At our January meeting, Jonathan McDermott of TPX told us of the updates to permitted development which would, in the example I gave then, allow a property owner to add 2 storeys in the middle of a block however daft and incongruous it may look. My example was the block in Arundel Street, Portsmouth which had one 'mid-terrace' shop/office available which would have met the criteria. That one has not come to planning yet but just across the road, the site of the old U Need Us shop is to get the same treatment, with a conversion to residential and 2 stories added – we will watch with interest to...

After last months article about the University of Portsmouth request that we reduce student rents (see it here), there have been further exchanges between the 2 sides. 

When buying white goods for your properties, do you struggle choosing between A** and A***? Well, as of 1st March 2021 it all changes and under new rules, nothing will be good enough to get an A! 

That was the question asked by long term member, Mary Mortimer, this month. How would you answer it?  

  It is a widely held view that private landlords are responsible for most evictions, yet official statistics indicate this is not true. Action in other areas would have a greater impact on homelessness than penalising landlords and making it harder for them to repossess their property when tenants default on their obligations.

Portsmouth City Council have secured £3.1 million to fund solid wall insulation in Portsmouth, Gosport, and other surrounding areas. This funding is part of the Government's Green Home Grant scheme, but offers a direct link to installer. The local scheme (under the LADS umbrella - Local Authority Delivery Scheme) is run in partnership with Agility Eco, who have quality checked and on-boarded installers to support the scheme. Applying for the funding through the PCC scheme should avoid previous issues securing an installer to complete the works (as we have heard many ha...

Unfortunately, we have seen another example this month of a potential tenant duped into parting with a considerable sum by a criminal impersonating a bone fide landlord. This particular example used NLA sourced paperwork and logo's to establish credibility and used the Covid-19 lockdown as an excuse to do everything via social media. Before you ask how people can be so gullible, have a look at some of the detail and see if you would have fallen for it.  

 Attendees at last weeks HMO Governance Board hosted by Portsmouth City Council have been asked to share an open letter with local landlords and agents asking them to reduce student rents as has been done in student halls.Read on for details of their request, our response and some useful statistics collated by the NRLA

The PDPLA are working with a  range of organisations including PCC and Green Tech South to understand inhibitors and help find solutions to the challenge of making existing housing stock carbon neutral.The good news is that there will be a 3 session conference in March to help answer all of your questions and attendance is free to PDPLA members. The precise format and speakers are still being finalised but we recommend you book your place as soon as you can. When Is It / Where Is It?

We have had complaints from members upset that they are being asked to test fire alarms during lockdown – one member who manages 50 properties was worried that he would be a 'super spreader' if he visited all of the houses to test the alarms as requested. When he queried this, it was suggested he phone each of the tenants and ask them to test the alarm while he listened on the phone.Apart from being a bizarre solution, how such a check would ensure that all alarms are working and audible throughout a property is unclear.The good news is that PCC have now published guidance which hopefully allo...