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 […]

I run a small property development business in the Reading, Wokingham and South Oxon and Bucks areas. The company organises planning applications on small sites of up to 4 flats or houses, then secures the financing, oversees the design and specification, and commissions and project-manages sub-contractors to do the actual construction. I also undertake whole-house […]

I have recently had an absconding tenant who owes me £5,000 in rent arrears. I have used debt recovery agents previously for different tenants but with very limited success. One even tried to avoid passing on the debt they successfully collected, fortunately I caught them out and got my dues! I’m not prepared to employ […]

A well known national letting agency franchise office based in Ealing advertised flatshare, I viewed the property and agreed to pursue a tenancy. My agreement is for the duration of 3 months, all bills included. The tenant I share the flat with (Mr G) was claiming to be a tenant at first with the agent […]

Until now it has not been possible for private landlords to access venture capital but times are changing. Historically the only form of funding for buy to let investors has been mortgages, i.e. debt based finance where the returns for the provider comprise of fees and interest. In the world of corporate finance it is […]

No this is NOT a wind up, it’s 100% genuine and is important that you know how it works so that at the very least you can make an informed decision about new financing choices which until now have been unavailable to buy to let landlords. It really is a fantastic way to improve cashflow […]

I am a leaseholder in a large block of flats built in 2007. After two flats were severely damaged by water escaping through pipes our insurance had the excess for escape of water increased to £20,000. Year by year this was reduced to £12,000. However, last year the insurance company said this was an error […]

A radical shared appreciation mortgage product for buy to let landlords is soon to be launched. The detailed criteria is yet to be released but we do have details of a product launched a few years ago by the same mortgage lender into the residential mortgage market. If we assume that the key features for […]

Most savvy landlords will have negotiated with their energy providers, so that in between tenants the tariff automatically reverts to a zero tariff. This was not advertised widely for obvious reasons. It avoids annoying bills for 46p (or even £2.46!) to cover standing charges for a couple of days. It also means that if you […]