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  

Once upon a time there were only High Street Letting Agents, then the internet enabled on line entrepreneurs to offer a discounted service. The problem was that online agents were unable to offer a High Street service from a central location because they have no infrastructure to provide photos’, viewings and ongoing management and then […]

I’ve had tenants move out and there are lots of light-bulbs in downlights not working. They were in full working order when the tenants moved in.  Are landlord’s responsible for changing the bulbs in downlights? Thanks Kari

On the 7th May 2014 Nick Rynsfold MP for Labour proposed a bill regarding Fire Safety “The purpose of the Bill is to remedy that by making the installation of a working smoke alarm mandatory in all privately rented housing”  In the proposal the Labour MP also said “By a margin, the largest proportion of […]

I own one BTL property in my sole name. I am currently a non-tax payer and my husband is a higher rate tax payer. We are shortly to complete on a second BTL property, funded by an interest only BTL mortgage in joint names (my income is not sufficient to have the mortgage in my […]

Police broke into one of our tenants homes by smashing the door to get in but discovered no evidence and did not charge our tenant.  The tenant has said that they have done nothing and don’t know why the police raided them. The police say “the tenant has been mixing with the wrong people” is […]

We recently received a payment for loss of rent at a property after a fire made it uninhabitable. Should we declare it on the accounts as income?  Thanks Mike

I have recently separated from my husband and moved back into a house I owned before our marriage …. this is where I believe my nightmare begins!  We own two properties, one has been the matrimonial home for 20 years ( jointly owned) the other I have owned for 32 years ( husband is on […]

Would YOUR Estate Agent collude with their in-house mortgage broker to get paid more?  As you would expect, an Estate Agent receives more commission (and a very happy vendor) if they are able to increase your offer, the same applies to Mortgage Brokers if you take a bigger mortgage in order to pay more for […]

I have a small portfolio of four BTL’s and a few years ago I was unfortunate enough to have a buildings insurance claim on two of the BTL’s within the space of two years. Both claims were c.£800 and are through a specialist Landlord insurance provider.  When I came to renew the house insurance on […]

I first met Mark Edwards back in 2002 when he was a client of my former mortgage brokerage, and also an HMRC Tax Investigator.  I instantly recognised Mark’s ability to comprehend and break down complex problems and to research and present solutions effectively.  These are the hallmarks of a good finance broker. Within a few […]