Page 651 – Property118

Comment please on my rent increase letter

23rd February 2017

Hi, I have adapted another rent increase letter I have seen on this forum. I would rather not make it to lengthy so I have tried to make it short whilst still making relevant points. Advice/Comments please before I send them out. Dear ………………(Tenant) We are having to review your current rent. It’s a decision […]

Incorporation of properties with no capital growth?

23rd February 2017

I am thinking of starting the process of incorporation for my property portfolio and in doing so I am aware of the potential SDLT and capital gains tax implications involved. A number of my properties, as you would expect, have risen in value. However, I have a couple that have not shown any increase in […]

CCTV installed by landlord and access to the materials?

23rd February 2017

Hello, the landlord installed the cctv cameras around whole house and gave the access to the material to one of the neighbors who can see us 24 hours a day on the TVs. We have been informed only about one camera on the front side of the house. Is something like that legal and what […]

Wirral Selective Licensing refund requested and refused!

23rd February 2017

I managed a block of 15 apartments in Wirral which fell into one of the designated selective licensing areas. Although we had this block up for sale at the time we were advised by the selective licensing department that we would still need to pay in full for the five year license at around £450.00 […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg recognises damage done by the Treasury

23rd February 2017

It is now clear that the Treasury, under George Osborne’s stewardship, made some catastrophically bad decisions with the twin aims of courting popular opinion by appearing to go for the ‘nobs’ and also of raising money towards his manic deficit reduction quest. As part of this he imposed a large extra burden of stamp duty […]

Serviced apartment stamp duty in Edinburgh?

23rd February 2017

Can anyone help? I am looking to purchase an apartment in Edinburgh for £200k and have been surprised at the stamp duty I must pay. Is there a way to lessen this? A contact has suggested this could be classed as a commercial transaction as its a business property. Many thanks Paul

Why Did I Ever Invest in Buy to let?

22nd February 2017

My wife and I bought our one bed flat in a town in the NW of England in 2007 – the plan was simple keep it for 10 -15 years then sell using the increase in valuation as a means to diversifying our pension provision. We never bought with a view to growth in units […]

Property Investment in the East of England

22nd February 2017

From East Anglian cities and towns like Norwich and Ipswich to the less urban areas of Essex or Cambridgeshire, there’s a lot to discover when it comes to property in England’s East. The East of England is made up of six areas: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Properties in the area range vastly […]

Sole Ownership Becomes Bad For Tax Purposes

22nd February 2017

As of April 6th 2017, sole ownership of rental properties with buy-to-let mortgages will become less attractive than it ever was before.  This is because jointly owned property owners can form partnerships and distribute profits in the most effective manner, e.g. using the full nil rate tax band and basic rate tax bands of all […]

Who is responsible for what in joint Freehold?

21st February 2017

I have joint freehold with my downstairs neighbour, I have recently had the roof repaired at great cost to me. My neighbour has made me aware of running water under her ground floor kitchen. I sent an engineer to repair the pipe( I had no idea who’s pipe was leaking) the engineers fixed the leak. […]

New Tenant – something not quite right

21st February 2017

I have a three bed house in Surrey with a new tenant moving in on the 28th. She seems like a genuine person. Has just split with her husband, has two kids, house is very near the school. She is working part time and is relying on Tax Credits and the maintenance money from her […]

Baker Street Property Meet – Wed 29th March 2017

21st February 2017

Baker Street Property Meet is the UK’s number one property investors networking event with over 220 property investors attending our monthly meet-ups. Our Feb event is now fully booked. But we are now taking bookings for our eagerly awaited March event: =================================================== Event: The Baker Street Property Meet, (Monthly Networking Event) When: Wed 26th March […]

Insurance if the seller is a fraudster ?

21st February 2017

Does anyone know of an insurance policy that a buyer can purchase to safeguard against the unlikely though catastrophic event of a fraudster pretending to be the seller of a property and the sale goes through to completion. To be clear, the protection I’m seeking is for the would-be buyer, not the legitimate property owner […]

Farce of credit searches and court judgements

21st February 2017

It is supposed to be easy to find out if a prospective tenant has any county court judgements and general poor credit, but this is not the case. CCJ’s are supposed to follow you around like a “bad smell”, and yet the reality is very different. Experian state they are informed of all CCJ’s for […]

New lenders streamline processes and competition for Property Developers

21st February 2017

It is estimated that around 300,000 new homes need to be built every year to satisfy the pent up demand that has been growing in the market for over a decade. Our population has and is increasing and the gap between supply and demand is ever widening. With Article 50 about to be triggered and […]

Packaged bank account costs?

20th February 2017

I’d imagine there’s a really obvious answer to this question, but, I have a separate bank account just for a rental property I have. If I change this account to a packaged bank account for £10 a month. (that gives me travel insurance, breakdown cover etc) Can I offset this £10 against the rental income […]

Straw poll on Mortgage renewal options?

20th February 2017

I have been given these options for the renewal of the mortgage on one of the BTL properties I have. I thought I would put it out for suggestions from the forum members:- (A) Product (B) Loan Amount (C) Property Value (D) Interest Rate (E) Monthly Payment (F) Product Fee (added) (G) Valuation (H) Legal […]

Referral fees for passing on deals?

20th February 2017

I keep spotting potential deals that I don’t want to take on myself (various reasons such as out-of-patch, already committed, slowing down etc), and would love to package them up and pass them on to investors, for a referral fee each time. This would build my own cash pot for deals that do tick all […]

Freeholder not doing repairs for 5 years, flat now uninhabitable

20th February 2017

Bought a flat over 5 years ago in 2011 for son to live in whilst at uni, flat suffered damp problems which got progressively worse and were reported to managing agents numerous times by phone and email. It took the then managing agents nearly 2 years to get quotes for repairs and section 20 to […]

Fixing The “Tax Secrets” Assignment Tax Structure

20th February 2017

I first came across the assignment tax structure around 10 years ago. It quickly became a popular method for private landlords with larger portfolios to hive off profits into company structures, which benefit from much lower tax than for individuals who would have otherwise been taxed at the higher rate (40%) or the additional rate (45%).  […]

Generation Rent have produced a video telling tenants “How to Fight a Rent Hike in 10 Steps”

20th February 2017

It is evident that Generation Rent has no comprehension of the impact on tenants of Section 24, and seem to think that we’re going to pocket the rent increases. http://www.generationrent.org/how_to_fight_a_rent_hike_in_10_steps This is further evidenced by Betsy Dillner, director of Generation Rent, who in the article below says “that landlords who propose to put up rents […]