Following the recent revelation that the University of Warwick is dumping hundreds of private landlords in favour of its own student accommodation, it has today come to light that as part of this strategy it appears to have deliberately put landlords subject to Coventry City Council’s controversial Additional Licensing scheme at risk of prosecution and […]

In our 20+ years as landlords we have engaged three sets of accountancy firms. Our family business provides rental accommodation for nearly 300 people and we have always operated through a Limited Company structure. A few weeks ago I watched a YouTube video in which Mark Alexander was interviewed about Smart Property Company structures, following […]

Is buy to let dead? Here is a commercial Buy-To-Let (BTL) property offering a phenomenal 50% rental yield? …And later in the video, I will share with you where this is coming up for sale and how you can buy it!! But 50% rental yield? Surely that’s too good to be true? Can you really […]

Most property investors believe, that the current property market mini boom won’t last for long, and when the bubble bursts, there will be a property market crash in 2021. What does that mean for you? This could be a huge opportunity for you if you are ready for it. When the market crashes, banks get […]

Hundreds of thousands of British Ex-Pats living in the EU will have received a shock letter in the last few days. Customers of Nat-West, Coutts, RBS, Barclays, Bank of Scotland and Halifax are among the list of those affected. Their bank accounts will be closed by the end of this year, in some case much […]

A new Parliamentary Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, would seek to give tenants who own a dog or other domestic animal the right to have it live in their rented home, provided they demonstrated responsibility and care for the animal. This is effectively seeking to ban no pet clauses. […]

Just had an EPC done on a flat. Last EPC rating was a D now its an F – so essentially now unrentable! The Assessor for the latest report has deemed it 2 mtsq bigger than the last report yet there has been no structural change and also listed it as a Ground floor flat […]

A house has been used as an HMO, but after applying for a licence it was not granted and the instruction is to return the property to a single-family dwelling. It is currently operated by a reputable sub-let company who rent individual rooms to mainly minimum wage workers from Eastern Europe. To comply with the […]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Universal Credit has become a lifeline for many households. In the first two weeks of lockdown alone there were over 500,000 claims per week, more than nine times the usual weekly level of applications. As of July, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had 5.6 million people claiming Universal […]

Our Hon. Legal Counsel, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers will be presenting an overview of several landlords tax strategies at the pin Milton Keynes Wednesday 21st October The events will be held Online and Attendees can expect first-class speakers and great networking opportunities. For any Property118 readers looking to attend their first […]

The infamous words of Jenrick at the start of the pandemic: “No renter who has lost income due to coronavirus will be forced out of their home, NOR WILL ANY LANDLORD FACE UNMANAGEABLE DEBTS” Nothing more was heard about landlords only incessant campaigns for Private landlords not to evict, but to bear the financial loss, […]

In the NAPIT booklet EIRC Codebreakers 18th edition version Section 5.12.3 it states cables in walls not protected less than 50mm deep not RCD protected will be C2 failure. In the Electrical installation condition reporting: Classification codes for domestic and similar electrical installations Issue 5 it says on Page 14; Code C3 – Improvement recommended […]

If your strategy is to acquire further investment properties within a Limited Company structure, please do not settle for an “ordinary shares” structure. The existence of ordinary shares is often a clear sign of there having been no thought given to tax planning whatsoever. If you or your accountant purchased your company ‘off-the-shelf’ and then […]

Mr Mark Bradley from Gourock, Scotland, has been ordered to pay his ex-tenant £1,500 after failing to protect her deposit with an approved deposit protection scheme. On 4 September 2020, following a Case Management Discussion by the Housing and Property Chamber First-tier tribunal for Scotland, Mr Bradley was found to have not protected his tenant’s […]

Do you ‘Rent to Rent’ or Are you considering ‘Rent to Rent? ‘Rent to rent’ can be lucrative and many landlords and property owners have done very well from it: Property owners can earn an income from their property without having to do any management work Landlords can run a landlord business without having to […]

Those who believe that Government is not aware of the issues facing landlords in the PRS  may be surprised by the detailed analysis in the Briefing Paper published on 13th October by the House of Commons library. The summary is quoted below but I recommend reading the whole report, which can be downloaded if you […]

In a speech by the Director of Consumer and Retail Policy for the FCA, Nisha Arora, it was outlined how lenders should support borrowers forced into taking mortgage payments holidays during the pandemic. In the guidance below it sets out expectations for firms on how to support customers and work with them on their finances […]

A warning to Nottingham Landlords with Houses in Gedling Borough Council: Licensing are coming for you even in coronavirus times! For those that are aware, Gedling brought Licensing in for 2018, but only included 700 houses, arguably troubled streets. However, Gedling are now expanding the scheme to the areas below. I’ve only got about 12 […]

Hello all, I hope someone can help. I own 3 apartments in a block, the only apartments in that block with our own entrance. We do not own the entrance/hallway the freeholder/landlord does. The landlord owns the building and on the ground floor an estate agency with its own entrance. We are trying to allocate […]

Hi I’m looking for Rent Guarantee Insurance on my properties that are apartments in apartment blocks. I am having no problems obtaining Rent Guarantees for my other properties as long as I also take out building’s insurance as part of a package. However, with my apartments, I have to pay the building’s insurance as part […]

Just under half of mortgage intermediaries expect to write more buy-to-let business in the next 12 months, according to Paragon Bank’s Financial Adviser Confidence Tracker (FACT) Index. The index developed quarterly by the specialist lender, is evidence of the market’s current strength. When asked to describe the demand for buy-to-let mortgages at present, 48% of […]