I have a tenant who’s been on Housing benefits since April 2005. The council have stated that his claim and the eligible rent used in the calculation is decided with regard to October Deregulated tenancies and any rent increase must be referred to the Rent Officer (HB regulations 2006 regulation 13). The Council have stated […]

Section 8 Notices seem to lack substance currently, with mandatory and discretionary grounds for possession. With the likelihood of Section 21 Notices becoming a thing of the past, what measures would you put in place to make Section 8 Notices more robust? This is extremely important given that this could potentially provide one of very […]

The new Renting Homes (Wales) Act has been published. I am wondering what people feel about the changes to Section 21 and if they feel that would be a compromise if it were implemented in England? >> https://gov.wales/housing-law-changing-renting-homes I have copied a small part of it below: Renting Homes (Wales) Act – Changes to evictions […]

I am wondering if anyone has had any experience or knowledge of Equity Loans and how they may be treated as an expense or offset against CGT. Briefly, I took an equity release loan on a property that used to be my residential home which I subsequently let as a BTL. This helped me build […]

Landlord Action, one of the UK’s best known eviction and housing law specialists, has seen a sharp rise in landlords requesting to use their debt recovery service. Instructions for the last year, April 2021 to March 2022, were up 180 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic year, April 2019 to March 2020. The circumstances of […]

This is a very quick reminder about the Virtual Property Exhibition on Friday 29th April, 9.15am to 5.00pm and there is no cost to participate. This is a once a year opportunity to update your knowledge and learn from 10 of the top UK property educators and commentators about what is happening in the UK […]

Following the recent sky news and shelter report regarding section 21 and many tenants being asked to leave, surely now is the time to review the section 24 tax increase, perhaps owing to some landlords having to increase rents to cover the additional tax cost? By reducing the tax on properties landlords can reduce rents? […]

Quick question, I was at a possession hearing today, and the judge awarded in my favour with 28 days for the tenant to vacate. The tenant was represented by a housing advisor at the local council, who stated to the judge that I had failed to send copy gas safety certs and a How to […]

Shelter’s latest one-sided propaganda continues to pile pressure on calls to ban Section 21 eviction notices with their press release stating: “Every seven minutes a private renter in England is handed a Section 21 no-fault eviction notice by their landlord, new research from Shelter shows. This gives tenants just two months to leave their home […]

Responding to research published by Shelter on repossessions in the private rented sector, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Shelter needs to stop its campaign of scaremongering. The vast majority of landlords do not spend their time plotting ways to get rid of their tenants for no reason. “Official data […]

Average UK rents have increased for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS), whilst also producing evidence that some tenants are paying above the going rate to secure a property. Average rents now stand at £849 a month: a £15 (1.80%) increase on £834 in Q4 2021, and a £49 […]

Research by HBB Solutions, has estimated that almost half of pandemic property purchases across the UK may have been subject to a down valuation, meaning just shy of 867,000 sales would have hit a snag during their surveys. Down valuations occur when a surveyor acting on behalf of a mortgage lender considers a property to […]

Just in case you missed it! 10 of the top UK property educators and commentators are coming to your place on Friday, to share with you what is happening in the UK market right now, and how to make the most of the current property market. Normally, to see this many experts in one place […]

Warning: Direct to vendor marketing could land you with a whopping £80,000 fine! In this episode of Property Breaking News, Andrew Roberts and I break down how this could happen and what you need to do to avoid this hefty fine. Please click on the video below: 

A New Specialist Lender has entered the BTL mortgage market called Quantum Mortgages. With so many of the current lenders declining mortgage applications for properties that don’t fit their tick-box approach, it is refreshing to be working with human underwriters that take a commercial view rather than a “computer says no” approach. Here are a […]

I’ve had a letter from the council advising “Environmental Health has received information from a former tenant that the property was let to him and 5 other tenants since 2018.” This is not true, I only ever had a maximum of 4 tenants, but how can I prove this or what will the council ask […]

The Office for National Statistics has released its latest report using data from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey analysing how different demographics have been affected by an increase in their cost of living from November 2021 to March 2022: Click here The results show housing costs have also been a growing contributor with 34% of […]

I purchased a property six months ago and have a subsequent new loan agreed in principle. However, I am still waiting for the Land Registry to complete the registration of the title and until the process is completed, the lender is apparently unable to place their charge on my property. My broker has tried to […]

I’ve just read an article by Nearly Legal, based on a parliamentary report he had read, and I wondered about the statistics being quoted, e.g. 13% of private rented homes have a category 1 hazard. I clicked on the link to the parliamentary report and it gives this percentage as an ESTIMATE. Looking deeper it […]

The government is to stop future leasehold homeowners from facing annual ground rent costs. Sometimes worth hundreds of pounds a year, these charges provide no clear service in return and can be set to escalate regularly, with a significant financial burden for leaseholders. From 30 June 2022, anyone in England and Wales buying a home […]

Key members of the Property118 and Cotswold Barristers team are hoping to meet several of our regular readers and tax planning Clients at the West of England Landlord Expo on Tuesday 17th May 2022 as well as an anticipated 500+ other attendees. During the event, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers will be […]