I’ve recently been reading the HMRC toolkit about rental tax which I found very clear and informative, until however, I called the HMRC and they corrected my thinking! The confusion is over this statement:  “Expenditure incurred prior to the commencement of a rental business is allowable if it is wholly and exclusively for the purposes […]

I am due to exchange contracts on Monday with a completion date on Wednesday but I came home this evening to a letter from Natwest saying they won’t let me use current solicitor and to find an alternative.  Only yesterday I transferred the deposit to my current solicitor. I picked up all of the contracts […]

Unfortunately the majority of the press like to run pure scare stories about future Bank of England Base rate increases because they know it sells. However I like to run my quarterly updates on the inflation report to add a little more balance for readers. The biggest news this quarter is private sector wage inflation […]

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Labour MP Stella Creasy, tabled a motion to amendment the Consumer Rights Bill banning letting agents from charging fees to tenants. The vote was defeated by 228 for to 281 against with all but 3 coalition MPs voting against. Ms Creasy during the debate said “it is a fundamentally anti-competitive corporate practice. We want to […]

The first two houses I bought are in an area of Middlesbrough called North Ormesby. It was always a bit rough and tricky to get tenants but we managed. However, over the last few years the area has been transformed into somewhere with major antisocial behaviour issues. It is very hard indeed to get anyone […]

I have been trying to evict a tenant for over a year due to non payment of rent which currently stands at £11k.  Having finally obtained a possession order which has been ignored by the tenant, I have applied for a court bailiff to carry out the eviction. The tenant has ignored the whole possession […]

Does any one know whether it is possible for a landlord to commission a CRB check on prospective tenants?  I am a landlord with several properties but am now branching out into an HMO for single working people, it seems strange I would need this check to spend a few hours volunteering for a charity […]

I would greatly welcome the advice of other members on how to effectively manage heating costs. I have 2 HMO properties and rents include; water, gas, electric and broadband.  Over the past 12 months the electric and gas bills seem to have rocketed. I have checked and the tenants are not growing weed but I […]

I’ve recently received some bad mortgage advice from Halifax and hoping I could ask advice from any experts where on where I stand with the situation.  I’m in the middle of purchasing a new build property to move into. I’ve reached the final stages of a mortgage application with Halifax, having received a mortgage offer, […]

A large neglected tree in a neighbour’s garden fell during high winds in February, damaging my garden. My fence was uprooted, along with a section of paving. This was due to the tree roots extending under the fence and paved area of my garden, they were ripped up as the tree fell, leaving a large hole.  I […]

I am about to by a HMO property with 21 rooms to let in London.  My questions are ……….. 1) How difficult is it to run a large size of HMO and what difficulties should I expect along the way? 2) Has anyone had any experience of HMO of this magnitude. I am thankful for […]

The good news for Buy to Let mortgage products is that they have remained mostly stable for the last two months, despite the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) and the Bank of England base rate of 0.5% on it’s five year anniversary. There has been very little movement in 2-3 year Buy to Let mortgage fixed […]

I’m looking for some guidance as per the above. My wife and I are in the process of buying a 2nd property. The 1st property is owned as tenants in common. We are both lower rate tax payers. My wife has the potential to become a higher rate payer at some point (not sure when) […]

What has Hull got to offer I hear you say? Huge investment, City of Culture in 2017, a great football team and now Siemens investing millions…. the list goes on! But for us property folks Hull offers some fantastic investment opportunities with yields of over 10% common place. Based on huge interest in the area […]

I would like to see if there are any members that could give me some advice… Quick background: I only found out in January about Newham’s Selective Licensing. I own a 2 bedroom flat in Newham that therefore needs licensing. Apart from dealing with two bereavements I have now spent a good deal of time […]

I have a very odd scenario and hope I can be advised regarding my best (and most cost effective) option. One of my properties is a leasehold flat in London. The house is made up of 2 flats. I own the upstairs flat while the person who owns the freehold also owns the ground floor […]

I rented a property to a single person. Unbeknown to me he let someone live with him for a couple of months.  Now he has asked that person to leave and they refused to go so my tenant has come to me for help. What is the best way to go about having that person […]

I look after a small property portfolio and going forward I will be handing it over to a managing agent. The main reason being I have a tenant who is harassing me constantly about three things:  Gas certfificate. This was due to be done last week, he refused entry to the gas man and my […]

I thought I would share a short case study of how I helped Max, a first time buyer, first time landlord, to get on the property ladder recently. Max is aged 21, and although he has managed to establish his own hairdressing business it’s still early years with his net profits currently below £15,000 pa. He […]

Apart from filling the paperwork in wrongly or getting the dates wrong can a section 21 be refused on any other grounds, i.e. when it goes back to the tenant to ‘make a defence’?  Thanks Claire