Thanks to the only accepted hate campaign in the UK, landlords are forced to take emergency steps or leave the market NOW. Section 24 (introduced by our tenant friendly Einstein, George Osbourne) forces landlords to pay tax on their mortgage interest payments, yes money they paid as a legitimate cost of doing business and supplying […]

One of the best ways to get up to date with the law quickly is to attend the Landlord Law Conference, sponsored by TDS. And a discount is offered for Property 118 readers. This is a difficult time for landlords.  The Government, having woken up to the fact that young people living in overpriced, substandard […]

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) rules introduced at the end of September 2017 are having a significant impact on the buy-to-let mortgage market according to Paragon’s latest PRS Trends research, based on interviews with 203 experienced landlords in Q1 2018. The new rules comprise the second phase of the PRA’s buy-to-let underwriting […]

I always have a dilemma whether to do cleaning or repairs (when it definitely falls onto the tenants responsibility) at the end of a tenancy (or even during tenancy) myself or to use a contractor. Can landlords charge tenants for their time and labour repairing or cleaning as if using a contractor? Because if the […]

When Frankie Valli sang “You’re just too good to be true (I can’t take my eyes off you)” we’re pretty sure they weren’t singing about guaranteed rent. But he might as well have been. People have been deliberating the catch when it comes to guaranteed rent for years. We’ve gone through and laid out the […]

I have just seen that challenging councils for what you believe in is certainly paying off. “Barnsley Council have received a proposal to legally challenge the Council’s decision to take forward the Selective Licensing scheme in the four designations of the borough. Whilst we believe that the grounds for the decision can be evidenced, we […]

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was speaking at the Residential Landlord Association’s Future Renting North conference and suggested an amnesty to rid Manchester of ‘rogue’ landlords. This is part of the Mayor’s plan to introduce a good landlord scheme working with the RLA to tackle the ‘epidemic of insecurity’. The amnesty would include purchasing properties […]

David Salusbury, the former Chairman of the National Landlords Association (NLA), the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA), and of mydeposits, died on Saturday 21st April 2018, following a short illness. He was aged 74. After a successful 30 year career with the Royal Air Force, David joined the then Small Landlords Association (SLA) in […]

I have a lovely video I received from my letting agent today which would go well towards the argument that tenants should be held accountable for criminal damage to properties. The house was taken back after being abandoned and the tenant must have left their dog unattended as its covered in dog feces. Whilst in […]

Post Section 24 mortgage interest relief restrictions for individual landlords and the increasing demand for Buy to Let in company names there is now a record 235 fixed rate BTL deals available for limited companies. MoneyFacts.co.uk figures below show the number of Ltd co. BTL fixed rates available in the market has gone up by […]

A staggering 73% of Universal Credit (UC) tenants that rent from Housing Associations are in arrears compared to only 29% not on UC. No wonder 62% of private landlords are unwilling to let to UC claimants. These figures have been collated by Sky News using figures from the National Housing Federation for their Line 18 […]

Since the rollout of the Governments flagship benefit Universal Credit many landlords are finding themselves with tenants that are unable to pay their rent and are therefore incurring rent arrears. Universal Credit has been criticized by landlords and tenants alike mostly for maladministration, department delays in setting up claims and inconsistent and lengthy processes in […]

Please kindly sign my petition to change the rules for the Housing element part of universal credit. I am a social landlord who is being affected by the poorly thought out rules for the housing element part of universal credit. The system was fine under the local councils but so far Universal credit has cost […]

We purchased a house as a BTL in 2014 for £120,000. It’s now worth around £177,000 we only got the place so our daughter had some where to live after divorce The mortgage owed now is £56,000, and we would like to give the house to our daughter and she get a mortgage for the […]

I am told that ALL organisations, including private landlords (and their contractors), will have to be GDPR compliant by 25th May 2018. I have attending training on this and I’m getting contradictory advice from different GDPR professionals. About 4 weeks ago I was told that there is no need to register with the ICO, as […]

Hi there, I want the tenant’s mother to provide a guarantee and indemnity (not just a guarantee). Does any kind member have a sample document I could use? Many thanks Seaworthy Editors Note: An indemnity creates a primary obligation ie the indemnitor is directly liable for any loss. A guarantee creates a secondary obligation where […]

My wife and I previously owned 4 buy to let properties. Unfortunately, we were two of the many victims of the financial crises. We have since sold three of the properties and are currently carrying over a loss year on year. We have one investment property left that is rented out and paid for, providing […]

Landlords with between 6 and 20 properties in their portfolio have increased from 35% to 39% of those surveyed according to Paragon’s latest PRS Trends research, based on interviews with 203 experienced landlords in Q1 2018. This follows a drop in the proportion of landlords in the 3 to 5 property bracket at the end […]

Following the latest inflation figure decrease to 2.5%, and softer economic data, Mark Carney has indicated that the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are less likely to increase the Bank Base rate from 0.5% when it next meets on the 10th of May. Mark Carney was talking to the BBC at the IMF […]

We have 5 properties (a mix of family let and HMOs) which we currently own and manage in a general partnership. All the properties are unencumbered (no mortgages) and we wish to incorporate our business via s.162. So far, so clear. The next hurdle is to either go down the BICT route necessitating two or […]

“We have received evidence that civil penalties are not strong enough to deter landlords who are prepared to commit the most serious offences, and fines issued through the courts are often insufficient to make prosecutions worthwhile. We believe local authorities should have the power to levy more substantial fines, which might stand a chance of […]