I have a familiar problem with a tenant owing rent, and we have taken out a CCJ against them. He is still in the limbo period where he has a chance to pay but we’re not holding out much hope as he is a tricky customer. He is personally responsible for the debt, it is […]

We own a semi detached freehold house which is ex local authority. The other half of the semi is converted into two flats, which are let out. Both of the flats are owned by the same person. The owner of the two flats (the vendor) is selling the ground floor flat, and her daughter will […]

Stamp duty receipts in decline in tandem with BTL SDLT income take down: “Transactions have fallen by 2.6% in 2018 and now stand at just over 1 million. This compares with HM Land Registry data for 2018, which reports a 4% fall. On a more granular level, HRAD transactions, i.e. those which include the 3% […]

HOMELET’s Rental Index figures for January 2019 have been released. The headlines from this month’s report are: The average rent in the UK is now £932, up by 2.5% on the same time last year When London is excluded, the average rent in the UK is now £775, this is up by 2% on last […]

The latest homeless statistics from Shelter Scotland have been released. Click here to view the full report. Some particular points I noticed were: 1. Homeless applications have increased for the first time in 9 years. Could this be related to the introduction of lifetime tenancies? 2. Only 11% of homeless applications were the result of […]

WE have owned a house for 30 years and it has been rented by tenants for the last 5 years. Property was purchased for around £60k and is currently worth around £500k. The implications of the proposed changes to CGT in 2020 would leave us with a large tax bill. How would the CGT liability […]

I have recently been the victim of my local authority reassessing what was originally an HMO, which I converted in the early 1990’s, now as 8 separate flats, with the ruinous financial consequences likely to put me out of business. From the research I have done, it seems this is a new trick that councils […]

Our members and P118 readers will be aware that we have alerted the information commissioner with respect to mass data GDPR breaches by local authorities. Furthermore we are now receiving complaints from members that the ICO are not even responding to complaints. We have directly informed Elizabeth Denham. Are the ICO interested in clamping down […]

The new Landlords Alliance has only been operating a few months and we would like to say to all our members and to P118 a huge Thank You. We have been working hard investigating these horrible greedy organisations called councils who set up dubious licensing schemes to rob cash from landlords on the basis that […]

Special offer for Property 118 readers: Things are getting tougher and tougher for landlords.  Despite Brexit, the Government is continually bringing in new rules and regulations – with more planned for the future.  How can you possibly keep up with them all? One solution is the Landlord Law Service from landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa […]

Bob and his brother Richard own six rental properties in a Limited Company, another six in joint ownership and three each in their sole names. Richard owns another three properties jointly with his two sons, two jointly with his wife and another jointly with his mother. Bob owns two further properties with each of his […]

Two of my former Tax Planning Consultation clients (Steve and Debbie) sent me the following email this week and have since asked me to share it, together with my response, with all Property118 members. “Hi Mark My accountants have suggested that if we pay ourselves a small salary we will actually pay less tax. He […]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today voted unanimously to maintain Bank Rate at 0.75% with a reduction in forecast growth slowing inflationary pressures. The Office for National Statistics estimates that the size of the UK economy increased by 0.3% in the three months to November, around half the rate of growth seen […]

I had paid the Southend council’s HMO license fee of £920 per property  and filled in their paper application (hand written) in Sep 2018. Both of my properties are standard 2 floor properties with 5 tenants in each.  They have been inspected by the council in the past and maintained to good standards. When the […]

I’m trying to compile a list of top tips specifically aimed at landlords renovating BTL properties. So I’m focusing more on longevity and cost, rather than all the bells and whistles/creature comforts you find in most articles online. I’m also focusing on internal refurbs only, and not major structural issues or extensions. So far, I’ve […]

People claiming Universal Credit are still struggling to pay for the roof over their heads, despite the wait for their first payment being reduced from 6 weeks to 5, new Citizens Advice data shows. 1 in 2 people the charity helped were in rent arrears or fell behind on their mortgage payments, the same number […]

My Husband and I (in our 50’s) bought a house, our first one together. We managed to save up the deposit and recover our credit over 15 years to get a mortgage. Shortly after completing I fell ill and had to move into a bungalow, but I am still working for now. The house has […]

Property ownership comes in two forms: legal ownership and beneficial interest. The two are usually united, but they can be separated. The legal owner of a property is the person who is registered at HM Land registry, whereas beneficial owners are entitled to enjoy the economic benefits of the property, e.g. to occupy it and/or […]

The English Private Landlord Survey profile of landlords shows the average gross rental income for all landlords is only £15,000 and that 61% have a gross rental income of £20,000 or less. By the time you factor in ever increasing costs and taxation it should be obvious that being a landlord is not some get rich […]

So, our property company pays corporation tax at 19%. If we then declare a dividends, due to being a higher rate tax-payers we pay another 32.5% tax personally, and the company receives no tax credit for that. That’s a net effective tax rate of 51.5% – ouch! Having said that, it’s still a lot better […]

The recent discussion over the future of the S21 process makes us wonder what protection does a landlord have when letting via Airbnb et al? What happens if the guest outstays their welcome and stops paying? Airbnb could keep taking card payment until either the card is blocked or runs out of credit, but how […]