Our block is currently being prepared for major works, the first since it was developed in 2002 (of course it should have been done every 7 years but due to a major fall out between leaseholders and freeholder/management the leaseholders refused to fund it – previous funds had been used for repairs that would benefit […]

I am converting a semi-detached large house into 5 self contained flats. 4 x flats will be 1 bedroom and 1 x 2/3 bedrooms. The 1 x 2/3 bedroom flat will have gas and I was contemplating gas central heating for the others too. However, I am now reconsidering as now the partitions are going […]

Researchers from a landlord tax campaign group, who joined forces via the Property118 online forum, believe they have located the source documents behind the discriminatory taxation policies targeting private landlords which are being implemented by Chancellor George Osborne. The landlord tax grab, which will make the housing crisis worse, was proposed by David Kingman, a non-economist, in a deeply flawed report which […]

I have a 3 bed property which was rented under an initial 12 months AST to 3 friends. One of the friends now needs to depart to London with his job. The 2 remaining tenants have found a suitable substitute sharer, and asked me to remove the departing tenant, and replace him with the new […]

I Bought a house at auction. It has a supposedly difficult tenant in it who has arrears. The AST has expired. I would like the tenant to leave asap. What is the procedure please? I understand that a Section 21 is useless as I don’t have an AST. I don’t want to enter into an […]

The question that most property investors and people who are looking to buy an investment property ask themselves: is property investment really viable? Since the GFC and with recent proposals that could see a 3% tax on the purchase of properties that are intended to be rented out and phasing out of interest costs and […]

UK housing could soon be facing a major upheaval as the UN climate change deal in Paris could mark the end of gas appliances in British homes. Gas hobs,fires,cookers and boilers could all be phased out over the next 15 years under the agreement. Around 23 million homes will be affected if the proposal is […]

Can anyone assist me? I was lucky enough about 18 months ago to download a superb spreadsheet that very much mirrored the HMRC self assessment form for unearned income. In addition, it allowed a number of properties to be added to the spreadsheet columns in order to track exactly where expenses had been incurred. At […]

I’m looking to mortgage two apartments in a block that are all leased to a serviced apartment company. The block is effectively a hotel of sorts, although the block was built as a residential block in 2007, it has always been sub leased to the company. Flats are owned by private individuals. The lease with […]

I’ve taken a deposit of £400 from a tenant in order to ‘secure’ a room for her (a holding deposit). That was two months ago. She’s re-scheduled moving in several times. She’s now decided not to take the property. The Holding deposit was then to be set against the Security deposit (which happens to be […]

Lord Flight cc’d the Property118 Campaign Committee into an email to George Osbourne commenting on the restriction of Finance Cost Relief for Individual Landlords. In his email to the Chancellor Lord Flight said … “A lot of Buy to Let investment has been an alternative to saving for old age via pension schemes.  Up until World […]

Philip Booth is a Professor of Finance, Public Policy and Ethics at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. He recently issued the following statement to a member of the Property118 Campaign Group, along with his blessing for its publication …. “Osborne is either being deliberately dishonest or simply does not understand the issue when he uses the tax […]

Would installing a drain and pump system into a tanked cellar to solve minor damp and condensation problems risk flooding? The property is at the bottom of a hill on land with a variable water table and occasional standing water a little lower down, and has flooded in the past, although not since the work […]

I have 3 Mortgage Express buy to let’s. They were taken out in 2005 for 10 years interest only (although I have been repaying capital) When they were taken out in 2005 I was told by M/E that there would be no problem renewing them at the end of the term should I wish to […]

The annual rate of increase for residential rents in the UK has fallen from 3.9% to 2.9% after dropping 0.4% in November, the latest index figures have revealed. Rents in London fell by 0.6% month on month as part of a seasonal slowdown in monthly rent prices, according to the Landbay Rental Index. The average […]

Yesterday Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, announced that the US interest rate will increase by 0.25%. This is the first increase since 2006 and since 2008 the rate has been around 0%. This means that the range of rates US banks offer to lend to each […]

My question is when are the checks supposed to be done the code of practice guide states “Right to rent checks on prospective tenants may only be undertaken and recorded up to 28 days before the tenancy agreement comes into effect”. “Where a person has no time limit on their stay in the UK, checks […]

A steer on the impact of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 with regard to letting agent fees would be appreciated. My understanding is that VAT should be included in the advertised fees (website and paper documents) for both landlord and tenant. Is that the case? If so, does it apply in Scotland? or is there […]

In an interview with the Financial Times yesterday defending ‘Forward Guidance’ Mark Carney, The Governor of the Bank of England, expressed concerns if Buy to Let investors were to all sell at the same time in the event of a fall in house prices. Mr Carney said “So we do have to be careful around […]

QNUPS? Just suppose you could pay a flat rate of 20% tax on gross rental income regardless of how much profit you receive. Then sweeten the deal by removing any potential for capital gains tax and/or inheritance tax. In a nutshell, that’s what can be achieved by using a QNUPS structure to invest into Buy-To-Let.  […]

LendInvest have released their research data for the Buy To Let market in England and Wales. This data tracks the changes in rental yields, capital gains and landlords total return on investment since 2010. The North comes highest for rental yields with the top 8 being: Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Coventry, Oldham, Sunderland, Blackburn and Durham […]