Newham Council Brings in Compulsory Licensing for Private Landlords

The London borough of Newham has announced it is to be the first council to require compulsory licensing of all private landlords from January 1, 2013. 



The licensing scheme will cover an estimated 35,000 private tenancies, representing one in three of all the borough’s households. Newham Council says it made the decision after consulting extensively with residents, private sector tenants, landlords and lettings agencies: 74% of residents and 76% of private tenants supported the scheme. Interestingly there is no mention of the percentage support from Landlords and lettings agents.


The scheme requires private landlords to pay £150 for a five-year licence if they register before 31^st December 2012; otherwise the full fee is £500. Landlords who fail to get a licence face fines of up to £20,000. 



The move by Newham council is unlikely to be welcomed by law abiding private landlords who will know doubt view this as unnecessary cost, as for other local authorities they’ll be keeping their beady eye on this as a useful way to generate revenue in these challenging economic times.

MORE LANDLORDS CHOOSE LIVING PROPERTY WAVENEY AS THEIR LETTING AGENT!

*MORE LANDLORDS CHOOSE LIVING PROPERTY WAVENEY AS THEIR LETTING AGENT! We are delighted to share the attached graph which compares Zoopla network agent’s new rental listing performance; this clearly shows that Living Property considerably outperformed the competitors listed….

We would welcome the opportunity in meeting any new landlords or if you know someone that is thinking of entering into the buy-to-let market we are always happy to offer property investment advice free of charge

*reporting period 40 days ending 11^th June 2012

CARRP European Directive delivers some welcome news for the UK Buy-to-Let market

The European directive on credit agreements relating to residential property (CARRP) has had its final amendments voted through. The UK government will be allowed to exempt buy-to-let mortgages from the directive, lifting the threat that all buy-to-let lending would have to be assessed without taking rental income into account.

It had been proposed that buy-to-let lenders would have to assess mortgage applications in exactly the same way as residential mortgages. This would have a highly damaging effect on the UK’s buy-to-let market which has played a highly useful part in shoring up the housing market.

None of the changes are quite a done deal, as the legislation still has some way to go, but pundits took encouragement from yesterday’s decisions. The UK government will actively have to enforce the buy-to-let exemption, and can only do so if they are convinced there is no detriment to consumers. The Government will now come under renewed pressure to make the exemption.


Further information can be found here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/about/what/international/mortgages