I have just found out, after signing a contract with an estate agent, that they have found someone to rent it for three years instead of a year. I was happy with a three year tenancy but unbeknown to me they taking their fees upfront fee so I wont receive any rent for 5 months! […]

I can’t quite believe that I am asking what is the fairest way of taking the first month’s rent and deposit, as it seems so simple, but here goes.  Some tenants moved into my very nice flat last week, having only paid a holding fee (normally about a third of the rent), for which I […]

I became a member today and, although I have read many articles, this is my first post. Can I say, in opening, what a valuable resource this is.  I have one BTL property near Barnsley which is an old (1885) terrace. I bought the property in November 2013 with tenants already in situ. The Home Buyers […]

Hello I am a regular reader but this is my first post. We have recently purchased an ex LA (local authority) first floor flat in a 4 storey block of 8 in London. Ours and one other are private, the rest are still LA. The flat underneath us is vacant and we have just had […]

I am new to BTL and have a question about the concept of releasing equity. My situation is the following:  I own a three bedroom house which I bought six months ago with a residential mortgage with Nationwide. The mortgage has 2 year fixed interest rate and is for £188K which is 80% of the purchase […]

I live in a block of flats where we manage the maintenance and upkeep of the building in house.  However, one of the flats has had a really bad leak and they are on the ground floor and its leaking into the garage. This flat is tenanted, and so the estate agent is managing it […]

I’m thinking about getting a flat with the sole intent of handing it over to a managing agent for the use of a short term serviced apartment.  Will I be able to get a normal buy to let mortgage for this? Thanks Craig

I’m looking at buying a two bedroomed Victorian terraced house in NN1.  My plan is to refurbish but nothing major as it has central heating, double glazing etc but currently unlettable due to kitchen condition. It needs re-plastering, decorating, carpets etc and a new kitchen. I will then let as a small unlicensed 4 bed […]

Bradford Council are forcing me to put an LD3 interlinked fire detection system in a 2 bed back to back house. I believe this is unnecessary. I have checked LACORS and RLA guidance and think the council is just trying to push this through. As far as I can tell the requirement only comes in […]

This week our favourite journalist at The Telegraph (Nicole Blackmore) wrote an article entitled “Should mortgage lenders be allowed to change mortgage terms”  What an outrageous question you might think. However, it’s not Nicole’s question, it is a question posed by the FCA! Mark Smith from Cotswold Barristers commented … “This is the line that […]

I am aware that a lot of landlords on this site have faced some of the same problems with councils that I have had to endure over the last several months. Such as giving tenants legal advice (they are not allowed to do this) and lots of other problems that they try to intimidate me […]

I’m in the process of purchasing a flat and shop under one deed. It’s a hostile purchase (forced) and neither the owner, or the tenant, will give me a copy of the tenancy agreement or inventory. The tenant is now claiming the rent is a lot lower than they originally admitted too. I’ve told the […]

We evicted a long term housing benefit tenant who consistently failed to pay her rent and who became seriously in arrears. When she moved out, it cost us £7,500 to repair the damage to the property. While the repairs were being done, paint was thrown on the exterior on more than one occasion, the fencing […]

I would really appreciate some advice please for the following situation: Tenant paid rent up to 23/04/2013. Property inspected & everything ok deposit refunded via DPS. Informed council in writing on 24/04/2013 that property was unoccupied/unfurnished &would let them know when it was tenanted again. I did a refurb and got tenants who had to […]

I can see many different time limits on different sites given in order to comply with Torts act. These times can vary from 2 weeks – 3 months. Is their anybody who can clarify the time a landlord has to give a tenant who has vacated the property, but left goods behind. The tenant and […]

Whenever you get into a legal wrangle, and before wherever possible, you will probably want:-  1)    A fixed fee quote detailing exactly how much it will cost to deal with the matter. 2)    Qualified specialist advice on what can be done and the chances of success. By removing unnecessary delays associated with legal fees insurance […]

I have been a tenant in a property for two years now and have had to sign 6 month contracts.   I refused to sign a new contract earlier this year and am now on periodic tenancy. My landlord cant force me to sign a contract if I am still paying my rent can he? […]

The Property Redress Scheme held its first meeting this week and I was delighted to be asked to attend. This scheme has been sanctioned by the Government for all Letting Agents to join later this year, and it will be compulsory for agents to join one of the schemes so that both landlords and tenants […]

Hello everyone! I’ve just had an offer accepted on my first buy to let property in London and while I’ve been pouring over the fantastic resources here on 118. To further my knowledge, I wondered if there were any good books that any fellow members can recommend I read that might be helpful for a […]

The UK average house price has now surpassed the 2007 peak by almost 1%. However, if you exclude London figures the average is still 0.4% below the pre-credit crisis high with London actually 30% above. Year on year figures in the Nationwide survey show the UK average house price rise was 11.8% to £188,903, while […]

Mark, Mike and I met through the common background of BuytoLet and Commercial Finance. Over the years through The Money Centre and now Property118 we have literally helped 10s of thousands of Landlords, developers and investors start and grow their property businesses. Unfortunately we are now old enough to have seen, done and bought the […]