Hello all, I wanted to make fellow landlords and agents aware of a situation we are facing in Long Eaton, Nottingham. A recent ruling by the Valuations Office has ruled that a newly converted building providing 8 luxury ensuite bedrooms (HMO) is to be classed as separate dwellings and each tenant will be liable for […]

What are Cold Weather Payments? Tenants facing financial hardship due to Covid-19 may be eligible for Cold Weather Payments. The Cold Weather Payment scheme runs from 1st November 2020 to 31st March 2021. Tenants will get a payment of £25 if the average temperature in their area is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0 […]

Warnings of a surge of evictions following the partial lifting of the repossessions ban in September last year have proved to be unfounded according to government figures released today. Data published by the Ministry of Justice shows that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of claims made by private landlords in England and […]

Hundreds of thousands of leaseholders will be protected from the cost of replacing unsafe cladding on their homes, as Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick unveiled a five-point plan which will provide reassurance to homeowners and bring confidence to the housing market. With an unprecedented £5 billion investment in building safety, including £3.5 billion announced today (10 […]

In August last year, my tenant sent me pictures of water coming into the front upstairs bedroom. There appeared to be a leak coming from the Bay. Eventually, I managed to get a contractor to go and look, and he said it needed the Bay recovering, chimney repointing, some guttering needed repairing etc. He quoted […]

Hello, I own a house that has been purposely converted into 2 flats. I rent both of the flats out currently. I have owned the property for c25 years I am thinking of selling both the flats on long leasehold and retaining the freehold. How would I calculate what the freehold would be worth and […]

Hometrack have released their Q4 2020 Monthly Rental Market Report; click here The report confirmed average rents across the UK excluding London rose by 1.4% in the three months to the end of December, taking the annual growth in rents to 2.3%. However, average rents in London are down -8.3% with rental decreases concentrated in […]

In this video, I will be sharing my housing market predictions and some shocking stats and graphs that hardly anyone is talking about, which explain why property prices will not crash after March when SDLT holiday comes to an end. Please click on the video below: 

Proposals to increase Capital Gains Tax (CGT) would freeze the rental housing market making it less responsive to tenant demand. That is the warning from the National Residential Landlords Association ahead of the Budget on 3rd March. With the Office for Tax Simplification proposing measures to equalise Capital Gains Tax with income tax rates, the […]

Hi all, I had a very comprehensive Domestic Electrical Installation Certificate for the work I had completed in August 2019 for me. I had 2 new fuse boards, socket switch plates changed and light fittings changed. Does this mean that I do not require the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)? In other words, are these […]

Hi all, I had a tenant move into a 2 bedroom top floor flat on 1st January. When the previous tenants moved out they told us that there were problems with the people below, they would shout and swear and complain at every noise our tenants made, before this the previous tenants before them had […]

Am in the middle of converting a three-story flat (above a shop) into separate three flats – one on each floor. Am currently paying Council tax (CT) on the whole flat, but clearly, this needs to be amended, so each flat gets their own banding. Details on how to challenge the current banding are on […]

Private landlords are on tenterhooks once more prior to the Budget, bracing ourselves for yet another attack. The rumour is that we are to be slammed with a massive increase in Capital Gains Tax. I have explained why this is so wrong on many levels and made some alternative suggestions in an article I was […]

We had a very successful webinar last month on the new ‘Breathing Space’ regulations.  You can now view the recording here. This week’s webinar is with specialist housing barrister and Deputy District judge Robert Brown. He will be looking at how the pandemic has changed court procedures and discussing five issues in particular.  If we […]

Hi, I have found some old maintenance/repair (not improvement) receipts for my BTL property which date back to 2012. My first question is: can I use them on my next self assessment tax return or have I lost out because I can you only claim for payments made in the same financial year? Secondly, when […]

Hi to private housing providers, I would like to share a recent letter (via email) I sent to the UC regional partnership manager ([email protected] & [email protected]) to address some of my concerns over the flaws & issues I am encountering with the UC office & staff implementation of the UC housing cost when offering private […]

You may have heard of us here at National Residential, we’re the property company who pride ourselves with our “any problem we can fix” formula. In these current times, there are a few challenges landlords may face when trying to sell their properties. Trying to sell a property while dealing with difficult tenants can be top […]

Caridon Landlord Solutions is a dedicated service provider specialising in Universal Credit and Housing Benefit advice for private landlords, letting agents and housing associations. We understand that since the expansion of Universal Credit, some landlords have noticed a spike in rent arrears, mainly owing to delays and errors in the initial payment. As a result, […]

A bizarre Zoom Planning committee meeting featuring at Handforth Parish Council, went viral today, making Committee Chairman, Jackie Weaver, a celebrity. Planning committees often go wrong and in this video, I am joined by former Chairman of St Albans Planning Committee, Alistair Cooper, as they react to the Handforth farce and share tips on how […]

NRLA Clarification: “Calling for long term-rental property to be taxed more favourably than short-term holiday lets is clearly not the same as saying they should be taxed the same. After all how could you favour one over the other if they were taxed the same?” “A clear example is the proposal the NRLA put out […]

In light of yet another BS initiative ironically called BS (Breathing Space), it is time I reviewed my tenant Application Form with a fresh pair of eyes. This seems the only way to be able to try and head off, some issues that could be an issue later down the line. Are there any long-standing/experienced […]