Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
And so the general election is over and all is more or less calm in the world of the private rented sector – for a few years at least. The clear majority for the Conservatives meant there will now be no compulsion for landlords to issue 3 year tenancies. And the green light previously given to local authorities to allow them to require all […]
Read moreDavid 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 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 moreLettingFocus despairs of the approach adopted by one London Council in dealing with its private rented sector. We have just been sent an invitation to tender from a London local authority. In the invitation they identify that they need to do some work to improve their local private rented sector, which now forms a substantial 30% plus of all housing […]
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 moreIf you have read my recent posts and seen me quoted on the net, you will know that I recently published a blog highlighting that some lenders, (including a state owned bank), still have in place restrictions, within their buy to let mortgage terms and conditions, which prohibit private landlords letting to tenants who are on housing benefit (or “DWP” […]
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 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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