Gumtree has announced the launch of its first official app for Android in the UK, meaning that users who use the site for rental properties and homes for sale will have access to some 200,000-plus property listings on their smartphones. 

More landlords are remortgaging compared to 12 months ago, with some being forced by their existing lenders to find their funds elsewhere, although some are also remortgaging in order to expand their portfolios. 

David Cameron has firmly rejected rent controls, saying that imposing what private landlords could charge tenants could wreck the sector. Instead, he has said that the private rented sector needs more competition. 

Private landlords and second-home owners are not the villains of the piece when it comes to empty homes in London. Instead, local councils are to blame. 

A peer battling to get letting agents recognised in law as estate agents has failed in her bid. 

Rents across England and Wales ended last year with falls over the last two months, while tenants’ rental arrears worsened. 

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for the national regulation of private landlords and letting agents. 

A senior figure in the Scottish lettings industry has warned his colleagues in England what they might have to expect if there is blanket licensing, and fees to tenants – for example for referencing and inventories – are banned. 

A crooked agent who stole £210,177 in tenants’ deposits has been jailed for two years. 

More than one third of UK landlords will be raising rents this year, with almost a quarter (24%) planning inflation-busting rent increases of more than 3%. 

ere is a final reminder that the Government’s inquiry into the private rented sector is near the end of its public consultation stage. 

The cheapest tenancy deposit rates in the market yet have been announced by a new scheme being launched by the Deposit Protection Service.