Recently, we were approached by a landlord after he had not received rent for 3 months. Why? His tenant had switched from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit. The claimant was a disabled man on High Rate DLA. His wife was his full-time carer and they had two children. The family moved to the UK from […]

My name is Grace and I am a TV Researcher working on a new BBC One programme about landlords. The aim of the programme is a journey which will allows landlords to improve their knowledge of today’s rental market – and their own properties – by experiencing them first-hand as a tenant. It is also […]

The biggest risk landlords can take when incorporating their business is to believe what they are told on the basis that it’s what they want to hear.  Tax planning is perfectly legal providing you follow the rules, including legislation known as GAAR which is an abbreviation for General Anti Abuse Rules. Famously, Lord Tomlin said on […]

I currently hold freehold interest in my companies name. I wish to close down the company due to total inactivity. The freehold produces no ground rent nor deals with maintenance or insurance. I don’t want to sell the freehold interest because of its considerable worth – the related leaseholds are very short and located in […]

Caridon Property are a fast growing, award winning property letting and management firm based in Croydon, South London. We own and manage 1000 properties across London and the South East and are looking for hard-working, professional, organised individuals to join our team. Our business specialises in social housing tenants on Housing Benefit & Universal Credit […]

Our tenant has moved (we believe) to Portugal, leaving behind various items ranging from rubbish to a washing machine and tumble dryer. Including a large sofa and chair. Obviously we need to remove all these items in order to relet the property. There is damage to paintwork and carpets, and 2 weeks’ rent owing so […]

We have had a case taken against us for what is supposed to be no payment of service charges. We have disputed the charges and so the landlord has issued proceedings against us, but we have now received a letter from the court stating the the judge has sent it to the first tier tribunal. […]

QUICK SITUATION REPORT. I am renting a 4 bed flat as a 5 rooms as the living room has been partitioned to create a room and there is a separate dining room for all. There is 5 tenants. 1 bathroom WC. 1 Toilet WC. 1 kitchen. This is where I am in my situation with […]

If anyone else benefits from the 5k dividend allowance that was reduced to £2k in the budget, there may be some good news. It looks like the proposal was pulled from the finance bill as they were rushing to get more important measures through. I have looked at HMRC and it does show the allowance […]

If you are a higher rate taxpayer, then you get money back. E.g. if you give £100, then the charity can claim gift aid of £25 (which assumes you are a 20% tax payer) and if you pay 40% tax, you get another £25 back (see https://www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid ) On my tax returns charitable gifts increase […]

In 2014 I bought a flat with a 999 year lease. I am the only owner without a share in the freehold. A Right to Manage company had just been set up that excluded the person I bought the flat from as he was the freeholder and they took him to Tribunal to gain the […]

My brother rents a property and filled in part one in 2015 and paid the fee. He waited 10 months (unaware that the council had been told they shouldn’t have the requested the detailed information they did ) and waited for part 2. He received a couple of emails about part 2, but was unsure […]

Angie and Dan are very successful landlords by most peoples’ standards. By 2015 they had amassed a property empire worth £10,000,000 with only £4,400,000 of mortgages. That’s just 44% LTV.  For several years, Dan and Angie had been drawing just £90,000 between them and using the rest of their profits (after paying tax at 45%) […]

Greenwich Council held a public consultation and ‘apparently’ 80% of residents were in favour of licensing all HMOs in the Area. Previously only the standard definition of HMOs were required to be licensed by the council. This was for properties over three or more floors five or more tenants. Now it will apply to all […]

Caridon Landlord Solutions was set up with one purpose in mind; helping landlords secure solutions to any Housing Benefit (LHA) issues which might arise with local councils or DWP in relation to Universal Credit. For the past four years we’ve been developing and refining our strategy and gaining more and more successes in the process. […]

I have a property and to the left is a building, their building is my boundary, the side of it I mean. The business owners had a boiler Flue extruding out of it, it was hidden behind my garage so I didn’t mind, but this weekend they took out the old Flue and put a […]

I have been trying to redirect post on one of my rental properties to my home address as I would prefer no correspondence addressed to me is sent there. The post office postal redirect system failed on me on the last stage of payment options. I called them up to no avail as they insist […]

We are in the process of buying a small plot of land to the rear of our garden with a view to knocking down a wall and making the garden bigger. Our solicitor has advised us that we will be liable for stamp duty on this purchase as the land is to be added to […]

Having been in the rental business for nearly 20 years, I have had my fair share of bad tenants, leaving unpaid rent debt and generally trashing the property. Fortunately, this has not happened very often. but when it does it is a real eye opener. Just recently a tenant left me with £2k unpaid rent […]

I am an established U.K. landlord (not Ltd / incorporated) If I bought a property in Thailand to “refurbish” to ad to my buy to let portfolio (thus to rent out the finished apartments) could I deduct the costs of the refurb. from my usual U.K. buy to let profits ? I understand “not” with […]

The Housing and Finance Institute was set up by David Cameron’s coalition government in 2015 before the last general election. It want to repair the housing markets in run down seaside towns with a ‘Fair Value Rents regime’. The report wants to halt the continued decline of many neglected coastal towns by solving the “toxic […]