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Landlords to Conduct Right to Rent Checks on New Tenants

Landlords to Conduct Right to Rent Checks on New Tenants As part of the Immigration Bill of 2015/2016, from February 2016, landlords must ensure all new tenants have the right to reside in the UK before letting their properties to them. Evidence must be seen, copied and held for 12

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Changes to Section 21 Notices

The section 21 notice is a notice served on tenants requiring possession of your property back and gives no cause or reason as to why (such as for rent arrears or antisocial behaviour which is a section 8). A section 21 can lead to a mandatory order for possession and

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Retaliatory Envictions

“Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned” – Buddha The fact that retaliatory evictions have been legislated on as part of the Deregulation Act (2015) shows that there are some landlords out

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New Regulations for Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

The government has introduced the Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Regulations (2015) to ensure that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are installed at the start of each new tenancy. This took effect as of 1st October 2015. The law applies to all landlords letting a property to a tenant

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Revenge Eviction Bills

There are many unscrupulous agents and landlords out there and regulation to stop shady practices is always a good thing, but sometimes it can go too far and benefit unscrupulous tenants. A new bill is currently going through parliament aimed at preventing landlords evicting tenants who ask for essential repairs

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Good News for London Landlords

There has been good news this month from the Office of National Statistics, average house prices have returned to 2008 levels which is about the time the property crunch happened. Even better news for Londoners, of the 6 regions that are above 2008 levels, London of course leads the way

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Increasing Your Rent

You find a good tenant, receive the rent on time and hear nothing from them for a year until contract renewal which you happily do to as a paying and non-complaining tenant is worth their weight in gold. Do this two or three times in a row and you’re quite

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The Chinese Investor

I have blogged before about foreign investment into London but earlier this month I watched a BBC programme called Inside Out London, The Great Property Race. This programme put a human face to the Buy to Leave investment trend. A staggering £3.5 billion has flowed from China into the London

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Are You a Drug Dealer or a Landlord?

After last month’s blog about landlords being held responsible for immigration checks on their tenants, it would appear the Home Office would also like landlords to be drug enforcement agents! With over a million cannabis farms discovered in the past 2 years, the government has in no uncertain terms made

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Are You a Landlord or a Border Control Agent?

In May this year, Royal Assent was given to the Immigration Act 2014. The government is getting tougher on illegal immigration and part of this legislation uses landlords to do so. From October, if you rent a property or room in your house, you must ensure that the tenants have

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ARLA SUPPORTS DCLG ‘HOW TO RENT’ GUIDE

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) supports the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) ‘How to rent’ guide, launched today. The guide provides a helpful checklist for people who are looking for a house or flat to rent, offering guidance through every step of the lettings process. At

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