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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

I have updated a property of mine with a new extra wall insulation on green deal finance, new boiler and new roof. Which has been an expensive upgrade. My tenants saw a massive improvement in their energy costs. However due to job circumstances they moved out in June. I now have new tenants who I […]

We have a small portfolio of BTL properties one of which incurs an annual Management Fee which we have paid for the past 10 years, but we are now wondering should this have been an expense passed on to our tenant as she is clearly the ones who has benefited from the services provided? As […]

I will try to keep this as simple as possible!  I am the sole owner of 5 buy to let properties on mortgage. I wish to remain the sole owner by way of land registry. My wife has done majority of the leg work and finances towards the building of this portfolio – albeit in […]

In an interview with The Times the Bank of England chief economist, Andy Haldane, said property was “almost certainly” a better investment for retirement and he could not make “the remotest sense of pensions”. This has caused quite a stir and accusations of irresponsibility considering his current pension pot is now worth a reported £83,816 […]

My mother is 97, has Alzheimers and a pacemaker. She lives in a mansion block, is a freeholder and probably the longest resident in the building. The owner of the flat upstairs is a director of the freeholders association. His nephew has bought the flat. He has also bought the space outside the flat and […]

I am very near to completion on an investment flat that I intend to rent out. The service charge includes the building insurance, however I want to know if this insurance will cover letting the place? I have been asking my solicitor this question for weeks now and frustratingly am still yet to get any […]

This is another one of those antagonistic headlines to get you hot under the collar and to motivate you into action. It’s nothing you can’t read every day in the comments section of the National media though is it? And can you really blame the journalists for publishing their sensationalist, attention grabbing, anti-landlord headlines to sell […]

If everybody who benefited from our campaign against The West Brom was do donate just 10% of the £27,500,000 we recovered for them Property118 Action Group would have a fighting find today of over £2.75 million. If each person who read my article last night had committed £10 a month we would be building a fighting fund at a rate of […]

I am asking on behalf of my mother, who owns a three-bedroom house. The property was leased to an estate agents that offer guaranteed rent whether the property has tenants or not. My mother signed a contract for two years, so she was due to receive the property back in May 2016. As such, she […]

The average house price across the top 100 universities in the UK equates to £319,963, according to a new poll. Leeds University achieved the best balance of UCAS entry level and property prices for those considering a buy to let investment. Leeds University has an average entry requirement of 436.5 UCAS points and an average […]

After reading all the doom and gloom on the new tax rules and now the underhand tactics regarding CGT, I’m pretty much done and looking to sell up. I’m really worried that I will go bankrupt and take my family with me. It just isn’t sustainable under these new rules. I have two properties both […]

The Supreme Court has ruled that an occupier of a private residence cannot invoke Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as a defence when the private landlord seeks possession. Article 8 Article 8 http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf covers the right to respect for private and family life and states the following: Everyone has the […]

If you thought clause 24 of the 2015 finance bill was underhanded, wait until you get a load of this!  The government have slipped some additional clauses into the finance bill 2016 “Sections 75-78: taxation of profits from trading and investing in UK Land” which make profits made on the sale of buy-to-let property become taxable income, at […]