Why is landlords insurance for a mixed portfolio that includes working tenant HMO’s, Student lets and tenants claiming benefits so much more expensive? Well until this week I thought I knew the answer! In a word – RISK

My understanding  of the housing act is that a landlord cannot just visit his property when he likes, he has to give the tenant adequate notice, usually 24hrs. Please correct me if I am wrong. I also have a few questions 1. Does this notice have to be a written notice, and if so how should it be […]

Why on earth would The Mortgage Works “TMW” agree to three year AST’s? More to the point, why would landlords and tenants? It has always been legally possible for landlords to offer AST’s for up to 3 years and indeed in theory for any fixed term though a term longer than 3 years, even by […]

If anyone is a current landlord in the borough of Newham please can you share your experience of council expectations of standard let properties? I have reviewed their guide, however, today a letting agent commented that a buy to let property I was considering was very, very small and wouldn’t pass the council’s requirements. I […]

“Your Property Concierge ” Kelvin Kingsley has discovered some more bargains, and these are already let! If you are looking for a low cost, low maintenance freehold property which is pre-let and will return instant cashflow then look no further. These are almost new, ready tenanted, two year old, two bed terrace houses with a […]

It is believed that last quarter (Q1, 2013) severe rent arrears, which constitutes those more than two months behind on rent, rose by 4,000 to 94,000, the fourth highest figure on record (figures from LSL property services). The highest level ever was only recorded in the second half of last year.

We had been using a Letting Agent to manage a property we own. The tenants were there for 16 months, leaving on 30 April 2013. Our Agent had phoned us telling us the property was “clean, in good order”, but we wanted to see it for ourselves. A few days later we met with him […]

What are the tax implications of selling a previously rented flat to a close relative? In 1974 my wife and I purchased a dual occupied terraced house together with my brother in law. The house was occupied by a relative downstairs (sitting tenant) from whom we collected no rent and a lodger upstairs who paid […]

My tenant signed a new AST in 2003 with me as new landlord as they had a previous agreement with my father since 1994. Although they signed the new assured tenancy agreement in 2003 with myself as Landlord I instructed them to still pay the rent to my father as they had done previously. At […]

I’m about to start looking at Lease Options in the Reading/Berkshire area and there are lots of courses on the subject, some of which I’ve attended, and everything seems to be quite straightforward and easy to do apart from finding a solicitor that has experience of lease options. Everyone seems to say “oh just ring […]

Have you have been sold Interest Rate Swap Agreement “IRSA” or other forms of Interest Rate Hedging Products “IRHP’s” by your bank? If you have lost out or continue to lose out financially you may well be in a position to to make a “no-win no-fee” claim for compensation. My name is Daniel Fallows, I’m […]

With letting agents going under and causing untold financial mayhem in their wake and in light of the failed Market Deeping agent mentioned in another thread this type of case raises issues with what an “insured” deposit scheme is actually covering. In the hard times that we live in there are likely to be many […]

I would really value some advice about letting to a family member please. I have recently retired and purchased a “retirement home” for my wife and myself. My intention is to let my current property to my daughter and I have consequently contacted my mortgage provider (Woolwich – Barclays) for permission to do this. Reading […]

Neil Gammie of Birmingham I’ve been a professional landlord building a portfolio of properties in the Edgbaston area of Birmiingham since 1986. I handle all aspects of my business except finding/vetting tenants which I leave to a couple of trusted local lettings agents. I try to keep abreast of legislation and the increasingly perverse number […]

It’s devastating when you put your trust and faith into a letting agency, you pay them a monthly management fee; and all of a sudden they disappear with rent and the tenant’s deposit. This week saw Smith & Jones Lettings in Market Deeping made bankrupt without a warning to their clients or time for them to act.

It was announced in the press that The Mortgage Works has today launched a 2.49% 2 year fixed rate, which is correct, but now I have uploaded all their product changes to our BuytoLet mortgage calculator I can see that is not the real story. More importantly to most BuytoLet investors the products with a […]

“Lowest ever BTL interest rates released!” It’s a great headline grabber isn’t it? Well I actually saw this on another property forum and I thought I ought to respond.

On 14th June 2013 Lord Justice Lloyd delivered his judgement on an appeal from the Wandsworth County Court in the case of Superstrike Ltd vs Marino Rodrigues. Since its publication there has been a lot of discussion on the online property forums and at local NLA meetings about the potential impact that this judgement may […]

So you have got your tenancy agreement and read it through. You are happy with most of it but there are just one or two things you don’t like. Is it all right for you to change them? The answer to this will really depend on what it is you want to change, but generally you […]

The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) have fined a Sale and Rent Back (SARB) landlord, who was also a home finance arranger, nearly £1 million for misleading and defrauding homeowners in financial trouble looking to sell and rent back their properties. The FCA were investigating the involvement of Mr Gurpreet Singh Chadda in seven sale and […]

Hello all, I am a new member of the Inventory Clerks and Energy Assessors Linkedin Group so I thought I should write an article to introduce myself. Thank you Laura for allowing me to become a member by the way. I have been a landlord since 1989, therefore I am a potential customer to many […]