A recent Tribunal between estate agent Ludlow Thompson v Tenant has ruled that a charge of £393.54 to cover costs of changing the tenant was unreasonable. According to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (TFA) a fee can be charged where a tenant wants to leave early and replace themselves with an alternative tenant. However, the […]

I’m just taking a block through the Right to Manage, and we are at the stage of informing the Freeholder. However, many are concerned by the service charges we have received over the 5 years the block has existed and suggesting we have the previous accounts checked to see that all is/was well – this […]

I know this is an issue that every landlord encounters at some point, unfortunately, it’s now my turn to deal with this. I have a flat in a purpose-built block of 6, containing 5 rentals and 1 owner-occupied all nicely kept, one of the owner-occupiers organises the maintenance and us landlords pay our share all […]

Over the last few months, landlords across the country have been contacting us at The Landlord Sales Agency to sell their HMO’s and portfolios, and there’s good reason. This last two years since the lockdown, house prices shot up to market highs that happen only once every 7 years, and with the end of furlough […]

The Nationwide House Price Index for September shows annual house price growth has eased back to 10.0%, from 11.0% in August with prices little changed month-on-month, after taking account of seasonal factors. Wales and Northern Ireland were the strongest performing regions in the third quarter, with London the weakest. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, commented: […]

Hi, I would like to gift one property to each of my two adult daughters from my portfolio. Neither property has any mortgage against it. One property is a purpose-built flat with a long lease remaining, and the other is a freehold shop with a flat above rented on an AST. I would appreciate any […]

Heating ducts and pipes can be prime spots for cockroaches as the heating goes on in the autumn the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) has warned and issued a guide with advice on preventing the warmth-loving insects getting into premises to help private landlords prevent an infestation. The pests can also be found near stoves […]

My wife and I are both higher rate taxpayers and currently hold a portfolio of 9 BTL properties in joint names. We are familiar with the four structures that we could use to hold & manage the portfolio: 1. In own names (with declarations of trust/ tenants in common to optimally allocate income etc.) 2. […]

The Property Investor Show is the largest, longest-running and most respected property investment expo presented in the UK and after a Covid-enforced absence is delighted to return to ExCeL London on 15 & 16 October. For over 20 years, this exhibition has been firmly established as a “MUST ATTEND” event for the serious property investor […]

Landlord Action, one of the UK’s best-known eviction and housing law specialists, has seen a 43% rise in instructions from landlords and letting agents between 1 June 2021, when the eviction ban ended, and 1 September 2021, versus the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. The company has also seen a 17% rise in […]

Hi All, My wife and I have a small property portfolio held in an LLP. We are in the process of purchasing a property for our 37-year-old son using the equity from our main home. As he’s autistic and unable to handle his finances prudently, hence on completion we intend to put this new property […]

In her Labour Party Conference Speech, Lucy Powell, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said that she sees housing as very much a public health issue. Lucy wants to tackle what she perceives as issues of quality, affordability and security in private rentals and end No-Fault Evictions. When it comes to the cladding issue Lucy says […]

New planning reforms set in motion by Robert Jenrick, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are to be scrapped. Boris Johnson draws property industry’s ire over watered-down planning reforms. Plans aimed to curb councils’ power to oppose developments and speed up delivery of new homes in England scrapped. Property developers have criticised the government for watering […]

There are now more Buy-to-let (BTL) products available today than on offer in March 2020, before the impact of the pandemic was felt across the sector, according to the latest data from Moneyfacts.co.uk. – September started with 2,968 products on offer in the BTL sector, the highest number seen on our records since October 2007 […]

Bringing court proceedings to evict a tenant is generally the very last thing a landlord wants to do. The aim of most landlords is to have long term tenants living in the property for many years.  However, sometimes the grim necessity to evict a tenant will occur: – You may need to recover vacant possession […]

I have a three-bedroom flat and the single room does not meet the council’s new imposed minimum room size of 7.1 square meters and so does not meet the licensing criteria. I have 3 students from China who want to rent the flat who say they are related (cousins) so they meet the single household […]

Before the Labour Party conference, Lucy Powell, Shadow housing secretary said: “Labour is the party of homeownership, the Tories are the party of speculators and developers. They treat housing as a commodity, not the bedrock of stable lives and life chances.” Labour has announced plans to: Give councils powers to force landowners to sell vacant […]

Hi everyone, My local council is offering to lease my flats on an interim lease agreement, whereby they would use the properties as temporary accommodation for households owed a duty under S188 or S193 of the Homelessness Reduction Act. Can I ask if anyone has done this with their properties and let them out on […]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain Bank Rate at 0.1% and by a majority of 7-2 to continue with its existing programme of Quantitative Easing. CPI inflation was projected to rise temporarily in the near term, to 4% in 2021 Q4, owing largely to developments in energy and goods […]

Planners Error Lands Them in COURT! What steps you can take if you have a planning refusal Linda and I discuss a bizarre mix-up ‘Your proposal is whack’: Chaos as ‘junior worker’ who thought he was testing a dummy council website rejects and approves REAL planning applications with BONKERS reasons such as an approval with […]

The Property Investors Bureau is pleased to have hosted its first physical event for the Property Educators Accreditation Scheme’s members and key stakeholders. It was a launch event held at the prestigious Hamilton Fraser offices on 22nd of September and was attended by influential figureheads from within the property investment industry. The launch event signifies […]