Housing
Mortgage rates, changes to tenants’ rights, council tax and the running cost of a home.
Empty shopfronts on the high street: £210m to revive them, and how a small business can win a unit at a rental auction
MHCLG announced a £210m package on 25 September, £10m of it for High Street Rental Auctions — a council's power to force a landlord to let premises empty for over a year. An ordinary cafe or shop can win the lease. The conditions: 12 months vacant, 22-24 weeks of process, a 1-5 year tenancy, and one sealed bid only.
Damp and mould in a rented home: what the landlord must do, and in how many days
In social housing the deadlines are in law: 24 hours for an emergency, 10 working days to investigate damp, 3 days for a written summary, 5 for the safety work. Private renting has no day counts — but it has a free council inspection and the courts. A guide for the heating season.
Your rent is going up: how to challenge it for £47 — and why the tribunal can no longer set it higher than the landlord asked
Since 1 May 2026 rent in England can be raised once a year, by form 4A notice with two months' warning. Challenging it costs £47, and the application must be in before the new rent starts. The key change: the tribunal cannot award more than the landlord proposed, and a revenge eviction under section 21 is no longer possible.
UK rents hit £1,400 a month, £2,332 in London — £79 a month more than a year ago
ONS August data: average private rent across the UK is £1,400 a month, with annual growth up from 3.7% to 3.8%. London is £2,332 and accelerating from 3.0% to 3.5% — about £950 a year extra for the same flat. The fastest rises are not in the south but in the north: 5.8% in the North East and North West.
How to get your tenancy deposit back in the UK: if it was never protected, the court must award you at least its value
A deposit must be placed in one of three government-approved schemes within 30 days, with the prescribed information sent in the same window. Checking takes two minutes and costs nothing. If it was never protected, the county court must award between one and three times the deposit, and you have six years to claim. Since 1 May 2026 an unprotected deposit blocks the possession order itself.
Your mortgage fix is ending: how to lock a rate six months early and avoid the SVR
Bank Rate is 3.75%, but newly drawn mortgages cost 4.45% in July and the whole outstanding stock 3.97%. When a fix ends, the lender moves you onto its standard variable rate by default — almost always the most expensive option available. Under the Mortgage Charter you can reserve a new deal six months ahead and swap it for a better one if that appears before it starts.
Renting in London 2026: what a flat costs and what deposit is legal
What renting in London actually costs, on the latest ONS figures: £2,317 a month in the capital, £1,451 across England, £1,393 UK-wide. By law the deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent and the holding deposit at one, and it must be protected within 30 days. Agreement fees, reference checks and inventories are not yours to pay.
Letting a room? The check is compulsory, and the penalty runs to £20,000
Every new tenant must be checked, and only the landlord can do it. Two things are needed: the tenant’s share code and their date of birth. Checking only the people who “look foreign” is a separate breach of the law.
Assured shorthold tenancies are gone: how renting works now
Since 1 May, England has had neither assured shorthold tenancies nor section 21 evictions. A landlord must now name a ground.