Property Market News

Free ebook – investing in Cambridge

18/04/2013

Buy to let investors in Cambridge can see between 12 to 15% pre tax income on capital employed. Cambridge – an expensive, highly sought after area and a market place often not understood by investors. There are six key housing drivers in the Cambridge market – a) 28,000 students b) 8,000 involved in work with… 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

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

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

Bankers advice resulted in collapse of my property business

09/03/2013

IRHP stands for Interest Rate Hedging Protection. So how can a form of “protection” result in the collapse of a business you may well wonder? It’s ‘Heads I Win Tails You Lose’ – but from who’s perspective? The following story was submitted by Jon Welsby, a victim of the banks mis-selling of Interest Rate Hedging Protection.

Class Action Litigation BOI + Bristol and West Mortgages

05/03/2013

As you have probably heard, Bank of Ireland (BOI) and Bristol and West have advised borrowers who took tracker rate mortgages with them prior to 31st October 2004 that they are increasing their margin to 4.49% over bank base rate. Many landlords are concerned that if Bank of Ireland are allowed to get away with… Read more

Major buy to let lender shuns benefits tenants

22/02/2013

Mortgage Brokers across the UK have been advised by Nationwide Building Society’s specialist buy to let mortgage arm (The Mortgage Works) that they are changing their criteria to stop buy to let investors letting their properties to tenants in receipt of benefits. A survey from housing charity Crisis, released just before Christmas, claimed that 98.5%… Read more

Rental Gazumping in London

10/02/2013

That ‘G’ word is back in town! Yes, boys and girls, Rental Gazumping in London is here and knocking on the front door of every potential tenant! The former and current scourge of the property sales has transgressed over to the private lettings sector and is showing no sign of leaving. Such is the massive… Read more

Innovative New Lettings Portal in Free Trial Phase

Landlord and Guest House owner Cosmo Anayiotos has launched an innovative new lettings portal to enable landlords to maximise their rental returns. As Cosmo is a member of The GOOD Landlords Campaign and also made a very generous donation  we felt we owned it to him to share some of the details of his new… Read more

20 Hot Tips for Property Investors

31/01/2013

I’ve put together a secret page called “20 Hot Tips for Buy to Let Property Investors”. This page contains links to my favourite articles and blog series’ I have added to Property118 over the last two years. In these articles I share ideas on how property investors can save money, minimise risks and maximise returns.

Rent Guarantee Insurance for LHA Tenants

02/01/2013

I suspect very few of our readers expected to see the words Rent Guarantee Insurance and LHA Tenants in the same headline! Following headlines that only 1.5% of landlords will now let their properties to tenants in receipt of housing benefits is alarming, particularly if you are a landlord whose entire property portfolio is only attractive to… Read more