I went to county court on Friday and the Judge at first said I had not submitted counter claim and that I would not be able to speak. I then told him where my counterclaim was on the papers submitted by the estate agent with my writing on it. This is what the Judge had […]

Sajid Javid wants more houses building, but his other policies are forcing thousands to be homeless with Nottingham City Council’s Selective Licensing. My Letter to Sajid Javid, Dear Sajid I am having to make 350 people homeless this year because of your decision to allow this Selective Licensing. You have granted Nottingham Council permission for […]

The results of Belvoir’s Q4 rental index, and a survey of landlord trends, according to a recent Halifax review, confirm that significantly less stock is coming on to the market, putting further pressure on the PRS. From a tenant’s perspective, the good news is that tenancy lengths are naturally increasing, and arrears and evictions are […]

My tenant since 2010 has refused to sign an AST tenancy agreement since May 2014. She gave me notice that she wanted to move out in Oct 2015, but when I went to do the checkout (17.12.15) she refused to move out as I said I couldn’t give her her deposit back there and then […]

Are the larger landlords associations conflicted? Only a few weeks ago we heard the Telford and Wrekin Council had abandoned their proposals for Selective Licensing of landlords due to overwhelming feedback advising against it. Clearly these Councils can be persuaded against the introduction of Selective Licensing if enough people take the time and effort to explain […]

Regular subscribers to this site may have seen my critique of the Economist article on buy-to-let. Click Here to view original article. What follows is my reply to the reply by Tom Wainwright, their Britain Editor. I am still waiting for their next reply. I fear it may never come… Dear Tom Thanks very much […]

We’re buying a new home to live in ourselves & have therefore been trying to sell our current main home. This is taking longer than we wanted and we’re on a timeline as the builders for the new home set the exchange and completion dates according to their build schedule. My IFA suggested that rather […]

As an accountant I know the Capital Gains rules regarding selling a BLT property that you once lived in. However, has any one got any advise on the rules in selling part of the garden of a house you once lived in. How do you calculate the base cost to use in the computation to […]

I have recently filled out my tax return, and in checking over my accounts, found that one tenant missed one payment. It was a flat share and the other rents for the other rooms had come in. I hadn’t noticed the missing rent at the time. This tenant has now left. I have an email […]

The following post is based on an article first published on Bill Irvine’s website. He covers a topic close to the heart of all landlords involved with benefit dependent tenants. The message he promotes is something I can relate to as I’m dealing with landlords every day of the week faced with similar rental loss. […]

The number of properties available to rent in London stood at 46% below the national average in January, ARLA Propertymark reveals. As landlords are increasingly priced out of the capital, tenants are finding themselves up against stiff competition for rental properties. In January, letting agents in London were typically managing 99 properties, compared to a […]

Subject to approval by Parliament more properties will fall under Mandatory HMO licensing by this October. Currently Mandatory HMO licensing cover the standard definition of 3 story, 5 occupants in 2 or more families. Now the regulations will also cover purpose built flats where there are up to 2 flats in the block. Click Here […]

44% of Scottish tenants saw their rent costs rise in January, a considerable contrast to the national average of 19%, ARLA Propertymark reveals. The findings come following the introduction of the new Private Rented (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act on 1st December 2017, highlighting a market reaction to indefinite tenancies and the potential for rent controls. David […]

Due to the Anti Money Laundering regulations of 2017 changes, when the regulator changed from OFT to HMRC, we are legally obliged to carry out an AML check on all our landlords to ensure everyone is compliant with the law. During the next few weeks we are going having to undertake the checks on all […]

We bought a house as an investment rental property in January 2016. A new boiler had been fitted in December 2015 so we were fairly confident that we would not be incurring expense on the boiler for a few years. We had used an agent for various activities on the marketing and letting process and […]

If anyone is interested is seeing some pointless, mind-numbing questions ( and have insomnia ) take a look at the below.  –  my response email to them is ; – ” What a pointless and complex mind-numbing set of questions, What are you trying to achieve, – certainly not engagement with a significant number of […]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies issued the Briefing Note “The decline of homeownership among young adults” on 16 February. It contained findings, but did not make any recommendations. The key findings were: Today’s young adults are significantly less likely to own a home at a given age than those born only five or ten years […]

Boosting confidence in the industry Virgin Money is to enter portfolio Buy to Let mortgage market this year. Virgin Money announced: “Overall, we achieved a market share of gross lending of 3.3% despite lowering volumes towards the end of the year to manage margins and protect returns in an increasingly competitive market. “Further progress in […]

I wish to remove some of my properties from Haart Lettings in Fleet due to several reasons. These include be over-charged by tradesmen they have employed, lack of property management and generally very poor value for money. When raising the question of how much notice was required to take back management myself, I was told […]

If I buy a property, do it up, and sell it on, I think I have to pay income tax  on the profit. If I buy a property, do it up, put in a tenant, then sell it down the line, I have to pay CGT. My question is: What is the cross over point […]

Lettings agent Nicholas George recently admitted indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex, settling out of court with single mother Rosie Keogh. She was paid £2,000 compensation, because her application was refused on the grounds of being in receipt of benefits. The action was reported today on the BBC news website (Click here to read […]