If you have a tenant who as been with you for 5 years do the new rules apply regarding a section 21 for example having a current EPC cert , or do these new rules only apply to new tenants after October 2015. Regards Tony

I rent my 9 studio apartments to students on a bills included basis. During the first month of this project I would pass the building and witness open windows everywhere, knowing full well my boiler was burning gas at an exorbitant rate! The next week I fitted Open Window Sensors and Smart Thermostatic Radiator controls […]

I am planning to buy a freehold plot of size 0.2 acre / 845 sq meter @ £12,000 near Beaconsfield / Denham areas as future investment. Aware this is agriculture land and maybe in greenbelt area. Even for next 10-15 years might not get planning permission to construct , so land value may not increase […]

I gave my tenant notice of my intention to sell my property in January 2016 and due notice of the end of the tenancy agreement. She has subsequently not paid February rent and has partially emptied the property of her belongings. We have a one month deposit held in the DPS scheme. What steps can […]

As you may well know, from 1st February 2016 private landlords are required to check that their tenants have permission to live in the UK and therefore have the “right to rent”. Right to rent This includes everyone who will be living in the property who is 18 or over, even if they are not […]

I recently purchased some flats in Scotland which are subject to Short Assured Tenancies. I let a house in England and after an initial Assured Shorthold Tenancy I am usually relaxed about allowing this to become a periodic tenancy. However I am not clear whether the same considerations apply in Scotland, or whether it is […]

I am starting to talk to landlords about rent to rent. Ideally I want to create a serviced apartment from a rent-to-rent agreement. My questions are as follows: Would I (or the landlord/ owner) need to change the use of the property to Business Use C1? If so, would this affect their mortgage? If the […]

I am remortgaging my own home (of which I have sole ownership) to buy a buy-to-let, which I am thinking of putting in joint names with the good lady (wedding in May) – as she is a 20% tax payer and I am a 40% tax payer, this offers some tax efficiency in the long […]

I would like some advice on my deceased tenant. My tenant passed away few weeks ago and I want to return the Deposit and Outstanding Rent to the family member. Could somebody please advise me as how I need to go about it safely and legally. Many thanks Shailesh

Property118 Growth Chart Early indications are that Property118.com will deliver in excess of 5 million page views in 2016. To help fund the web-servers required to keep pace with this remarkable level of growth we have partnered with Google Adsense. This makes a lot of sense given that we are a Google News Feed and that Property118 […]

Property demand across the London tube network has decreased to 35%, a fall of 3%, according to the latest Property Hotspots Index from eMoov.co.uk. While London’s inner zones have seen demand fall, Zones 3 and 4 have seen an increase in demand for property since a year ago, up 18% and 8% respectively. Areas in […]

My AST ends on 28th Feb 2016, I was asked by the EA last month(Jan) to renew the tenancy for another year. As I was in the process of buying a property and the valuation went well and the mortgage offer was also released and I didn’t want to lock-in for 6 months if I […]

I have a student let and signed what I thought was four students up for this academic year. The council asked me for not only their tenancy agreements (as only asked for in previous years) but student ID numbers as found on a the student certificate issued to all students by their uni. It comes […]

We are looking at buying a property with a flat that is completely separate with a view to living in the main house ourselves and letting out the flat. However at the moment the property only has one title, but is on the land registry as two flats. The seller has agreed to split the […]

Both my self and my girlfriend own a property each, both with mortgage ratios of 90% LTV. We have both lived in our properties for a year and now plan to rent one property and live in the other, whilst saving for another deposit for another house. Ultimately we want to end up in a […]

I have a property that is being managed by an agent. The current tenant has turned out to be a very good one with long term prospects. The problems started with the agents when I received an email asking me if I wanted to renew the tenancy agreement with a 12 month AST. I emailed […]

Can anyone put me straight as to which is most tax efficient. To either sell my SPV or sell its one property? The SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) Limited company has one freehold property(150K), one bank loan(100K) and one sole directors loan(me with 90K!) for 280k. A) As the property is still owned by the SPV […]

My family have a property in Hackney, which comprises of a commercial property and a flat above which is accessed by a separate entry to the side of the street. I need some serious advise how I can repossess the flat as I have protected tenants who have been living there since 1986! They are […]

I am considering buying a property that has 23 years left on the lease. The capital cost would be recouped in about 3 years from the rent it would achieve. It seems a bit of a no-brainer, but I’m wondering if there are things I’m unaware of in this situation that could come back to […]

I’m in process of buying a first floor, 2-bed flat in an old building above a bank but am just wondering if it is worth having a proper survey done on the property or not? It’s going to cost about £500 for the survey, but surely if there is a problem it will be covered […]

In a nutshell, I left the UK to live overseas a few months back. I have a pot of money I’m living off and then in a couple of years I will sell 1 or 2 of my properties to pay off the others and live off that income (with house prices increasing, I wish […]