Scott Hymas has written in to ask what other landlords do in terms of bank accounts. Scott said  … “I have always used the same bank account for all my finances. What I want to know is what does everyone else do and what is best practice? Should I have one account for my personal […]

James Shanahan of Birmingham We are new (from early 2013) landlords with two houses and plans to grow gradually with a focus in and around Birmingham. Our houses are good quality, safe family homes and we are committed to looking after our tenants and after our houses. We are also committed to keeping our houses […]

Paul Tucker the deputy Bank of England governor has told the Treasury Committee that negative interest rates should be considered. A negative interest rate on bank reserves held at the Bank of England would theoretically encourage an increase in lending to stimulate the economy as banks would be charged for keeping money at the Bank […]

Just in case you are not aware of Lloyds three mortgages rule here’s how it caught me out. I bought a run down terrace house last year to refurbish and wanted to sell once complete. However, to finance a new opportunity, which came along to soon, I decided to get a buy to let mortgage […]

Two bedroom new build houses are my favourite type of property to invest into. They are easy to let, offer good rental yields and appeal to first time buyers when you want to resell. I recently purchased the one pictured left at the price it cost the developer to build it. The majority of the […]

What do you give to professional property investors who are maxed out with their current lenders, with over £1m of buy to let mortgages outstanding, a mixed portfolio of houses, flats and new build properties, and who wants to raise capital to secure new opportunities with the option to either sell again quickly or refinance again […]

Barnard Marcus are pleased to announce that  their property auction catalogue for their next auction on Thursday 14th March 2013 is now available for download. The venue is The Grand Connaught Rooms, 61 – 65 Queen Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5DA Start time 11am (11:00 hours)

A Property118 reader has shared this story with us – he’s a Property Developer and was struggling to find the right Development finance. Our reader first contacted us in the Spring of 2012. He was very frustrated at that time as he had an incredible opportunity to acquire a former riverside warehouse and convert it […]

My partner and I have been renting a flat through a letting agents for the last 2 years. They charge us £150 to renew to lease every 6 months, the latest contract was signed in November 2012 for a further 6 months. Shortly after we signed the new contract we were offered a larger and […]

Paul Keeling of PK Properties Walsall I’ve been involved with properties since 2005 when I bought my first Buy to Let, whilst at the same time embarking on a new career in Estate Agency. Having achieved Branch Manager status within 12 months, I continued with building my personal property portfolio whilst fully immersing myself within […]

This week 29 pages have been added to Property118. (Links to the relevant pages are in blue and underlined). 5 Readers Questions Articles and Discussions I think my tenants removal company knocked my garden wall down Legal advice required on Scottish HMO issue Shared ownership – can this be done on leasehold flat? Should I […]

I keep in touch with what’s going on in the lives of my fellow landlords North of the border via my friends at the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) and via listening to members of the Association, many of whom joined SAL on my recommendation. Members of SAL tell me landlords in Scotland are feeling […]

Mortgage Brokers across the UK have been advised by Nationwide Building Society’s specialist buy to let mortgage arm (The Mortgage Works) that they are changing their criteria to stop buy to let investors letting their properties to tenants in receipt of benefits. A survey from housing charity Crisis, released just before Christmas, claimed that 98.5% […]

Kent Reliance has launched a series of buy-to-let products which place no restriction on the size of the landlord’s portfolio. They are available for loans of up to £1m at 85% LTV, and at 75% TV for loans over £1m. Rates at 75% start at 4.49% for a two-year fix. A product fee is charged […]

OMG, what have I done to this poor landlord! I wrote an article a while back called 10 things landlords must do before it is too late. I wrote it with one friend in mind. He’s done really well for himself and has a portfolio of 85 very positively cash-flowing properties. However, I felt he had become addicted to […]

My letting agent has been taking £39.00 a month for doing nothing as far as I can see. Our tenant rang me on Monday because there was a problem with the central heating boiler.  My husband arranged for a plumber to go in today and the heating is working. I have had this tenant for […]

Austin Gray are pleased to announce that  their property auction catalogue for their next auction on Thursday 21st March 2013 is now available for download. The venue is The Banqueting Suite, Hove Town hall, Hove BN3 4AH Start time 1pm (13:00 hours)

Tenants in Scotland could be missing vital information which can affect the return of their deposits at the end of the tenancy, according to recent research conducted by the Government-approved tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme, my|deposits Scotland. The findings, which come six months after the introduction of TDP in Scotland, show that just two-fifths (41 […]

You could own one of these 3 bed, brick built, double glazed Suffolk Holiday Homes for personal use or as an investment for just £55,995. That’s not the deposit, it’s the cash price! Some people pay more than that for a static caravan. If you don’t have that much cash available then you will also […]

Anthony Altman of Platinum Property Sheffield I have been a Landlord for 40 years and the ex Vice Chairman of the Sheffield Landlords Association which I was involved in for many years. I have the experience of being the Managing Director for two NHBC registered construction companies for 13 years and also run 4 property […]

Brian Turner of SCPR Sheffield Together with my wife I run a small portfolio of 6 houses (3 of which are student lettings close to Sheffield Hallam University). We have been in the rental business for the past 18 years, prior to which I was self employed as a Business Consultant. All our properties are […]