Martin Thomas
Martin Thomas's Latest Posts
Government consultation on council tax valuation of HMOs ends TONIGHT!!
This consultation seeks views on the way that Homes in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in England are valued for council tax, and on proposed changes to that process to ensure that HMOs are banded as one property and have one council tax band, other than in exceptional circumstances. The proposal to banded as one property is […]
Anti Social Behaviour – the government listens!
Following representations by many landlords and landlord groups including ALLWESSEX, the government has listened to our comments relating to the problems associated with tenants that behave in an anti social manner. There is now an action plan to tackle this problem – let’s hope it works! Follow the link; Action plan to crack down on […]
New Fire Safety Regulations
In the fallout from the Grenfell Tower disaster, new fire regulations have been published by the government that affect even smaller landlords with ordinary dwellings including HMOs. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will mainly affect landlords, building owners and managers, collectively known as “responsible persons”. The changes set out in the regulations are a […]
Revised “How to Rent Guide” published by the government
A revised “How to Rent Guide” has been issued by the government. Landlords MUST issue this at the start of any new tenancy or if it is renewed. We issue it when we protect the deposit. It forms part of the prescribed information landlords must issue, and if they do not, they will lose the […]
S24 Petition to government. See link below. Let’s see if we can get the numbers up to 100,000 to force a parliamentary debate!
Petitions (parliament.uk)https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/627785
Calling landlords in Bath! Huge parking restrictions in several areas!
If you are a landlord in Oldfield Park, Lower Weston and the Chelsea Road area, you need to know that BANES is embarking on a programme of Residents’ Parking Zones that will cause huge difficulties and extra cost for you and your tenants, 7 days per week! There are 7 consultations at the moment and […]
MTD (making tax digital) WILL be delayed until 2026! Phew!
HMRC has now confirmed that the introduction date for MTD will be 1 April (funny that!) 2026 but don’t hold your breath. Landlords with a turnover greater than £50,000 will have to join the scheme and from 1 April 2027, that threshold comes down to £30,000. The postponement is apparently due to government IT problems […]
Bristol City Council desperately looking for properties in the PRS!
Kathryn Hunter from the Bristol City Renting Team made a very good presentation at our last meeting on 1 December appealing for landlords to come forward with properties. The link below provides further details but the Council is prepared to be very helpful to landlords in an effort to reduce its temporary housing costs. So, […]
Commons Select Committee Hearing into the Government’s White Paper proposals
Click on the link below to see the evidence submitted to the Commons Select Committee by the NRLA, Generation Rent and Shelter as well as representatives of local authorities. The message I got from the local authorities is they want a system that is self funding – in other words, landlords have to pay the […]
Rent freeze in Scotland – King Charles gets involved.
King Charles III has been allowed to become involved in the rent freeze in Scotland. See the article from The Guardian attached. https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/04/king-charles-allowed-to-vet-proposed-scottish-rent-freeze-law Photo of Nicola Sturgeon courtesy of zimbio.com
