Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
A recent survey and press release from the Halifax (the ones with those annoying but oddly impactful adverts of the two girls making a jingle and spilling their coffee) got a lot of column inches. “Suddenly we are becoming nation of private renters” says the Halifax. Those of you who have followed my work for a while will know that […]
Read moreThe forthcoming Local Housing Allowance (LHA) caps and reductions have brought with them a range of technical and practical issues, including also impacts on landlords who never let to LHA tenants. Statutory instruments SI #2835 2010 (which came into force 1 April 2011) allow local authorities slightly more discretion about whether to pay LHA directly to landlords. It states that […]
Read moreSome of our work at LettingFocus involves working with local authorities on setting up local or “social letting agencies” and “private rented sector access schemes.” The aim of the various schemes is to try to encourage landlords to consider letting to tenants who are on housing benefits, who are vulnerably housed or who “present” to the local authority seeking a […]
Read moreFor a long time, in our corporate consulting work with mortgage companies and brokers, I have advised lenders and brokers that the “one size fits all” mortgage lending approach in buy to let may be nearing the end of its shelf life. Our work may soon start to bear fruit. Eventually, other mortgage lenders will follow and design mortgage products […]
Read moreThe three deposit protection schemes in England and Wales have issued new guidance for landlords and tenants. It is called “Guide to Deposit Disputes and Damages.” At LettingFocus.com we say it is broadly welcome and has been badly needed for some time. You may recall that just a month or so ago I was blogging on the need for some […]
Read moreHere are three typical headlines: “Turmoil and strife continue to envelope the Arab World.” “Greece and Portugal struggle and the Euro could implode – Now Merkel tells Greeks to tighten up tax revenue collection as Germans tire of sleepy Euro partners.” “Up market estate agents in London see strong demand from Middle Eastern and Greek buyers. We are seeing record […]
Read moreIn last weeks’ blog post I quoted figures from The English Housing Survey, which indicated that for the first time since the mid 1960s, the private rented sector (PRS) was larger than the local authority / housing association sector combined. The latest survey available is for 2009/10 and shows there were 3.7 million households in social housing, compared to 3.4 […]
Read moreMany local authorities, housing associations and charities designing strategies to try to get private landlords to let to tenants on Local Housing Allowance are very fond of doing surveys of landlords. (Readers of this blog will know how critical I was of one particular survey of landlords that, last year, was used to make some astonishing claims for the impact […]
Read moreAt long last we have had a fairly quiet week in the private rented sector, so this week, I’m just going to jot down some random thoughts on tenancy deposit schemes and inventories. From the moment back in 2007 when all deposits taken under new assured shorthold tenancies in England and Wales had to be protected in one of the […]
Read moreI have written quite a bit at this blog about the power of the internet and the importance of customer service in dealing with landlords and with the private rented sector (PRS) in general. Of course, the same thing applies to all businesses. As the author of a quite successful book I am interested in Tim Waterstone’s attempt to buy […]
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