Build to Rent and the Letting Agency Issue

I know of one good reason why some forays into large scale “build for private let” by institutional investors and housing associations are failing -and it has very much to do with letting agents. Lots of big scale investors in big build to let promised much about longer term tenancies. They would revolutionise the market for assured shorthold tenancies, they […]

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Housing Associations, the Private Rented Sector and Landlords

In this blog post, David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com looks at the growing clamour for housing associations and city investors to get into the private rented sector via “build to let” and thus offer a direct challenge to the UK’s army of private landlords. In the report, “Where Next” published last year with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the housing association, L&Q explored the challenges […]

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Property Let by Private Landlords Often Not Looked After Properly

Why do some people dislike private landlords so much and are their complaints valid? Back in the 1970s, in the last days of rent control and tenant lifetime security of tenure, landlords akin to Peter Rachman were still flourishing. These guys didn’t worry about legal niceties to get their property back. They just used threats, sent the tough boys in […]

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Private Rented Sector How Things Have Changed in Recent Times

For a presentation I am doing at a conference next week, I thought I would jot down some interesting features of the private rented residential sector five to ten years ago and compare it with how it looks today. Back then, the private rented sector had the following features. 1.      Credit for buy to let mortgages was being advanced too […]

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Government Policy on the Private Rented Sector is Not Joined Up

Sometimes government policy doesn’t seem to join up too well – with different policies apparently conflicting with each other. Two good examples are (1) the lending activities of state owned banks which appear to hamper what local councils are trying to do with their private rented sector access schemes, especially lease schemes and (2) policies on HMOs which appear to […]

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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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How Not to Market to Private Landlords and the Private Rented Sector

Landlord readers of this column will know that LettingFocus’s stance these days is now very much built around consulting with organisations who sell products and services to the private rented sector. Basically we tell them how to do it better! Our two biggest client groups are banks / financial institutions who sell mortgage loans to landlords (commonly known as “buy […]

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New Local Housing Allowance Rates How the New LHA Rates Have Huge Implications for House Prices and Rents Everywhere

Even landlords who don’t let to benefit dependent tenants and tenants who don’t get state aid to pay their rent will be affected by the capping of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. As a result of the changes to LHA rates, there could be some potentially big changes to local house prices and rents. Lots of Heat The whole issue […]

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Social Lettings Agencies Homelessness Prevention and Role of the Private Rented Sector

As the Conservative Lib Dem coalition starts to wield the knife on what they see as wasted activity in some parts of the public sector we start to wonder how their cuts will eventually affect housing. One area that we at LettingFocus.com provide advisory help on for local cheap sildenafil tablets authorities and housing associations is in the setting up […]

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PRS Access Schemes, Build to Let and the Rugg Review. LettingFocus Surveys the Wreckage

Reading the housing section of the Labour party manifesto, one can see that the PR campaign that the British Property Federation (BPF) and their members waged on Labour Grandees has paid off in terms of Labour support for “Build to Let,” which for the uninitiated, is where the Government tries to open up the private rented sector (PRS) to big […]

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