I own outright (no mortgage) a freehold building in Bristol which is divided into four one-bed flats.  The value of the building is £220,000 and rental income is £21,900 per annum. I need to raise £100,00 as soon as possible. I’ve had an offer of £210,000 to sell. I have a offer of a mortgage […]

Ed Milliband has stated that if he is elected at the next election the labour government will make residential tenancies a minimum of three years and a cap will also be imposed on rent increases. Given that there are over 1 million private landlords in the UK I suspect that could provide a very good […]

Newcastle has been reported as ‘structurally undersupplied’ by Knight Frank in their 2014 Student Property Report. With more than 49,000 students studying at two universities, the city requires purpose-built accommodation to alleviate the strain that is being placed on the local housing market. Newcastle is therefore a perfect location for Burgess House, a newly launched […]

One of our tenants wants me to provide his landlords home address, I am a letting agent. However, the landlord is a well know person and wants me just to give my office address for his business address.  What information is the tenant legally entitled to have please? If you could point me to any relevant […]

I am looking for mortgage broker recommendations for BTL (1st time buyer, low credit score due to little credit card use, £70k deposit)  I’m a first-time buyer, no previous mortgages at all, looking to buy to let because my future work means I’m not ready to settle down in one area at the moment yet […]

All landlords want three basic things:- 1) Tenants who pay their rent on time 2) Tenants who will respect their property 3) Tenants who respect their neighbours This is a relatively comprehensive guide, hence it is quite long. It may well put you off self-management but please invest your time into reading it fully to […]

The Article 4 Direction is a ruling passed by government which effectively requires special planning permission to be granted on the conversion of a single family home into a rental property of three or more unrelated tenants. In cities like Nottingham, Leicester and Newcastle family homes were rapidly being converted to student property, because they […]

The Bank of England (BoE) is preparing to test eight UK lenders to see if they can absorb sharp falls in the housing market and rises in interest rates. The test is to see if the lenders can withstand a 35% fall in house prices and an interest rate rise to 5%. This is not […]

Dear Readers, I am looking to convert my double detached garage into a annex for the purpose of renting for approx £600 PCM, the cost for conversion would be approx £20,000 which I am looking to pay for with savings. I have a mortgage of approx £100,000 on the main residence. My question is would […]

As soon as ECO funding for external wall insulation (EWI) was first announced I applied for funding for several properties through my Landlords Association. After a survey, a tenant questionnaire and another EPC, I agreed to make a financial contribution towards the total cost of the EWI. Now after a year of delays the Chancellor […]

As Russia feels the impact of further economic sanctions, London’s army of estate agent cannot seem to agree on the knock-on effect for Prime London resi. One camp can barely hold their caviar trays steady, dreading an asset freeze that will see the market tumble. Whilst the other camp is toasting their vodka, proclaiming that […]

Good morning, I have just ring my local Council Tax office to advise them that a tenant has vacated my property. I was advised that the tenant had already notified them and that the date given was 8th April 2014. I advised them that the tenancy actually ended on 24th May 2014. I was then […]

Hi- I think I know the answer to this but it is nice to get a few other opinions. I have a tenant who had been late in paying their rent. I found out that one of the tenants had started their own business and I suggested to help cash flow to pay weekly, which […]

Hi, I wonder whether anyone can help me on this please? I recently bought 2 houses both of which were in run down old fashioned condition as follows: Property 1 had been owned by 2 elderly brothers. Overall dirty, old fashioned decor. Filthy ‘doggy smelling’ carpets. Dated kitchen and bathroom and in my opinion would […]

I have been disputing with a letting agency about how they have handled my old property, I took out a lease on the 01-01-12. I signed a brand new lease and gave them £850 deposit They did not lodge my my deposit within the correct time frame (by Nov 13 2012 the cut off) it […]

Peer-to-Peer or (P2P) lending is at its most competitive when financing development projects with the largest loan provided to date of £4.1 million. Key advantages held currently by Peer-to-Peer lending are: Speed – with draw downs possible in 6 weeks rather than months by high street commercial lenders Stage payments in advance of the work […]

It does not matter how many properties you own here are ten very common sense things you can do to keep your landlord insurance costs to a minimum. 1: Do not claim on your insurance unless it is worth it. If you have an excess of £250 think carefully before claiming for the £300 damage […]

Whether a developer, CGI artist, architect, landlord or owner occupier, attention to detail is important. It is easy enough to include a Le Corbusier chaise longue and portray an illusion of contemporary chic which some people do buy. I used to advise the use of vertical blinds in flats with not great views. At least […]

I have a property which once upon a time had a mortgage on it and the property was let. I used to claim the mortgage interest as an allowable expense each year and everything was hunky dory. Then it came to pass that I paid off the mortgage and could no longer claim any interest […]

Hi all, I exchanged contracts on a flat I am selling on 11.4.14 with completion set for 17.4.14. It was not certain that this would go ahead until the last minute, so my solicitor didn’t request a redemption figure until then. Unfortunately, the mortgage on this flat is a portfolio mortgage with one other property. […]

In May last year I did a TV programme called The One Show, where they filmed me serving a section 8 notice on a LHA tenants at 7am, they had kept the landlords rent of £4,000. This piece was about the launch of the trial version of ‘Universal Credit’, which I warned would be not […]