AAaargggh, the very word ‘bedbug’ still sends a chill right through me and here is why… We had an HMO property where we provided the furniture. A new tenant moved in to one of the rooms and within 24 hours complained she had been bitten and that she thought it was bedbugs. I contacted our […]

The Bank of England has released the Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions for January 2012, calling the market ‘subdued’. They also noted the growing breaks in chains due to aborted sales and withdrawals having a positive effect in the rental sector. Social housing has taken a hit too due to the reduction of government grants […]

Last summer I met a very well heeled friend for lunch and listened as she commiserated her devastating investment losses over the past couple of years. She said “I need to get into property! It’s the only thing that I can rely on for the future and I’m fed up of hearing how much money […]

Last issue we looked at how a 21st Century Letting Agent utilises new technologies and techniques to maximise the chance of securing a good long term tenant and minimise the periods of voids in the a portfolio. In this we will look at how 21st Century Agent can- and should- provide a service that keeps […]

With over 56% of landlords looking to increase the size of their portfolio this year*, here at Property118.com we are continually improving our Due Diligence products and property calculators to help you make the best business decisions at the right time. Alongside our free to use Buy to Let Viability Calculator, Portfolio Review and Buy […]

I am often asked to review products and services which I and my fellow landlords might find useful. I was so impressed with the free Section 21 notice web app from National Property Group that I have decided to arrange for it to be added it to the “Due Diligence‘ section of Property118.com to compliment […]

Midlands landlords are chasing rents and deposits from a letting agent who suddenly closed for business. Police are looking at the demise of Baxter Todd, a letting agency with offices in Warwick, Leamington Spa, Coventry and Stratford-on-Avon. The offices are closed, phone lines have been disconnected and emails go unanswered – although the firm’s website […]

One in five landlords added property to their rental portfolios last year as confidence over interest rates and tenant demand remains buoyant. Buy to let investors in London have the highest hopes for 2012, with 85% expecting rents to keep rising by an average 2.4% and 100% predicting house prices in the capital will go […]

Ever since I got into this business I have avoided SVR (Standard Variable Rate) mortgages or discounted/fixed rate mortgage products that revert to an SVR like the plague. Now I’m not talking about bank base rate trackers or LIBOR rates, they are fine. I prefer bank base rate trackers myself but that’s another story and […]

Thousands of buy to let properties all over the country are at risk of becoming uninsurable and unmortgageable in a few months. Homes and business properties worth around £214 billion could be affected from June if the government fails to reach a new agreement with home insurance firms over flooding.

Buy to let mortgage lenders are creaming off the best borrowers and leaving the rest without any real hope of raising loans. The reality of the market is more lenders are swooping like sharks in a feeding frenzy on landlords with the best credit ratings and highest rental yields, although they would have property investors […]

The latest news and views from the property market and private rented sector. Guest columnist Roger Lancaster adds two more posts to his 21st Century Letting Agents blog and Mark Alexander shares his HMO dilemma and expertise on where to start with property due diligence.

In the last article we looked at how a 21st Century Agency can ensure the security of a landlord’s portfolio even against its own default, and how in the process it could increase income year on year as well as minimise voids and arrears. I would like to deal with the cancer that is the […]

Police are warning landlords that crime gangs are looking for rental homes to turn into cannabis factories. A clear trend is emerging as drug barons turn away from growing cannabis in bulk at single locations. The latest criminal intelligence reveals the drug dealers are favouring turning buy to let homes in to small factories to […]

Buy to let experts are transmitting mixed messages about the state of the market in two new surveys. The latest buy to let musings from the Association of Residential Letting Agents highlights the problem of sentiment surveys in the property market. In a confused rambling, ARLA suggest the market ‘may be softening’ based on month-to-month […]

Norwich City Council are now charging £1,800 for an HMO licence, a 650% increase! Extortionate I think but so far as I knew, it didn’t affect me as none of my properties are licenceable HMO’s, until… Before I go on with my story, just in case you don’t know what an HMO is it’s a property […]

How many property investors do you think are wishing they had done more due diligence before they went ahead and committed to a purchase? This post is to give you a heads up of where to begin, simply because I meet so many wannabe property investors and new landlords who just don’t know where to […]

Landlords are bracing for a flood of rent arrears cases as renters struggle with their bills over the festive period. Housing charity Shelter claims around one-in-three renters have to make a tough choice between paying their rent or spending on food.

A property developer and lawyer are starting jail sentences after admitting a series of buy to let frauds. Legal executive David Kitching and developer Franco Campagna hatched a plan to scam cash from buy to let mortgage lenders when Campagna’s property development company ran in to trouble when the property market collapsed. Campagna told Lancashire […]

In the previous article I tried to make the point that a Letting Agent should act like an Asset Manager, managing a landlord’s portfolio to maximise the benefit to the landlord. This could only happen if the interests of the landlord are directly aligned with the interests of the Letting Agent but if this did […]

News Sourced by Property118 News Team New figures from conveyancing solicitors reckon home sales are failing at twice the number of those that complete. The firm, In-Deed, claims that house sales are more likely to abort than succeed despite the claims of banks and building societies that the amount of lending to homebuyers is increasing.