I am being told that to comply with new electrical regulations we need a certificate of fitness. I am also being told that the plastic fuse box/consumer unit needs to be replaced with something of non-combustible construction? This means made of metal! We have spent the last 50 years taking out metal fuse boxes because […]

The Welsh Government has announced a temporary increase to the nil rate band of Land Transaction Tax (LTT) to £250,00 for main residence property transactions from 27th July 2020 until 31st March 2021. The tax paid for higher rate residential or non-residential transactions are unchanged. There will still be additional rates to pay for landlords […]

We are considering an International Student who has viewed the room to rent via Whatsapp and has chatted to me about the rental. She would like to take the room, but will not be in the UK until mid-September. We have agreed to commence a 12-month tenancy from 1 September and will email the contract […]

I think my property management agent is proposing an unfair contract and I’d appreciate the views of the wise landlords on this forum. For more than 10 years I have employed the same agent to manage my rental property in London. My tenant of the last 5+ years is leaving and the agent has sent […]

I have just had an Electrical Installation Condition Report carried out on a flat I rent out by an NIC approved contractor. The report has come back saying the installation is satisfactory. The flat has just become vacant and I’m in the process of finding a new tenant. As far as I am aware under […]

We have a property rented to the Local Diocese of Church of England on a Company Letting Agreement for 2 years. The agreement has ended, but the permitted Occupiers refused to leave the property on the basis of the current coronavirus outbreak. We have reluctantly agreed to extend the property occupation twice with 2 months […]

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has requested a review of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in an open letter to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS). This could indicate the Chancellor is considering a future increase in the CGT levy in an attempt to shore up the UK’s finances. However, this morning in a Sky interview, Secretary […]

In a letter to the Housing Secretary, the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has expressed his concern at the prospect of the current eviction ban coming to an end on August 23rd. and wants to prevent private landlords from serving section 21 and section 8 notices where tenants have accrued arrears as a result of COVID-19. […]

The NRLA warns landlords should not have blanket policies that discriminate against those in receipt of benefits. Responding to a court case in York which has ruled that it is unlawful for landlords to discriminate in this way, Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “No landlord should discriminate against tenants, […]

Well I thought I’d finish the damn (new extended) form N5B, but I’m not sure I interpreted /answered question 15 correctly. Well question 15 itself is simple enough that’s a definite NO but after that I’m not sure if i’m supposed to disregard questions 15c-15i . So not sure if to leave them all blank, […]

I have raised the rents in nearly all my properties over the last couple of months – all by way of S13 and letters to the tenant explaining this. Just had the following message come back from one Council for one tenant who still receives Housing Benefit: “Thank you for your recent communication, I can […]

Labour’s shadow housing secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, has written an open letter to Robert Jenrick accusing the Conservatives of sneaking out a £1.3bn bung to second home owners and landlords in the Summer Economic Update. This is despite the 3% surcharge still being applied to all second homes and residential rental property. The letter dated 9 […]

Hi, I would be interested in views on the following: I received renewal Legal & Rent Guarantee Insurance documents from Rentguard (which initially I purchased through Openrent) There is the following condition in their ‘statement of fact’: “The responsibility lies with the landlord to make sure that if Tenants’ circumstances have changed from those provided […]

Selling my rental property to the Local Authority and need to serve a Section 21 notice to my tenants as well and will be talking to them. I’ve had enough of tenant and landlord regulations/legislation and having had 2 consecutive bad tenants on my other rental property I now want out. Re Q’s 6 & […]

Several video interviews have been added to our Landlord Tax Planning page for your viewing pleasure and to improve your landlord tax planning knowledge generally. Our mission is to facilitate the sharing of best practice, so please feel free to share this page on Social Media for the benefit of other landlords and their professional […]

The hit TV show Property Elevator, will be back on Property TV, Sky Channel 192 in the Autumn. In last years series, budding property investors & developers pitched for backing from the Angels and some walked away being able to make their property development dream a reality. This years Property Angels are myself, John Howard, […]

Jack Bertolone, Operations Director at Brooklands Commercial Finance, discusses with Kate Faulkner the impact of the pandemic on the UK housing market and what other initiatives the government could take to support the property market and landlords. Kate Faulkner is a UK property analyst and a regular commentator on BBC, ITV and national newspapers. Brooklands […]

This could be the Game Changer you have been waiting for. Let’s face it, the UK is unfortunately going to slip into recession and the Bank of England has predicted that there will be a 16% decline in house prices. So what does this mean for you? If you are looking to acquire more property, […]

Four out of 10 Buy to Let brokers expect to write more business in the next 12 months, Paragon Bank’s Financial Adviser Confidence Tracker (FACT) Index has revealed. The survey of more than 200 intermediaries showed that 41% of advisors said they expect more buy-to-let business, a slight dip on the 43% recorded in the […]

There has been an increase in the proportion of private renters satisfied with their housing according to data published by the Government. The figures, which form part of the English Housing Survey, show that in 2018/19, 84% of private tenants were satisfied with their accommodation, up one percentage point from the year before. This compares […]

I recently rented my property to my partners husband and children. My daughter passed away last year and we let the property over a 10 year period to them. The relationship has broken down between us and he has not paid rent for 4 months. Although he did start to pay. He had been asking […]