After almost 20% growth in the past 10 years, England’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) could exceed 5 million homes by 2025, research from Ocasa reveals. The specialist rental platform says that the PRS has increased in size by 18.8%, from 4.1 million homes 10 years ago to just shy of 4.9 million. On a regional […]

Hon. Legal Counsel for Property118, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers, will be presenting in person an overview of several landlord tax strategies at the Baker Street Property Meet this Wednesday. Join us to discuss how to prepare for the opportunity in this changing market. Mark Smith is the UK’s leading expert on […]

If you need to evict a tenant, it can be a very stressful experience. There is a process to follow, otherwise even what seems to be a cut-and-dry case can take months and even a year or longer if not handled correctly. Sometimes, very minor things can escalate quite quickly, leading to non-payment of rent […]

Is it any wonder that so many landlords are selling some of their properties to pay down debt at the same time as restructuring the ownership of their rental property businesses? At the foot of this article, I have shared a fantastic video interview where two Letting Agents from Christopher Shaw Residential Lettings interview Alex […]

Property Taxes on your Buy To Let properties are going online. What do digital tax changes mean for Buy to Let business owners and could this be the beginning of further changes to come in the future? Join Alex Norian, the property tax specialist, from Property118, and me to discuss the future of property tax […]

Renters living in a one-bedroom flat can combat the cost of living by moving into an affordable shared house, while HMOs provide landlords with a confidence-building financial buffer against increasing portfolio expenses. We recently conducted an analysis which revealed that renting a high-quality room in an HMO is more than 50% cheaper compared to single-tenancy […]

Let’s call selective licensing for landlords what it is: an unfair mandatory tax that is a massive rip-off. Sure, council officers and councillors will tell everyone how they are going to crack down on rogue landlords, but they don’t actually do that. Selective licensing does, however, appear to be a legalised job creation scheme for […]

Manoj Varsani, founder and CEO at Hammock, the property finance platform for landlords, looks at the implications of the government’s Making Tax Digital initiative. Everywhere you look and in everything you do, it’s seemingly impossible to avoid reminders of the wider economic downturn and the likelihood of an upcoming recession. Landlords have mortgages and suppliers […]

Due to current high-interest rates and even higher affordability stress tests, many BTL single let properties just don’t stack up, so you can’t get a mortgage on them at the moment. Does this mean the end of property investing? If you are just doing single lets, then it will be very hard to acquire more […]

Hi everyone, Would it not be a good idea to tax properties that are left empty and disincentivise them from remaining outside the available housing stock? A residential property, in my opinion, should not be used purely as an investment as it should be used firstly as a home while the housing crisis is at […]

With the recent cost of living crisis, the financial benefits of renting out a room are highly desirable. A lodger may also be a great source of company, and could even help out with the household chores. Many homeowners don’t know where to begin when deciding to take in a lodger and money.co.uk has provided […]

Richard Dawson, rental sector expert at RentGuarantor, says the Renters’ Reform Bill is flawed and explains why he feels greater regulation is the answer. At face value, the ‘Renters’ Reform Bill’ outlined in the recent government whitepaper, A Fairer Private Rented Sector, looks as though it will bring about a great deal of positive change […]

Research by Barrows and Forrester, has shown that the sum of tax receipts paid to HMRC as a result of stamp duty spiked by 62.6% following the end of the stamp duty holiday, hitting its highest level in well over two decades. Thery analysed the historic levels of stamp duty paid to HMRC and how […]

Does anyone have specific detail in their ASTs about decorating? I have a nice flat neutrally decorated about to go up for rent. To avoid botch DIY attempts at redecoration can I say no decoration for the first 6 months and then at my discretion and permission thereafter, but must always be carried out by […]

I own a flat in a block in London built in 2007 (bought off-plan). I have a variable buy-2-let with Roscina that I have been unable to re-mortgage for the last 2 years due to the property not having the EWS-1 form that lenders or buyers need as reassurance they’ll not be landed with the […]

The senior personal finance reporter for the Telegraph, Rachel Mortimer, is looking to speak to Scottish landlords and holiday homeowners who are being forced to sell up by rule and regulation changes in Scotland. Is your model no longer viable? Do you feel like you are being punished for running a business? Any responses would […]

Are you underinsured? With rapidly rising prices for both labour and materials, there’s a big risk that you could come up short in the event of a claim. We talked to Steve Barnes of specialist broker Hamilton Fraser. No-one but a fool would fail to take out buildings insurance on their properties. But many landlords […]

I am a leaseholder of a flat. There are 4 flats in the house, 2 freeholds and 2 leaseholds. The 2 freeholders are keen for all of us to own a share in the freehold. As my lease only has 87 years on it, this is a good opportunity to become a freeholder of my […]

We have a residential mortgage from Barclays which does allow us to let our property during our fixed term with no rate increase. My husband got offered a job abroad and we have consequently moved to Norway. We let our property out through a letting agent and we have landlords insurance. But.. we forgot to […]

We have a lease which says that there can be a porter provided to the building and historically he has lived in a flat owned by the Freeholder under license, no tenancy agreement and we have paid all his expenses and rent via the service charge including a refurb (very expensive and not very good). […]

Hi everyone, as a good landlord and due to a noisy neighbour (next-door to my tenants playing nonstop white noise) l have given my tenants a 20% rent reduction until I can manage to solve the problem. My tenants pay the Lettings agent directly the full amount of contracted rent and then I send them […]