Page 677 – Property118

My sub tenants have not paid rent and claim I have no rights?

5th September 2016

Dear Readers, my situation is as follows, I rented a 3-bed flat in 2010 and lived there with my friend for 4 years (he is not on AST) then I moved to another country due to work. Since then, the rooms have been sublet to 3 more people plus my friend still lives there (and […]

No rate cut? Name and Shame!

5th September 2016

After last months 0.25% BoE rate cut, let’s see which lenders have accordingly cut their variable rate mortgages and which have not. Post yours below! Greg

Freeholder playing hardball breaking bicycle locks!

5th September 2016

I have two flats in a 1930’s block of 120 ish. The Freeholders have given less than 24 hours notice (I don’t know how the notice was served as I heard nothing and neither did my tenants) to remove bikes from an area historically used as a bike store. There is a policy in place […]

Appalled Landlord sends open letter to MP

5th September 2016

Thank you for your letter confirming that your previous letter was to advise me of the Labour Party’s position. In that earlier letter you wrote that the measure has support from the housing charity Shelter, that you do not oppose it in principle, but that you are yet to be convinced that this policy would […]

Rent To Rent Insurance

4th September 2016

Rent To Rent Insurance has been incredibly difficult if not impossible to place until now. To a great extent this is because insurance underwriters have struggled to source sufficient data to establish risk profiles. However, the success of AirBNB and similar websites has resulted in enough comparable risk information becoming available. Based on high demand […]

Buy to Let Scumbags Outbid First Time Buyers

4th September 2016

If you’re happy with this headline then read no further. On the other hand, if you, like me, completely disagree with it then I have these questions for you … What are YOU going to do about it? Are you just going to read this article and leave? Are you going to post a comment […]

Rent To Rent Company Smashes Crowdfuning Target

3rd September 2016

Congratulations to Andy Graham and Nick Morris of Smart Property who have smashed their £150,000 crowdfunding target via Crowdcube in just over a week. Andy Graham contacted me yesterday via Facebook messenger to draw my attention to their project. At the time it was 80% funded so I decided to dig a bit deeper and I […]

Lodger not moving out and threatening

2nd September 2016

I have a lodger and given him a written notice of three months instead of one month to leave as renovation work is due to start in early September. I also agreed to pay £100 for van hire as he demanded, but he still has not managed to move out,saying “he is looking for a […]

Who is getting evicted

2nd September 2016

With the release of data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the National Housing Group, we take a look at the current arrears and possession trends in the property market. Mortgage arrears and possessions The CML reports that 92,500 owner-occupied properties have arrears greater than 2.5% of the […]

Tenant not removed property not cleaned and not yet returned keys

2nd September 2016

I am a recent renter, and have the following end of tenancy problem. A week after end of tenancy, the tenant has not removed all his property (in spite of promises to do so), not cleaned the flat, and not returned the keys. My agent has arranged tenant contract, but agreement does not cover follow […]

Apparent lack of finance frustrates 75% of developers

1st September 2016

Roll back the clock to pre credit crunch time and developers were generally financed through their banks. Due to a dearth of readily available finance from this traditional source, a number of new lenders entered the market. With the number and variety of existing and new lenders, development finance has become a far more complex […]

Expat BTL or standard BTL?

1st September 2016

I have found this website very helpful and I am now in a situation where my BTL mortgage is approaching the end of fixed term very soon, I am looking to remortgage to another lender with a better rate. The tricky thing is that I now get an opportunity to work abroad and I would […]

SafeDeposits Scotland searching for missing tenants

1st September 2016

Staff at Scotland’s tenancy deposit scheme SafeDeposits Scotland are on the hunt for thousands of Scottish tenants who have forgotten to claim back their deposits worth more then half a million pounds. Tenancy deposit schemes were introduced in July 2012 and since then more than 156,000 deposits have been repaid by SafeDeposits Scotland. While millions […]

Restrictive Covenants and Indemnity

31st August 2016

7 years ago I bought an ex council house. I was not aware that there is a restrictive covenant by the local authority that prevents the house being used ‘other than as a single private dwelling house for occupation by one family only and not to convert same to flats or maisonettes.’ The Local Authority […]

Who should pay for cat litter leak damage?

31st August 2016

I am looking for some advice please, I received a call whilst on holiday from the letting agent for the flat below mine saying they had to get the police to break into my flat, a locksmith to unlock the lock on the door and a plumber to put the water off as I had […]

Media Demonising Landlords

31st August 2016

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve posted some rather controversial made up headlines with the sole intention of attracting attention to a very real problem. Today I’m going to prove my point. Below are real headlines linked to articles which have appeared in National Media over the last few days … ‘Rogue landlords’ exploit […]

Are Damp Surveys a waste of money?

31st August 2016

Before buying a property I got a Homebuyers survey done that identified some damp at the rear of the building. I’ve done a decent amount of research and I’m confident this is rising damp and not condensation. This is what the report said. “The type of damp proof course was not visible and mostly no […]

How do I value property if I became joint owner 6 years after purchase?

30th August 2016

I really hope you guys can help. My wife kept her property when we purchased ours. She let it out and then 6 years later we became joint owners of it. We have sold the property. I understand how to calculate her CGT liability but, I never lived at the BTL property and as I […]

Enough is Enough!

30th August 2016

I’ve had ENOUGH of lazy journalists who blame private landlords for the housing crisis. I’ve had ENOUGH of MPs who pay lip service to concern for tenants. I’ve had ENOUGH of charities who demonise landlords. I’ve had ENOUGH of government ministers and their civil servants who pursue ill thought out policies. I’ve had ENOUGH of […]

Norwich City Council should reject Article4

30th August 2016

The growth and sustainability of the UEA needs the support of private investors to continue to offer accommodation to the growing student population. With interest rate relief cuts, increase in stamp duty and post Brexit BTL products changing, the sector will almost certainly have less investment. By introducing Article 4 Norwich City Council are demonstrating […]

Deal Breakers to pay attention to before determining value

30th August 2016

When it comes to achieving maximum value, it is easy to forget that what is appealing in terms of taste to one person can be abhorrent to the next. Of the many home improvement faux pas which affect saleability and value in the minds of buyers, the following seven deadly sins represent the equivalent of […]