Over half of local authorities in England have not issued any civil penalties against rogue or criminal landlords in the last three years according to a new survey. Since April 2017 councils across England have been able to issue civil penalties of up to £30,000 for a range of housing offences. Income received can be […]

Review of this week’s property news stories. This week, the BBC is criticising the new permitted development rules introduced on 1st August. Criticism is fine, but we don’t expect the BBC to be factually inaccurate! Also, we look at the accelerating bank branch closure programme and opportunities for property investors. Please click on the video […]

A survey of Shawbrook bank customers revealed that 46% of their landlords reduced their rents to assist tenants during the pandemic. This is made up of 28% of Landlords who gave a full payment holiday for an average 3 months and 18% who gave an agreed rent reduction over an average period of 4 months. […]

I always said I’d sell my small portfolio of 4 terraced houses, situated in a Northwest town when I reach the age of 75. I’m nearly 73 now, but thinking I should sell now, as the market seems right. Each of my houses is tenanted with good tenants who have indicated that they are there […]

The government will not achieve its pledge of delivering 300,000 new homes a year until 2028 at the current rate of progress according to research by StripeHomes.  The UK’s housing crisis is long-lasting and well-reported, perpetuated mainly by a stark lack of housing supply. For decades, ruling government parties have outlined ambitious housing targets to […]

Shaz Nawaz, the Labour Party Councilor for Peterborough Park Ward, has come under attack from the Peterborough Tenants Union claiming they were ‘disappointed’ that under his profession as an accountant he was instructing clients how to maximise their profit from property investment. Mr Nawaz describes himself as: Entrepreneur, Accountant, Speaker, Author, Property Investor and City […]

Research from Keller Williams UK has indicated Brighton is the nation’s most valuable postcode so far in 2021 for property sold, outside London of course. Keller Williams UK analysed sold prices across the market in England and Wales since the start of the year and found that so far, a stamp duty holiday fuelled market […]

After the success of the National Virtual pin Meeting last December, we are pleased to announce that property investors network are going to run a Summer National Meeting on Wednesday 4th August  6pm – 7pm for Networking and 7pm – 9pm for the main meeting. This will be a great opportunity to network with like-minded […]

The block of apartments where I have a flat is managed by a ‘right to manage’ (RTM) company. This company retains a ‘management company’ (MC) whose function appears to be to manage the building/common areas/gardens etc. There are 200+ Apartments in the building, each paying £2,000 per year to the MC. The annual accounts for […]

I am looking to sell my Buy to Let property when I have vacant possession shortly. I would very much appreciate a view on whether best to instruct one agent or whether instructing two would create better exposure and introduce a degree of competition between them? However, would this move make it look like I […]

Hi all, I recently started a letting agency. I registered my company in 2018, but didn’t really do anything until late 2019. I have only been doing let only for the time being until I branched out into management. My let only was slightly different as I only stopped after introducing the tenant and doing […]

Does anyone have any words of wisdom on reducing the pain around dealing with utility companies? I have a small portfolio of HMOs, single lets and serviced accommodation held in a limited company. For the HMOs and serviced accommodation we pay the utilities, but many providers will not allow a domestic account to be registered […]

It seems almost unheard of, 24 flats sold for £2.256 million in just 9 days, yet for a Landlord in Hastings, that’s exactly what happened when he reached out to us at the Landlord Sales Agency. It’s a story that’s been happening over and over again for our portfolio experts company, and we are making […]

Camden Council has become the first council to use an ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) against a 29-year-old landlord, Mohammed Ali Abbas Rasool, to prevent him from harassing and evicting tenants. The court order has also created an exclusion zone the landlord cannot enter until May 2022. A property company owned by Rasool was also fined […]

The dubious managing agents for the freeholder have issued a ‘Notice for Works.’ They are extensive, requiring scaffolding and remedial work to exterior brickwork etc. I have a month to comment on it. It is based on a survey they carried out after a flat in the building had water ingress after the recent downpour. […]

So you want to do a commercial to residential conversion in London, but you’ve got limited funds in a high-value area. Can you do it or do you need to go up north to Hull? Stay tuned to find out and click the video below:

Hi, I have a tenant who for some months now has been underpaying the rent since he had a work accident and was therefore rendered unable to work and in receipt of universal credit/disability allowance. He’s renting a 3-bedroom house, however, housing benefit are currently only paying him a rent allowance equivalent to a single […]

I have reached sale agreed for a semi-detached house and am in the mortgage application phase of the purchase. The house has a converted loft space for storage, with a fixed staircase leading up to the loft. The conversion does not have approval from the local authority. This was made clear to us before the […]

Some of the more left-field niche Buy to Let criteria has become available again to the property investor market and can open up options where none were recently available. These ‘niche’ criteria include the following: Day 1 Remortgage – No need to wait 6 months after purchase before you can move lender. Capital Raising – […]

Paragon Bank research has indicated that 39% of landlords have seen increased tenant demand over the past three months, with 18.2% saying it has grown ‘significantly’ and a further 20.3% reporting slight increases. The survey of over 750 landlords, carried out by BVA BDRC on behalf of Paragon Bank, also showed a dip of 2% […]

The Nationwide House price index for July indicates some heat is being taken out of the housing market, but overall annual inflation is still high. Annual house price growth remained in double digits, but fell back to 10.5% with prices down 0.5% month-on-month. The average price for a house in June was £245,432, but for […]