As the MD of a right-to-manage company, I’ve had the misfortune of being caught in the crossfire of a water damage incident (ie water has leaked from one flat into another causing significant damage to the ceiling) – I’m not prepared to use the buildings insurance to make a claim since the value of the […]

#UKLANDLORDS HM Revenue and Customs have organised a Twitter Questions and Answers event for landlords on Tuesday the 20th October 2015. HMRC on (@HMRC customers) will be answering questions for landlords on current tax rules between 18:00 and 19:00. The HMRC Twitter only event is aimed at helping landlords understand their obligations and regulations and […]

Currently I have two unrelated tenants who are friends on a joint and severally liable AST Agreement. This ends in January 2016. One tenant wishes to leave. The other wishes to start a new tenancy with three friends, one of whom is single and the other a couple. Thus in the 3 bed, 3 story […]

I am buying a property with a tenant in situ and need a major increase in rent, but will the tenant sign a new agreement? This is a product of landlords not doing proper rent increases each year then when it is really needed it has a major increase. If I keep the rent as […]

I bought a business 13 years ago with my wife as a partnership. A family member gave us £40,000 as a deposit to start up and we got a business mortgage for the rest. However, the family member went bankrupt 7 months later and we became liable for the £40,000 so after plenty of court […]

I am puzzled as to why my lender (Mortgage Express) has just sent me a letter wanting to see tenancy agreements for two of my properties which I bought back in 2008. Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this experience and also why would they be asking for these documents. Many thanks […]

We recently hosted a very successful webinar for residential landlords in partnership with Tim Briggs, solicitor and founder of LegalMentor, a tenant eviction company with an impressive near 100% record in getting possession for landlords at the first hearing. Tim was able to provide an understanding of Assured Shorthold Tenancies and the Deregulation Act 2015 […]

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 […]