Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
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 […]
Read moreKey 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 […]
Read moreSometimes 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 […]
Read moreIn 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 […]
Read moreIf you asked a group of private landlords what they understood about the term “private rented sector initiative” (or PRSI) you would get a blank look from most. And yet, this could be one of the biggest threats that the UK’s private landlords currently faces. In summary, the PRSI is about getting city investors such as pension funds to invest […]
Read moreI hope you are not too bored by our coverage of the Housing Benefit story. If you are an organisation or public body and are providing / selling services or products to the private rented sector, you should still be riveted because it has big implications for the whole market. Even if you are a landlord who never lets to […]
Read moreDo you want to know a secret? Well, it’s not actually a secret at all but it’s something that’s been kept a bit quiet up to now. (And true to form the mainstream press has not reported it.) So what’s the story? Well, from October 2011, Housing Benefit / Local Housing Allowance rates will be set at the 30th percentile […]
Read moreThe 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 […]
Read moreEven 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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