Landlords are rushing to expand their portfolios before the stamp duty surcharge kicks in on 1^st April. Buy-to-let purchases are looking likely to outstrip landlord remortgaging for the first quarter of 2016. This is the opposite of last year’s trend where remortgages outstripped purchases by more than 2 to 1. David Whittacker, managing director of Mortgages for ...

More than 6,000 deposit disputes were filed with the three approved Deposit Schemes last year and then withdrawn. This figure included situations where tenants had raised a dispute but the Deposit Scheme had been unable to contact them for further information, as well as cases where the parties had reached agreement before going to arbitration. Other reasons were where the ...

Rents in 2015 rose at their fastest pace in four years increasing by 3.4% - the fastest since 2011 when the rate was at 4%. With inflation at 0% and wages rising at just 2%, renting is now more expensive than ever in real terms. A shortage of housing in London and the South East is one factor driving up the cost of renting as is house building currently running at half the ...