Buy to let mortgage applications make up one in five of all home loan applications, according to one of the UK’s largest estate agents. Haart also claims buy to let remortgage applications reached a new high for the year, despite the Council of Mortgage Lenders disclosing the number dropped by 1% in the first three […]

Buy to let borrowing was down 5% in the first three months of the year after a barnstorming end to 2011. In figures that revealed buy to let is treading water rather than buoyant, new landlord loans totaled £3.7 billion, according to the latest official figures from bank and building society trade body the Council […]

My article this time is more of an open question to which I would like your input. Background first. I was listening to ‘In Business’ on Radio 4 the other day, a programme about something I had not heard of- the business concept of “Frugal Innovation”, currently much in favour with many huge corporations and […]

A new buy to let lender has entered the market called Keystone They specialise in buy to let mortgages for Single Purpose Vehicle limited companies, HMOs and Multi-Unit properties. This part of the market was largely exited by lenders after the credit crunch and it is great to see some competition for more niche criteria giving Landlords a greater […]

Independent commercial mortgage finance & bridging loan specialist Crystal Mortgages has reduced its three month bridging loan to 0.75% per month, a cut of 0.5%. The change is available up to 70% LTV, although the company must guarantee to return two months interest if the account is settled in month one. Free valuation on selected […]

Money and blood often don’t mix – which is why so many families go to war over their ‘fair share’ of cash. With so many wealthy business people and celebrities drawing up marriage pre-nups, perhaps the time has come for property business partners to consider the same deal.

Let to buy landlords who move and rent out their home because they cannot sell the property are finding more tenants want to confirm they have a mortgage lender’s permission to rent. More letting agents are demanding sight of written confirmation of permission to let from banks and building societies – especially if corporate tenants […]

Using Finance to Increase your Returns After recently attending local property networking events it still amazes me that investors think it’s a good idea to buy properties for cash. Firstly, the financial returns are less when a property is purchased for cash. Secondly, it means a large amount of cash is tied up for six […]

It’s been just over a year since Jack joined our team, initially as an intern placement via the University of East Anglia. Jack had just completed a Degree in Media and needed to get some work experience on his CV. The plan was for Jack to be with us for just 13 weeks but we […]

A question that came up in conversation this evening whilst in the car on the way back from my fiancée’s offices was “which will rise first, interest rates or property values?” Have you ever asked yourself this question? I know what you are probably thinking, “haven’t you got anything better to talk to your fiancée about”, right? Well […]

Fraud investigators uncovered a ‘missing’ £85,000 from a failed letting agent that ran into financial problems after the supervising franchise closed. Peter Swatton, 55, admitted fraudulent trading at Mold Crown Court, where he was jailed for 36 weeks suspended for two years, ordered to spend 300 hours on community work and to pay £600 costs.

Regular readers of the Daily mail will no doubt have a healthy disregard for “human rights” or “yuman rites” as dubbed by their esteemed columnist Richard Littlejohn. As a regular reader of the Property 118 blogs, I notice that there have been two recent columns relating to the impact of “human rights” on evictions of […]

House price confidence is dropping away as prices fall and buyers melt away, according to estate agents. One in five estate agents reported drops in April as hopes for future price rises hit the lowest level this year, and some expect property values to keep falling says the latest housing market survey by the Royal […]

This week’s edition features Julie Ford looking at the rise of virgin landlords and Ben Reeve-Lewis delves deeper into his Tenancy Relations Officer role. There is also news of buy to let mortgage changes, an update on the government and insurance companies stand off and a round up of landlords in court.

Buy to let lending was the only bright point in a year when mortgage lending slumped to the lowest levels for almost 40 years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Landlord loans were up 40% in the year with advances of £14.1 billion against £10 billion a year earlier, says the CML annual […]

In the last 24 hours we’ve published three landlord articles containing stories submitted to us by our readers. A Google Search of the phrase “Landlord Stories” put’s them all on page one and they all feature in Google News too. I’ve decided to share my secrets for Internet Popularity by creating an Online Masterclass – […]

A garage hitting the market with a staggering £525,000 asking price in upmarket Knightsbridge, West London, has prompted a look for the cheapest homes for sale in the capital. For homeseekers looking to buy outright, the cheapest home for sale in London is a one bed renovated houseboat in the Paddington Basin is on the […]

Thanks to Ian Cahill and John Maynard for submitting these Landlord Stories. For details on how to submit your landlord story please click here. Ian Cahill’s Story – CD’s, Tigers and yet more Tigers “I had a buy to let house which I let to two tenants(co- habiting) and the man collected CD’S and the woman collected […]

Thank you to David Dahill for sharing his landlords story and for being the first to respond to Mark Alexander’s offer to share the stage. For details on how to submit your landlords story please click here. “I have been a landlord for the last 21 years and was having the horror stories conversation with […]

Co-Operative Bank buy to let mortgage customers can breathe a sigh of relief as the wholesale scrapping of interest only loans does not include buy to let borrowers. The bank’s specialist property investment subsidiary Platform will continue to offer interest only deals to landlords.

A shared house landlord who ignored council orders to upgrade his property was ordered to pay more than £13,000 in fines and costs by magistrates. A team from Selby Council swooped on the house in multiple occupation (HMO) following complaints from tenants.