We currently rent to eight foreign tenants from Poland, Latvia, Portugal and Hungary.  In the past our main concern has been employment and have always asked for payslips as proof. Recently in the press they have been saying landlords should be also be checking if people are here legally. My question is what proof should […]

I have recently taken over management of the freehold and common areas and structure of a development of six flats. I am the sole director of the management company. Overhanging the land there are very substantial branches. If one broke, then it could seriously damage one of the flats. I am aware of the right […]

One of my goals is for The GOOD Landlords Campaign to eventually become a registered charity. For that to happen there are several hoops to jump through, the first of which is to form a steering committee. For the moment, The GOOD Landlords Campaign mission statement is “to promote and facilitate the sharing of best practice […]

I have a HMO which I bought way back, it is officially licensed etc and above board. They recently discovered that there was a basement in the building which had been converted in to a room with en-suite facilities illegally. The work was done before we bought the building and has never been let out […]

I have rented a property from a Landlord and let the property on a corporate let to a Charity who then place social housing tenants to live in it. Yesterday, without asking me, or giving me notice, the property owner changed the front door, and therefore the lock, and omitted to give me or anyone […]

If like me you are a big fan of Twitter you will no doubt enjoy sharing information with your fellow landlords. I have just completed the mammoth task of completely updating my buy to let property investment strategy and I will be tweeting about it over the next few days. Below are some of the […]

Great site! I’m a “small-time” landlord that owns a total of 3 properties – 2 rental flats and my own home – and I’m currently looking to grow my business further.  I have one small problem: access to capital! I currently have about 30k sitting in my own home, 10k sitting in one flat and […]

I am a Director of the management company of a development of fourteen flats. There are three other directors who are owner occupiers, I own a buy to let flat.  There are only four flats on the development which are rented out. An investor has bought one of the rented flats and we have found […]

To condense the issues here goes…  Tenant on AST which ran into periodic for some two months Tenant leaves no notice, just four page letter of complaints … staff …. other people… everything ! Worth noting at this point.. no complaints at all when in the property, just one boiler issue which was sorted asap […]

I am a higher rate tax payer and I want to expand my property portfolio further. I want to shelter the rental income from my income tax bracket as I wish to re-invest the money into buying more property. I do not need to draw money from the business.  I have read extensively and considering […]

I’m in the process of purchasing my first buy to let. I’m buying it through an agent, who also manages it for the current owner.  I’d like to keep the current tenants and they’d like to stay. However, I’d like to manage the tenants directly, without an estate agent being involved. In spite of this, […]

I own an apartment in Birmingham and for the last two years I have received a bill on top of the normal management fees.  Each year the management company claims it has had unexpected costs which they have needed to meet and which they can charge the leaseholders for. Is this right and what can be […]

When I married in 2009 I remortaged my house onto a buy to let to raise a deposit to buy our marital home. The marital home was then completely financed by me, and we are tenants in common.  My husband had a small house that he had mortgaged to 70% and a housing association owned […]

I have been having a catch up on my on-line reading over this weekend and I have just come across an article which, in my opinion is very ill-informed.  “Housing supply in many UK cities is being restricted by the conversion of family housing to student lets and local tenants are being prices out, according […]

I have just let a property through an agent I have never dealt with before, however because I always hold the deposits money I asked them to amend there tenancy agreement to accommodate this and they said no we cant amend our agreements you will have to let us keep the deposit or provide your […]

My free guide to finding the very best tenants is now available as a PDF download, just see the form at the bottom of this article.  In the PDF I explain what my family do to find the next perfect tenant, right from the day an existing tenant let’s us know that they want to […]

Not strictly an accurate title but I have heard novice landlords refer to people on Housing Benefit (provided by the council) as such so many times. So, should you accept tenants who claim benefits? No one can make that decision for you – but there are some risks to consider, and precautions you can take. […]

While fully acknowledging that I am not a financial specialist I do know the residential property market. I have a proven track record of making money from letting property for 40 years. In my first book, which I released just a few months ago, I venture to give my opinion of the criteria I would […]

The government wants the banks to clamp down on interest only mortgages. Obviously there are tax advantages for these mortgages with BTL properties but can someone explain this situation on our own home mortgages: I always change my home mortgage every 2 or 3 yrs to take advantage of low introductory rates. Now as I […]

Tributes from across the lettings industry have been flooding in following the death of Northwood Managing Director, Nick Cooper, who peacefully passed away on Thursday 22 August. Nick, aged 50, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer nearly two years ago. He sadly leaves behind a wife and two children.  Nick’s career in the lettings industry spanned […]

I am considering to buy a but to let property in Ilford area with a deposit of £25k and I am looking for a 2 bed room flat valued around £150k.  My questions are:- 1) is Ilford a good area for investment in 5-10 years timeline? And beyond 2) what are the things I need […]