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Renters Reform Bill: Progress And Concerns

The Renters Reform Bill, which has been covered in previous articles, proposes sweeping reforms to the property rental sector, including banning no-fault evictions. It is considered unusual for a Bill to make such slow progress through Parliament and there are concerns that the Government may be having ‘second thoughts’. Parliament returns from summer recess on […]

Read more August 29th, 2023

Mortgage Rates & House Prices

A recent report by real estate firm Hamptons has found that almost 225,000 property owners could lose money on their rental properties when they come to renew their buy-to-let mortgages, the rates of which are approaching 7%. The report found that 226,930 rental properties (11% of all mortgaged rental properties) will not generate sufficient income […]

Read more August 29th, 2023

Wales: August Property Update

Holiday lets licensing plan is not popular The Welsh Government has published a summary of responses to its consultation on implementing a statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation providers in Wales. Respondents included local authorities, visitor accommodation providers, tourism representative bodies and residents of Wales. Of the 1,595 respondents, 65% opposed the proposals, with […]

Read more August 25th, 2023

Scotland: August Property Update

Potential housing emergency Public sector membership organisation Solace Scotland, in collaboration with the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), have published a report ‘Housing in Scotland: Current Context and Preparing for the Future’ which details their assessment of the social housing emergency in Scotland and the steps needed to address it. The report […]

Read more August 24th, 2023

HMRC Targets Airbnb Hosts

As part of its Let Property campaign, HMRC has been sending ‘nudge’ letters to those who it suspects have not been declaring all of their rental income. Recently it seems that HMRC has taken a tougher approach, and is targeting those in the short-term rental market. It was recently made known that the Airbnb booking […]

Read more August 23rd, 2023

Are Deposit-Free Mortgages A Good Idea?

The main argument in favour of 100% mortgages goes along the following lines: if tenants can pay £2,000 a month in rent, then surely they can afford monthly mortgage repayments of £1,800? This argument fails to consider two other important issues. Firstly, the economic outlook for the property market: In May, Lloyds Bank predicted house […]

Read more August 22nd, 2023

HMRC Annual Report Shows Some Important Trends For Business Owners

HMRC’s annual report was published in July, and it shows that they failed to meet many of their key customer services measures in 2022-23. Customer satisfaction dropped to 79% from 82% last year and telephone performance has also declined with an average wait of 16 minutes to get through to an adviser. 63% of callers […]

Read more August 21st, 2023

Basic Payment Scheme Advanced Payments & Extra Funding For Farmers

The Rural Payments Agency has begun to issue the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) advance payments. In 2022, Defra announced that payments would be made in two instalments each year for the remainder of the agricultural transition period. Around 50% of the overall payment is being made now with the remaining balance expected from December. Payments are […]

Read more August 18th, 2023

Acas Consultation – Flexible Working Requests

Acas is updating its statutory Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working, to reflect the anticipated reforms to legislation, significant shift in flexible working in the workplace and changing views since their existing Code was published in 2014. Their non-statutory guidance will also be updated, which sits alongside the Code. The aim of […]

Read more August 18th, 2023

Electric Car Workplace Charging Scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that provides eligible businesses with support towards the upfront costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle (EV) charge points. All businesses can use it to help provision charge points for their staff or fleets. Charities and small accommodation businesses can further use it to […]

Read more August 17th, 2023

Threads: The New Twitter?

How could the latest social media platform work for businesses? Threads is a new social media channel created by Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook) which was launched in July this year. Threads went live on both the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries and signed up more than 100 million users in […]

Read more August 16th, 2023

5 Steps To A Marathon Mindset

Tackling your role in business like a marathon can help you to focus on the big picture. Effective leadership requires more than just short-term thinking and quick fixes. Similar to running a marathon, successful managers need to cultivate a marathon mindset—an approach that emphasizes endurance, perseverance, and long-term goals. 1. Goal Orientation Managers with a […]

Read more August 16th, 2023

Tripling Of Fines For Hiring Or Renting To Illegal Migrants

Fines are to be more than tripled for employers and landlords who allow illegal migrants to work for them or rent their properties, in the biggest shake-up of civil penalties since 2014, the Home Secretary announced last week. The civil penalty for employers, which was last increased in 2014, will be raised to up to […]

Read more August 15th, 2023

The Electronic Trade Documents Act

The Electronic Trade Documents Act received Royal Assent last week granting electronic trade documents the same legal status as physical trade documents, hopefully making trade more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper for businesses. Existing laws dating back to the 1800s previously meant that exporters and importers have to use paper documents to transfer ownership of the […]

Read more August 14th, 2023

HMRC Raise Interest Rates Again As Base Rate Increases

HMRC interest rates are linked to the Bank of England base rate. Late payment interest is set at the base rate plus 2.5%. Repayment interest is set at the base rate minus 1%, with a lower limit – or ‘minimum floor’ – of 0.5%. The Bank of England increased the base rate from 4.5% to […]

Read more August 10th, 2023