Limited Company BTL mortgages are now available up to 85% LTV and rates start from 3.09%. The buy-to-let market has been hit by numerous tax changes in the last couple of years. Two of the main ones being: the introduction of a 3% Stamp Duty surcharge Until April of this year private landlords could deduct […]

With banks offering minimal returns on your savings, are there savvier ways to invest your money? For those approaching retirement age, they may have been considering investing in a buy to let for retirement income. Retirement property investments generate healthy returns and give the investor time to decide whether they would wish to move in […]

A survey carried out by LetBritain of 2000 UK adults shows that 39% are financial unable to purchase the home they would like and are reliant on the Private Rental Sector (PRS) to meet their needs. In London this jumps to a whopping 49% who are unable to purchase, because of the disparity in house […]

I have just responded to a Facebook post by axe the tenant tax, the post was about landlords losing confidence with rental profits. The article ended with the fact that rental yields are holding up at 6% I have done some calculations and would like those good at the maths to make comment or provide […]

Have you heard of selective licencing? Well it is really bad news for landlords. In 19 years of being a landlord, this is by far the worst crisis to hit me. You really need to watch out for this and guard against it. My local council, Telford and Wrekin, want to apply to the secretary […]

In this case study, learn how long term Shawbrook Bank customer HMO Property Investments Ltd used finance to transform a derelict pub into a thriving new mixed use property in Lincoln, with Shawbrook Broker and Property118 Partner Brooklands Commercial Finance acting as intermediary. If you are considering a refurb, development or commercial project it is […]

It appears I had a tenant subletting my property for bed and breakfast on AirBnB. I recently had a battle to evict a tenant that ran the duration right up until bailiff attendance. The property was let through a letting agent. The story was that the guy was splitting from his wife and leaving the […]

What should you be focusing on this summer? We take a look at a few things you could be doing to get ahead in the student and young professional HMO market. The Leicester HMO market is burgeoning with a +2.14% change in property value over the last 12 months and considerably more in the student […]

The London School of Economics and the VATT Institute for Economic have produced a research paper predicting the level of home moving would increase by 27% if the Stamp duty levy was completely abolished. The research indicates current levels of stamp duty are making the housing crisis worse by cause a bottleneck in the market […]

Can investors still make money from investing in buy to let property with all the restrictions that have been placed on the industry? In the recent budget announcement (2016) landlords could quite easily be left with a feeling that they have been targeted because of the previous Mortgage tax relief changes and investor Stamp Duty. […]

A solicitor has been holding the deeds to my father in laws house since 1956. He has now moved into a nursing home so there is now a need to put it on the market and sell it. However, it now turns out the solicitor could not find the deeds  and they say they gave […]

Could I ask what other Landlords are doing when taking on benefit tenants. I usually only take on benefit tenants if they can provide a homeowner guarantor. I am finding in some areas that some tenants can only provide working guarantors and some on benefits can’t even get a guarantor. Could I ask what other […]

Oakwood House is a new student accommodation investment development in Sheffield. Home to over 63,000 students and located nearby to both universities’ campuses, good occupancy levels are expected and a 8% rental income is assured for 3 years. Sheffield is home to a significant student population as many are attracted to the city due to […]

How will lenders, brokers and investors alike be affected now and in the future by ongoing tax changes with Section 24 mortgage interest relief restrictions now being phased in and the PRA’s final wave of BTL underwriting standards, coming into effect on 30th September 2017? You can watch Shawbrook Bank’s Head of Sales Sarah Woolf, […]

Hi Guys – I have been a tenant in this property for 2.5 years – I was just coming up to my tenancy renewal – when I was informed that the landlord will be selling, I was then served with a section 21 notice . I have now been told that I need to be […]

If you had to start all over again from scratch and had £150k as starting pot what would you do considering in this world of additional SDLT and Section 24? Would you leverage with bridging loans for the flipping company and use those profits generated to buy more properties to flip or would you start […]

The following is another 90 second video produced by our friends at Shawbrook Bank to explain how BTL mortgage underwriting will change from September this year. Is it a good thing that mortgage lenders are being forced to lend more prudently or do you see it another way? Please discuss.

Landlords are losing confidence in their ability to rely on steady rental yields, according to recent figures from the National Landlords Association (NLA). The figures show that the proportion of landlords who are optimistic about their ability to rely on a steady rental yield has fallen 15% in the past two years, down from 64% […]

It’s getting very hard to keep up with the Guardian’s current onslaught against private landlords; it’s also supremely ironic that they should be engaging in this one-sided tirade whilst simultaneously stating that the paper provides: ‘quality, independent journalism, which discovers and tells readers the truth.’ I would beg to differ. Just in the last few […]

I am looking into Declarationa of Trust (splitting the beneficial interest) and HMRC form 17. Does the declaration have to be drawn up by a solicitor? In my case, property ownership is joint and would remain joint so no need to change Land Registry. If the beneficial interest is unequally spilt, surely this is just […]

When one of our established members compared the functionality of the new Property118 website to that of The Guardian yesterday I must admit to being flattered. Naturally, The Guardian was held up as being the better of the two in terms of functionality, and much as I disagree with much of their content, I have […]