Rent a room scheme allows individuals to earn up to £7,500 a year tax free from renting out a spare room in their main or only residence. The relief was first introduced in 1992 with the intention of incentivising people to take in lodgers rather than rent out whole properties. Shared occupancy test Following on …
Read more >A consultation regarding changes to the landlord registration scheme was announced last month by the Scottish Government. Landlord registration became compulsory in 2004 with the aim to improve standards in the private rented sector in Scotland. Kevin Stewart, Housing Minister for Scotland, explained that the current system needs to be more vigorous to ensure landlords …
Read more >Labour recently announced 50 pledges surrounding animal welfare, which include tenants being able to keep their pets in rental homes regardless of the landlord’s opinion. Would Scotland follow suit? Labour promised tenants that it would do more to ensure that they would not have to give up their pets when they move rental homes. Labour …
Read more >That’s how a single mum, Rosie Keogh, felt when a letting agency rejected her application because she was on state benefit. Rosie had been living in the same property for 11 years and paying her rent in full each month, before she applied for a property in Kings Heath in Birmingham. As a housing benefit …
Read more >Amendments to a 30 year old Scottish law will see significant changes to the fire and smoke alarm regulations that will benefit everyone, regardless of tenure. The existing standards for fire and smoke alarms in Scotland are already high in the private rented sector and now they are going to be extended to all homes …
Read more >The start of 2018 heralds some new changes again for Universal Credit in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, yet in different ways for the separate countries. Universal Credit was introduced by former Conservative Leader, Iain Duncan Smith. He created it with the aim to help make the system simpler by introducing one single payment to …
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