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 Clapham Meeting property networking event Tuesday 5th March 2019. The event will start at 6:00pm until 9:00pm and will be free for guests of Mark Smith that have not previously […]

Hi everyone. I would like to seek advice on final rent as terminated by my tenants. Original AST signed through agent (introduction service) on 27/10/15 for 12 months. An amendment was signed directly with tenants on 27/10/17 with rent increased, other clauses remain. New deposit certificate issued although deposit amount unchanged. After 27/10/18 the contract […]

In December 2015 I was notified, under a section 20, that work needed to be undertaken to the car park at a cost of £497.38 per flat (24 flats in block) which we paid in December 2015. Part of the work was completed in 2016, but work ceased due to additional work that was needed. […]

I came across this posting on another forum and wanted to share it with P118. “Sian Berry, The Green Party’s London Mayor candidate plans to introduce a right to buy for tenants. Sian Berry has been influential to Sadiq Khan, The London Mayor who has adopted Green policies and also Jeremy Corbyn so there is […]

The High Court in a ruling this morning have said it will be illegal to roll the “Right to Rent” scheme in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland without further evaluation! This is the much criticised regulation requiring landlords to be HM Border Force officials and document proof that a tenant has the right to stay […]

Croydon are doing a consultation so they can implement borough wide Article 4 restriction on HMOs. Their main claim is that 3 bed or more houses are being lost to HMO conversions. Details can be found: Click here The ‘evidence’ is dubious. If you look at there evidence report, there is Figure 1, page 10 […]

The Times has highlighted a First-Tier tribunal ruling that overturned a decision to charge the additional 3% stamp duty for a second property, because it was not deemed suitable to be used as a dwelling on the date of purchase. HMRC have to date applied the stamp duty surcharge for properties capable of being used […]

We are delighted to offer two amazing opportunities within this high specification refurbishment, in the sought after L25 postcode of Gateacre. We have been able to secure discounted prices exclusively for our investors.  The spacious 2-bed apartment is available for only £170,000 and the beautiful studio apartment for only £90,000.  According to local letting agents, these outstanding […]

Sorry last property now sold We are delighted to offer our investors one final opportunity to invest at this fantastic Newton Road development in St Helens, near Liverpool. Having already sold 6 plots at this popular development, and we have been offered one final 2-bed, build complete property for the amazing price of £117,500 with an anticipated […]

Dear Information Commissioner, DWP are disclosing multiple tenants’ National insurance numbers to me. I am also copying in some of the Universal Credit UC staff that I have been sending the below to, some quite high up people actually, so you can see the UC Director Generals know about this, but have done nothing. The […]

Private landlord, Rob Bloor, has received a payout of £100,000 by Doncaster Council after he threatened to take the council to court over alleged slander. This was reported in the Doncaster Free Press yesterday. Mr Bloor alleges the council had slandered him by making unfounded and disparaging remarks regarding his honesty to people who were […]

Please see this BBC iplayer link for the Inside Out North East episode 25th Febuary. It shows an environmental health officer inspecting problem properties. At 9.14 mins you get the council view acknowledging licensing plans could put rents up! At 11.10 mins Chris Jackson asks landlords to get in touch if they don’t agree with […]

James asked …. I asked some accountants about the directors loan in a company and they said you could gift the directors loan as a potentially exempt transfer for IHT purposes (tick! ?) but that from the moment, you as a director could then not ever have that money repaid to you from the company loan […]

This furnished holiday let investment opportunity is based on an operational holiday resort based in Cornwall – a popular tourist destination for British and overseas holidaymakers alike. As the site is successfully trading, the developer is looking to expand and therefore investors will have the opportunity to purchase the additional homes that will be built […]

It has just been announced that the Government are holding a consultation on the enforcement of possession orders. At present there are two routes to possession; the High Court route and the County Court route, both with different legislative and administrative processes. The consultation is looking at the differences in each approach and how the […]

A new free training course which guides letting agents through the key principles of disputes, has been released by The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) and the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS). Deposit Disputes  is an online training module written by The DPS’ Head of Adjudication and is available in The DPS Training Hub section […]

I have an ex tenant, who faced with the prospect of a confirmed court hearing under section 8 ground 8 has voluntarily terminated the tenancy AFTER the hearing date has been set. What are the advantages (if any) of continuing with the court action bearing in mind the additional costs involved to myself such as […]

If you have 15 or more properties do you pay the normal rate of Stamp Duty or is it the higher rate with the 3% surcharge? When the changes regarding Stamp Duty were first being discuss it was mentioned that if you had 15 properties or more you would only pay the basic rate of […]

Just to let you know, Lambeth Council are seeking views from tenants in the PRS in the borough. I’ve pasted an excerpt below and the story can be found if you click here I’m curious to know what additional support and advice the council are contemplating, or is it a route to further regulation via […]

I’m only aware of one bad tenants database and I would like to know whether there are any others? landlordreferencing.co.uk is the bad tenants database I have used in the past, but bad tenants names rarely appear when it is searched. I don’t think enough people know about it, my agents certainly didn’t. The reason I […]

It has recently been reported that according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), there are 1.67 million homeowners in the UK on some form of interest-only mortgage. That accounts for over 17% of all borrowers. Subsequently, many of these borrowers are at risk of not having enough money to pay off their loans when they […]