Rent-to-Rent (R2R) is taught in many property training courses, but what they don’t tell you is that the paperwork is not so straightforward, especially if they are used as HMOs. And yet I get letters every week from companies wanting to “ease this burden” and run my HMOs for me. I would be grateful for […]

I rent a self contained 2 bedroom, 1 lounge, small kitchen and 1 bathroom flat to 2 unrelated girls, one is my daughter. Therefore NOT an HMO. One of the girls, not my daughter, now has a steady boyfriend who she stays with some nights during the week at his rental property. But when she […]

Not only is it the start of a new year, but a new Decade, and in a few years time, we will look back at 2020 and realise that it was probably one of the best investing opportunities of this Decade. The question is, are you ready for 2020? In this first article for 2020, […]

Out of the Blue the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has called on landlords to make it easier for responsible tenants to have well behaved pets in their homes as he announced an overhaul of the model tenancy contracts. The Press Statement says: More young people and families than ever before are renting and should be […]

2020 is upon us and the Government has announced it intends to remove so-called no-fault evictions and magically to make one tenancy deposit serve two masters (details awaited). Last year’s Tenant Fees Act 2019 (TFA) is the gift that keeps on taking (from landlords). Ostensibly a measure to prevent rip-off fees, it prohibits all payments […]

I got permission to let my property in 2018 so that I could do some travelling. I’ve now got the not so fun part of sorting out the taxes for 18/19. First tenant: I let the property July 2018 until Feb 2019. This was without an agent and I received monthly payments. Second tenant: Let […]

New government press release today: More than 100 councils across England have been awarded a share of over £4 million to crack down on criminal landlords and letting agents, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has announced.  The majority of landlords provide decent homes for their tenants, but a small minority persist in breaking the law, […]

Government funding to root out criminal landlords is welcome, but inadequate to tackle the scale of the problem, the RLA has said. Ministers have today confirmed details of more than 100 local authorities in England which will share £4 million in new funding, as part of what it describes as a “crackdown on criminal landlords”. […]

I owned properties in my name and completed self assessment returns. I set up a company and eventually bought property through the company and submitted dormant returns. This is the first time I need to submit a return for the company. I collated all the figures, but when I tried to complete the return for […]

Research by Hamilton Fraser’s deposit alternative scheme Ome, has looked at the real cost of a tenancy deposit for those that have to borrow the money in order to overcome the initial financial hurdle of renting. For many, the average tenant deposit cost of £1,299 is manageable but the issue is the requirement to pay […]

Leading tenant eviction law firm, Landlord Action, says they have numerous cases where court delays and administrative errors mean evictions are taking longer than ever, pushing landlords into further debt. One case has taken nearly a year and the landlord is still no closer to gaining possession.  Founder, Paul Shamplina, says investment in the court […]

Two years ago my Nan, who had dementia, went into a care home. In order to help pay for the care home we (her family) decided to rent out her home, which she was the sole owner of. My mother had Power of Attorney so was able to act on my Nan’s behalf. The tenants […]

I am the named tenant on my current lease. I have a permitted occupier living with me who I would like to have vacated. What is the best way to go about vacating them from the property? Their status on the lease is merely a ‘permitted occupier’ status, can I simply give them a month’s […]

Since moving into the house the washing machine has been leaking. The tenant has used a large number of bath towels to save the carpet, but can any related over-spill be construed as damage to the carpet caused by the tenant? None of the above electrical items seems to have been PAT tested, although the […]

Hello Everybody, I’m new here so excuse any errors. I ran into some financial difficulties and decided to let my flat out (6 months tenancy) to a couple who deceived me by their lies. I admit I am a bit gullible and new to this. They moved into the Essex flat and now telling all […]

I would welcome advice on the following. I issued a tenant with a 6 months short hold tenancy agreement and obtained a letter from a guarantor for any non payment of rent by the tenant. The tenancy has rolled over into a periodic tenancy. Is the guarantor still liable for any non payment? My query […]

As we rapidly approach the end of the year, and the end of this Decade, I would like to help you to get a flying start to 2020, because I believe it is going to be a great year to invest in property, as long as you know what you are doing. There is still […]

We managed to evict a tenant after getting a CCJ, but the Court did not register it with the Registry Trust. We have discovered she is a serial offender with multiple CCJs, but none are registered so she can keep conning new landlords who will be unaware of her evictions or CCJs. It is not […]

A petition has been started on Change.org, click here, ‘Charity ‘ – Shelter CEO’s on £125 K – Year, should NOT receive Honours. Polly Neate, Chief Executive of the so called housing charity Shelter, has been honoured with a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list. This will be particularly controversial with Landlords and Lettings […]

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick spent the evening volunteering on Christmas Day at Birmingham Christmas Shelter, which was open throughout the day and night during Christmas week and welcomes up to 150 guests daily. The team at the shelter provide hot food and drinks as well as entertainment, services, clothing and a safe and warm place for […]

A year ago I sold a property that was used loosely as self contained units/bedsits. The new owner knew that it did not have full planning consent for this use – it had previously been a hostel, then HMO (I had an HMO license) when licensing came in and a few were altered further. The […]