The Queen is leading the Olympic rental gold rush by letting out part of the grounds of Kensington Palace to the Russians. Westminster Council is considering an application for a hospitality village on the site – and the Queen will bank a £250,000 deposit plus an undisclosed rental.

The latest news and views from the property market and private rented sector along with guest articles from industry experts. The Property Maverick brings us part two of his investment strategy and new guest columnist Roger Lancaster asks what a landlord should expect from  a 21st Century Letting Agent.

Developers are looking at renting their homes instead of selling them as demand for buy to let hots up. As property prices fall and buyers have trouble in tracking down mortgages, renting out homes gives developers a better financial return. The latest to consider switching from building or refurbishment to buy to let is Rushbond, […]

Landlords are losing cases when tenants complain about non-return of deposits because they are failing to take good property inventories. Most landlord inventories fail to stand up in court or dispute resolution, argues the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC). The AIIC slams landlords for inventory failures and suggests they should employ professional inventory clerks […]

What should a landlord expect? ARLA have been complaining that the Government should regulate Letting Agents in the same way they have done for Estate Agents. They may have a case, but ARLA standards are still pretty minimal compared to what the best agents are providing already. Landlords often make their own bed by going […]

Buy to let lenders have fired the first shots in the battle to win the hearts and minds of property investors. Platform, the landlord loan subsidiary of the Co-operative Bank, is increasing funding in the sector by 33% from £450 million last year to £600 million in 2012.

Homes under the hammer at auctions ended the year with a widening gap compared with the prices of property sold by estate agents. December figures for homes sold at auction show 2,448 properties were sold for an average price of £139,401, according to auction monitor EI Group.

Following on from yesterday’s Property Investment Strategies part one. Assignment of Contract With “Assignment of Contract”, when done correctly, you don’t even take title of the property. It works like this. You close a deal on a below market value property, then you sell or assign your right to buy the property to another buyer […]

The latest property and landlord related news with guest articles from industry experts. New guest columnist Councillor Jeremy Moulton looks closely at the new planning rules governing HMO’s, Mary Latham hits out against penalising good landlords, Ben Reeve-Lewis tackles the tactical world of mortgage repossessions and the Property Maverick offers more investment strategies.

It’s a fact that more millionaires attain their wealth through property than any other type of investment, so by that virtue it makes sense for at least some of your investment portfolio should be in property. However, you need to exercise caution, people can- and have- lost huge amounts of money in property when their […]

Buy to let is expected to keep growing for the next few years as Britain faces a severe shortage of homes. As house building falters but the population keeps growing, the country is expected to have a shortfall of around a million homes by 2020, says builder Barratt Developments.

Buy to let property club fraudsters who raised more than £1 million from selling shoddy properties at inflated prices have picked up jail sentences. The con-men ran three property firms in the North West and scammed investors into parting with their cash on false promises of guaranteed rental incomes on below market value homes. The […]

By Guest Columnist Ben Reeve-Lewis We live at a time when mortgage repossessions are running at an all time high, last year saw 45,000 with a huge impending increase in 2012 and even more restrictions being placed on lenders by the FSA when offering alternatives to repossession. And all this without a rise in interest […]

I am writing this after reading an article with the opening line “A Labour MP says that every MP he knows “is desperate for help in dealing with rogue landlords”.” Here is a radical idea – penalise local authorities who do not use their legal powers to enforce the law! This is what happens to […]

The Bank of England has kept the base rate at 0.5% and pegged quantative easing at the previously agreed £275 billion. The decision means the base rate has sat at the record low for 34 months in a row and the £75 billion quantative easing top-up will complete around the end of the month.

Buy to let pundits fill acres of space online and in the media talking up property investment – but most of them have a vested interest in pushing products on landlords. The main offenders are mortgage lenders forever talking up the market in surveys and house price reports – and including sly details of their […]

Article 4 Directions for managing HMOs will only work if they are accompanied by good planning policies – a Southampton perspective By Guest Columnist Cllr Jeremy Moulton, Conservative Councillor for Freemantle Ward On 23rd March Southampton City Council will join a number of other councils who have implemented new planning rules, called an Article 4 […]

Responsible landlords are investors and business people who should present a ‘professional’ face to their tenants and letting agents. Not only are there harassment and equality laws designed to stop some of the more outrageous dealings perpetrated by landlords caught up in a spiraling web of anger, but the courts look badly on bullies who […]

News Sourced by Property118 News Team Aldermore have increased the loan-to-value on its fixed buy to let range to 80%, as well as reducing its buy to let reversion rates by 0.5%. They’ve also reduced their two year discount and three and five year fixed rates. The maximum portfolio size has been increased to 5 […]

Another year older, another year of more energy! On Thursday it is the birthday of Property118 founding partner Mark Alexander. Just to introduce myself, I am Mike Woodfine and I have been Mark’s business partner for 22 years. I thought it would be fun to share some little known facts about the man with the […]

The latest news and views from the property market and private rented sector.  Ben Reeve-Lewis continues on the Olympic theme and provides insight on how to avoid getting caught up in the letting scams during the games. Julie Ford and the HMO Landlady return with thought provoking articles on high street agents and house insurance. […]