Suppose I decide to nominate a former rental property long in my possession as my main home within the permitted window for making the election. My main home, purchased in 2016, now becomes my second home. I paid only the ordinary stamp duty when I purchased it, since it involved the exchange of one main […]

The number of landlords who want to complete their business restructuring and associated tax planning before the Nov 22nd Autumn Budget has hit record levels for Property118. We are now booking consultations for after the Budget on a first come first served basis. Whatever is announced in the Budget affecting landlords, for better or for worse, […]

Hi, I write for The Guardian (I’m their money editor) and we’re keen to profile a landlord ahead of next week’s Budget – looking at the sorts of things that have affected you financially over the past year, what you want from the Budget, etc. On the day we’ll ring back for any reaction. We’d […]

I have a few properties in London; I manage the properties myself mostly, and so I often engage the services of various handymen. As you can imagine, most handymen are most insistent on being paid as soon as the job is completed. Naturally, I pay handymen immediately (or the next day at most), and since […]

Hi, Can anybody help me? About 4 months ago my tenant rang me to ask if I had any other properties available that she, and her family, could move into asap. Apparently “some bad lads” had threatened her partner and they needed to get away immediately. I told her that, unfortunately, I had no vacant […]

Two months ago I published a case study: Live Universal Credit horror case study In short we were approached by a PRS Landlord, he had granted a Tenancy in March, the tenant was on Universal Credit. After weeks of both the tenant and landlord communicating with Universal Credit and being misinformed that the Housing Costs […]

The former President of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), Simon Gerrard, has sent another open letter to Housing Minister, Alok Sharma, chasing for a response to his housing market proposals. The first letter was ignored by the Housing Ministry and just passed on to the Treasury receiving a cursory reply. The plans given […]

Have a couple of flats in one block. The typical lease fee was £195 every quarter. The solicitors acting on their behalf are now threatening to take us to court for breach of contract and are threatening to apply to the courts for a Possession Order if we do not pay the outstanding balance of […]

My daughter is at university and an agent has just sent an AST to sign with the follow clause; “In the event of the rent or any part of it being unpaid for more than 14 days after it has become due whether legally demanded or not or if there shall be a breach of […]

The All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) campaign titled Carbon monoxide alarms: Tenants safe and secure in their homes is looking to improving current regulations for rented properties and make it compulsory to fit carbon monoxide alarms. Alok Sharma MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, is backing a report by the APPCOG that […]

Hi, I recently purchased (Aug ‘17) a property in Blackpool which has historically been converted into 5 self contained apartments. The property is currently 80% Tenanted, however it is dated and would benefit from a complete refurbishment including some works to the roof. The current intention is to remove the tenants, refurbish the whole building, […]

We own a free hold block of 11 flats in Birmingham area. When we bought the property it was derelict. Since then we have done the work and now all 11 flats are tenanted and generating rentals with limited vacancy for past 2 years. During this time we had a commercial mortgage from Aldermore which […]

Golden Welcome cash payment to landlords Central Government is doing all it can to deter private landlords from providing housing to people on benefits and now Local Councils are desperate enough to do this: Monmouthshire Lettings Service Scheme will offer landlords a cash payment of up to £1,200 just for joining, free quarterly property inspections and […]

Canal-side living in Tobacco Wharf – a converted tobacco factory in Liverpool. 90 one and two-bedroom apartments are assembled over 5 floors, with prices starting from £84,995. The price available on this property means that yields of up to 8% are achievable. The development is fully tenanted so investors can enjoy an immediate income. Situated […]

The Halifax Price Index figures for the last quarter August to October show the price of an average house is now a record high of £225,826. House prices in the last quarter were 4.5% higher than in the same three months last year. The annual growth rate in October is higher than in September (4.0%) […]

Two Labour Councils made investment purchases of commercial property. (Strange when councils are meant to tax us for the provision of local essential services, not for running a property investment business!) The councils have purchased these properties using offshore companies in Luxembourg and saved £12bn in SDLT. … And its all perfectly legal. The councils […]

My tenants arrived back from hols to find water pouring in through a leaking roof vent down via a 9inch pipe connected to an en suite extractor fan. I couldn’t get a local trades person to attend despite spending a full morning of calling. My tenants have and continue to be brilliant, but despite their […]

We are the process of change from personal to limited for our property portfolio. Do all of the properties need to be transferred to one company or can they be transferred to two companies as long as they are all transferred. I also have existing companies with portfolios in. The main reason for this situation […]

A Bill to set up a ‘PPI’ like compensation scheme for new home purchasers suffering from their house being set up as a leasehold has been passed for as second reading to be heard on the 2nd February. The Bill to be debated in Parliament was introduced by Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston  […]

An article from Mortgage Strategy which explains that six of the top ten lenders say they use ‘all monies charges’ in residential mortgage documents, letting them repossess homes if borrowers struggle with non-mortgage debts. Click here to see the full article.. The charges give lenders the right to secure non-mortgage borrowing, such as credit card […]

Victoria Whitlock, writing in the London Evening Standard tells of her Landlord friend’s decorator catching the new (unnamed) letting agent holding a ‘party’ at an empty property. Click here to read the full article The landlord has several properties in South London, but his previously reliable letting agent had been bought out by another company […]