Tenants union reveals ‘day of protests’ across London to push for rent freeze

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London Renters Union will picket successful estate agents across the capital next week who it blames for pushing up rents to unaffordable levels.

Protests are planned in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Crystal Palace on 3^rd December by activists who have taken particular aim at Winkworth and Foxtons, which the union claims have “raked in £29 million in letting revenue between July and September this year, marking almost 20% more than during the same quarter in 2021”.

It accuses landlords and specifically estate agents of profiteering from inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, and reports that thousands of its members across London have faced unaffordable rent rises.

Rent freeze

The union has been inspired by the grassroots campaign Living Rent which encouraged the Scottish government to bring in a rent freeze and eviction ban last month, effectively freezing rent until March 2023.  

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also repeated calls for the government to introduce a two-year private sector rent freeze in the capital.  

Lewisham councillor Sophie Davis, cabinet member for housing management and homelessness, told webnsote Eastlondonlines: “Like the rest of London, private renters in Lewisham are currently facing huge increases in rents and the cost of living. Sadiq Khan is right to call for action from the government and we would welcome a rent freeze for private renters.

“We also need the government to finally deliver on its commitment to introduce a Renters Reform Bill with further protections for private renters, including the long-promised ban on no-fault evictions.” 

Winkworth and Foxtons did not respond to requests for comment.

Picture credit/London Renters Union.

View Full Article: Tenants union reveals ‘day of protests’ across London to push for rent freeze

New HMO training

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If you want to maximise the cash flow from your property investing so that you can replace your income faster, we think you might be interested in some new online training created all about MEGA deals, and how to replace your income in just one deal.

View Full Article: New HMO training

NEW: Landlord MP criticised over disclosure failures during Commons debate

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Landlord MP Paul Howell is in hot water after failing to disclose his 17 properties during a Commons debate when he told three female frontbenchers to “shut up”.

The MP for Sedgefield, who has 16 properties across Durham and Darlington as well as an apartment in Spain – according to the MPs’ register of interests – did not declare his investments during the debate on the state of the economy.

Howell accused the Labour party of scaremongering following Liz Truss’s mini-Budget which he said was “wholly inappropriate and…making people who are already worried become terrified”.

While his comments were derided by many Labour MPs, Sarah Owen, Lisa Nandy and Paula Barker were then left stunned when Howell said: “You have chirped and talked – do you want to hear or do you want to shut up?”

He immediately apologised after he saw their shocked reaction.

Extraordinary

A Labour source told The Huffington Post: “It’s pretty extraordinary that Howell thought being a landlord for more than a dozen properties wasn’t relevant to a debate about mortgages.

“Then again, this is someone who thinks concerns about rising rents and higher mortgages are just ‘scaremongering’ – and who goes round telling women to shut up. So maybe it’s not that surprising.”

MPs are told to be open and frank in highlighting their interests in debates and committees or in any communications with ministers, MPs, public officials or public office holders.

Potential breaches are investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, although it is not known whether she has been in contact with Howell.

Watch the debate in full - Howell's comments from 14:09:50 onwards.

View Full Article: NEW: Landlord MP criticised over disclosure failures during Commons debate

Landlord sells whole property portfolio in 5 days and recommends other landlords: sell before Christmas

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The economy is in a state of uncertain flux, and appears to continue to work against landlords.

From interest rates and taxes rising in an almost exponential way, inflation and the cost of living rising higher than ever before, concerns mounting over deteriorating rental profits, EPC, EICR regulations and costly refurbs, to the latest, rather unexpected, “egg shortages” in British stores due to the rising costs of business overheads, it’s clear that the effect the economy is having over both our business and domestic lives isn’t ending any time soon.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that Landlords are looking to property sale companies to get their portfolios sold before Christmas and sail through what is looking like it could be an ever-uncertain economy.

But who do we turn to when we have so many properties to sell before the end of the year and with so many tenants?

For Shauna, a landlord of 30 years, she knew that selling her buy-to-lets in bulk was crucial. The property portfolio she’d built up over the years had become a financial ball and chain and it was obvious she needed to get out while she still could. Like many of us, she quickly realised that traditional Estate Agents and many private portfolio selling services just weren’t working. They either took years to sell, or required her portfolio to be split up into smaller chunks for sale.

All that changed when she reached out to portfolio exit specialists the Landlord Sales Agency.

Unlike other companies, Landlord Sales Agency is run by landlords for landlords, so they know exactly what we need to action the best exit strategy, fast. For many of us this means selling the whole portfolio in bulk, or at least the majority of the portfolio, and shifting our financial “dead weight” whilst getting the highest possible amount in our banks, perhaps holding onto only the last, most lucrative properties.

It’s clear we need to downsize our portfolios to recoup costs and recover, perhaps even thrive despite the issues, but like Shauna many of us don’t want to deal with the painful stress of managing the sale of the portfolio in painstaking ‘three properties at a time’ pieces, chunk by chunk. Selling the whole thing in one go might sound like a strategy reserved only for auctions who take a hefty percentage, but Landlord Sales Agency are specialists for a reason:

• We have a powerful database of over 30,000 private buyers and portfolio buying companies who want to buy whole portfolios straight away before the year ends, and who are alerted every time we have a portfolio to sell

• Because we focus on a quality fast sale, rather than a cheap fast sale, we ensure that our buy-to-let portfolios are sold not just fast, in less than 28 days, for a financially savvy 85% of the value (in some cases even higher) – which makes sense when we handle every single part of the sale for you, including liaising with all tenants, ensuring all certificates and licenses are in place, and allowing you to simply make the call to us then sit back and relax knowing we’re on it to get the whole portfolio sold before Christmas

• There’s no one like us out there, and we’ve built up an unbeatable record for helping landlords which is why we’re the number one go-to company for our partners, including LandlordZONE

Most landlords who contact us are like Shauna, and we’ve got the best team in the business to get the sale done in days rather than months or years. In Shauna’s case, she decided to keep 10 properties and give us 23.

All of them were sold in one go within 5 days of listing.

We don’t have to upsell our service, the results speak for themselves.

So if like Shauna you’re ready to sell before Christmas and enjoy 2023, get in touch today, and let us at Landlord Sales Agency do what we do best.

Contact Landlord Sales Agency:

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View Full Article: Landlord sells whole property portfolio in 5 days and recommends other landlords: sell before Christmas

Potential asbestos risk?

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Hello, I’m selling a flat and the buyers’ survey has come back saying there is a potential risk of asbestos in the airing cupboard where the immersion tank is.

The flats were gutted and redeveloped in the eighties.

View Full Article: Potential asbestos risk?

Landbay reduces rates across all five-year fixes

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The specialist buy-to-let lender Landbay has revealed that it has reduced the rates on all of its five-year fixed rate mortgages by up to 0.30% and added two new products to its variable fee range.

Paul Brett, Landbay’s managing director

View Full Article: Landbay reduces rates across all five-year fixes

Sadiq Khan calls for a national rogue landlord database

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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is calling for a national rogue landlord database – after revealing that half a million tenants in the capital have accessed the Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker and Property Licence Checker.

According to the mayor

View Full Article: Sadiq Khan calls for a national rogue landlord database

Funding help is needed to make homes more energy efficient

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Only cash help to make homes and businesses energy efficient will enable the government to meet a pledge set out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, in his Autumn Statement last week, Propertymark says.

Mr Hunt says he wants to focus on boosting energy efficiencies because this will be crucial to hitting the Net Zero target by 2050.

View Full Article: Funding help is needed to make homes more energy efficient