Refreshed 2020 BTL mortgage range – Paragon

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Paragon, the specialist bank and buy-to-let lender, has kicked-off 2020 with a refreshed range of mortgage products for portfolio and non-portfolio landlords.

The changes include lower rates on 14 different products across our range of mortgages up to 80% loan-to-value.

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North East landlords invited to Newcastle landlord forum this month

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Landlords with properties in the North East are being invited to hear an update on the sector at a landlord forum event being held in Newcastle on 23rd January. The forum will take place at Northern Football Club on Great North Road, and registration starts at 5:30pm. The agenda on the night will be: Ian […]

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R2R challenges?

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Rent-to-Rent (R2R) is taught in many property training courses, but what they don’t tell you is that the paperwork is not so straightforward, especially if they are used as HMOs. And yet I get letters every week from companies wanting to “ease this burden”

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Local Housing Allowance and the date of the next Budget

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The charity Crisis is calling for the government to increase Local Housing Allowance levels, ending a four-year freeze introduced in 2016. In data published in Inside Housing today, the charity says that the housing benefit shortfall equates to families having to give up at least a quarter of the national average weekly food shop for […]

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Make your views heard in the RLA’s latest quarterly survey

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The RLA’s latest quarterly survey is still open, and landlords are being urged to make their views heard on issues including adaptability and safet standards. Thousands of landlords have already made their views heard, and this helps us to build a clear picture of landlord sentiment on a range of issues-and to build up a […]

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Funding boost for councils to tackle rogue landlords

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Rogue Landlords:

The government has
confirmed that additional funding is being made available to councils
to tackle the menace of rogue landlords. The Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) says that over £4 million
is the amount to be shared out among 100 councils nationwide, which
equates to just £40,000 per council if the money were to be shared
equally.

However, the
allocation is to be via a bidding process. Councils were invited to
submit bids for the government’s Innovation and Enforcement Grant
Fund” by 1 December 2019. The money is earmarked to be spent by
the end of the current financial year, 31 March 2020.

However, the
Residetial Landlords Association (RLA) argues that the additional
funding is nowhere near enough to root out the problem of criminal
landlords, and although welcome is “not enough to tackle the scale
of the problem.”

RLA policy director
David Smith, says:

“We welcome the
government’s focus on rooting out criminal landlords. For too long
the debate has been driven by ideological calls for more regulation
of the sector. What is needed is better enforcement of the powers
already available to root out the minority who bring the sector into
disrepute. Today’s funding is nowhere near enough.

“Instead of
offering inadequate and sporadic pots of money, it is critical that
the government provides proper, multi-year funding to enable councils
to plan and prepare workable strategies to find the criminal
landlords.

“This should to be
supported by councils having the political will to prioritise
enforcement against the crooks rather than tying good landlords up in
licensing schemes which do nothing to protect tenants.”

According to the
National Landlords Association (NLA), some of the successful project
bids already confirmed include:

• In Northampton
  the council will target the ‘very worst landlords’ through the
  formation of a ‘Special Operations Unit’
• In Greenwich
  new technology will be trialled that will be aimed at identifying
  renters in cold homes and helping ensure they can remain warm over
  winter

• 21 councils
  across Yorkshire and Humberside are to train over 100 enforcement
  officers
• Thurrock –
  ist to work closely with the care services to ensure that that most
  vulnerable tenants can secure decent accommodation.

Director of Policy
and Practice at the National Landlords Association (NLA) Chris
Norris, says:

“We welcome the
news that more funding will be made available for councils in England
to crack down on landlords who break the law and provide inadequate
services to tenants. While an overwhelming majority of landlords
provide an excellent service to their tenants, it is important that
the government makes a stand against criminals operating in the
private rented sector.

“However, this
one-time handout is wholly insufficient in contrast to the long-term
issues facing authorities burdened by ever more legislation of
increasing complexity. The offer of just over £4 million to be
spread across around 100 of the 343 local authorities – an average
of less than £40,000 per council – is simply not enough.

“Good landlords want to see fair enforcement and local authorities need far more substantial and consistent support and funding to be able to enforce properly in the PRS and rid the sector of the criminals operating within it.”

Private Rented Sector Innovation and Enforcement Grant Fund 2019/20

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