18/08/2009 by bill.

As a direct consequence of the recession, many home owners and landlords in the UK find themselves in the precarious position whereby they cannot afford to sell their property at current market prices whilst it is also clear that tenants are in a much better position to haggle when it comes to rental costs.

It is essential that any buy to let investor understands the laws relating to landlord and tenant rights

More…

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05/05/2009 by bill.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of consumers’ money is lost each year to unprotected, unprofessional and unethical letting agents.

In a survey by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA), 95% of consumers revealed that they believe letting agents should be licensed and it is a shock for many to learn that there is currently no scheme in place at all.

A growing number of tenants and landlords are losing out to cowboy agents in the following ways:

• Loss of funds through a lack of client money protection • No professional indemnity insurance in place to protect a consumer from a serious error;

• Loss of monies due to the unlicensed agency holding the funds going into administration;

• Poor advice to landlords, for example about their legally-required deposit protection responsibilities, which can result in loss of the deposit for tenants and/or a fine for landlords;

• No commitment to best practice or any form of independent redress scheme for when things go wrong.

To prevent the practices listed above, and offer assurance to consumers, ARLA is today launching a Licensing Scheme for its members, thereby establishing the highest standards for letting agents in the UK.

As of today, all ARLA members will need to be licensed as part of their membership, which includes the following implications:

• Each individual member will hold a gold standard professional qualification relating to lettings;

• All members must undertake Continuing Professional Development

• Agents must ensure they have client money protection schemes in place to protect all tenant and landlord funds held by their office;

• All clients funds require to have an annual independent audit

• Agents must have professional indemnity insurance in place;

• Agents must sign up to an independent redress scheme;

• Agents must abide by a strict code of practice.

None of the above is compulsory for letting agents as standard at the moment.

ARLA’s sister organisation, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) will follow suit with the launch of its own licensing scheme later this year.

ARLA website

Click here for information for landlords and buy to let investors.

Click here for information about renting a home in the UK

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13/02/2009 by bill.

PropertyIndex.com is the UK’s fastest growing property website with thousands of UK estate agency branches signing up to advertise every day.

The website now features a rapidly increasing choice of properties for sale and rent from UK estate agents right across the country, as well as thousands of overseas properties for sale and rent across more than 4,000 destinations worldwide.

The UK residential sales and lettings search was unveiled on PropertyIndex.com in September 2008 following the site’s overwhelming success in the overseas market since the portal launched in September 2007.

Check out the moneyjungle.net home buyers guide

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26/09/2008 by bill.

If you are buying or selling or renting out a home you will by law need a Energy Performance Certificate. From 1st October 2008 EPCs will be required whenever a building is built, sold or rented out. The certificate provides A to G ratings for the building, with A being the most energy efficient and G being the least, with the average up to now being D.

For more information about buying or renting a home, see moneyjungle.net.

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18/06/2008 by bill.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are required as part of the Home Information Pack (HIP) for any home that is put up for sale.

Landlords will be required to obtain an EPC for any property that is rented out after 1st October 2008. The EPC will provide the tenant with information on the energy efficiency of their property provideing ‘A’ to ‘G’ ratings for the building, with ‘A’ being the most energy efficient and ‘G’ being the least, with the average to date being ‘D’.

Accredited energy assessors produce EPCs alongside an associated report which suggests improvements to make a building more energy efficient.

An EPC for rented property is valid for 10 years.

For more information on EPCs see the DirectGov website.

Click here for more information for buy to let landlords.

Click here for information about renting a property.

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