Landlords face an increasingly difficult situation as councils look to set up or expand their mandatory licensing schemes – leaving unsuspecting landlords with the prospect of paying thousands of pounds in fines for non-compliance. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says Phil Turtle from Landlord Licensing & Defence. He says that while the […]

Hello, In November 2022 I accepted a new tenant on a 1 year AST. The property is a 2 bed first floor flat in a converted building. He is aged mid 30s (I think of Nigerian origin) and doing a post grad course at a local University. Let via an agent, but I manage. It […]

Seven in ten (68%) landlords plan to raise rents if their mortgage rate goes up when they come to remortgage, according to a new survey.  The mortgage platform, Landbay, revealed almost half (44%) of landlords said they expect to increase rent by 6-10% in the coming 12 months if their mortgage rate increases. Of those […]

Looking for some post-completion help, please. We are new to property investing and we purchased two buy-to-let properties within a month of each other, using the same conveyancing solicitor. The first property we were able to refinance 6 months after works were completed without a hitch. The second property is a different story. It is […]

Hi everyone, it had to happen. I have got my hands on some troublesome tenants. My fear is the chance of a harassment/threatening behaviour claim by them and thus a possible rent repayment order. It is a HMO (licenced a bit over a year ago and a half ago) student property and has valid gas […]

Hello, let me explain the situation, I am wanting to evict a tenant via the accelerated possession method using the N5B form. On question 6) it states: On what date was the property let to the defendant by the way of a written tenancy agreement.? History: I purchased the property 10 years ago and I […]

Landbay has revealed that it is reducing rates for buy-to-let loans on houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and multi-unit freehold blocks (MUFBs). The lender is also reintroducing products for first time landlords purchasing HMOs/MUFBs. Rates on small HMO and MUFBs of up to six bedrooms/units have been reduced by 30 basis points on two-year fixed […]

Hello, My tenant generally pays on time, is cooperative and polite but is incapable of keeping the place up. It has turned in four years from a nice place into a tip, and various fixtures have got broken. My question is, when the tenant is so careless is there any reason we should fix everything […]

Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, wrote an excellent piece in the Telegraph at the beginning of this year which illustrates the crisis in the buy-to-let sector with demand far outstripping supply and a planned increase in the exodus of landlords from the sector during 2023. He puts tax at […]

The number of agreed sales is returning to near 2019 levels having recovered strongly from a 30% drop in the aftermath of the mini-Budget, according to a new report.  The Rightmove House Price Index reveals that the number of sales agreed continues to improve, and is now just 11% down on 2019’s levels, recovering from […]

In 2022 there were over 50,000 property investment companies formed in the UK but less than 1% of them were Family Investment Companies. This is despite HMRC having given this form of business continuity and legacy planning the thumbs up in the previous year. In this article and accompanying video we explain what the difference […]

The number of people looking to rent rose sharply in January, according to a new report. Information from the Propertymark association Housing Insight Report covering the period between 31st January -13th February revealed that 108 new applicants registered per member branch on average in January, compared to just 64 in December. 108 is only 9% […]

In September 2022 I served a S21 on my tenants giving 4 months Notice. They have approached the Council as they require assistance getting rehoused and have been told that the S21 is invalid because the EPC expired in 2020 and they weren’t issued with a copy of a new one. The tenancy began in […]

This hypothetical, supposing the Minimum EPC is raised to a C say on the 1st of April 2025 and all houses below a C needed to be up to the new standards by the 1st of April 2028 approximately 48% of the rented sector. If the date of the Legislation was passed say 1st Of […]

Paragon Bank commissioned a survey of over 750 landlords by BVA BDRC, which has reported a decrease to 32% of landlords confirming that they have had at least one tenant in rental arrears during the previous 12 months. This is down from 34% against the previous quarter and is the lowest level of rent arrears […]

Hello everyone, Since being Landlord I have used Homelet for both property insurance, legal protection and rent guarantee. Thus far, the good news is I have not had to make any claims. However, these policies are now coming up for renewal and since covid Homlet has said that they only offer policies for a maximum […]

Landlords have spent nearly £9,000 on improvements to meet proposed EPC requirements, according to new research.  The findings from Shawbrook Bank reveal that landlords have spent an average of £8,900 so far on improvements – which is almost 50% more than they had expected they would need to spend. Researchers found 21% of tenants have […]

Apparently, the private rented sector (PRS) needs to be repurposed to create a new generation of social homes, according to a charity think tank.  The report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) says that private rented property should be “acquired” and used for social housing. The NEF says it will explore how councils can use […]

Average UK house prices reached £294,000 in December 2022 – £26,000 higher than 12 months ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  The latest UK House Price Index from the ONS revealed average UK house prices have increased by 9.8% in the last 12 months to December 2022, down from 10.6% in November 2022. […]

The top five UK home builders are likely to be disproportionately hit by hefty taxes, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.  Large UK home builders such as Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Berkeley are likely to be hit by heavy taxes (80% of the industry levy) for fixing apartment-building safety issues, on top of costs to fix their […]

Yet another reason to sell up. My deposits have just ruled that unless a landlord has a court order they cannot be awarded money from a deposit to pay towards legal costs! My Deposits has awarded in favour of my ex-tenants by giving their money back even though they withheld rent twice over 2 years, […]