International law firm Mishcon de Reya published a summary of budget changes to the 3% surcharge on Stamp Duty that were missed out in Philip Hammond’s budget address to Parliament. With immediate effect the Finance Bill 2017 to 18 will legislate to improve how the 3% SDLT surcharge for additional residential properties works by giving relief […]

I am in the process of selling my house and our solicitor has advised that there is a restriction on the property from the original builder Bellway homes, however they cannot help because they lost interest in the house when they sold it in 1991 after completing the build of the development. We are now […]

I’m yet another landlord to discover one of their single let tenants is Airbnb-ing their flat. I actually found out from the tenant himself when I requested access for a fire inspection and he responded that he was no longer there and had moved city and was now airbnb-ing the flat to cover the rent. […]

Bit of a complicated one this. My sister relocated to Edinburgh after her marriage broke down and has been renting a flat from myself via the letting agent I have used for years. As a single parent with a young child of school age her only income is whatever her partner decides to give her […]

My father (who died 20 years ago) owned a piece of land in Kent. There are 10 separate charges / creditor’s notices on the land dating from 1975 to 1987 related to bankruptcy. My mother applied to the Land Registry for an official copy of the Creditors Notice and Bankruptcy Inhibition for the charges, however […]

My husband and I are in the early stages of buying a property which currently has 8 tenants. It’s a Victorian house with a small basement, 4 let rooms in the first floor, 4 let rooms on second floor and a separate but unoccupied flat on top floor. We intend to give notice to all […]

As safe as the housing market may be, few can deny that the student housing markets in Manchester and Salford are starkly different to how they were five years ago. Whilst many commentators seem to think that the only decision-making students are capable of are choosing between two types of cheap beer, the reality is […]

Mark Alexander, founder of Property118, has reported that Letting Agent Today is scaremongering and the figures are “absolute tosh” in their article ‘Hidden tax hike in Budget small print will hit buy to let sector‘. They wrongly conflate the figures in the BBC’s Simon Jack article ‘Budget targets buy-to-let – again‘ which are also incorrect, […]

The Government appears to have bowed to the volume of criticism leveled at its flagship Universal Credit scheme and a realisation there is a range of fundamental issues which need to be urgently addressed. Mounting evidence pointed to the fact significant hardship was being experienced by claimants due to, amongst other things, having to wait […]

Hi Guys I was wondering if any one have come across this issue and mind sharing it. For a long while I have been trying to remortgage my 5 bed HMO flat in London. I am restricted to the number of lenders as this flat has got decking access and is ex-council. Anyway through a […]

My wife and I own several properties which are rented to tenants. Some of the properties were bought over a number years by increasing the mortgage on our principal residence, each advance being identifiable as an advance with which to purchase a buy to let property, leaving each BTL unencumbered. We did this as the […]

Help sought, please, to get around a non-development covenant on an ex-LA house. We live in an ex-LA semi on a corner plot in a commuter town in Hertfordshire. The plot is large enough to add at least one more dwelling, and there are smaller (non-LA) plots nearby that have had two and even three […]

Philip Hammond the Chancellor of Exchequer has announced the summer budget today, detailing some changes in the controversial flagship benefit Universal Credit. Some, but not all of the concerns that have been highlighted in the press were addressed such as the wait for the claimants first payment will be cut from six weeks. An additional […]

The key headlines affecting UK landlords are:- RESTRICTIONS ON FINANCE COST RELIEF Disappointingly, there where no amendments suggested to the legislation which restricts finance cost relief for private landlords under Section 24 of the Finance (No.2) Act 2015, which remains in place and will continue to be phased in until the 2020/21 tax year, at […]

More than 1 in 7 Councillors in the boroughs with the highest levels of privately rented homes are landlords themselves. This is more than ironic considering the attitude local authorities have to the PRS and landlords with many stories of councils telling tenants not to move out until they are physically evicted regardless of the […]

On 19th October we hosted a webinar on commercial property, we had over 170 people attend. We’ve compiled the second part of the Q&A for you here. If CRAR has taken place with control of goods on premises and rent still not paid and goods worth less then what do you do?  Who would bear […]

I had a property sold by my lender for what I believe was undervalued. It comprised of a house converted with consent into 4 x 2 bed flats producing £5200 per month on ASTs. The lender kept the property for 1.5 yrs systematically vacating each flat thus reducing income. I believe each flat should have […]

This act was introduced, as although most tenants are happy with their accommodation, there are still some who have what might be termed rouge or criminal landlords who repeatedly fail to carry out basic repairs. This legislation was introduced to protect these tenants from eviction by their landlord after requesting repairs. From October 1st 2015 […]

Can anyone advise on how to stop an ex-tenant using our address? We evicted him 8 months ago for non-payment of rent. He owes us over £10,000. Obviously we weren’t able to get a forwarding address from him. Having paid for a trace it turns out he is still using our address. He has a […]

A friend of mine was compulsorily sectioned under the mental health act two days ago following a failed suicide attempt. This followed an incident at the beginning of the week where he had an alcohol related mental breakdown and caused criminal damage to a neighbour’s car. As a result, the landlady demanded he leave his […]

This is about a tenant who claims a a Section 21 notice constitutes illegal eviction because he can’t return to the property during rebuilding work. I made a mutual agreement with my AST tenant to vacate my house temporarily for 3-4 months during rebuilding in lieu of rent, and he agreed. He left as planned […]