Buy to Let News

Help! – My Letting Agent didn’t tell the Council I was renting to students

16/05/2013

My house is rented to students and is managed by a letting agent. Now as we know, students are generally excepted from Council Tax. However, neither my tenants nor my managing agents appear to have informed the council. I have now received a summons. Please let me know what I should do in this situation. Thanks in… Read more

Landlords Life Insurance Calculator

What is the minimum amount of Landlords Life Insurance we really ought to purchase? I suspect the reason most property investors choose not to purchase Landlords Life Insurance is cost. For example, if you are 40+ years of age and your buy to let mortgages balances are £1 million plus the premiums can appear to be very… Read more

Landlord News on the BBC One Show at 7pm Tonight

02/05/2013

LANDLORD NEWS – private landlord speaks out on housing benefit nightmare tonight on BBC’s The One Show  A landlord from Bracknell, Berkshire, has spoken out about her nightmare ordeal after her housing benefit tenant failed to pass on the payments. This issue has been widely reported and discussed within the buy-to-let industry but now a… Read more

Funding for Lending scheme changes allow BuytoLet investment

29/04/2013

The Bank of England Funding for Lending scheme will now allow Small and Medium sized enterpises (SMEs) to lend the money available on to property investors. The Funding for lending scheme has been extended another year until January 2015 and from 2014 banks will be able to borrow £10 of cheap Bank of England money… Read more

Are you owed money for rent arrears or damages?

20/04/2013

I don’t think landlords should allow tenants to get away with not paying rent or making good any damages, do you? Well the good news is that the “no win no fee” Debt Collection for Landlords service I wrote about last week is now up and running. You can download the claim form and full… Read more

Do tenants have choices?

16/04/2013

Am I the only person in the world who is sick to the back teeth of hearing stories of letting agents charging extortionate fees to tenants? Same goes for poor quality properties. Either I’m living in a bubble here in Norfolk or something is wrong with these claims. Very simply, if I were to use the wrong… Read more

Debt Collection for Landlords “No Win No Fee”

13/04/2013

I have negotiated a “No Win No Fee” debt collection service for landlords. It constantly amazes me how many landlords post stories on our forums of tenant debts which landlords have mentally written off. Stories range from rent arrears, tenants who have absconded whilst in arrears to horror stories of damage caused by tenants to… Read more

Simple solution to bills-inclusive burden

08/04/2013

Half of all students find their first venture into living away from home a stressful experience. That’s according to a recent NUS survey into student mental health, called Breaking the Silence, which reported that 49% of students said they found paying rent and bills reasonably or very stressful. No wonder then that sharing tenants increasingly… Read more

The 2013 buy to let goldrush

02/04/2013

I have had a ‘gut feeling’ that the property market would turn in 2013 for at least four years, however, until now I have not been able to provide any real justification as to why I believe the 2013 buy to let gold rush will occur. A recent comment on our forum got me thinking about this… Read more

PureLocation.com – Useful for online due diligence for landlords?

27/03/2013

I’m looking for a few experienced landlords to write a review in the comments section below based on whether they think PureLocation.com could be useful for online due diligence for landlords. I’m overseas this week lapping up some sunshine and R&R, otherwise I would do it myself. I will of course take a closer look… Read more

Bank of Ireland 2.99% five year fixed rate sparks outrage

25/03/2013

Customers of The Post Office are controversially being offered a 2.99% five year fixed rate by Bank of Ireland just weeks after the bank wrote to 14,000 of it’s mortgage holders telling them that their tracker rates would see massive hikes due to “exceptional economic conditions”. It is hardly surprising then that this has renewed… Read more

BuytoLet Lender BM Solutions allows Student and Benefits tenants

21/03/2013

BM Solutions relaxes its BuytoLet lending criteria to allow landlords to rent to students and benefit claimants It was recently reported that BM Solutions was looking at changes to its BuytoLet underwriting criteria and the rumors were that they would be looking to remove its £25,000 minimum income requirement. The initial reaction by some market… Read more