Thanks to Nick and Vanessa at Property Tribes TV for producing and sharing these video highlights of Scottish National Landlord Day 2013, organised by the Scottish Association of Landlords. If you let property in Scotland please join “SAL” the Scottish Association of Landlords for the advice and support you will inevitably need at some point. […]

Ok people, this is one of my most difficult choices over last 15 years of renting houses. I always have loads of options and juggling about to do to keep people happy but in the next two weeks ….. I have two bed nice (ish) house coming up. Existing tenant evicted due to being a […]

Shawbrook Bank are now offering a 0.25% discount on the margin or a 0.25% discount in the arrangement fee for clients who have already been party to a completed loan with them. This makes a very refreshing change from lenders who have traditionally only chased new customers with deals showing they realise the value in […]

The Consumer Price Index CPI inflation figures for October show a year on year fall to 2.2% from 2.7% in September as released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This surprise fall means that the basket of goods and services measured under CPI which cost £100.00 in October last year would now cost […]

Three cases have recently been tested in the Courts whereby Councils have charged more for HMO licensing then was reasonable. There are rules to prevent Councils using HMO licensing to raise funds for other activities. Hemming v Westminster City Council: The case outlines the type of costs that councils can recover through locally set licence […]

I’m teetering on the edge. I have played it safe all my life and now want to do something for my son’s future. I have properties with no mortgage that I use for retirement income. Do I wait to save up the deposit for my next property which could take 3 years+ and houses will […]

I have a separate bank account to receive rent and pay expenses for my property portfolio (80+ properties). Up until now my have just used a second current account with my bank. Everything has been fine for over six years but last week I got a letter from the bank saying that I’m using the […]

Of interest, I think, to fellow landlords; Experian expects to include 600,000 rental records by year-end of tenants who pay late, starting with social housing and expanding to all private rentals. Lenders will have access to the information next year.  Tenants who get a black mark will could ruin their chances of securing a mortgage, credit […]

My buy to let property portfolio is within three miles of my main residence but I would venture further out. My main concern is that I won’t know other areas as well.  In the past I’ve looked at Rightmove to understand how much properties can be rented for and how many have been let recently. Also, […]

Is it a legal requirement that every bedroom in a licensable HMO has to have a wash hand basin? I have been jumping through hoops for a year to try and get a licence on a three storey 6-bed HMO. I had a letter from the council in 2011 saying that as I had three […]

For landlords with tenants who do all the wrong things and cause condensation and damp problems this can be a nightmare because tenants often argue that de-humidifiers increase their fuel bills, even if landlords offer to provide one. Here is a counter argument which you may care to use if you have this problem this […]

I head up an independent and experienced team of researchers at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. 

The Capita TDP (Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme) has been closed to accepting new deposits since the 14th of September this year. Capita a corporate giant and FTSE 100 company was only awarded the contract by Government to operate the scheme from the 1st April 2013 (no pun intended) in an effort to increase competition and […]

My tenants have paid 6 month rent in advance ( as they did in the previous 6 months with no problems) due to them being students. The Letting Agent is dragging its feet and will not release the 6 months rent to my bank account stating the tenants have to sign a form allowing this […]

I’m at the point of exchange on an HMO licensed 5 bed house, currently let to students. I received a letter from the mortgage lender Birmingham Midshires (BM Solutions) saying one of their conditions is that there are ‘no internal door locks’. I checked and there are thumb locks on all the bedrooms. The letting […]

Hi all, I’m fairly new to property investing and brand new to this site. Thanks Property Geek, Rob Dix, for your podcast on Mark Alexander that pointed me here. Quick question; what accountancy software does this community recommend?  I currently only have three properties, but plan to scale to a lot more. I use spreadsheets […]

“Should I obtain consent to let” has been a very common question over the years asked by both accidental landlords and portfolio landlords who are moving, but wish to keep their property as an investment. The very easy answer is yes you are contractually obliged to tell your lender and I would not give any […]

When you have a business of putting people in homes, it may be quite easy to get wrapped up into doing what’s “right” as opposed to what’s “profitable.” Many of us want to help our fellow humankind keep off of the streets, but when does it become problematic to do so? We may feel like […]

As it stands, this is precisely what the Government is planning to do by introducing an Immigration Bill to Parliament including a civil scheme to penalise leasing accommodation to illegal immigrants. The scheme is intended to come into effect in 2014. Government’s proposals, as set out in the relevant Government consultation document, are summarised below. […]

I have been posting on numerous forums about the introduction of equity loans into the UK buy to let mortgage market, a common question is the tax treatment. Equity loans do not attract interest in the normal way, there are no regular monthly payments. One UK lender, funded by USA equity house JC Flower & […]

In this article I will explain the fundamental difference between equity finance for buy to let landlords and traditional buy to let mortgages facilities.  Both are mortgages which are secured by a legal charge over a property. Until recently, only traditional buy to let mortgage finance where interest or interest and capital are repaid monthly […]