Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com has some sympathy for councils over landlord licensing. He calls on central government to make penalties for criminal landlords far harsher and let the councils keep the cash raised. He also questions whether licensing of landlords is being abused and used as a tool to deal with criminals offending on a wider basis. Some Sympathy for Landlord […]
Read moreWas Newham Council’s all borough landlord licensing scheme justified and was there really clear statistical evidence of a higher level of antisocial behaviour in the private rented sector, asks David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com I shared a platform with the London Borough of Newham at a Chartered Institute of Housing (London region) event yesterday – which over 100 delegates attended. The […]
Read moreMost housing options staff at the councils are not in favour of Newham’s universal landlords licensing scheme says David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com Many private landlords labour under the assumption that the local authorities are simply there to make life hard for them. But actually that is not usually true: There are a lot of people at the councils who see […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson of LettingFocus notes the big rise in buy to let lending and how everyone wants to be a landlord now. Plus he fears an increase in the regulatory burden. Many years ago and time and again I predicted that the private rented sector (PRS) would grow bigger than social housing. And many times I was shouted down by […]
Read moreMany buy to let mortgage lenders are still not “ahead of the curve” in terms of understanding the impact of legal and regulatory changes in the private rented sector – and this often leaves their own businesses exposed to losses, says David Lawrenson of private rented consultancy, www.LettingFocus.com In an interesting piece in Joanne Atkin’s “Mortgage Finance Gazette”, Paul Walshe […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson of PRS consultancy www.LettingFocus.com shows how government seems to be failing to learn from past experiments to control the private rented sector – and calls for more robust analysis. Landlords have paid £11.2m in fees since the introduction of the Landlord Registration Scheme in Scotland. But the scheme has resulted in only 11 people being reported to the […]
Read moreWill borough-wide selective licensing of all landlords succeed in dealing with antisocial tenants? And will it be cost effective? David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com looks at the issues. Back in 2004, selective and additional licensing of landlords was designed as tools to help deal with “low housing demand” and pockets of antisocial behaviour by tenants in the private rented sector. The […]
Read moreNewham Council is looking into sending families to other parts of the country because they say they cannot house them in the borough. Private Rented Sector expert David Lawrenson says the issue would not arise if the government made Local Housing Allowance work better. But Newham may make matters worse locally because of its proposed local licensing scheme for all […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com says that the move to “localism” is leading many town halls to make some very bad decisions about the private rented sector. One of the obvious consequences of the Coalition’s liking of “localism” is that it gives more control to the local authorities. But the localism agenda can be a problem for the private rented sector […]
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