Dear Mrs H… The Government has recently consulted on the higher rates of stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional residential property. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-higher-rates-of-stamp-duty-land-tax-sdlt-on-purchases-of-additional-residential-properties/higher-rates-of-stamp-duty-land-tax-sdlt-on-purchases-of-additional-residential-properties and contains examples of how the higher rates apply in different cases, which you should find useful. The Government is now carefully analysing the consultation […]

Basically I’m in a student house in Leeds, trapped in a joint and several contract with one house mate paying the first months rent (back in august) and then refusing to move in, we have not been able to fill his room so are now stuck with his rent. The letting agency refused to chase […]

My Dad lives in a home that is under my name. I claim the property as a rental on my taxes. However, my dad is destroying my property by building numerous structures without permits and now the city if on my case. He has also started a neighbor war and the cops get called to […]

We need to urgently sell our Buy to Let flat but the lettings agent has renewed the AST signed our behalf, which is fine but they have removed the break clause which has always been in the agreement. What rights do we have? The AST is until Feb 2017 and we need to sell now. […]

We have a town house in London Zone 2 area and we are thinking about splitting this into 2 flats (flat 1 – ground floor and first floor and flat 2 second floor and loft) to increase both rental income and valuation. The rear garden door is perfect for secondary entry. It sounds like a […]

Birmingham has been recently be confirmed as the UK’s Buy to Let property Hotspot outside London after a surge in activity. The city has leapt to second spot for Buy to Let purchases according to Council of Mortgage Lenders data. The high speed rail network and the £750 million redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station […]

I am receiving insurance compensation for loss of rent due to the upstairs flat that I own becoming uninhabitable. Subsequently my tenant has had to move out and building works are set to continue until the end of this year, but I am still receiving the rent as it was insured. However I have just […]

Dear Campbell Robb, You may recall a letter you received from a landlord called David in October 2015. In fact, I wrote the letter upon his request and published it on-line; you can see it here, along with comments from others. https://www.property118.com/campbell-robb-ceo-shelter-open-letter/81625/ Time has moved on and it has now become clear to many others […]

The average tenant in England has paid £41,196 to their landlords over the last five years, according to new analysis. This figure is almost enough to put down a 20% deposit on the average first time buyer home, which is currently priced at £216,500. In London, the average rent for a two bedroom property has […]

We have 14 days to create havoc for the chancellor and force a UTURN so we all need to do our piece now! Discussing our problems on here won’t change anything; we need to get out into society TODAY!!! This means all of us need to write to the papers (local and national) and use […]

I own the ground floor flat in a block of 3 and my tenant is leaving next week at the end of his 6 month AST. Although he indicated to me that he loved the place and would stay, he was unable to stay due to the noise in the above flat. I sorted this […]

I received this letter, but my boiler service was 2015 by the way. I completed a home safety check on behalf of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service on the (date and address) of which you are the landlord. During the check it was noted that the property had only one working smoke detector and the […]

Section 42 of the County Courts Act 1984 makes provision for a judge to give permission for the transfer up of judgments and orders from the County Court to the High Court for enforcement. This is used by many landlords to instruct High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) to evict tenants under a writ of possession. […]

Despite a predicted last minute rush for Buy to Let Investors to complete purchases before the 3% Stamp duty surcharge comes into force for second property purchases in April, the annual house price growth remained at the same robust level of 9.7%. However, mortgage approvals did increase by 5% between December and January reflecting the […]

Can anyone suggest how I go about gifting a fire damaged North East property to the Local Authority, or to any other source for that matter? It is uneconomical to rebuild, I suspect even for a builder. Can the Local Authority refuse to accept it? Many thanks Gary

There was a piece on the BBC News channel last Sunday, 28 February, concerning the tax changes for landlords: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35681874 It was shown at 07.28 and at 14.16, and presumably throughout the day. It propagated misinformation about the tax change, was biased against BTL landlords, and promoted a commercial alternative.  My detailed complaints follow. The […]

I have a landlord insurance query that I hope some may be able to advise me on. I am looking to get landlord insurance on a buy-to-let flat (yet to exchange) within a house that’s been converted into 4 flats in total. I will have a share of the freehold of the flat, which is […]

With restrictions mortgage tax relief coming in I will end up with income well over £100,0000. All my properties are currently in my name. Am I right in thinking I should make a declaration of trust giving my wife a proportion of my income and file form 17 to HMRC to do so. I believe […]

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) have released their UK housing market report for January 2016 showing the supply of available housing is at it’s lowest point in 14 years. The report indicates the number of properties available per NAEA member branch fell to 33 in January, the lowest figure since December 2002 when […]

Our local Landlords’ Association secretary has just forwarded an email from a Forum who, whilst obviously touting for business by having people download their ’10 minute briefing’ for no less than £49.99 + VAT(!!), have pointed out that the Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 passed its third reading in January, which makes provision for ‘housing, […]

I’m about to exchange/ complete on a leasehold property which currently has tenants in situ on an AST periodic agreement dated April ’14. The rental is currently managed by a lettings agent. The bond is in a TPS. I understand I’m buying it with the tenants and their current agreement but would like to clarify […]