News

Renters are most at risk from Britain’s debt mountain – and deposits are “threatening tenancies”

Friday, September 22, 2017

More and more renters are being forced to borrow money just to make ends meet – and one property campaigner believes landlords and letting agents are putting tenancies at risk by continuing to ask for deposits. The Financial Conduct Authority this week revealed that British households have run up a combined £200bn of unsecured consu...

Deposit-free renting: The simple solution to cutting Britain’s £20bn housing benefit bill

Friday, September 15, 2017

The government spends four times as much on housing benefits as it does on building houses – and Britain’s most innovative property boss has a simple idea for how we can get the UK’s £20bn housing benefit bill down. Rent reform campaigner and KIS managing director Ajay Jagota believes the UK’s £3.5bn tenancy d...

Deposit establishment “waving the white flag” says campaigner

Friday, September 8, 2017

A deposit protection service’s “deathbed conversion” to deposit-free renting and another’s decision to urge users to abandon insurance-backed tenancy deposit schemes has been described by one campaigner as “definite and decisive proof that the deposit establishment knows the game is up” DPS managing director Ju...

North East house prices £10,000 up on this time last year as Parliament returns

Friday, September 1, 2017

•    Average home worth £9137 more less at the end of July than at the end of June •    Property values rise 1.1% - after falling in five of the last six months. •    Prices rising fastest in Durham City, Killingworth, Houghton-le-Spring and North Shields, with Peterlee properties r...

The Housing Act at 10: Is it time to scrap “Frankenstein” law?

Saturday, August 26, 2017

The Housing Act has just celebrated its 10th birthday – and one renting campaigner believes the legislation has “outlived its usefulness...assuming it ever had any”. 2007 saw the Housing Act 2004 come into force in England and Wales, requiring every landlord or letting agent requiring a deposit to place it in a tenancy deposit s...

Figures reveal “tidal wave” of deposit complaints

Friday, August 18, 2017

New figures have revealed a sudden spike in the number of renters complaining about their tenancy deposits – with the overall numbers of tenants complaining about their letting agents almost doubling in a year.  Figures released in the annual report of The Property Redress Scheme – one of three government-licensed schemes for ...

“How many more times?” deposit campaigner asks after £200,000 fraud

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

A property campaigner has described the case of a letting agent only convicted of £200,000 of fraud involving deposits following a private prosecution after police decided not to investigate as “stunning and alarming”. A court heard Timothy Shinners of Bolton failed to place deposits in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme “time and t...

Revealed: The North East’s £19m council house repair bill

Friday, July 14, 2017

The 10,000 Tyne and Wear council houses which became vacant last year required £19m of improvements before they were in a fit state to rent again – with only £350,000 of costs recovered from the tenants who caused the damage. Freedom of Information requests from North East renting reform campaigner Ajay Jagota reveal Newcastle...

Questions to answer for “terrified” deposit scheme boss

Thursday, July 6, 2017

•     Property reform campaigner: “This isn’t a White Paper, it’s big business bully tactics”. •    Jagota tells Hooker: “I’ve answered your questions. Now it’s time for you to answer mine”. A leading property campaigner believes the boss of a tenancy deposit...

North East house prices up since Brexit vote

Thursday, July 6, 2017

•    Regional house prices down 0.4% on last month, but higher than they were at the time of the EU referendum •    Average home worth £669 less in June than in May •    Prices rise 2.1% in Cramlington, 2% in Jarrow and 1.6% in Whitley Bay, but fall 2.9% in South Shields and 2.6% in...