Scottish Landlords Registration Scheme Fails and Implications for the Rest of the UK

David 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 […]

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Why Town Hall “Not for Profit” Letting Agencies Fail

Local authority schemes to attract private landlords to let to people with few housing options often fail. Here at LettingFocus, we explain why. I was invited to speak at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Homelessness conference in Nottingham last week. This is a big national event to which around 140 local authority and housing association staff from all around […]

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London Assembly Housing and Regenerating Committee Consultation on Private Rented Sector

As London Councils and the London Assembly run another consultation on the private rented sector, LettingFocus’s owner starts to feel like Bill Murray in the film “Groundhog Day” Many readers will be familiar with the film “Groundhog Day” in which a bored TV weatherman played by Bill Murray is forced to relive a freezing winter’s day in a nowheresville northern […]

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Council Schemes for Landlords and the Private Rented Sector are not making an Impact

Councils’ failure to engage with private landlords means families could be needlessly placed in emergency temporary accommodation or out of their local borough. Back in July, the Guardian newspaper published a piece of research I had just completed which showed how councils and housing associations are failing to engage private landlords with their various schemes. I thought it worthwhile to […]

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The Private Rented Sector Will Not Entertain Void Periods and Local Authorities and Housing Associations Need to Understand This

Letting agents, local authorities and housing associations must start to understand that private landlords want to let fast and won’t entertain void periods. Many council and housing association schemes with private landlords fail to meet this need. All smart landlords (and smart letting agents who know their business) know that minimisation of the “void period” is critical to success in […]

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Accreditation Private Landlords and the Social Letting Agency Model

Key Point: Most private landlords don’t set high value on things like membership of accreditation schemes and property inspections offered by some councils as part of Local Letting Agency schemes designed to attract landlords. They won’t pay much for these features either – especially where a good private let alternative exists. Local authorities must be realistic about what landlords want […]

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Discharging Homelessness Duty to the Private Rented Sector – but where is the Property in the PRS

Key Point:  We are concerned that whilst local authorities will, in theory, be able to discharge the homelessness duty into the private rented sector, the reality is that many councils may not have done enough to convince private landlords to make their property available to this end of the lettings market. On Monday, I featured with a clutch of housing […]

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Local Letting Agency Model and Councils. Can Local Authorities Make A Success In This Area

In this blog post we say that local authorities face big challenges trying to make a success of the “Local Letting Agency” concept – and we highlight the areas they will have to work hardest in if they are to be successful. Some groups of local authorities are setting up their own local letting agencies – a topic we have […]

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Letter to Grant Shapps on Housing Benefit Plus Making Accommodation Available in the Private Rented Sector with Private Landlords

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors (which now take place just once a year): Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event In September 2010 we sent the following letter to all London Authorities Heads of Housing, to Housing Minister Grant Shapps and to Sir Steve Bullock who is Exec Chair of Housing at the Mayors Office. […]

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Research Is Needed Into Implications of Budget Changes to Housing Benefit Rates for London Boroughs

The detail of how the change to Local Housing Allowance / Housing Benefit rates will be managed in practice will be interesting and the government will need to tread very carefully and will have to carefully consider the needs of the old, the sick and the HB claimants with young families in all this or they could be facing a […]

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