I’ve been served with a notice for a ground rent increase from £50 to £1470 by my landlord for a freehold house in a village near Norwich. My house is attached to a number of flats which are also faced with a similar increase by the landlord although he has just singled me out to […]

Firstly what a great site this is ! I currently own three properties in South Wales which soon I will have to obtain a license to run. What are the thoughts of the experts on this great idea by the Welsh assembly ? I am considering selling and using the funds to purchase in the […]

I was wondering about the pros and cons of setting up a property management or lettings business to run my portfolio through. This is partly because of the proposed tax changes to mortgage interest and partly because I currently don’t fit the criteria for certain finance and insurance products as my income is deemed to […]

Despite some serious economic head winds Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, is preparing the country for the possibility of an interest rate rise at the beginning of next year. China, the recent driving force in the world economy, is seeing growth slow along with its stock market taking a fall. The […]

I have been told by a ‘property accountant’ that its perfectly reasonable for me to:  – buy a property cash in my name – refurb it – rent it out – have an ‘arrangement’ where my wife gets all the rental income in exchange for ‘fully managing the property inc losses’ – the rent would […]

We would like to see Property118 advertised on National TV and we’re hoping you will want to help.  We have launched a crowd funding campaign, the minimum investment is just £10. You will get a 50% tax credit/rebate on any amount you commit, plus CGT benefits under SEIS rules. You will also get shares in our new property portal so it’s […]

The UK student property market is continuing to grow and provide landlords with healthy yields, according to latest figures. Investment in student accommodation hit £3.98 billion in the first half of 2015, well ahead of the £2.35 billion for the whole of last year. The research from commercial property and real estate company CBRE, also […]

I own a leasehold retail unit that is one of four along the front of a modern mixed-use building with residential flats above. There is a rear courtyard and car park accessible to and used only by the flat occupants. The block managers (acting for an RTM company) used to require me to pay service […]

If you could transfer your properties to a limited company without paying any capital gains on the transfer would you be interested?  Massive thanks to Property118 member Simon Lever for sharing this information. Simon is a Chartered Accountant and Business Advisor. In Simon’s own words …. “I refer you to the case of Elizabeth Moyne Ramsey v […]

Buy-to-Let borrowers who were left feeling stitched up by the Bank of Ireland tracker rate hike can switch to these products-  3.29% fixed for 5 years or 3.49% fixed for 7 years No application form or further underwriting No valuation or arrangement fees No legal fees No broker fees 5% early repayment charge if you pay off […]

I wondered if anybody has experience of can advise on the following: My sister and I started building a property portfolio around 15 years ago. Two of the properties have mortgages in our joint names, the others are solely in one name. We have always recognised the properties as shared and have declared a split […]

Roll back the clock to pre credit crunch time and developers were generally financed through their banks. Due to a dearth of readily available finance from this traditional source, a number of new entrants entered the market. With the number and variety of existing and new lenders, development finance has become a far more complex […]

I am in the process of buying a 3 bed house where the tenant has been in 4.5 years and wants to stay. She is 37, 2 children (one boy one girl in local primary school), one dog, divorced, from the area and wanting to stay near family, and until recently has worked in a […]

This development is set to provide state-of-the-art living for the Leeds rental market, providing a stunning array of apartments ranging from bespoke 1-beds to stunning penthouse apartments. X1 Aire is set to take boutique city centre living to the next level, providing state-of-the-art apartments to the private rental market. In keeping with the rising standards […]

As most portfolio landlords have realised, if the Summer Budget tax reforms go ahead, they will arguably be the most devastating blow ever dealt to landlords, especially those with a high gearing strategy who own properties as individuals.  There may well be opportunities to restructure into a company without transferring assets or triggering CGT and SDLT. […]

Castle Trust have launched a new Equity Finance product which allows landlords to restructure their finances for better cashflow. Could this be another angle to offset the strains created by the summer 2015 budget?  I think it might be, this is how I think it could work; You pay down your existing 75% LTV mortgage to […]

Does anybody know of a reliable software for property inventories that runs on windows rather than just android or i-phone etc. I ideally also want to be able to customise the templates with my logo and colours etc. Appreciate any advise given. Thanks Joy

The Government has recently passed new minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) which come into force on 1st April 2016. These will affect both landlords of both domestic and commercial privately rented property. The regulations have been introduced as part of the Government’s strategy to meet climate change targets and they will affect both domestic and […]

Women may be paying more rent than men, according to new research. Women who are living in shared rental accommodation are £2,271 worse off than men, according to research by SpareRoom.co.uk. Despite women in London earning 14% less than men, they end up paying £48 more in rent per year. The pay gap between men […]

Into its fourth week, Channel 5’s ‘Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords’ is growing in popularity with viewing figures of last week’s episode hitting 1.5 million. This week, a serial bad tenant and a subletting scammer will highlight the need for landlords to take action at the first sign of things going wrong. Landlords Terry Sartin and […]

I bought a flat in Glasgow in 2005 valued at over £200,000, I bought off plan for £154,350. after cash back and fees added the mortgage is £172,998. The estimated value of the flat is £50,000. The mortgage company TMB has been taken over and the mortgage offer expires on 26/8/15, they do not provide […]