Landlords in LA Push for Tenants to Bear Costs of Earthquake Retrofits

Martha Barrios has a gift: she can turn scraps of cloth into haute couture.

She sewed the dresses for all of the dolls that fringe the ceiling of her small one room apartment where she lives alone in the shadow of the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles. She worked as a seamstress when clothing manufacturers adorned the 110 corridor like sequins. When the clothing manufacturing industry unraveled in Los Angeles, Barrios turned to cleaning to pay her bills. She is now 60, and her work has slowed of late - her business has been squeezed by a slew of other younger cleaners willing to work for less. She only gets about two or three full days of work a week. Not one dollar of the money she earns is spent on anything other than basic necessities.

Landlord evicts tenants, then pursues them for two months’ rent for not giving notice

One of Toronto’s biggest landlords has an in-house collections agency that pursues evicted tenants for two months’ rent because they didn’t give “proper notice” when they were kicked out of their apartments, the Star has learned.

MetCap Living Management, which has more than 10,000 rental units in the city concentrated in Parkdale and Scarborough, and Suite Collections operate out of the same Richmond St. E. office. Suite’s president, Brent Merrill, who also sits on MetCap’s corporate board, says everyone must give 60 days’ notice to vacate an apartment, even if they’re being evicted.

Families facing eviction from New Era estate outraged at landlord’s mansion

The Mayfair investor overseeing plans that could lead to the eviction of dozens of low-income families on an east London estate has bought a £3.9m country mansion, prompting anger among residents facing homelessness.

Mark Donnor, 41, the managing principal of the London office of Westbrook partners, the $11bn (£7bn) US investment firm behind the buy-out of the New Era estate in Hoxton, last year bought the 12-bedroom mansion in the Home Counties, Land Registry documents reveal. The grade II-listed mansion has a lawn tennis court, swimming pool, sauna, gymnasium and butler’s quarters.

Finally, you can hold buy-to-let in your pension. Here's how

Buy-to-let landlords may be about to have their biggest dream come true: being able to hold their properties in a personal pension.

This would make any future capital gains tax-free. Holding residential property in a pension has previously been impossible.

The change, which comes about as a result of a new fund that invests in rental properties, could even see investors receive a windfall from the taxman if the value of their buy-to-let portfolios is boosted by tax relief when it is put into the pension.

MPs attack proposal to make landlords check immigration status of tenants

Millions of landlords could be unwilling to rent property to immigrants if government proposals requiring them to carry out immigration checks are put into practice, an influential crossparty committee of MPs has warned.

The Commons home affairs committee says the measures – contained in the government's new immigration bill – are designed to create a hostile environment for illegal migrants. But it warns that the proposals will discriminate against all immigrants, regardless of their status.

Why no-pet rental clauses lack teeth

Pets. Landlords don’t want them in their properties. Tenants can’t live without them. Unfortunately, the law in Ontario just makes it worse for everyone.

Under the law, you can’t prevent a tenant from bringing a pet into your property, unless it is a condominium and the building declaration says no pets. So even if a landlord and tenant sign a lease that says no pets, the tenant can bring 2 dogs and 4 cats the next day and there is nothing the landlord can do about it.