Like all employers in the South East I was heavily dependent on an East European workforce. On 1st October, 2018 at 7.30am a Hungarian workman did not turn up for work. He telephoned to say he was on the ferry heading for Calais as he had been offered a job the previous night in Germany. […]

Hi I’m a fairly new landlord would like to ask for some advice please. I rented my flat to a company (they do short lets to tourists and guarantee me a rent each month), but their tenants are causing a lot of trouble to neighbours, noises etc. Therefore, I have to terminate the tenancy early, […]

Last Thursday Hilary Burkitt, the Head of Research at Shelter, spoke about the PRS on the BBC’s Politics Live programme, about 22 minutes from the start. click here She said “people don’t have the stability at the moment, they can be chucked out by their landlords at a moment’s notice”. That is untrue. Shelter’s own […]

A property managing agent who used ‘ghost tenants’ as a front so that she could cram 16 people into one over-crowded house has been hit with a £26,000 fine. The council property licensing team received an application to register the property on Eastfield Road, E17, as a single-family dwelling. However, suspicious officers investigated further and […]

Hello All, Last week, I carried out a general check up/inspection/’how’s it going?’ visit at the same time as a periodic electrical inspection. This was arranged with the tenant by text/phone. It was surreal. I have never been in this position before. The tenant, (a couple and their two small children), were not there. Neither […]

We have had our tenant in our property for 2 years on an initial 24 month tenancy, for which, we of course paid agents fees of 6%. Now we have come up to renewal time and naively I did not realise we are liable for fee’s for another 2 years still. 4% for 12 months […]

The Government’s proposal is for the vast majority of new houses to be freehold with ground rents for new leases capped at £10. Housing Minister, James Brokenshire, said: “Unfair ground rents can turn a homeowner’s dream into a nightmare by hitting them in the back pocket, and making their property harder to sell. That’s why […]

My wife and I jointly own the freehold of a building and I own the four individual leasehold flats contained in this building (as, I hope I am right in saying you are not allowed to own both the freehold and the leasehold of the same building) If we want to sell one of the […]

Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, was on the Victoria Derbyshire programme on Wednesday. The subject was homeless single mothers. These people are of great importance to  Shelter because it hopes to use them to get a court ruling that discrimination against claimants of housing benefit is unlawful, based on the following argument: a ban on […]

The Finance Minister for Ireland, Paschal Donohoe, described his budget as a “caring” budget that will secure Ireland’s future. Donohoe confirmed landlords would receive relief of up to 100% of the interest paid on loans for the purchase or refurbishment of residential property. 100% interest relief has been brought forward to come into effect on […]

I have let a house to a company under a company let. The lease allows me to give one month’s notice at any time after 6 months. When I give notice, I was unclear whether the eviction date needs to coincide with the rent date? I.e. if the normal rent payment date is 15th of […]

I have a rental flat, the rented flat above has had a leak from their bathroom into the ceiling of our flat for at least two years. Due to the construction of the ceiling the true extent of the issue has not been obvious until now, there was two layers of rockwool soaking up the […]

The Government today launched a £20m scheme to be launched through Local authorities to alleviate the Homeless crisis. This scheme depends on and indeed needs the support of the PRS to work. Click here to view – Private Rented Sector Access Fund: prospectus “Invitation for local authorities to apply for funding to create new private […]

One BHM is a new buy to let in Birmingham city centre, occupying a much-coveted B1 post code. It is a collection of 165 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments based in Birmingham’s city centre. The location is ideal for young professionals wanting a convenient commute to work and is also close to several attractions such […]

Queens House is a new residential development in central Sheffield comprising of 99 luxury studio, one, and two-bedroom apartments. From a leisure perspective it is close to many amenities, including a shopping centre, the O2 Academy, Odeon cinema and many fashionable bars and quirky cafes. It is also within a fifteen-minute walk of Sheffield’s train […]

Future elections are set to be influenced much more powerfully by the UK’s growing contingent of private renters than ever before, suggests new research from AXA Insurance*. While 53% of private renters voted in 2017 – a noticeable jump on previous elections, that would rise further to a 69% turnout if a snap election were […]

If your own residential or landlord property then you need to be sure you are insured when the property is empty. You’ll find in most insurance policies that unoccupancy is not well catered for and could end up costing you thousands of pounds in a claim due to small print. Here’s Property 118’s guide to […]

I have a question regarding losses due to currency fluctuations and capital gains tax. I bought several apartments in Poland during the period 2006 to 2008 using Swiss franc mortgages. As is well known to those involved in the Eastern European property market at the time, the Swiss franc subsequently strengthened significantly against the Polish […]

If you search on Shelter’s website for Annual Report you will be given a link with that name which takes you to a page called “How we spend your money” This states, “For every £1 you donate 79p is spent directly on helping people through advice, support and campaigning 21p is spent on fundraising.” Click […]

Only a handful of English councils have said they know now many properties in their area are covered by new regulations governing safety and overcrowding, leaving potentially tens of thousands of flats and bedsits to continue operating illegally, new research has revealed The Government has estimated that new rules governing dangerous and overcrowded properties, introduced […]

Who is liable for Council Tax if the tenant leaves before the contract ends? I’m looking for help and advice here from those in the know. I seem to remember a similar thread in the past somewhere on this forum. Any help or advice greatly appreciated. Using a local Agent for all services, including management, […]