now that the industry has had the weekend to digest Kwasi Kwarteng’s short and dramatic mini-Budget, more reaction has been filtering...

Tenants are becoming more discerning – not just about the properties they choose to rent but who they rent from too. With...

Anyone working in the property market should have at least one eye on supply. Of course, it’s a constant issue for...

It’s often fashionable to criticise trade bodies and official groups, but right now I think that’s absolutely inappropriate. In well over 20...

This question is not as flippant as it sounds because over recent years the status of the private landlord has taken...

After years of delays and upheaval, the Renters' Reform Bill finally appears to be back on the agenda, in an effort...

Although Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement did not include many announcements regarding housing, it did provide a good...

The industry has reacted to the Spring Statement by breathing a sigh of relief that nothing was likely to cause damage...

If you want to sex-up the Chancellor’s financial statement scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesday, you’d call it a Budget or a...

Peta Milne, founder of Instagram growth and PR service Monimo, and a content writer at Choices Estate Agents, recently sat down...

The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper, revealed this morning includes a radical reshaping of the private rental sector. Section 21 eviction...

Our Agents Do Charity column each Friday does a fantastic job of highlighting the amazing charitable work of agents up and...

I’ve never written the three letters ‘EPC’ more often than I have in the past week. Law changes for the private rental...

In the UK, 3.5 million households — which is over one-third of UK households — are either privately or socially rented,...

Within weeks the focus of the industry will be on the White Paper to be issued on rental reform before Christmas. Let’s...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given a ringing endorsement to home ownership as a central part of the government’s levelling up...

Few political policies have such a ring of the past as rent controls - they were last seen in this country...

Media reports suggest the government is considering offering grants to local authorities to purchase private family houses which are larger than...

I’m sorry to break this to you but in 10 days’ time it will be autumn - and we will have...

Initiatives by property portal Residential People and mortgage lenders Paragon Bank and Foundation Home Loans help people to find, buy or...

The MP who chairs one of the most important committees in the House of Commons has urged the government to increase...

OnTheMarket has signed a new deal with a PropTech partner - the second in successive weeks. This latest one is a 12...

It’s been quite a week for the rental sector. Lettings agents and landlords have had such a torrid time in recent years...

The new Mayor of London, to be decided in an election tomorrow, has just received a six point set of demands...

For many, the funeral of HRH Prince Philip will be a solemn affair, while for some it will also be a...

Estate agency offices in Wales, closed for many weeks as part of that country’s lockdown, will reopen from next Monday, April 12. The...

With March marking one year since the beginning of the first national lockdown across all four nations of Britain in response...

Unsurprisingly it’s been a busy few months in the property market so far this year, and a busy few months in...

Housing minister Kelly Tolhurst has resigned from the government for personal reasons. Tolhurst had formal responsibility for the government’s policies to combat...

Back in September, Westminster Council launched a new strategy to help 'protect tenants' and 'ensure they live in good-quality and well-managed...

Book review by Graham Norwood, editor of Estate Agent Today, Letting Agent Today and Landlord Today. If a letting agent wants to...

Let’s be honest: things are getting just a little tougher aren’t they?  We’re delighted to say that the spirit of the industry...

We all know what the problem is, but what’s the solution? The problem is that landlords, thinking they offer a valuable service...

The pandemic and the way the government has reacted to the private rental sector (PRS) has got me thinking about the...

Back in the day, party politics and the private rental sector used to be straightforward. Conservatives were pro-landlord, Labour were pro-tenant, while...

Labour’s long-standing housing spokesman, John Healey, has been moved to become shadow defence secretary on the front bench of new leader...

There’s something of a conspiracy of silence over the problem of short lets. That is a stark claim but many siren voices...

The proportion of 25 to 34 year olds who own their own home in England has risen for the first time...

A former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has posed key questions for the government to answer over...

A new portal claims it will do what OnTheMarket failed to do, and offer an agent-led operation charging every agency branch...

It’s been clear for a while that the additional regulation landlords and agents are facing has helped professionalise the private rental...

No one would argue that unfair fees and practices by rogue landlords is a problem that should be ignored, but the...

In just over two weeks, the UK population will head to the polls for the fourth general election since 2010. Of course,...

Pressure is building on the Conservative party to honour its previous commitment to reform stamp duty for British buyers and sellers...

You don’t need to go far to find news about the UK lettings market. From the banning of tenant fees to...

It’s on - although judging by the early lack of enthusiasm amongst the British public, you might be forgiven for thinking...

Hello, welcome to another Monday and the latest PJT. As ever, a brief reminder to please let us know your appointments new...

There’s no doubt that we live in politically charged times and every day appears to bring something new to the ‘party’. For...

If you thought - perhaps hoped - that five weeks of prorogued Parliament meant a break from politics, think again: the...

A well-respected agent who was president of the NAEA just five years ago has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking...

Rising house prices and the gender pay gap means that there is no English region where a single woman on median...

Britain lives in fundamentalist black-and-white times - all the more surprising when the country's most divisive point of contention sits on...

You may be right in thinking that Brexit has dominated the thinking of the government in the last three years. However,...

With summer in full swing (will someone tell the weather?) we’re having bumper editions of Agents Do Charity, and this weekend’s is...

While media attention has been on Theresa May, Brexit and the Tories, chatter in the agency industry has been about what...

No, this isn’t about Brexit. But as the saga of leaving the EU is likely to bring about the downfall of...

The recent ARLA Propertymark conference featured a hugely interesting line-up of speaks and session during a watershed time for the lettings...

Estate agents have responded cynically to the small-fry property sector announcements made by Chancellor Phillip Hammond in yesterday’s spring statement mini-Budget. Overshadowed...

It’s time, surely, for government to crackdown not just on rogue agents and landlords but on rogue councils that confuse the...

Nobody likes change. It makes people feel threatened, undermines their confidence, and makes them worry about the future. But regardless of...

Conventional wisdom appears to have it that there are fewer owner-occupiers and more renters these days - but that’s not what...

When it comes to letting a property, it is important that landlords and renters have faith in their agent. The more...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? Beccy Moore. Office Manager for Nicholas Humphreys Tell us more about Nicholas...

As 2018 draws to a close, it is fair to say that stretched affordability and uncertainty over the Brexit negotiations has...

There’s nothing new about identifying 10 figures who have helped shape an industry over the past year, but that doesn’t mean...

A housing academic claims that while popular belief has it that homes are getting smaller, the typical living space in England...

The investment bank Jefferies says Foxtons’ long-running share price slump is a reflection of Brexit uncertainty “until we find out what...

Amid the headline-grabbing political manoeuvring over Brexit, a policy proposal which could have serious ramifications for private landlords, and those who...

The new housing minister, Kit Malthouse, has made his first formal statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It...

A leading agency chief says the frequent churn of housing ministers means there is only one answer if our industry wants...

It’s been announced this morning that Dominic Raab - who became housing minister just a few months ago - is to...

If you want to know whether buy to let, landlords and letting agents will be in the firing line for more...

In the great swathe of housing market data which is delivered each month, conveyancers’ case volumes often get overlooked, however the...

A range of factors - including fierce competition under the supplied housing market, rising property prices and political uncertainty – have...

The investment service arm of international ratings agency Moody's is warning that affordability issues are likely to lead to a slowdown...

It’s something of an understatement to say it’s been a busy fortnight for the industry in terms of announcements, consultations and...

Another week, yet more consultations - the agency industry can’t complain about not being asked for its views recently. The latest were on...

Every week we carry reports of how great causes are helped by individual agents and other property professionals - this week...

Whenever any research is released, part of me can’t help thinking of that old adage, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ especially...

Analysis by the Nationwide suggests that the proportion of UK-wide stamp duty payments paid by purchasers in the south east of...

When a tenant failed to pay any rent after the first month his tenancy last year, the landlord did not expect...