A section of carpet, a fully functioning mobile phone and bathroom taps are among the more unusual items sent through the post during tenancy deposit disputes, according to The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS). The DPS said that it had received the carpet from a landlord wanting to demonstrate the iron burn that a tenant […]

Moneyfacts UK Savings Trends Treasury Report data, not yet published, reveals that the expectations of a promising ISA season may well be dashed this year due to continued cuts to ISA rates. The savings market overall contracted month-on-month and product volumes have now reached their lowest recorded levels, with all average savings rates reaching new […]

The long-awaited new series of Channel 5’s ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ launches on Wednesday 17 February at 8pm.  This 10-part series, filmed prior to COVID-19 restrictions, follows the frontline work of letting agents, eviction specialists and lawyers helping landlords chase rent arrears and get their properties back; as well as council housing enforcement officers clamping […]

My tenant has one year remaining of a five year Lease on my commercial premises which he has occupied on a succession of 5-year Leases for 25 years. He owns and operates a Limited Company (registered at his home) but has always signed the Leases as a private individual. I don’t want to renew the […]

The Daily Telegraph has reported that the Chancellor is under pressure to avoid the Stamp Duty cliff edge on the 31st of March and is considering a 6 weeks extension to the 12th May to allow completion to take place delayed by conveyancing backlogs. A source told the paper: “It is certainly the case that […]

Renters will continue to be supported during the ongoing national lockdown restrictions, with an extension to the ban on bailiff evictions, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced. The ban on bailiff evictions, which was introduced at the start of the pandemic, has been extended for another 6 weeks until the 31st March with measures kept under […]

Responding to the Government’s announcement of an extension to the ban on the enforcement of most residential repossessions in England until 31st March, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association said: “Today’s announcement does nothing to help over 800,000 private renters who have built rent arrears since lockdown measures started last year. […]

What’s coming up in the UK spring budget? And will it be good news for UK property investors? In this video below, I am going to share with you my thoughts on what property investors can expect from Rishi Sunak come March the 3rd. 

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 […]