A new report suggests that local authorities are still failing to tackle criminal landlords, despite having extensive powers to do so. Coming at a time when many councils have implemented additional/selective licensing schemes for landlords, this does seem to cast some doubt on the value of these schemes, and poses some interesting questions in the context of upcoming rental reform.

Buy-to-Let (BTL) mortgages are an essential part of the UK's Private Rental Sector (PRS) and provision of rental homes across the country. As demand for PRS lets remains high, investors in the market are well-placed to take advantage of the widest range of BTL mortgage products in almost 15 years.

As the UK government's coronavirus vaccination process continues to impress, the wider effects of the pandemic remain. Among those adverse effects is a drop in household incomes which is limiting many renters plans to exit the lettings market and buy their own home.

Halifax’s house price index has found that the average house price now stands at £249, 870, a 7.3% rise on last year, and the strongest growth since June 2016. Across the last three months, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender approved more mortgage applications from both first time buyers and homemovers than anytime since 2008. 

Published on 13 October, the third and final part of the government’s Household Resilience Study explores how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected people’s housing circumstances in England. While there are no shock revelations, the research does shed further light on ‘hidden’ issues like the ongoing arrears problem in the private rented sector.