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Maya Wilson Autzen Senior Money Writer |
Leah is a landlord – or, at least, she was. After more than 30 years renting out a portfolio of 100 properties, she is selling up as quickly as she can. She is down to her last 20. “Every landlord I know is unhappy,” she says.
Why? Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act, the most seismic change to the buy-to-let industry in a generation, comes into force today.
It introduces 15 new penalties for landlords and gives councils greater powers of enforcement, with fines of up to £40,000. Offences that now attract a penalty include attempting to let a property for a fixed term or accepting rent above the advertised rate. Landlords can no longer use “no-fault” Section 21 evictions or refuse a tenant with a pet.
Michael Grant, another landlord who’s selling up, says the system feels designed to trip landlords up. “It strikes me as very one-sided,” he says, adding that tenants can “get away” with not paying rent but if he makes “one simple error”, he will be punished.
The Renters’ Rights Act is just the latest affront in a decade-long crackdown on landlords.
In 2015, George Osborne, the then chancellor, introduced a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-lets and reduced mortgage interest tax relief.
Rachel Reeves, the current chancellor, increased that surcharge to 5 per cent. Labour also expanded Making Tax Digital last month and will increase tax on property income by 2p in the pound next year. By 2030, all private rented properties must have an energy performance certificate rating of C.
It is little surprise that landlords have run for the door. Before the pandemic, around 9 per cent of property sellers were landlords. By the start of this year, that had climbed to 15 per cent. For many landlords, this is the end of the road.
Read the full story here ➤
What the new law means for renters and landlords ➤
It is still possible to make money. Buy-to-let Masterclass, The Telegraph’s new five-part newsletter, will give you actionable advice and practical tools to make the most of your bricks and mortar.
Sign up here ➤ |
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Hannah Furness Royal Editor, in Washington DC |
What is it really like on a royal tour? It is a question I get asked often (second only to “what are the Royal family really like?”), and today I will happily provide an answer.
This US state visit has been a tour for the ages. It has had all the classic elements: buses, lanyards, protocol, headlines, briefings, more buses and a giggling Queen.
It has also had one Donald Trump. The unpredictable US president has delivered news at all turns, starting with a speech declaring that his late mother had “a crush” on the King when he was younger and ending by lifting tariffs on Scottish whiskey with a flourish.
This week has taken us to Washington, New York and Virginia, via a black-tie White House dinner and a mayor calling for the Koh-i-Noor diamond to be “returned” out of the blue. There have been beehives, Botox, but no ballroom. Tea towels, chickens, golf carts, a submarine bell named for Trump and a lamb named for the King – this tour has had it all.
Do let me take you behind the scenes. It is a privilege, a front-row seat to history and sometimes quite silly. Welcome to a royal tour like no other.
This article is available to subscribers only.
Continue reading ➤ |
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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Only an end to wishful thinking in the Oval Office will avert a downturn in Europe, the UK and Japan Continue reading ➤
Sherelle Jacobs Labour faces an extinction level event in the heart of industrial England Continue reading ➤
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon Make no mistake, Vladimir Putin is now afraid Continue reading ➤ |
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The bus went off the road into the River Seine, taking a car into the water with it |
Sir Keir Starmer meets members of the Jewish community away from the crowd of protesters |
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For two centuries, only war and the 1970s Labour government have slowed Britain’s growing population, writes Ben Butcher, our Data Editor. Now, this upwards trend is about to come to a screeching halt. With deaths poised to outstrip births and working-age taxpayers dwindling, Whitehall spreadsheets are flashing red, threatening the very functioning of the state as we know it. Continue reading ➤ |
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Father Michael Mary on his way to Mass at the Golgotha Monastery on the Orkney island of Papa Stronsay |
On a windswept Orkney outcrop, a vanished monk has cast a spotlight on one of Britain’s most secretive religious orders. Papa Stronsay’s exiled monastery – already dogged by allegations of rogue exorcisms – now faces scrutiny after 24-year-old Brother Ignatius disappeared into the North Sea. Is this a tragic drowning, or a window into a cloistered world long accused of spiritual extremism? Continue reading ➤ |
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Lebby Eyres with her son, Vincent, who will be taking his maths A-level mocks this year |
It’s exam season, which means stress levels increasing in households across the country. Lebby Eyres admits she was a pushy 11+ parent, but has been more hands off with GCSEs. Now, her son Vincent is sitting his first A-level, she’s turned to experts for advice on how to help him secure his grades without turning into a nag (or bribing him with hard cash). Continue reading ➤ |
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Since 2011, Robbie Collin has been our Chief Film Critic, casting an expert eye over thousands of releases. Now, he has finally been given the chance to let you know what he thinks are the greatest 50 films of all time. We will release them in three parts: entries 50-31 are now live, with 30-11 following on Saturday and the top 10 on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, Robbie has delivered a list that is eclectic, exciting, and sometimes surprising. This first selection includes Marilyn Monroe’s finest hour, the moment Jude Law predicted the 2020s and possibly the best movie car ever. Continue reading ➤ |
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Portmeirion’s baroque flourishes make it a ringer for Portofino |
Britain is set for a staycation boom this summer, as the fallout from the Iran war squeezes jet fuel supplies. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and air fares are soaring as Europe braces for a major kerosene shortage. While holidays at home may lack the glamour of overseas travel, these domestic doubles are fine substitutes for some of our favourite foreign destinations. Continue reading ➤ Here is another helpful article for you this morning:
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Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway return as Miranda Priestly and Andy Sachs |
Film The Devil Wears Prada 2 ★★★★☆ Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly is back, still in charge of Runway magazine and remaining in possession of a pursed lip that can crush an intern at 30 paces. David Frankel’s glossy and sophisticated sequel to his 2006 workplace comedy – which reunites Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci – may be no more than a millennial nostalgia fest. However, with a script this deft, and performances so perfectly pitched, it’s impossible to resist.
Read Robbie Collin’s full review ➤ Book Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe ★★★★☆ Katja Hoyer’s superb new book is a history of life in the town of Weimar from 1914 to 1939, and – through the eyes of its people – a chronicle of the tragedy that befell the entire country of Germany in those years. It conveys a clear and chilling sense of how a nation keeping its collective head down allowed the wickedness of Nazism to prevail.
Read Simon Heffer’s full review ➤ Exhibition Zurbarán ★★★☆☆ Brimming with paintings of saints, the Virgin Mary and Christ on the cross, this devout, violent exhibition of the art of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) can feel intense. Thank goodness, then, for the room of stunning still lifes in which each element is somehow simultaneously humdrum and mysterious.
Read Alistair Sooke’s full review ➤ |
Spick and spanEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Employing a cleaner has become the “ultimate taboo”, according to William Sitwell – widely perceived as a sign of laziness, profligacy and faintly seigneurial tendencies.
The day after his article appeared, Catherine Harber confessed to a habit – spending £500 a month on help around the house. Now that is subversive. According to her, though, it has accomplished nothing less than saving her marriage.
Telegraph readers, in the mood for some taboo-busting themselves, were able to relate. “Definitely worth the money,” responded Karen Nielsen. “When I was a new mum with a career, I hired a cleaner for a Friday clean-up, and to do the ironing. Starting the weekend with a clean house, where all I had to do was fill the fridge, was a huge weight off the family.”
Keith Gubbin agreed: “The secret to a happy marriage is having a competent nanny and trustworthy cleaner.” He also contended that “life is also too short for cleaning cars and plucking pheasants.”
Kirsty Blunt told how, “in the days when I was working and bringing up my children, housework was the lowest priority. I was fortunate to find the most wonderful home help, who kept our house clean – and me sane.”
Then a problem arose: “Maureen retired, and I knew that I would never find a satisfactory human replacement. So I invested in a robovac: the Maureenbot has proved worth every penny, vacuuming as well as mopping at the swipe of an app. My husband was so envious that he is now assisted by Percy the robomower.”
Sally Goulden described a different way to cope with losing your household help: “When my grandparents married in the 1920s, my grandmother’s parents – who thought the marriage ‘beneath her’ – insisted that they hire a kitchen maid. They then had to let her go, due to lack of funds. After this, they cooked each meal themselves, and would call from the dining room, into the empty kitchen: ‘Thank you, Mary!’” Has a cleaner helped keep your marriage together? Send your responses here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
Brian May and Jeremy Hunt, the MP for Elstead, May’s constituency |
Sir Brian May, the former Queen guitarist, has been denied permission to donate what to his local council?
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was PERMEABLE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
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Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor |
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