I’m a large Buy to Let HMO landlord renting room by room in Aberdeen and have already been hit with plummeting enquiries from the Corona Virus and oil crash. I foresee difficult times ahead. Has anyone been in discussion with their lenders regarding a landlord mortgage holiday? I see press reports for homeowners being offered […]

The other week we had a report from the tenant saying that the dishwasher wasn’t working. We asked them to check the fuse-box and check the troubleshooting in the manual. They did this so we booked an engineer to come round at a cost of £135. The engineer sent by the manufacturer said there was […]

Waltham Forest have made changes to their renewed licence scheme that comes into effect on 1st May such that additional licensing will apply to smaller houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) that are not covered by the mandatory HMO or selective licence schemes. We have many such properties that have 3-4 unrelated renters. However, planning permission […]

I’m going through some financial challenges and the best way out was to sell my Buy to Let property. I submitted an accelerated procedure form to evict my tenant as I need to sell the house due to financial pressure. I offered to pay the tenant a months rent + deposit to facilitate her moving […]

My Buy to Let mortgage is coming up for renewal in June. My existing tenancy agreement ends in mid May. The lender is insisting that I have a 6 month AST in place when I renew the mortgage – is that normal? My current tenants would like to extend but with rolling 2 months notice […]

We do not accept housing benefit and always make sure that tenants are working. We also put on our lease that Housing benefit is not accepted and that if the tenant needs to claim it, we will have to give them 2 months notice. Is this OK, as the tenant is fully aware at the […]

A landlord tells of his ongoing dealings with a ‘corporate let’ company who promised him an embassy tenant, but instead have turned his property into party central. When Panos Lassi bought his three-bed flat in Chelsea, he decided it made more financial sense to rent it out to cover the large mortgage and to rent […]

I have a client who has just approached me with a problem. He moved to London 2 years ago and let his house to a friend and her daughter. He wants to sell so the friend/tenant went to the council (he doesn’t know why but I have informed her it will be because she doesn’t […]

We are in the process of selling a leasehold flat, and have been asked to provide an EWS1 form which, in brief, confirms that the block is compliant with the safety regs that came into force after Grenfell. Without this, the value of the flat is essentially zero, because the lender won’t lend, because insurers […]

The proposed scheme will cover 51,000 properties across County Durham! Landlords will have to pay up to £590 for each property in this area which could net the Council more than £25,000 000 in licence fees. Durham County Council (DCC) claim that their scheme will cover almost two thirds of the county, by area, but […]

Ben Beadle has just been announced as a keynote speaker at the Property Investor Show returning to the Excel Centre, London with the first event on Friday 3rd April and Saturday 4th April. Ben Beadle, boss of the soon to be NRLA (National Residential Landlords Association), the consequence of the proposed merger between the RLA […]

The Latest Halifax house price index report for February is indicating prices in February were 2.8% higher than in the same month a year earlier with the average house price of now £240,677 nationally. On a monthly basis, house prices rose by 0.3% and in the latest quarter (December to February) house prices were 2.9% […]

As a director of a Limited company can I charge interest on loans offered to my company and what is the allowable interest Permitted by HMRC? Many thanks. Malcolm Editors Note: From HMRC >> https://www.gov.uk/directors-loans/you-lend-your-company-money If you lend your company money: Your company does not pay Corporation Tax on money you lend it. If you […]

I am looking to purchase a converted house that is showing on land registry as 20 and 20a. However, this is a freehold property and on completion I will be issued with a new 125 year lease, making it a leasehold. The other flat will be the same. My problem is the lender seems to […]

Richard Murphy of Tax Research LLP, a Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City, University of London and regular columnist for AccountingWEB.co.uk, claims Landlords should bear the cost of Coronavirus and provide three months free rent to tenants who contract Covid-19. Murphy claims: “As a matter of statutory right any tenant should be […]

I’m just wondering whether you can tell me definitively from a legal point of view: I have lodgers in my house and the fourth bedroom is mine. I have been offered a summer job abroad which could see me going away up until mid December. Does this affect my live-in landlord status? I don’t want […]

I am extremely ill informed as to what to do next. If someone could point me in the right direction, whether it be advice on here, or which professional I should be taking to about this  – I am happy to pay for a solicitor if that’s what’s needed The building is a 2 story […]

The property industry will be hoping that housing is a top priority in the upcoming Budget, set to be delivered by new Chancellor Rishi Sunak on March 11. It is the first Budget from the new government elected in December and although it could be a quiet day for the private rented sector, the industry […]

I would appreciate your views on the following. I had a new tenant sign up for a 12 month (fixed-term) AST for a room at £550 pcm. I gave the tenant the option of providing a deposit equal to 5 months’ rent or for him to set up an arrangement with a no-deposit scheme equal […]

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 Stoke-on-Trent Meeting property networking event Wednesday 11th March 2020. The event will be held at the Premier Inn, Stoke Trentham Gardens, Stone Road, Stoke-On-Trent, ST4 8JG The Event hosts are […]

The Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association is warning rent controls in London would be a disaster for aspiring tenants as the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, puts calls to introduce them at the heart of his re-election bid. Khan’s proposals come despite experts reporting the danger rent controls would cause at a […]