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The recent case of a Reading landlord who was fined £12,000 for failing to maintain a rental property, is just one example of growing problem of dangerous properties that are putting tenants at risk, according to the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC).

Ravinder Singh Takhar, 57, was recently prosecuted under the Housing Act and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act for failing to comply with regulations in respect of managing HMOs and one of failing to provide information in respect of a property.  Takhar, a millionaire, owned and let a house which had been converted into four flats. The  fire extinguisher had not been tested since November 2006, the rear garden had become overgrown with several discarded household items in it and a gap in metal railing at the front of the house was wide enough for a small child to fall through and down to the basement flat. 

A quarter of a million private tenants a year are taking matters into their own hands and withholding rent from their landlords because of delays resolving emergencies like heating and electrical faults, new research reveals.

Figures from HomeServe, the home emergency specialists, show that one in three private tenants (34%) has faced a home emergency in the past 12 months, with boiler faults and other central heating problems the most common. 

Landlords who do a good job should have enhanced tax allowances, the Chancellor has been told.

The Chartered Institute of Housing is calling for better tax breaks for private landlords who keep their properties well maintained and managed. 

The capital is more than 209% more expensive for renters than the rest of the country, according to new figures from Move With Us.

After levelling out in September, average advertised rents in London grew by over £32 in October.  

A Derbyshire landlord has been handed a suspended prison sentence for failing to maintain a faulty gas boiler that caused the death of a tenant from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Dr Victoria Martindale, 39, was sentenced at Derby Crown Court for breaches of gas safety laws after she failed to arrange gas safety checks to be carried out at the property in Stanley Common, near Ilkeston, over a four-year period. 

The lack of affordable housing is adding to the country's cost of living crisis with private rents in England forecast to rise another 44% by 2020.

And research carried out on behalf of the National Housing Federation shows that more and more parents are helping their children to pay their rent. 

The average buy-to-let investor in England and Wales earned a total return of £12,129 in the year to September, and that figure could double over the next 12 months.

According to the latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services, the average BTL investor enjoyed a total annual return of 7.4% in September, up sharply from 6.1% in August. 

A London local authority will pay up to half a million pounds to families it housed in bed and breakfasts for more than six weeks following an official inquiry.

A report by the Local Government Ombudsman published today found the local authority’s actions were unjust after it housed homeless families in B&Bs beyond six-weeks. 

A credit reference company has warned that much more needs to be done to combat tenancy fraud as new figures reveal that the number of detected cases of the crime increased by 70% in 2012.

Using data obtained from councils under the Freedom of Information Act, Callcredit Information Group's (CIG) research builds on a report it published last year that showed 90% of all tenancy frauds went undetected in 2011. 

Housing charity Shelter Scotland has launched a campaign to get the UK government's controversial bedroom tax abolished.

The charity's 'Banish the Bedroom Tax Monster' campaign calls on Scotland’s politicians in Westminster, Holyrood and in local authorities to do more to support households affected by the under-occupancy policy.