On my flight from Malta to Heathrow last week I had the pleasure of sitting next to a gentleman who was a Judge and also worked for the Ministry of Justice to review the Court system. We got talking about criminal damage so I asked him how many tenants he had fined or imprisoned for […]

Ashford Council has banned two people from meetings designed to encourage private landlords to provide housing for benefits tenants. Allegedly the two people were banned for asking too many probing questions, both are portfolio landlords. The landlords will remain nameless but one of them told Property118 “The ban will not prevent us attending for we are […]

I have owned a house for 24 years. For the last 10 years I have been renting it out and living in my long term partner’s home. We have decided to get married for reasons of next of kin responsibilities, inheritance, and transfer of pensions in the event of one of us dying. If I […]

My letting agent insisted to put my home address in AST instead of using their office address with my name which is what most letting agents do as I understand. Is there any legal reason they have to do this, or shouldn’t do this? This is what they claim to be why: Section 47 is […]

I’m a landlord. I rented my property out 12 months ago. In the last two months. The tenant has abandoned the property and fallen short on rent. My letting agent and I, have been trying to get hold of the tenant via phone, email and letters. We wanted to go and inspect the property so […]

Last night I googled ‘My Common Law Rights to earning a Living’ and came across this Beginners Guide to Common Law versus Statutes/Legislation and Acts of Parliament. Naïve as I am to the ways of government I had no idea how Statutes were used for the benefit of minority groups! Common Law vs Statutes – […]

We have 4 properties let out in our Ltd company and 5 properties in our private name. We are looking to exit the whole BTL business and move on. We are looking to sell our company as a whole and the other properties as the mortgages come to an end. Could you give any advice […]

What is the point of having different bands (A-G) for paying Council Tax if your property is a studio worth £25,000 in Liverpool? Most properties are in Band “A” and that ranges from a five bedroom house to just a room with a kitchenette and build in bathroom. So one large bedroom (self contained) pays […]

Unless the government confirms a U-turn on section 24, I suggest ALL LANDLORDS make it widely publicised that as of 5th April 2017 they will in unison apply a Tenant Tax to their passing rents. i.e. current rent plus X% tenant tax. (The actual % applied will probably be circa 8% but should be independently […]

There are a couple of old threads (a few years old) on this already but welcome people views / ideas / help as things in the world have changed since then! I am pretty new to the property world and currently I have one BTL property with an okay return at 7.1%. I have got […]

I’ve been reading these forums since 2013 – when I followed Mark’s advice and began working with Lettings Supermarket. I’m now at a different stage of my property journey and could use some sage about JV Finance. I have found a property for circa £200,000 that I believe I can make circa £100k on in […]

Please can anyone help me find my light at the end of my tunnel? I’m looking to find an accountant who ‘understands property’ and will not tell me that Clause 24 is not that bad and well your rent is your pay. I’ve worked my socks off these last 4 years on my own for […]

I served a Section 8 notice on an AST fixed-term tenant who was behind with their rent. Twelve days later the tenant moved with 2/3 of their things, leaving 1/3 which they were going to move the next day. They kept the keys and didn’t attempt a handover. They’ve repeatedly said they’ll move their property […]

  “Section 24” of The Finance Act (No. 2) 2015  isn’t actually a tax change. It is an amendment to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). It changes the way that profit is calculated and then introduces “tax relief”. Let us be clear what Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are. If a business has income of £1,000 […]

Manchester grew its population by 19% between 2000 – 2011. What regeneration projects have been driving the boom in population and jobs in the city? NOMA, Spinningfields, Ardwick. To name but a few projects in the regeneration of Manchester. It’s safe to say that Manchester has experienced its fair share of regeneration in the past […]

Commenting on the High Court decision to the refuse permission for a Judicial Review of Section 24 of the Finance Act, Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the National Landlords Association (NLA) said: “This decision is ultimately disappointing not just for landlords, but for the tenants who will see their rents rise as a consequence […]

Maximum property earnings with minimum management has to be the holy grail for landlords, and now you can learn how it’s done with two of the nation’s leading experts. Paul Shamplina and Kate Faulkner have joined forces to share their unique combination of expertise in an affordable one-day course for investors and landlords who want […]

I have recently received a letter from the management company for my flat. This is it: “AS you are probably aware there was an increase in the service charge payments for this financial year 2015/16.which can be directly attributed to an increase in legal costs. Unfortunately one of the residents has undertaken legal proceedings against […]

I’m new to this and appreciate all comments/ opinions in advance! In a nut shell I’ve seen a couple of properties that appear to be reasonably priced, because they have charges on them. One of them the current owner is bankrupt and the other one though is freehold, but has to pay a perpetual rent […]

Hello to all the property118ers, I wish to get some feedback on the demand for a holding deposit and pre-sale contract with estate agents. This comes into effect after the offer is accepted by the vendor and 1% of sale price is taken up by the estate agent as holding deposit. This is non refundable […]

Letting agents had found me a couple for a finders fee and they had a six month lease which was paid regularly on time. Then the 7th month rent was not paid, when my husband contacted the tenant he said the girlfriend had gone, but he wanted to stay there and he needed a new […]