I am unfortunately stuck with a horrendous letting agent, but have a great tenant. The agent regularly pays late even up to 6 weeks after the tenant has paid. They never respond to emails or calls, are always argumentative when they do and most recently I have found that the tenants deposit is not being […]

We are in the process of purchasing a property for our son and are using a Discretionary Trust with a Life Interest for him to do so. We have exchanged contracts and our solicitor has sent us the completed Land Transaction Return Form (SDLT 1E) for signing. However, he has entered our son’s details as […]

In an effort to get the politicians to finally wake up and smell the coffee, in regards to Section 24, (The Tenant Tax), its now time to get your tenants on the side of the landlords. I have now produced my thoughts on a very large postcard and it pulls no punches! Feel free to […]

My friends recently purchased a property and were looking to extend living accommodation into the garage. However, a builder has reported that asbestos is in the garage and subsequently the quote received is quite a lot more than anticipated when the property was purchased. The Homebuyers report didn’t flag up any evidence of asbestos to […]

Monday Channel 4 Dispatches 8pm. The Benefit Cap. It’s got one of my tenants on the programme who was affected by the benefit cap. There should also be some verbal quotes from me as I refused to go on the programme. Definitely worth a watch Mick Roberts

LettingSupermarket.com have come up with a innovative new way to persuade landlords to switch their management to them. The deal is; if you swap to them, and for any reason you’re not entirely happy, you can leave within three months and have a full refund of all fees paid. They also say that you can leave […]

The mixed partnership structure is often a good fit for landlords who are already paying higher rate tax or are pushed into the higher rate tax bands by restrictions on finance cost relief. The mixed partnership structure is equally applicable to individual landlords as it is to joint borrowers and existing partnerships. As a rule […]

I am a private landlord with half a dozen properties in London and no other income beyond the rental income. I never paid much attention to pensions in the past perhaps for obvious reasons. Last September I started reading up on SIPPs and was moved to take one out with a well known provider. I […]

From April 6th families of deceased UK expats will pay 40% inheritance tax on the total property estates assets. The new rules will apply to expat investors purchasing UK property in an offshore company. Properties purchased in this way will no longer be exempt from IHT when the owner dies. This makes the rules the […]

I own a number of properties. In December we had a water leak into one of our properties coming from the flat above. This caused around £1000 of damage. We have been trying to ascertain since this time, who is liable. At the time a local plumbers was putting in a new shower in the […]

I have a question about financing. I am a small time landlord with a handful of properties about to remortgage. I am also thinking of setting up a company ‘incorporate’ so that any future buy to let purchase will be better placed regarding the tax breaks etc. Sadly it will cost too much in CGT […]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with Aldermore’s debenture requirements on a ltd company buy to let mortgage? I am currently going through two purchases (in parallel – in hindsight this is a big mistake!) through my ltd company (newly incorporated). Long story short, one mortgage is with Aldermore, and another is with Precise […]

I have a tenant who (thankfully) vacated last weekend, owing two months unpaid rent , and left the flat in a terrible mess. Three days later the whisky bottles and fag-ends have been cleared, and we are beginning to see carpet, and the inside of fridges and ovens. Anyway, their deposit covered about six weeks […]

Chorley is a place you may have not heard of yet, but you will pretty soon. It’s a town at the cusp of change. The town has already got a vibrant centre, being one of the few towns in the UK to have increasing footfall – and with plans approved for £17 million to be […]

A briefing for private landlords, property solicitors and letting agents on how to rapidly evict tenants from residential property via High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO). The webinar is run jointly by The Sheriffs Office and Bolt Burdon. Bolt Burdon are experts in landlord & tenant cases, especially rent arrears and end of tenancy possessions. The […]

Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote that it is important to keep to the letter and spirit of the Manifesto and today announce a U-turn on the increase of Class 4 National Insurance Contributions in his budget last week. Now we have to get the occupants in Number 10 and Number 11 to reverse […]

I receive the email below from Generation Rent, and thought it might be useful to get input from the tenants of decent landlords. Therefore you may want to pass this on to your tenants.   Dear Michael, The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is carrying out research into the private rented sector (PRS) in […]

Hi, Please could you advise me on a CGT position on my husband’s ex-marital home that he has owned for 39 years. He purchased 1978 £15,450, met wife (now ex) who moved in 1990. Lived there together 1990-2006, then she would not move out to allow the house to be sold and proceeds split then, […]

My cousin is 28 and an FTB in a relatively cheap area (2 bed terraces £125-135k). She has a 20k deposit saved up but due to her income of 20k she can only get a maximum of £82k mortgage – too short by about 25-35k.  I therefore thought that I could help. Relatively wealthy, good […]

Dear All, Sadly I have just found out via the local authority that my tenant has passed away. I recently received a notice informing me that the housing benefit has been stopped and I left messages , called and emailed the tenant. As I am in London and the property is in Wales I am […]

I have a portfolio of 9 HMO’s and the family as a whole has more which we self manage. I need to start using accounting software to reduce our accountancy fees and improve financial control over the businesses. Some recommendations so far have been: Xero, Sage One and QuickBooks Online. I just wondered if any […]