I am a landlord by default. My mother had a stroke in 2011 and needed full time care so I quit my job and moved from Northumberland back to Norfolk with my husband. We let out our house as had no time to sell it. Five years on, as we both have no decent pension […]

We have given Betsy Dillner, the Director of Generation Rent the nickname “Ditsy Dillner” on account of how often she contradicts herself. In ‘How to change the housing crisis: build relationships’ Betsy Dillner says: “the PRS has more than doubled in the last 10 years, to 11 million households across the UK.” She claims “We as […]

I have created a thread for Property118 landlords to explain the decisions and changes they have made thus far as a direct consequence of Section 24 of The Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 which changes the rules on mortgage interest relief for private landlords from April 2017 onward.  The intention is that posts made here can […]

“The aim of accepting landlords over the age of 85 years within a joint mortgage application will allow many of our older borrowers to continue to leverage their portfolios”, said David Whittaker CEO of Keystone. Keystone Property Finance has removed the age criteria on its Classic range of mortgage products for joint applicants and for […]

I am in the process of selling my sole property in the UK, (which I have been letting for 10 years), and plan to buy 2 flats instead. My agent has priced the house at £325,000 and suggests 2 properties at around £160,000 each. There is £45,000 left to pay on my repayment mortgage, therefore […]

Savills forecast that by 2021 UK rental prices will increase by 19% and that house prices will have grown by only 13%. The disparity in growth is predicted to be even greater in London with rental prices rising by 24.5% over the same period and house prices by only 10.9%.   Savills are blaming post-referendum […]

The High Court has today ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU. This means that the government alone without Parliament approval cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and begin formal negotiations with the EU. Theresa May’s official spokeman said government had “no intention […]

For obvious reasons most of the current S24 talk concentrates on higher bracket earners and/or highly leveraged landlords. I’m the typical small portfolio landlord on the edge of getting stung by S24 so I want to make sure my next few decisions are well informed. I imagine there’s many others in my position so I […]

To arrive at Net Rent do you only deduct Council Tax, if you as the Landlord paying it, as per the advice on the HMRC website, but not Management Agent Fees, or is Net Rent after Management Fees. Obviously, I’d like the answer to be Net Rent is only, as the tenant would never normally […]

Jack moved out of his flat three months ago to live with his girlfriend. Rather than selling his flat he decided to obtain consent from his mortgage lender to rent it out to two students just in case the relationship doesn’t work out and he needs to move back in. He’s a normal guy, certainly […]

I am a regular reader of Property118 and I find it very useful, especially with the vast amount of useful information that’s made widely available through these forums. I am a BTL investor myself with 9 properties – my credentials are as follows: annual rental income of £65K with finance costs of £18K and maintenance […]

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has issued new guidance for agents concerning obtaining express consent from a tenant before accessing a property. A number of interpretations of the amended paragraph  ‘Access to a Property’ of the updated TPO Lettings Code of Practice concerning obtaining express consent from a tenant before accessing a property have stated […]

At Property118, we have been saying for some time that the Government’s discriminatory fiscal attack on unincorporated landlords with finance costs (embodied in Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015) is an outrage and will lead to massive rent rises, including for students. As we know, at the same time that the Government […]

Tony contacted me for help to understand how the tax changes to mortgage interest relief will affect the property rental business of himself and his wife. A fact find and the report below was completed in two hours. Tony has given me permission to share the bulk of the report on the basis that it […]

I am writing this somewhat preemptively in the hope of some suggestions from the Property 118 readership. Recently the local authority (North East Lincolnshire Council) have been carrying out inspections at rented properties following a complaint by a tenant (justly or otherwise), with the results/hazards identified, of which there are always many, and the recommended […]

I’m asking this question for a friend of mine who is now having problems with tenants who have now left the property. My friend had work in Singapore for 6 months so rented out his flat. Everything was fine and he had a really good relationship with the tenants. What he failed to do was […]

If a tenant has been served a 14 day possession order to leave but you know they will not vacate can you escalate this to either the high court or directly to the bailiffs or do you have to wait for the 14 day period? If I used the escalated possession procedure section 21 notice […]

I have been advised not to supply any gardening equipment, including lawmowers, on health and safety grounds. We would be liable if the tenants hurt themselves on equipment we have supplied. Does everyone think this is correct? But what about cookers, kettles, toasters etc. If those health and safety grounds apply, shouldn’t kitchen equipment also […]

Steve is on of my Consultancy clients. He will now be £47,454 better off in tax terms over the next 5 years with just a few simple tweaks to the ownership structure of his property portfolio. Not a bad return on two hours of Consultancy costing £400 including VAT is it? He owns 4 properties […]

There has been a lot of uniformed commentary, both on forums and in the National media, with regards to incorporation of property rental businesses and Beneficial Interest Company Trusts. This is inevitable given that landlords are so concerned with tax changes to mortgage interest relief and the popularity of tax planning solutions being promoted here […]

I was going to build my portfolio and make it a full time job being a landlord, at least that was goal. Now I don’t know and need your advice. Then the budget stopped me in my tracks. I’d love to expand my portfolio, but I’m now unsure if it will be worth the effort. […]