I am buying a property and the surveyor found the Japanese knotweed (JK) during the valuation, the mortgage provider may refuse to lend on the property, however the JK is 20 meter away from the property. By the way the JK is spread to this property from to someone else’s land. Not sure what this […]

My parents are in the process of adding my name to one of their buy to let property mortgages. In doing this, when they both eventually pass away, will I take on succession of the property avoiding inheritance tax? Second Question: I am a high rate tax payer so I do not want the rental […]

Anyone else come across mortgage provider preferring student let to professionals? I have a house of 4 that has been let as is for 8 years and always instructed to put them on one contract – I had previously done 4 separate as they come and go at different times, but got turned down by […]

A new law which requires landlords to install smoke alarms in homes they rent out will save more than 200 lives over the next 10 years, according to experts. The regulations, which came into effect on 1 October, require landlords to fit a smoke alarm on every level of their property, as well as a […]

I was living in rented house for over 5 years with my brother and sister in law. About a year ago they have moved out so I decided to sublet my rooms to strangers. My contract does not allow me to do it, but my private landlord knew about it, as this was the only […]

I rent a flat with my boyfriend and we have rented out our spare bedroom with our landlord’s permission. When the girl living with us moved in I told her that I would have relatives staying with us for a week in a couple of months and that the flat would be more crowded than […]

I’m trying to get an idea of which is a better investment BTL or HMO and trying to do the figures too. BTL is relatively straight-forward but estimating how much some of the overheads would be for an HMO is challenging. Below are the figures I’m estimating. Any thoughts about how close I am would […]

I have taken 90k of equity of my current property. But I am in small dilemma on how to invest it. Option 1: buy four properties worth 80-90k, each renting around £450 – £500 pm, but will not be able to recycle the cash as the capital appreciation is poor compare to London. So will […]

I have made an insurance claim for a damaged door, which had been kicked in and the insurance company say it is a valid claim, but they will not pay out the VAT on the invoice, which is from the agent, because it is not the agent doing the repair. They want an invoice from […]

On 1st October 2015, the minimum threshold for a creditor being able to start bankruptcy proceedings against a debtor rose from £750 to £5,000. This means that a creditor will have to be owed at least this amount in order to be able to issue a statutory demand to the debtor for the collection of […]

I am in a quandary about my flat and hoping for some experienced advice! Having successfully evicted destructive tenants after a long drawn out section 21 procedure( I posted about this before), I have now renovated the entire flat to a very high standard with a view to re-letting at twice the previous rent. The […]

The lettings business, just as any other, is always seeking ways to appear more attractive to the prospective renter. Our new sponsors “Buylec” can provide tenants unrivaled independence and control over power budgeting leaving landlords content in the knowledge that payments are assured. As well as controlling billing the heat sensors can be used as […]

The majority of tenants in the UK private rented sector are pleased with their current landlord, according to new research. Only 5% of tenants have refused a longer term tenancy, revealed a study commissioned by Paragon Mortgages. There has reportedly been a rise in tenant satisfaction, with 80% satisfied with their current landlord and 87% […]

My husband and I have a converted garage annex flat on side of our property and we rented it out in November 2014, we advertised over Gumtree and a couple offered us £850 rent and they gave us £850 deposit. We held the deposit in a separate account which was only used for the deposit […]

I’ve just inherited a tenanted Victorian terraced house in reasonably good condition. When I asked the tenants if there were any problems or niggles with living there, they said that they had all slipped down the steep stairs at some point. One of them had done it a handful of times. The treads are typically […]

HOME OWNERSHIP “But for me, there’s one big piece of unfinished business in our economy: housing. A Greater Britain must mean more families owning a home of their own. It goes back to those Conservative beliefs: reward for hard work. If you’ve worked hard and saved, I don’t want you just to have a roof […]

I entered into an agreement with a letting agency at the end of Jan 2015 and an excellent tenant moved into my property in March. That months rent went to the letting agency as a finders fee and since then they have been taking 10% + VAT of the rent in return for property management […]

An increasing number of property investors are using bridging finance to expand their property portfolio. The main uses are for auction finance where they usually have 28 days to complete and for purchasing properties that are not in a habitable condition and hence they can’t get a mortgage. There are lots of reasons for purchasing […]

I have a small of piece of land in my garden that can fit a small 2 bed house. I went for planning advice and I was told that if i was granted planing permission, I would have to pay a CIL fee, and also contribute towards the council’s education/ highways/ affordable housing etc which […]

Landlords are under a legal duty of care to ensure that the risk of exposure to Legionella for tenants, residents and visitors to their properties is adequately assessed and controlled. Landlords are obligated to have a risk assessment conducted out on their properties followed by subsequent periodic reviews. Provided that the property is low risk […]

Shawbrook bank have launched two regulated bridging finance products for the first time. These are treated and regulated in the same way as a residential term mortgage. It is primarily where the borrower is taking a loan secured by a first charge (soon to include 2nd charges as well) against their main residence. This might […]