I would be grateful for any advice you can give me. My husband and I own a small property portfolio jointly 50/50. I am employed, but he is not. My rental income plus earned income puts me into the higher rate tax bracket. We had very low expenses this year and consequently we are facing […]

Hi All, Ive made a bit of a school boy error here. I have a small portfolio, and my last purchase around 4 years ago was a flat in South London had the following clause for the ground rent: Ground Rent £250 Reviewed every 10 years by a factor of 2 or by RPI whichever […]

The housing charity “Shelter” have formally admitted that it can take a landlord 8 months to evict a tenant using a section 21 notice. The admission is in the form of their latest viral video campaign. Despite this, they continue bleat that legislation is biased in favour of landlords. How can taking 8 months for a person […]

We are delighted to report that another Property118 member Mark Edwards, MD and founder of Mortgages and Insurers Solutions, has led his company to winning the award for “Highly Commended Buy to Let Mortgage Broker of the Year” at the Business Moneyfacts Awards 2018. Claudia Winkleman presented the award that acknowledges the expertise and superb […]

I have never had any DSS lets before and this is the first encounter. My estate agent has recommended a DSS tenant to take up tenancy despite the tenant has FAILED reference checks. The reason given was ‘incorrect or incomplete information on application form’ on the reference report. Obviously spoken to my well-known high street […]

I am a Property Landlord, based in North West England and I have 36 mortgages, which were originally taken out with Mortgage Express and GMAC and need recommendations of any Solicitors with specific experience in dealing with UKAR’s bullying tactics. I was forced to resign my Mortgage Deed, the main impact being repayment of all […]

The Scottish Association of Landlords recently reported that Kevin Stewart MSP has written to the chief secretary to the UK treasury to express concerns about the impact of the “section 24” tax change, which reduces landlords’ tax relief on mortgage/finance interest. In his letter he wrote: “…in recent engagement with private landlords in Scotland, many have […]

Axe The Tenant Tax had a request from a very supportive journalist that has been covering our campaign from the start.  It comes from one of the respected National broadsheet newspapers.  This is what they need… “I wondered if you might be able to help with a big article I’m writing for April 8 on […]

I am buying off-plan flat, BTL investment in Liverpool. The Selling agent offered £300 ground rent be reviewed every 5 years according to RPI rate. However, that wasn’t the case. The ground rent is £350 doubling in 5 years then to be reviewed every 5 years according to RPI calculations. £700 ground rent in 5 […]

If rent is due monthly under the terms of an AST, but the tenant pays 6 months rent in advance then if the time period the advance rent covers straddles a tax year is the full rent recorded in the tax year it is actually received or is it applied pro-rata? In other words, if […]

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has been slammed in the papers for reportedly purchasing seven flats in Southampton in the name of a new limited company. Karen Buck, Labour MP, told The Sun: “It’s shocking that while renters wait, seemingly forever, for any help from the Tories, the Health Secretary is spending his time buying […]

I have a prospective tenant who has put forward her mother a guarantor as she has a bad credit rating. Her mother has an impressive profile on LinkedIn and I think she would be suitable as guarantor. I have not had a guarantor for any of my tenants before and wondered what other members thought […]

Dear Mr Daniel, Freedom of Information Request 542790 (Revised) Thank you for your recent request for information. Your request was actioned under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in which you requested the following information – The number of Complaints, Inspections and Actions taken regarding dwelling houses in Liverpool council area, 2014, 2015 and 2016 […]

Just wanted to take the opportunity to post everyone on a hugely unfortunate incident that has cost me a lot of money. In the best case I am hopeful that some readers might have encountered something similar before and managed to recover some of the loss, worst case hopefully the readers can learn from my […]

Hi all, I have a tenant almost 4 months into his 6 month AST. He is terrible at paying rent and currently 2 months behind. I do not with to extend his tenancy beyond the 6 months mark. What do I need to do to end the agreement? I am assuming I need to send […]

My wife and I own 2 properties in Australia and have been filing tax returns to the Australian Tax Office for the past 10 years. We are in credit with the ATO for A$100K each and have paid no tax. Unfortunately we did not realise that we should have filed returns with the UK tax […]

The restrictive covenant found against my property: Not to use or allow or cause the property to be used for any purpose other than that of a single private dwelling house. I would like to know exactly what this covenant states and means in practice. I am looking to put another dwelling onto my land […]

OneSavings Bank, trading under Kent Reliance and InterBay for Buy to Let, is one of the first lenders to include in its criteria compliance under Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) rules. All new Buy to Let mortgage applications must prove the property which security is being taken over has a minimum efficiency rating of E […]

After a smooth successful pilot project, the LIP (litigant in person) portal is set to go to public beta mode as soon as next Monday 26th March This will mean that the service will be available to all litigants in person to use. The litigant in person online court portal is specifically for claims of […]

Questions from webinar on rapid eviction of tenants from residential property on 22nd Feb 2018. What are your costs for obtaining possession (other than court fees) and how does it compare with the county court? The court fee for the writ of possession is £66, whereas the warrant of possession through the County Court is […]

Far too many landlords have been guilty of focusing on problems than solutions when it comes to optimising their rental profits. In many cases, changing the ownership structure can prove to be far more effective than refinancing or increasing rent. EXAMPLE Mr Patel enjoys a £50,000 salary from his ‘day-job’. He also owns two properties […]