Suppliers themselves are admitting that there has been mis-selling by agents of tenancy deposit replacement products. One provider has revealed that it has dropped agents for mis-selling its product or pressurising tenants. It also asked for agents to be ‘grassed up’ where there are suspicions of mis-selling. Another supplier has claimed that there is a mis-selling of some insurance-based products, …
Three lettings agencies have been expelled from TPO – in each case the agency failed to honour a payment as instructed by The Property Ombudsman. One is Let365co Ltd trading as 365 Residential; it owes a landlord £1,895 of a £3,800 award made by the Ombudsman. In this case, a landlord made a complaint in relation to shortcomings in service …
The National Landlords Association has hit out at both the Labour and Conservative manifestos. CEO Richard Lambert said that a Labour government would drive landlords from the market, while a new Tory administration would be on a “hell-bent” path to punishing law-abiding landlords. Labour wants to introduce an annual ‘MOT’ for landlords, rent controls linked to inflation, and a regulatory …
Labour has given shocking new details of its proposals for the private rental sector including £100.000 fines if properties are deemed substandard. The party says it will introduce a national ‘property MOT’. This would introduce a legal requirement for landlords to complete an independent annual inspection to ensure homes are up to scratch, with fines up to £100,000 and forced …
Boris Johnson has revealed several major shifts in government policy for the private rented sector and, as predicted, has put evictions at the centre of the General Election housing debate. In an article published by The Sun newspaper early this morning, Johnson has confirmed that the government will proceed with banning Section 21. “At the moment, renting a property can …
The Government has confirmed that it has no plans to introduce a national register of private landlords. It has not even undertaken an assessment of the proposal, made in a report back in January when the Chartered Institutes of Housing and of Environmental Health jointly called for a register. The two organisations said that such a register would make it …
ARLA has slammed Labour’s intention to introduce rent controls if it gets into power at the next general election. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said in a speech which also promised 32-hour working weeks, that Labour would “cap rents and build a million genuinely affordable new homes so young people in particular aren’t pouring away thousands of pounds from their wages …
The Property Ombudsman has warned agents that complaints about deposit replacement schemes could start coming in during the next six to nine months. Property ombudsman Katrine Sporle said TPO’s consumer forum is frequently being asked to look at deposit replacement schemes. Speaking at yesterday’s TPO conference, she said: “There are the start of murmurings that will get into a crescendo …
Prime minister Theresa May said that a consultation into repealing Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act will be published “shortly with a view to introducing legislation later this year”.
She suggested that a timescale of six months is possible.
The timescale suggests that the ban could be in place as early as next spring.