We are a group of sharers falling into the “young professional” age category (a mixture of accountants, engineers and consultants) looking for a 5 bed in the Clapham/Battersea/Balham area and it amazes me how few properties there appear to be with an HMO license. One letting agency even went as far as to recommend lying […]

When looking at financing an investment property that is not immediately suitable for a Buy to Let mortgage the costs and stress of repaying the initial Bridging loan required after 6 month can be high. However Shawbrook Bank offer the ability to switch directly from their Bridging facility to their Buy to Let products with […]

For 8 months I have been trying to sell my leasehold flat. I have had two offers but both sales have fallen through at the eleventh hour when the freeholder has sent a long list of grievances to the prospective buyers solicitors. Most were irrelevant and related to previous tenants, whilst others were unqualified statements […]

It looks as if the two tenants in a property of mine have done a runner as the flat shows no sign of occupancy. The next rent payment is due on 7th September 2014 and I don’t expect to see this as there are no personal items in the flat.  What are legal responsibilities regarding […]

Hmmm, it never rains, but it pours .. having had a blissful tenant-communication free few months it all happens at once. We had two fighting last week, two separate fridge-freezers gave up the ghost within 3 days – ( I have never had one go before in ten years) , a washing machine had to […]

A lady and her daughter have just come into UK from British virgin isles and wants to rent house for a year, she is willing to pay the whole year up front with deposit.  My quandary is … she has no UK bank account as yet because she is living in hotel and guest house. […]

I’ve just exchanged on my first buy to let and it’s a purpose built maisonette. I’m upstairs and there’s another flat downstairs and we share the freehold. There’s a huge loft above my flat and I estimate that for around £70k – 90k I could build a 2 bedroom flat which would be worth around […]

I’ve just exchanged on my first Buy to Let and as I’ve got some work to do on the property in advance of letting it I thought I’d ask fellow members what tips they’ve acquired over the years for ‘tenant proofing’ their properties in the hope that I might incorporate some of the precautions at […]

The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering the use of Quantitative Easing (QE), or smaller scale asset purchase for the first time in an effort to avoid deflation. This is after figures showing European inflation at 0.3% a fall from 0.4% in July and a five year low. Mario Draghi, head of the ECB, has […]

Urgent advice needed please. We are tenants of a property that has been served with a repossession order by the court, because our landlord hasn’t been paying his mortgage. Our rent is paid up until the 13th of this month and the possession is ordered to take place on 1st October. We have been excellent […]

My letting agent is now 4 months late paying any rent to myself.   The payments have never been on a regular basis, always different weeks but always paid and I thought “better the devil you know” rather than trying to find another agent and possibly paying a cancellation fee. Now after weeks of ringing […]

We have five portfolio loan accounts with TMW. These five portfolio loans are held under one account number. We have a buyer on one our properties in the South of England and requested a release figure in June. TMW wrote and requested 16 internal valuations of properties we hold in the a North of England. […]

I have a couple who are on an ongoing AST. They have been in the house for one year now and they have just said they want to have a daughter to stay from September to November. She is unemployed and is 21 years old.  I phoned the R L A for advice and I was informed […]

I need some advice about buying a house with an uncertified loft conversion please.  It’s advertised as a 3-bed house with a “converted attic room used as the third bedroom”. It has been let for several years. The loft conversion was done before the current seller bought the house in 2007. I have asked for […]

We are a professional couple in quiet, untouched Rotherhithe and we are praying for a rental buyer of our landlord’s one bed garden maisonette. The interior is like new and it is in a popular residential area.  We’ve come to love this property  with all our hearts – so when our landlord announced he was […]

My son and his family moved into their rented house last week. This morning they were burgled; access gained by smashing a large window in the conservatory. My son does not want to tell his landlord (and see if his insurance will cover the cost of a new window) as he has just started a […]

I am aiming to buy my first rental property and am weighing up whether to use a capital repayment or interest only BTL. The first property will be circa £75k – £100k studio or 1 bedroom flat with an 85% BTL and my objective is to build a small portfolio of similar sized properties that […]

We moved into an office within an office block about 4 years ago at the height of the recession. When we moved into the office we were told to occupy a smaller office until the one meant for us was ready. When our office was ready we moved in and when we asked for a […]

Someone has offered me about £600K for an unencumbered property. I’d happily sell now, but am too busy to buy anything new till at the earliest Jan or Feb. Any tips on where to get the best short term rate for such an amount while still being able to access the funds should I need […]

I own a leasehold flat in North Wales, it is one of 3 self-contained leasehold flats in a converted house.  I have just received a letter from the council which says that the property needs to have a HMO licence otherwise I will not be able to continue rent it out. They say that it […]

Remains to be seen how this will work, but every little helps ……… https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/08/29/5-live-civil-claims-evict-a-tenant-using-accelerated-possession/ What are other members thoughts? Regards Lou