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 […]

We’re having a dispute with our insurance company who recently informed us they are voiding our landlord insurance policy – their reasons being that it was due to material non-disclosure and misrepresentation. My partner, who’s first language is not English answered the policy set up questions honestly to the best of their knowledge on the […]

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today voted to keep the Bank Base rate at 0.25%. Good news for Buy to Let mortgage borrowers, but the reasons are less good for the economy. 2017 Growth forecasts have been reduced again from 1.9% to 1.7% with lower household demand filtering through from the drop […]

The mixed partnership strategy involves forming a Limited Company to manage your properties and making that company a partner in your business. This structure is particularly useful for people who manage their own properties and where the viability of full incorporation is questionable. In a mixed partnership for rental property purposes the company partner can charge up to […]

In this 97 second video, Shawbrook Bank Managing Director Stephen Johnson discusses buy-to-let tax changes and their potential impact. His key message is that if you do nothing your cashflow could be particularly hard hit, especially if you have a large highly geared portfolio. You can watch this short video below. Clearly the banks are […]

Summer is here and for many landlords, our student properties may be sitting empty until September! With Fallowfield and Rusholme house prices on the up, we’re looking at how can you keep your property ahead of the trend this summer! The yearly migration of students leaving South Manchester and Salford has started and the majority […]

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) defines a high net worth individual as someone with an annual net income of no less than £300,000 or with net assets of no less than £3,000,000. These net assets can include residential property and, consequently, there are many people who may be considered as high net worth on paper, […]

Dear Mr Duncan Smith, Thank you for your reasoned comments in the Sunday Telegraph on 18th June regarding the treatment of private landlords by the current government.   I apologise for the length of this correspondence, however, the changes affecting landlords is so broad-ranging and complicated, I haven’t been able to condense it any further. The […]