Can I sell/transfer the Freehold interest from my SPV company to a management company I also own ? My existing mixed use property is made up of a commercial unit and 3 flats – currently all on a single title. My aim is to get each of the units on their own lease, remaining in […]

Does a new court ruling in reference to smoke alarms mean that smoke alarms inside a property will have to be tested by Landlords? “Landlord Terry Millis, 63, admitted that he put the lives of five residents at risk and pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with requirements to prevent the risk of […]

I am the Freehoder of block of Flats (12) which I acquired in 2014. The orignal Lease is 125 years from 2009 The intial (and current) Ground Rent I collect is £150 per Annum. The lease provision is Ground Rent doubles every 25 years One of the Leaseholders is selling and have asked to amend […]

So, you have just incorporated your properties. Now you want to sell one of them. A buyer has been found, then, at the last minute, the buyer has been refused a mortgage. A seemly arbitrary and little known rule common to all mortgage lenders is if a property that is to be mortgaged has not […]

On 10th and 11th September we are sponsoring the IRRV Severnside and South West Association enforcement forums alongside Excel Civil Enforcement. 10th September – The Aztec Hotel in Bristol 11th September – The Mercure Southgate Hotel, Exeter We will be covering a range of topics, and the forum will be followed by networking drinks. The […]

With the summer months meaning an increase in travellers moving from place to place we thought we’d look at how you can protect both property and land from unwelcome visitors. Secure doors and windows It will be worth considering installing steel security doors and looking at how you can also best secure all entrances such […]

I have just seen the article by solicitor Giles Peaker on his excellent blog “Nearly Legal”, which relates to a recent case in which LB Richmond’s HMO Licence Fees have been found to be unlawful, as they were set in breach of an EU Directive. The issue was whether private letting of accommodation was a […]

If you have a spare 5 minutes to watch a short video I think the one below will make you chuckle. Feel free to share on Social Media to attract new readers to Property118. James Veicht’s elaborate wrong number prank! Enjoy 🙂 PS – you might also enjoy the story of The slightly unusual dilemma of […]

This weekend I have a simple request to all Property118 members. If you haven’t already done so, please sign my Housing Policy petition to Theresa May. LINK TO PETITION HERE We don’t need to get 100,000 signatures to make this campaign successful. In fact, just a few more signatures than we have now could do it, […]

Maggie Thatcher said you can have the Channel Tunnel as long as it is built by Private Sector Funding and not the taxpayer. Whitehall Mandarins have had enough of Private Sector Landlords (PSL) who exert too high an influence on housing strategy. Recently we have seen the tax regime changed drastically to favour companies and […]

Please can anyone tell me the min time period that the freeholder can legitimately carry out insurance reinstatement valuations for the building? We have been hit with a £1600 bill in 2016 for this and then again in 2018 for £1800! It seems very excessive to require a full reinstatement valuation every two years. Why […]

The UK now has such a plethora of Regulations that doing business in any sector of the economy is becoming a Task. As regards taxation, the UK has the highest property taxes in the developed world. (source The Telegraph). We are taxed and regulated to death. This nonsense is to be expected from Comrade Corbyn […]

I recently purchased a converted barn, which has a two bedroom adjoining annex with internal access via the main house plus its own front door, kitchen and bathroom. I pay one council tax bill for the property as a whole. If I wanted to rent it out via Airbnb, or a.n.other holiday letting company do […]

the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has obtained permission to challenge the government Right To Rent policy in the High Court. The full hearing is set for court on the 18th and 19th of December this year. The JCWI release stated: ““This is going to be the first proper chance a court […]

From the Royal Institute of Chartered Suveyors (RICS) July 2018 UK residential market survey the most striking feature is the continued reduction of new property being put on the market in the lettings sector with 22% more respondents seeing a fall rather than rise in New Landlord Instructions. This is the eighth consecutive quarter in […]

Selective Licensing consultations have resulted in the idea being knocked on the head a few times. However, this has only happened when the Councils have received an overwhelming negative response. In the vast majority of cases, the schemes have been introduced because only a handful of landlords have fought back. Apathy costs money! My advice […]

Did you know that UK landlords do not have to pay tax on their UK dividend income from incorporated rental property businesses if they live in Portugal? Have you ever heard of the Portugal non-habitual residents scheme? By the time you have finished reading this short article I think you will probably want to find […]

From what I have seen, the vast majority of prosecutions are for landlords not having a licence. Hang on a minute? I thought the whole idea behind licencing was to improve the rented sector? How does prosecuting a person for not having a licence achieve that? OK, so there maybe a few other prosecutions for […]

Dear Licensing, Please find enclosed 2 screenshots of my credit card transactions so far: 25 Licenses on it in the space of about 9 days at £360 each I need some advice. I have a kitchen to do on one of my houses. As I do approximately 6 kitchens a year. For the first time […]

I have just heard about proposals for selective licensing in parts of Beeston and Harehills in Leeds. I am quite shocked as 12 of my 15 properties fall within the proposed area in Beeston. At £825 per property this would cost me £9,900. There is a consultation Click Here Have any other Leeds landlords heard […]

Subject: Re: Landlord Licensing Dear Councillor Urquhart, My wife and I have just spent a day and a half applying for 7 licences for 7 almost identical apartments in one building owned by our company in the Park, that notorious hotbed of antisocial behaviour in the city???? I have to report that in all of […]