Capita Tenancy Deposit Protection is no longer accepting new deposits with effect from 14th September 2013. Any deposits registered with the scheme will continue to be protected unless otherwise notified. Landlords, agents and tenants who are affected have been notified in writing. If you have any queries, please call 08444 129968 or email: [email protected] The above is the message currently […]

630 people have completed our Tracker Rate Class Action Registration Form as I type this update.  Of those, 300 had signed up to the Bank of Ireland Class Action campaign which we started in early March 2013. The remaining 330 have signed up in the last week since the announcement from the West Bromwich Building […]

First they came for the Bank of Ireland ‘buy to let’ landlords, I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Bank of Ireland customer. Then they came for the West Bromwich Building Society landlords, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t have my tracker mortgage with them. Then they came for all the ‘buy […]

I’ve got my heart set on a property going to auction, which has no bathroom. I can get a mortgage to easily cover the cost of the property. But the problem being, it’s got no bathroom. Went to Lloyds, and delved into what their surveyors will pass an approval on, and basically saved £300 on […]

I have a tennant who hasn’t been staying in a studio flat that I own for the last two months. She as been with me for just over six month’s now . Can I serve a section 21 to her still if she isn’t present and if so what do I do to enforce it […]

Property118 exists to facilitate the sharing of best practice among the UK Private Rented Sector. Many of the Articles appearing on Property118 are Readers Questions and Discussion Threads. Please feel free to use the Form below to compose your own. We will always do our best to answer your questions, but please remember there are 1,000’s […]

Eviction – Beat the Xmas rush and get possession for January letting. Planning for Christmas in October? No we haven’t taken leave of our senses. If you really want vacant possession for January (and you need the current tenant out) now is your last chance before Christmas to make it happen. The courts are stuffed full. […]

I would appreciate your thoughts on the following Mortgage Express conspiracy theory. As we know, Mortgage Express is run by UK Asset Resolution who are tasked with recovering as much money as possible for the tax payer. If UKAR were to increase tracker margins for Mortgage Express customers, to a point where most landlords were […]

Is there a trend? First the Bank of Ireland raised their Tracker rates and now West Bromwich Building Society have followed suit, will Mortgage Express copy and raise their rates? We borrowed a tidy sum from Mortgage Express and have been enjoying the “Product Variable Rate” of 1.75% above the Bank of England Base Rate. […]

In Ed Miliband’s speech at the Labour Party conference he warned “We’ll say to private developers, you can’t just sit on land and refuse to build. We’ll give them a very clear message – either use the land or lose the land. That is what the next Labour government will do.” ‘We’ll say to local […]

I own four flats in a block of 16. The managing agent has been asking me for £30 per flat per annum as the flats are let out, which I am still arguing about as I don’t believe my lease entitles them to this. They also want to know details of my tenants, such as […]

Are you affected by increases in your tracker mortgage interest rate margins? Do you wish to make a formal complaint? We have produced the following letter template to make it easier for you to complain to your mortgage lender and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Note that it costs the mortgage lender a lot of money […]

We can now GUARANTEE to beat any like for like landlords insurance renewal quote! T.E.A.M = Together Everybody Achieves More and that’s certainly the case for our Landlords Buying Group as we have used the bulk purchasing power of our group to negotiate the an unbeatable landlords insurance deal. It’s free to join our group […]

If you have a tracker mortgage you may be forgiven for thinking that your mortgage payments will only change when the base rate changes.  Just suppose you open your post one day to find that your mortgage lender has decided to increase the tracker margin by a couple of percent! Sounds unimaginable doesn’t it? Well […]

A Landlord Today article this morning says David Orr of NHF (trade body for social landlords) thinks Govt should introduce Rent Controls. Luckily the RLA have swiftly responded, saying “His calls for rent controls are based largely on a select few areas of London boroughs that have seen rents rise as a result of an […]

Hi All, I realise this is primarily a landlords site, however nothing like hearing it from you on what will hopefully be an impartial landlord view. I like to believe I am a reasonable and honest tenant. Background: My landlady owns a number of properties in London (via a company). I moved in and a […]

Many landlords are fearful to seek help from their local authorities in terms of dealing with subletting scams. Just imagine this, you’ve jst let your nice little three bed house to Mr & Mrs Lovely and their two perfect children, only to find out that 10 of their family have also moved in. How would […]

Well, not quite but close… I own a leasehold flat in an 18 unit block in Halifax. All units are owned by investors. About a year ago we took over the management, using the RTM Process. Myself and one of the other owners are now directors of the Right To Manage (RTM) company and we […]

Carpet and clothes moths are ‘posh pests’ according to one pest control firm. This is because they don’t carry diseases and they love wool and cashmere but who pays for the damage when they infest and eat wool-based carpets: the landlord, or the tenant? And what’s the story where the tenant has already been aware […]

My mother took tenancy of a flat on 23/03/08, she signed an original tenancy for a year and then as the estate agent had expensive fees for a renewal, so she got only another one the following year (2009), and from then on she has carried on on as something like rolling period. For the […]

Council tax legislation was written with a blinkered approach which only considered property sale and purchase. Consequently in order to avoid shared responsibility on completion day it is determined that an outgoing tax payer should not be liable for their last day which would fall to the ingoing one. Unfortunately this does not work in […]