Richard Blanco

Cumulative hearts sank when landlords of East London heard that Redbridge was planning to bring in another selective licensing scheme.  Councillors fell foul of new legislation introduced following NLA campaigning in 2015 which meant that schemes covering more than 20% of a boroughs privately rented properties or geography had to seek permission from the Secretary of State.  The Redbridge proposed borough wide scheme failed to gain approval.
Since Newham brought in borough wide additional and selective licensing in January 2013, schemes have spread across London.  Now […]

I spoke to many landlords at the recent Property Investor Show at Excel in London.  Here are what I think are the top ten challenges facing London landlords:
1.  Landlord Sentiment
NLA research has found that landlord confidence has fallen to a level lower than it was during the 2007/8 crash.  19% of landlords say they will sell a property in the next 12 months.  This is because of the tax changes brought in by the Chancellor in his last 3 budget statements. Mortgage Interest relief is […]

Many in the landlord community viewed Ed Milliband’s proposals for the private rented sector with derision and after a short post election honeymoon period we have been digesting surprise tax changes from George Osborne’s Summer budget.  Next the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader, described by party heavyweight Lord Faulkner as “a political earthquake.”  In the run up to the May 2015 election National Landlords Association colleagues and I jousted through a string of media interviews rebutting proposals for increased regulation.  I remember […]

Property can be like a game of snakes and landlords. When you’re new to the business hopefully you will climb a few ladders, but you can be particularly vulnerable to slithering down the occasional snake.  Here are my tops tips for avoiding the pitfalls.
1. Tempted By New Build
NLA research tells us that 80% of smaller landlords with between one and four properties have new builds.  These shiny new properties can be very tempting particularly when they are promoted by skilled marketing teams.  Buyers are often […]

Some good news at last from the government as they announce that local authority powers to introduce selective licensing schemes will be severely curtailed. The purpose of selective licensing was to deal with anti social behaviour or low housing demand as a last resort in targeted areas. But following Newham’s lead, a number have decided to introduce borough wide schemes requiring all privately rented properties to be licensed.  What exactly are the changes that are being proposed?
Firstly any scheme that aims to license […]