The ‘Step Up’ mortgage product offered by the Coventry Building Society has been withdrawn, because borrowers may be hit by the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on second homes. The Step Up product had allowed parent’s additional disposable income to be added to First Time Buyers affordability calculations by being a party to the loan application […]

I bought a Buy to Let flat in 1999 and since then there has been significant capital growth. Two years ago the lease holders bought a share of the freehold and I now have a 999 year lease. A developer has expressed interest in buying the block from the freehold company, knocking it down and […]

Has anyone else been finding that valuers are undervaluing properties for remortgage purposes. They seem to have gone from one extreme to the other. I am currently remortgaging 4 properties one of which I know I could sell for 90k easy, and a valuer has just said 72k!! There are no houses in this area […]

The Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) are urging action against Clause 24 tax changes to be taken by landlords in their latest policy press release below: Over the past year landlords across Scotland have faced significant changes to the way they are taxed. The former Chancellor argued that landlords are buying properties that could go […]

Following on from an excellent article recently regarding Liverpool City Council, I have now ( I am an Estate Agent ) have to be co regulated in order to be accepted as the Licence Holder for many of my landlords. We are ARLA associated, SafeAgent and they want more. What’s not consistent is that I […]

I was wondering if any one had knowledge or a solution for a property ownership issue with inheritance liability in mind. My father and I purchased a property approximately 2 years ago in the form of a joint tenancy. This property was a rental investment and has been let ever since. My father’s estate at […]

As a small scale landlord myself I was surprised when my student Son complained to me that he and the other three students he rents a house (3 bed semi converted to 4 bed) had been charged £180 for the end of let property inspection. Is this usual practice with students lets? When he asked […]

I read with interest Dene’s post in respect to exceeding the term, repossession by NRAM and his regrettable position. 9 years ago I took a 10 year term mortgage at 0.5% above base. This was arranged direct with Woolwich over the phone –a different era! This is a substantial interest only mortgage which my then […]

I in conjunction with Property 118 have been instrumental in exposing the flaws in this rotten licensing scheme. The RLA have stated that Liverpool made amendments because of their representations. The reality is that the Data breaches and non conformity with the de regulation act were first flagged up by myself in conjunction with Property118. […]

I have some buy to Let properties in my limited Company and also in my and my wife’s private names. I am looking to purchase properties for longer term Buy to Let and to Flip. How should I buy these properties i.e. BTL through Ltd Co or private names and how should I purchase the […]

  My 30 year love affair with home ownership is well and truly dead. I am divorcing myself of it. I will NEVER buy another home to live in. For three decades I have been advising on finance and property and building my own rental portfolio but it has taken me until now to realise that […]

We often read about people living in London, Cambridge and other areas where property prices are at a premium and beyond the reach of most first time buyers. I fully understand their frustration because, in many cases, as fast as they can save a deposit, the amount of deposit required increases at a faster pace. I have been giving […]

Local Government Association (LGA) figures report that 12,246 council homes were sold to tenants under Right to Buy in England during the last year and that only 2,055 were in the pipeline to be replaced by councils. This is a decrease in replacement social housing by 27% on the previous year and is an indication […]

This week a landlord based in Scotland very kindly bcc’d me into an email he sent to his MP. I felt it was well worth sharing on the basis that it may inspire YOU to educate YOUR MP by writing a similar letter to him/her. Naturally, I have redacted personal details for the purposes of confidentiality. To find contact […]

NRAM is repossessing our BTL property, because we have exceeded the term! My wife and I purchased a BTL property in June 2007 unfortunately despite telling our advisor this was a long term plan to pay off our residential mortgage and for retirement he advised an interest only mortgage for 7 years. When I asked […]

I use a letting agent to manage a few of my student HMO’s. The current tenants have paid a full twelve months up front as they are international students, however my letting agent pays me on a monthly basis. I phoned up NALS as I was researching a letting agent for another property in a […]

Readers of property 118 will recall that the ICO ruled that the application form for Liverpool landlord licensing was deemed to be in breach of the data protection act. Furthermore the condition relating to ASB was in breach of the deregulation act. It has been brought to my attention by several landlords that the authority […]

We let a 3 bedroom flat as an HMO accommodating 3 tenants. For the most part this has worked very well with the odd hiccup, usually caused when one of the occupants fails to wash up and tidy up the kitchen after use or consistently leaves the bathroom in a mess. Up to now we […]

31% of EU citizens living in the private rented sector (PRS) say they are worried that the result of the referendum will make it harder for them to rent in the UK. The findings, from the National Landlords Association, also show that 25% say they are worried that landlords would be less willing to let […]

The most expensive rental areas across England have been revealed in a new study. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics have revealed that renters now spend more than a third of their disposable income on rent. London unsurprisingly comes out on top when it comes to the most expensive hot spots. A tenant […]

I own a property that I bought on a five year fixed residential mortgage. My circumstances changed and I moved in with my girlfriend and we then had a baby. I got consent to let from the bank who approved it and we’ve happily rented for the past two years whilst tenanting the property. We […]