I have a prospective tenant who has been paid off with early retirement from a major high street bank together with a large critical illness payment for a heart condition. She has 2 young boys, a broken marriage and a wealthy father as a guarantor. Her credit checks show her to be a very low […]

I have negotiated a “No Win No Fee” debt collection service for landlords. It constantly amazes me how many landlords post stories on our forums of tenant debts which landlords have mentally written off. Stories range from rent arrears, tenants who have absconded whilst in arrears to horror stories of damage caused by tenants to […]

We have a 3 storey Georgian terrace that we let as an 8 bed student property. All the ceilings are old lath an plaster, but in order to meet current standards, we should really board over every ceiling with plasterboard, incurring a massive cost, and also ruining much of the character of the rooms by […]

Is there a solid grounding behind the hype surrounding student buy to let investment property? The positive market fundamentals of the student property market, as quoted by Knight Frank, point out that student property investment was the best performing property investment in 2012 and that rental income is increasing by five per cent (5%) per […]

Suzanne Edgecombe of Baldock I am a Landlord and support The Good Landlords campaign

Eileen Lynch of Clonmel Ireland I am a Landlord and support The Good Landlords campaign

Has anyone had a successful Tribunal appeal against the seemingly inflexible regulations as regards kitchen layouts or not dealing sympathetically with old houses (1930’s) versus new builds? I have been told that whereas the present layout would be fine for a single family as regards safety, it is not suitable to be licensed as an […]

I’m thinking of buying a 2 bed flat. The only thing that worries me is that the flats in the block were all sold from new (about 5 years ago) to key workers & are owned with shared ownership with a local housing trust. The one I’m thinking of buying has been advertised to key […]

Buy to let investors looking at Peterborough might wish to consider the emerging student market which has two centres. UCP (University Centre Peterborough) is the academic centre with less than 1000 students studying. This is a relatively new venture and the proportion of students living at home is currently high.

Because I live abroad I pay a letting agent agent to find tenants and for property management. I have a property let to 4 tenants. It is an unlicenseable HMO (House in Multiple Occupation).  In practice, the letting agents do very little property management because I have to fix every thing and send my own […]

My letting agent has found a tenant for us, a mother who is a carer for her disabled child. They have been living in a council flat, now they need a house. She is receiving housing benefit. My question is would I be legally responsible should there be any adaptations required to be made to […]

There is a leak in my ground floor 2 bed flat which is in a block of 17 flats. The water is emanating from under the floor and I have duly contacted the Insurance providers who are arranging for loss adjustors to diagnose the cause of the leak. The insurers have advised me that costs […]

A targeted campaign by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to get property agents to register under the Data Protection Act has seen a dramatic rise in compliance across the sector. Since the ICO’s campaign began in September 2010, an additional 2,500 property agents have signed up, with 5,057 estate agents and 2,669 letting agents currently […]

Half of all students find their first venture into living away from home a stressful experience. That’s according to a recent NUS survey into student mental health, called Breaking the Silence, which reported that 49% of students said they found paying rent and bills reasonably or very stressful. No wonder then that sharing tenants increasingly […]

Just before the 1st annual check on a newly installed combi boiler my tenant reported a smell of gas when she showered. At first we thought it was incomplete combustion and a leaky flue, which is exposed in the bathroom ceiling.  On opening up, the inlet duct was not fully on the gas valve seating. […]

We have a no pet policy in our properties and we always make it clear to tenants. Our tenants have been with us for three years (two different properties) and now have two dogs with FIVE puppies. They don’t know we know yet as we’re really not sure how to deal with it. Any advice would […]

I have recently purchased a one bed flat and have a professional couple renting it. The property consists of 7 flats, we all own a share of the freehold and we self manage the property. Shortly after purchasing the property I was sent the demand for my share of the service charge on the property, […]

Did you know that landlords can now get free loft, cavity and solid wall insulation and more, especially if your tenants are in receipt of benefits? The procedure to find out whether your properties qualify for free insulation is simple; it costs just £100 for a survey and if the works go ahead the survey […]

Terry Lucking of Belvoir Lettings Cambridge and Peterborough I have been trading in lettings since 1999 with our offices in Cambridge and Peterborough managing just over 1000 properties. The offices have 16 trained and qualified staff, are ARLA licensed with fully audited and bonded client accounts.  We are members of Safe Agent, NALS and The […]

I have a property (on a buy-to-let mortgage) which has been let to a couple for the last six years. Both names appear on the tenancy agreement. Over the years there have been a couple of instances of minor arrears however during the last two years these arrears have increased and despite several agreements, payment […]

I think everyone who has had to organise new utility supplies for a flat conversion will agree that getting new gas, electric and water supplies to a property is not a trivial task, especially when you need 8 for a flat conversion project. For those of you who have achieved this I would be interested […]