UK Mortgage & Property Related News
Average buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest levels since September 2022, but remain well above 5%.
While falling rates are good news for landlords, those due to remortgage will face higher repayments, and investors might still think twice before expanding their portfolios.
Here, Which? explains what’s happening to BTL rates and reveals the cheapest deals currently on the market.
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Rightmove has thrown its weight behind the new Labour government’s bid to help first time buyers – and it wants it to go further.
In a statement over the weekend the portal said it welcomes proposals to help first-time buyers, including Labour’s initiative to give local first-time buyers the first chance to buy homes on developments. Its housebuilding targets and planning reforms should also positively impact those buying for the first time.
Rightmove cautions that its analysis suggests some limitations with a mortgage guarantee scheme, and it is only likely to be able to support a small number of first-time buyers. However, it says making it permanent would also at least give first-time buyers the confidence that it is an option for them.
A new first-time buyer study by the portal reveals that only 37% of homes for sale will be eligible for first-time buyer stamp duty relief in England when the existing thresholds revert from April 2025.
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Landlords purchased just 10% of homes sold across Britain during the first half of this year – the lowest share for at least 15 years.
The figure comes from Hamptons which says the new low is a sharp contrast with the 16% recorded in 2015 – before tax and regulatory changes reduced the appeal of investment in buy to let.
More recently, high mortgage rates combined with political uncertainty and the threat of new rental regulations have weighed on the appetite for new investors to enter the market. The share of investor purchases has been gradually falling further over the course of 2024 so far, reaching a low of 9.7% in June.
Assuming current trends continue into the second half of the year, in number terms, there are likely to be 113,630 new buy to let purchases across Britain in 2024, 75,900 or 40% fewer than in 2015.
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A landlord who sub-let an unlicensed HMO, failed to pay thousands of pounds in rent to the owner and illegally evicted a tenant has been handed a £4,872 rent repayment order.
The tenant – a nurse at a nearby hospital – moved in during December 2020, paying £550 per month and a deposit of £580, a First Tier Property Tribunal heard.
He shared the four-bedroom house in Croydon Road, Wallington (main image), with five other men, and said landlord Samuel Babajide Saibu did not live there.
The tenant was given two weeks’ notice in December 2022 but refused to leave as he needed more time to find somewhere else and paid the rent in January 2023. Saibu changed the locks, meaning that the tenant had difficulty recovering his possessions, and didn’t repay the deposit or the last month’s rent.
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New research reveals three in 10 Brits aged 18-34 can afford to buy a home but choose to rent, with renting a big topic of focus for the Labour party following their landslide victory, which includes plans to protect tenants more and new energy efficient targets.The research, conducted by popular rental brand UNCLE, has delved into British renters’ stance on renting vs homeownership. Being financially stable enough to get a foot on the property ladder is a huge factor when it comes to buying a home. However, UNCLE’s research found…
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The Renters (Reform) Bill is one of the most significant pieces of legislation for private renters and landlords in the past 30 years. First introduced to parliament on 17 May 2023, the Bill went through the House of Commons for the final time at the end of April 2024.
The Bill is now in the House of Lords and will face another five stages before it will enter Royal Assent and become law.
The Renters (Reform) bill has generated diverse responses from MPs, tenants, landlords, and letting agents. The main headline in the media has been the proposed abolition of Section 21 (so-called “no-fault” evictions).
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The government has released more information on its new Renters Rights Bill, which is expected to be launched into Parliament in the autumn.
Only brief reference to the Bill was made in this week’s King’s Speech, when the Sovereign said: “Legislation will be introduced to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes, including ending no fault evictions and reforming grounds for possession.”
But the government has now released background notes on this measure, and all others announced in the speech.
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