Page 907 – Property118

Frivolous it might be but I don’t fall out with my tenants because…..

28th November 2011

There have been some really interesting comments on the EU Trying To Kill Buy To Let – sign the petition to STOP it now. blog and it is great to see some new people contributing to this important discussion but I am feeling a bit frivolous at the moment and I thought that I would […]

Got Fences blown down or lost roof tiles? FREE help here >>>

27th November 2011

It was a bit breezy this weekend wasn’t it !!! Have you had calls from tenants to say their fence has blown down or that they’ve lost tiles off their roof? You know these things need to be fixed quickly to keep tenants happy and to prevent further damage so here’s what to do …..

Protecting a Rental Business Against Rogue Letting Agents

25th November 2011

Dozens of letting agents have gone bust in recent months leaving landlords struggling financial with unpaid rents and unprotected deposits. In some cases the letting agents are just poor business administrators, but several have ended in court for deliberate and calculating frauds involving the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds of money belonging to […]

Agents Need to Use Technology to Stay a Step Ahead

25th November 2011

One of the most important aspects of running a business is keeping one step ahead of the competition and providing a service over and above your competitors. There’s no better time to start this than now since with Smartphones in increasingly more pockets, the possibilities are endless. Every Letting or Estate Agent should look at […]

British Sharers Pay the Highest Rents in Europe

24th November 2011

Sharers pay an average £360 per month for a room – which is 5% more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. The figures were revealed from a study comparing rents in Britain, France, Italy and Spain by letting firm Easyroommate.

Landlord Forced Tenants to Share Cramped Rooms

24th November 2011

Landlord Pavlos Chatzinopoulos was fined £2,515 for making tenants share with cramped rooms with tenants they did not know. Swindon Council swooped on the property after a female renter tipped them off about the state of the house in multiple occupation when a man moved in to her room with her.

Letting Firm Probe Follows Student Complaints

23rd November 2011

A student landlord who charged a tenant £290 for cleaning two flies from a windowsill is under investigation by a landlord consumer body after a number of complaints. Campbell Property, based in Pewsey, Wiltshire, has removed accreditation from the UK Association of Letting Agents from its website pending an inquiry.

Buy to Let Lenders Boast Booming Borrowing Figures

23rd November 2011

Buy to let lender Paragon Mortgages profits rose 12% to almost £81 million thanks to landlords building on their portfolios. Paragon returned to lending in September 2010, and the pre-tax profit represents the first full year’s trading as a lender since the onset of the credit crunch.

What if the PRS didn’t exist?

23rd November 2011

By Guest Columnist Ben Reeve-Lewis I work for a council in London. I’m the landlord’s nemesis, the bogey man, a Tenancy Relations Officer; the guy who prosecutes landlords for harassment and illegal eviction, the one who gets injunctions out against them, has them arrested, helps tenants claim damages against them, kicks doors in and pushes […]

Property118 Landlords Newsletter – Issue 74

23rd November 2011

There is a lot of focus and discussion on the Governments Housing Strategy released on Monday but there are plenty of other landlord stories to educate and entertain in our second issue of the week, including guest articles from the Property Maverick, Nick Stott, Vanessa Warwick and Martin Cunningham.

HSE Warning to Landlords

23rd November 2011

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have issued a warning to landlords, saying they will prosecute those “who fail in their duty of care to tenants” after a Walsall landlord was sentenced. Khalid Hussain was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs after he failed to replace a boiler that had broken down […]

Developers can’t afford to build – the consequences?

23rd November 2011

Landlord’s Log, the Personal Blog Of Mark Alexander, the Founder of Property118 Earlier this week a comment was left on one of our articles by a property developer who explained in very simple terms why developers can’t afford to build. Right across the UK, building sites are being mothballed but why is this happening if […]

Build-to-let Will Solve Britain’s Housing Needs, MPs Told

23rd November 2011

Build-to-let funded by private investors and pension funds is the solution to the UK’s housing crisis, housing lobbyists have told MPs. Unlocking billions of private sector cash to invest in a house building programme together with the government’s new housing deal would meet the country’s growing need for homes, says the British Property Federation.

“The story of a Value Investor” part 2 – The Property Maverick

23rd November 2011

Another important factor I like to consider is the “Equity Return on Cash”. Ideally the smaller the deposit, the greater the Equity Return on Cash. Today 15% deposit is almost a thing of the past, 25% deposit is now the norm. Unless its apartment new build and then it’s a whopping 35% deposit. Let’s now […]

Desperate Home Sellers Ready to Agree Deep Discounts

22nd November 2011

Desperate sellers are ready to accept knock-down prices on homes for sale as financial problems and a lack of mortgages keep buyers away. Both Britain’s biggest online property portals, Rightmove and Zoopla, report homeowners are discounting their asking prices.

Water Damage the Biggest Costs to Landlords

22nd November 2011

Leaky pipes and sinks cost the UK’s landlords £2million a day and over 9 billion litres of water a year, and accounts for a quarter of all insurance claims on flats, according to property insurance specialist Cadogan Keelan Westall.

“The story of a Value Investor” part 1 – The Property Maverick

22nd November 2011

How and Where to Find Property Bargains Welcome to the next four part episode of the “Property Maverick”. I will again try to make this episode fact filled, funny and light hearted. But the real funny stuff will come in “The Pros and Cons of being a Franchisee”, “The Bulgarian Fool’s Gold Rush”, and laughs […]

Holding Court? Holding hands more like

22nd November 2011

As I sit here in a Civil Court’s waiting room waiting to be called (here pursuing a tenant on behalf of a landlord), it makes me think that all this is a bit laborious and pointless. Why is the legal system being used for run-of-the-mill cases like these? Yes, I know that it’s hugely important […]

Holiday lets are the investment opportunity of the decade … here’s why ….

22nd November 2011

I’m an unashamed fan of U.K. coastal holiday lets. My husband Nick and I first started investing in them in 2008 as we saw the economic climate deteriorating and reckoned that people would start holidaying at home again. We’re now the proud owners of two high-occupancy holiday lets – one on the island of Portland […]

Private Pensions Could Help Solve the Housing Crisis

22nd November 2011

Isn’t it ludicrous that we can invest our private pension funds into ‘off plan’ Caribbean Hotel Developments but we can’t invest them into solving the housing shortage in the UK? We have wealthy Greeks taking their money out of their failing economy and inflating London house prices by investing there and yet we can’t use our pension […]

Don’t Forget Rent’s Not the Only Buy to Let Income

21st November 2011

Landlords might think that rent is the only income generated by their property business – but they may need to tell the taxman about other money coming in as well. Deposits from tenants are probably the main other income from tenants – and the rule is that these deposits always belong to the tenant.