I own a purpose-built first floor flat in a block of just 8 in St Albans, two bedrooms, 1 en-suite. It was purchased in 2001 for £140k. It is rented for £800 but the mortgage, which is BTL interest only is £724 and management fees are £113. It’s had the same tenant for seven years […]

One of our properties becomes vacant next month and I am very tempted to sell it. It has at least £50k equity in it and would nicely fund some opportunities in 2014 without affect our cash flow too much. The property is just in my name. If I put it in joint names with my […]

The role of the mortgage broker has changed significantly post credit crunch. During the buy to let boom years of 1996 to 2008 most buy to let borrowers were primarily focussed on getting deals done quickly. They knew that if they spent time with a financial adviser to complete a full review of their financial […]

I have a five bedroom house which I have just made 6 bedroom with a loft conversion, making it a licenseable HMO. It is classed as a shared house, with one tenancy agreement. All work has building regs approval and has been passed by the fire authorities. The environmental health officer who visited initially proposed […]

Principality Buy to Let have launched a massively improved new product range only available via brokers, but I have added them to our Buy to Let Mortgage Calculator and Sourcing system. The Headline grabber is a 1.99% two year tracker BBR + 1.49% until 30/11/2015 with a maximum 60% Loan to Value and a 2.5% […]

I would be grateful for your advice on the following HMO application matter. I am in the process of applying for a HMO licence for a 7 bed house which my son shares with his friends. They are all post grads, studying medicine in the local medical school. The City council has approved the HMO […]

COMPLAINT TO ADVERTISING STANDARDS AGENCY I have just completed my online complaint to the ASA. It is a five step process. The basis of my complaint was targeted only at the statement of the West Brom website. My thinking is that if we over-complicate matters for the ASA they might decide to refer the complaint […]

I have a foreign student and his partner who started living in my property in September. He is a student at the local university and is repeating his first year, for which he attended a different university in a different part of the country. I made all the necessary checks before admitting him as a […]

I own a property on a residential mortgage. I am in the process of acquiring another property on a residential mortgage and I am looking to convert my existing mortgage into a regulated buy to let so that my parents can live in my old house. Having done a bit of research it looks as […]

It’s not often you will find me eulogising about a website for new and wannabee landlords.You might be forgiven for thinking they could be seen as competing with part of what we do here at Property118 but that’s not the reason I promise you. The reality is that they are often are an alluring upsell for […]

Unlike the press DON’T PANIC, the economic news is good but not that good in the Bank of England Inflation report. Reports of imminent Bank Base Rate rises next year are wildly exaggerated and unhelpful to the economy. We had one piece of good news on unemployment and the FTSE 100 took a tumble. Let’s […]

This is my first question and will not be the last so please treat me easy. I am trying to venture into the BTL market. We have our home (mortgaged) and saving of about 20K. I playfully pressed buttons on my bank and I got 15K transferred to my account yesterday (we both have very […]

Castle Trust Equity Loan Finance has the potential to be the biggest game changer in the UK mortgage market since Buy to Let came about in 1996. Not only does the Castle Trust equity loan finance product allow you to borrow more without having to refinance, there are also no monthly payments, EVER! Instead of […]

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 […]