I am considering renting my London property to an agency that ‘finds secure homes for councils in London, so families can move out of temporary accommodation or avoid becoming homeless.’ They seem to pay LHA (£1067 per month for my one-bedroom flat) rates which are slightly higher than private-sector market rates (£1025 per month) plus […]

Rents paid by private tenants across the UK are falling in real terms according to official data published today. The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that private rents rose by 1.2% in the 12 months to June of this year. This increase remains well below all measurements of inflation with the smallest […]

This week, on Channel 5’s ‘Evicted! Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords’ [Thursday 15 July, 10pm] I expose a rogue letting agent offering “guaranteed rent” and confront the agent at his office in Walthamstow. Landlords Suketu and Minesha Patel own a three-bedroom property in East London. They used a local letting agent to manage their property and signed […]

The choice of products in the Buy-to-Let market is increasing for landlords, property investors and when purchasing in a Limited Company. These latest BTL mortgages include deals with no product fees, deals with free/refunded legal fees, deals with free/refunded valuation fees and cashback deals. I have included an interesting selection of current Limited Company Rates: […]

Hi, I have purchased an apartment in a development by Fortis Group and is now being managed by Xenia Estates. Both main entrance doors to the building don’t have an automatic closing mechanism installed, and the door frames are jammed. This means anyone can gain unauthorised access to the building 24/7. This has been the […]

Question 1 – I look after a property (as agent for a family member-owner) and land to which attached, is a privately-owned flat. The deeds for this owned flat state that the lease is for 999 years from 1986 and rent is stated simply as ‘£10 rising as therein mentioned’ . There is no further […]

Buy-to-let mortgage interest rates will not rise over the next few years. In this video, I explain why this will be the case and how you, as a savvy property investor, can benefit from this information. Please click on the video below.

I have just purchased a house from an auction and the legal pack said the house was Freehold, even Land Registry right now says the house is Freehold However, only one day before the auction, the auctioneers put a document in the legal pack saying it has a 999 years Leasehold. How can I solve […]

I have spent many years presenting seminars, tutorials and more recently online webinars about the Buy to Let business, but one of the most common questions I’m asked is ‘should I self-manage or not. I now have an online course aimed at the more inexperienced landlords who are unsure if they have the knowledge to […]

Hi, I am interested in buying a regulated tenancy property that has had the same tenant since 1975. I am looking to take out a Buy to Let with a much higher interest rate to do this. However, what I would really need to know is if there are lenders out there that would entertain […]

My name’s Melissa Lawford and I’m the property correspondent at The Telegraph. We’re running a story on a report which says that some landlords who are worried about the slow and restrictive eviction process have tried to pay problem tenants to leave their properties. I’m keen to talk to landlords who are in this situation […]

Figures from the English Housing Survey for 2019/20 report that 83% of private renters were satisfied with their current accommodation, a figure that has remained constant over the past 10 years. In comparison, the proportion of social renters satisfied with their accommodation stands at 78%, having fallen from 81% in 2018/19. The survey reports also […]

Research by viewings platform, U-See Homes, has indicated half of UK homebuyers admit to being virtual property voyeurs, viewing a property online without the intention of buying, with 16% going as far as viewing in person. However, more than half of homebuyers (51%) have taken this virtual viewing voyeurism one step further, opting to view […]

The HomeLet rental index for June is reporting the average rent in the UK is now at a record high of £1,007 pcm, up 5.9% on the same time last year, and up 9% on June 2019. Despite adversity, the London rental market has seen the first price increase for over a year, up 1.5% […]

RICS responded to the publication of the amended Building Safety Bill for England saying the Government’s proposals, alongside the publication of the Fire Safety Act earlier this year, should ensure that this country never allows a tragedy like Grenfell to occur again. RICS hopes that these new measures, described as a once in a generation […]

As the stamp duty holiday price threshold drops in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, housing market demand remains above pre-pandemic levels and a record sale to stock ratio for agents has contributed to the 13.4% annual house price increase in June, the highest level since November 2004. Nicky Stevenson, MD of Fine & Country UK […]

The latest Halifax House Price Index reports annual price inflation of 8.8% compared to 9.6% in May and the average UK property price now stands at £260,358. Regions and nations house prices: Whilst the two Midlands regions and Greater London saw slightly slower annual price gains compared to May, all the other regions and nations […]

For the UK as a whole, there has been an increase in average monthly rent from £782 to £804 (£22 or 2.81%) between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021. However, in the latest edition of its quarterly Rent Index the DPS revealed that the average monthly cost of renting property in the capital decreased £11 (-0.83%) […]

The Welsh Government has announced a new plan they say has ‘fairness at its heart’ to ensure everyone in Wales can have access to good quality, affordable housing. The three-pronged plan will focus on: – Support – addressing affordability and availability of housing, – Regulatory framework and system – covering planning law and the introduction […]

When faced with non-paying tenants, most landlords tend to think of eviction.  However, this is a dreadful solution just now: For landlords, it means a stressful and often expensive court claim, which could take up to a year or more to complete, during which time most tenants will fail to pay anything at all. Then, […]

I am a live-in Landlord and the property is a licensed HMO. I rent out 5 bedrooms and have 1 for myself. Does anybody have any idea how much personal use adjustments I should make for tax purposes. Last year my utilities, mortgage and repairs were around £20,000. I took off £5000, for personal use […]