UK Finance reports 58,051 new buy-to-let loans worth £10.7 billion in Q2 2026, up 21 percent by number on a year earlier, with remortgages leading and arrears down 26 percent.
Spencer West partner Lisa Wilson has urged the Chancellor to cut stamp duty on additional properties in the 28 October Budget to clear a backlog of unsold ex-rental homes left empty after the pre-deadline Section 21 sell-off.
Winkworth says landlords now seek a sale valuation at every void as the Renters Rights Act bars sale evictions in year one; three tenants register per buyer in prime London.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed rogue Hounslow landlord Nirpaul Riat has been stripped of his OBE after a £300,000 court penalty for letting illegally converted homes, closing a three-year council campaign for forfeiture.
Chancellor John Healey will leave Capital Gains Tax rates unchanged in the 28 October Budget, sparing higher-rate landlords an extra £11,911 and additional-rate landlords an extra £15,633 on a typical £74,442 ten-year gain calculated by The Letting Partnership.
Rushbrook research published on 20 October counts 1,322 investment portfolios listed for sale across England at a combined £1.398 billion, with London alone accounting for £450.9 million ahead of the 28 October Budget.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service confirms Hastings agency boss Gareth Reed was fined £24,525 after ignoring inspectors over a May 2025 blaze that trapped three residents.
BBC Panorama’s Big Housing Rip-Off exposes ghost tenants and neglect in Birmingham supported housing, with £410m of housing benefit paid out and licensing reform now looming for landlords.
August finds only 23% of landlords know about the mandatory PRS database and ombudsman, with rollout from December and a £65 per-property fee putting unaware owners at risk.
Citizens Advice finds 58% of private renters on housing support face a rent shortfall, up by almost 300,000 since May 2024, and urges ministers to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance in the Autumn Budget.
Fleet Mortgages has launched one-year buy-to-let fixes from 3.49 percent and cut two-year HMO rates by 30 basis points, while Molo has reduced specialist two-year fixes to 3.66 percent.
The Letting Partnership finds 35 percent of letting agents faced attempted fraud in the last year, with AI-generated scams now ranked the biggest financial threat ahead of tenant and payment fraud.
