The government has committed to introduce mandatory five yearly electrical safety checks fir the PRS and Landlords will be legally required to ensure that the inspectors they hire to carry out safety inspections have the necessary competence and qualifications to do so with tough financial penalties for those who fail to comply. Ministry of Housing, […]

In brief, a section 21 notice was given to the tenant which expired without her leaving. A possession order was granted from the court and this expired 25/1/19. I went to the property and she’d left all apart from odd bits and rubbish. I hadn’t heard from the tenant and she hadn’t handed her keys […]

Kate Faulkner believes that the private rented sector (PRS) has to band together to ensure tenants and landlords are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities. Kate, who runs Propertychecklists.com and consultancy, Designs on Property, called for cohesion between sections of the industry in a report commissioned by the TDS Charitable Foundation; Motivating landlords and […]

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 Belfast Meeting property networking event Tuesday 5th February 2019. The event will start at 6:00pm until 9:00pm and will be free for guests of Mark Smith. To obtain your guest […]

On August the 16th 2018 I left rented accommodation to get back on the property ladder. I had been a good tenant and had a good working relationship with the landlord. All seemed well until the landlord decided to dispute the return of our deposit and on the 28th of August his complaint was logged […]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, has once again pledged to fight for rent controls in the capital – with the campaign set to be a key part of his bid for re-election next year. The mayor does not have the power to introduce such controls within his remit, however he will be asking the government to […]

Hoping to tap into the tax smarts of this community. I am working on a development deal at the moment where the landowner would like one of the completed units at the end. In general terms, what is likely to be the best way to structure something like that from a tax perspective (from their […]

My new tenant of 5 weeks in my refurbished buy to let says I must fit an electric shower for him because he has a dirty job. I recently put a new bath and taps in the house prior to him moving in. I had lost a considerable amount of money from the way the […]

I’m sure if you’re like me you’ve seen constant adverts on Facebook from the newest guru. Promotions “how to buy property with none of your own cash”, or how to make ‘£2k per month without buying a property’ etc. 99% of the time you click through and it’s a video inviting you along to a […]

NAEA Propertymark is today issuing its December Housing Report. Supply of available properties As sellers continued to market their homes in December, the supply of available housing increased by a fifth (20%) from 35 in November to 42. This is the highest level seen for the month of December since 2014. Demand for housing In […]

You wouldn’t expect your family Doctor to perform major surgery on you, so why do most landlords expect their accountants to provide tax planning advice and recommend the optimal structure for their business? Most accountants work with all types of businesses, they are general practitioners in tax. Their speciality is to ensure you have recorded […]

Dear Property118 members The government have announced that landlord redress will be mandatory in the future and they will be authorising schemes to cover landlords. They are setting up a Redress Reform Working Group to look at the practicalities of implementation and we at the Property Redress Scheme will be members of this group. Once […]

Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark and David Cox, Chief Executive, ARLA Propertymark, comments on the Government’s response to Strengthening Consumer Redress in the Housing Market consultation: “In Propertymark’s response to the consultation last year, we called for greater clarity in the system and streamlining through the creation of a single portal along with a […]

On 24th January 2019 MHCLG announced that it will become compulsory for Private Landlords in England to become members of a Redress Scheme. No dates are available yet as to when this will become law but meanwhile I have been looking into the cost implications and decided to make my membership application to the Property […]

Sadiq Khan is to make wide ranging rent controls the key policy of his 2020 re-election bid by asking the government to give the London mayoralty the power to control rent increases in the capital. The Mayor said: “We need an approach to rent stabilisation and control that works in London. Once we have set […]

A new Housing Complaints Resolution Service has been announced for the entire housing market and for the first time ever, private landlords will be legally required to join a housing redress scheme. Click here to view the MHCLG release: Private landlords will be legally required to become members of a redress scheme – with a […]

Since the roll out of Universal Credit many landlords have become more and more frustrated in DWP’s consistencies. Recently, we have seen a large amount of complaints from landlords regarding DWP’s current complaint process. DWP are failing to respond to Stage One complaints within the 15 day period as stated in their policy and in […]

Background is that we are looking to buy a new residential property and retain our current property as BTL. I work and am hitting 40% tax, my partner has no income. Reading the forum (excellent BTW) I can see that setting a declaration of trust up would enable us to use her tax free allowance. […]

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has given Lincoln Council permission to ban To Let boards in part of the city dominated by student housing. This was after a consultation requested by local residents claiming the boards were an unnecessary eyesore. The questions are if bans on boards are going to become more […]

Daily Mail article published last night, Click here to view the full article: How Britain’s £239bn buy-to-let bubble burst: Our devastating audit shows ‘amateur’ landlords have been ruined by tax penalties – and lost their pension plans The article goes on to say: “A deluge of taxes and an uncertain market has seen tens of […]

Renting became more affordable in 2018 thanks to a combination of a once-in-a-decade fall in annual rents and wage inflation, according to The Deposit Protection Service (DPS). 2018 was the first calendar year since the global financial crisis of 2008 that average rents decreased in the UK, with the percentage of wages spent on rents […]