Ranjan Bhattacharya – Baker Street Property Meet In 2016, Chancellor George Osborne introduced a 3% SDLT surcharge on all investment property purchases. Many buy to let investors stopped buying in high value areas like London and the South East because the SDLT surcharge made the purchase uneconomic. But if you know how, the 3% SDLT […]

Private landlords have lost faith in the Conservative Party, with only 15.75% of NLA members now saying they would support them in an election. Are Landlords now the elephant in the room for the Tories? This polling, conducted shortly after the once strongly pro-business party announced its intention to abolish the no fault section 21 possession process and end fixed-term […]

My Son lived at home with us in Surrey until he went to work in Canada 9 years ago. He bought a home there. He has now returned to the UK after selling up in Canada and has bought a home in Yorkshire. He was charged 3% stamp duty. QUESTION: As he is a first-time […]

I decided to rent my property, as I was moving to India for an year to take care of my ill parents. I’ve handed over my property keys to the letting agent who I know and said that he has recently started his own letting agency, we’ve agreed on a fully managed service. Things I […]

We have come across an interesting wrinkle in building control. We own a lot of apartments in a building (about 25% of the building) and have been issued with LABC building control completion certs for each unit with no caveat on them. We have recently been told as we are dealing with a potential cladding issue […]

Make No mistake both The Conservative Party and The Labour Party intend to Nationalise The Private Sector Landlord. The scrapping of the Section 21 Notice, which both are committed to, means just one thing. Lifetime tenancies! For the Private Sector Landlord (PSL) he will never get his money out and we will be back in […]

Founder of Landlord Action, Paul Shamplina, has written to the Housing Minister, Heather Wheeler, inviting her to gain a greater understanding of the possession process before making drastic reforms.  This comes after a survey¹ carried out by Landlord Action has revealed that 38% of landlords will consider selling up if the Government goes ahead with […]

And so the onslaught against private landlords continues. Earlier this month, we were shocked to hear that a cornerstone of tenancy law in the UK was to be overturned, with the scrapping of Section 21. Farcically, we were told that a consultation would take place after the decision had been made. This was an unexpected […]

Dr Rosalind Beck wrote an article for Conservative home titled, ‘It’s not just EU policy that’s driving conservative voters towards the Brexit Party.’ Click here to view the full article. In this article Dr Beck quotes that 40% of Tory councillors and 60% of Tory activists say they will vote for the Brexit Party and […]

The European Elections are on us next week. If you wish to exercise a Protest Vote then do so with care. If you wish to not vote for the Party you normally vote for that is one vote less for that Party! However, if you vote for another major party you could well jumping out […]

Hi everyone, We are in the process of buying a property and we have just found out that the loft conversion (into a bedroom) was done without planning permission or building regulations. This work was done probably over 25 years ago (windows are dated 1993) well before the current owners moved in. I asked my […]

Landlords be warned – From 1st June 2019 if you take a holding deposit (which must not exceed one week’s rent) ahead of a new letting, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 says it must be repaid if you go ahead with the tenancy agreement. Yes, if you complete the tenancy, you are supposed to repay the […]

Firstly, I would like to welcome our new members who joined over the last few weeks. Your support is vital to our cause. The Alliance will be releasing a major press statement next week with further progress. However, from our constructive meeting with Sefton council, landlords nationwide can now refuse to engage with or proceed […]

We bought the property in 1988 for 79K. its current value is 500 – 550K. In 2011 I became ill and could no longer work so we rented out the property in Wokingham as it was cheaper to live on one salary in the north where we had bought another property. Question: Do we sell […]

Paragon is expanding its specialist buy-to-let mortgage range with new short term finance products for property acquisition and refurbishment. The short term finance products are designed to help landlords planning to purchase and improve property, as well as those looking to upgrade already-owned property to achieve a better yield. The range includes three different options […]

Prices start from only £71,960 for a spacious, one bed apartment with secure parking, rising to only £85,596 for a two bed. We are delighted to have secured 20% off the list prices! Leef Properties have given us predicted rentals PCM of up to £475 for a one-bed and up to £575 for a two-bed, resulting in incredible yields of […]

Obviously I have an obligation to protect the deposits of my tenants, but having had 2 poor experiences with My Deposits on the only 2 occasions I’ve had big issues (I have had over 250 deposits protected) I wonder if there is an alternative that gives a less biased dispute service. I’ve just had a […]

Early intervention between landlords and tenants across the UK is resulting in many more deposit disputes being resolved by agreement, without the need to go to adjudication according to Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). By law, each deposit protection scheme must offer free dispute resolution services for tenants, landlords and agents who can’t agree how deposits […]

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 Swansea Meeting property networking event Thursday 23rd May 2019. The event will start at 6:00pm until 9:00pm and will be free for guests of Mark Smith that have not previously […]

Many of you will be aware of the Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz case.  In short, the landlord, Caridon Property, failed to obtain a possession order based on their Section 21 notice, because His Honour Judge Jan Luba QC ruled that that the requirements of the Deregulation Act 2015 meant their failure to issue […]

I have a buy to let mortgage and landlords insurance and when I initially took out the mortgage I did not intend to let to a family member, I have since let to my wife’s sister and the property has had a major fire, it is in the hands of the insurance loss adjuster. Yesterday […]