Our first week into March and there is no shortage of housing news.
New landlord grant for EV chargers
Landlords can apply for a new government grant of up to £500 towards the installation of an Electric Vehicle (EV) charger. This equates roughly to half the cost, and the grant is available until March 2027.
Ben Beadle from the NRLA says nine out of ten landlords would install an EV charger if asked by the tenant.
You an apply on the OZEV portal until the end of March and from the 1st April direct on the governments website via Find a Grant service
Disabled Facilities Grant needs more exposure
The disabled facilities grant is not a well known or published grant. It is available from councils to help pay for adaptations in a home where a person is disabled. Landlords can apply for this grant if they have a disabled tenant living in their property and it needs adapting. Funding is up to £30,000.00 in England and £36,000 in Wales.
Propertymark is calling on the government to bring this payment in line with Wales and also to streamline it more for private sector landlords and raise more awareness of the funding.
Tim Thomas of Propertymark said
Given the changing demographics, with more persons with a disability and older people accessing the PRS, grant funding must support more landlords to improve accessibility.
They are asking the government to have a ‘collaboration between local authorities and private landlords through an accessible housing database’, and alongside this raise awareness and widen the access of getting the grant funding.
The government has stated that the Renters’ Rights Act will give tenants more confidence to ask for adaptations without threats of eviction.
Sharp rise in letting agent complaints
There has been an increase of 47% in complaints of letting agents to Property Redress, according to their annual report. 4,220 complaint enquiries were lodged in 2025 compared to 2,863 in 2024. Furthermore, by the end of last year accepted cases were up by 41% from the year before.
Complaints were mainly on poor management service, maintenance and the providing of relevant documentation.
Sean Hooker, Head of Redress said that communication is key and agents need to be ‘transparent, proactive and responsive in the very early stages’ in order to resolve issues quickly.
Property Redress has a membership of around 19,051 members and it expelled 85 firms for non compliance. The average time for claims to be fully processed has come down from 39 days to 34 days. In 2025, 53% of cases were resolved early.
Beware of AI images impacting claims
AI is now being used to edit photos adding ‘damage’ where there otherwise isn’t any. A new study by SAS data firm claims that images sent by tenants can be fabricated in seconds using AI. Landlords who rely on photos rather than in person visits can be forced to make an insurance claim and inadvertently deceive insurers.
SAS claim that 40% of people cannot tell that an image has been altered. They advise landlords should scrutinise photos and look for ‘subtle inconsistencies and damage that does not match the impact’.
Snippets
Landlords could face £3,000 eviction bills under Section 8 possession claims
Councils’ temporary housing costs to more than double by 2029-30, says LGA
When your agent appoints a contractor, who is actually responsible?
Landlords face massive bills to meet Miliband’s EPC targets
Landlords can expect £3,000 bill to evict problem tenants
See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law
Newsround will be back again next week
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