Landlords with Bank of Ireland buy to let loans can breathe a sigh of relief as mortgage interest rates are hiked by new owner the Nationwide. The bank’s standard variable rates for residential mortgage borrowers are set to rise from 2.99%, to 3.99% in June and then to 4.49% in September, affecting around 100,000 customers.

Property118.com, the UK’s most popular online community for landlords and property investors* has just released its 100th Newsletter featuring updates on legislation, best practice, financial information and commentary relating to the buy to let industry. Launched in January 2011 Property118 now has over 183,000 subscribers to its e-newsletter which is aggregated by News Now and […]

Two of my favourite authors write all of their important philosophies in parable style, this is mine. Once upon a time, a fisherman decided that he no longer wanted to be a wage slave to a trawler captain so he went off to do his own thing.  He made a rod and caught and sold […]

Landlord Mohammed Khubaib needs to change his ways and stop illegally evicting tenants or he’ll end up in jail – according to his lawyer. The warning was voiced to Peterborough magistrates hearing Khubaib’s third case of illegally evicting a tenant.

Let to buy mortgage lenders are inflicting stinging interest rates on reluctant landlords who have to rent out their homes to move. Brokers and lenders say they are handling more applications from homeowners who are desperate to move because of personal or work commitments. Reluctant landlords have a choice – either asking their lender for […]

Before I got sucked into housing I trained in Cognitive Linguistics, the study of how language can be used to show how we make sense of the world, our beliefs and interpretations of a larger reality. One of the leading Cognitive Linguists of the 20th Century is a towering intellectual of a man called Noam […]

I have organised this important meeting and I forgot to ask NLA to mail out to members to let you know.  This is entirely my fault and I am sorry to have let you down.  I know that it is short notice but I do hope that you can join us LANDLORDS IF YOU LET […]

Today’s newsletter highlights alternative options and strategies for landlords both in the news and by our guest columnists. The first instalment in a series of eight from John Paul, also known as @TheLHAexpert, introduces his top tips to renting property to LHA tenants, Mary Latham looks in to whether tax avoidance is a reason why […]

Commercial landlords could find their properties are without insurance in a few months if the Government fails to provide the flood protection insurance companies expect. The current agreement runs until July, and the Government’s cuts are hitting flood defences. As a result, premiums will increase and some properties are being quoted with insurance of £20,000 […]

Chancellor George Osborne is coming under more pressure from landlord and letting agent lobbies to ease buy to let tax in the forthcoming Budget. The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) is urging the chancellor to scrap capital gains tax on investment properties and ripping up stamp duty rules to make the tax fairer for […]

Buy to let rent increases are slowing down – but 60% of tenants still expect to pay more to landlords by the end of the year. More than 70% believe the current letting market favours landlords, while 55% of tenants say they are ‘trapped renters’ who would like to buy but can’t afford a home, […]

The good news for landlords that tenancies are getting longer, may well be tempered by the warning from the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks that it create an increase in fair wear and tear disputes. The average length of a tenancy has crept up by one month every year for the past three years and […]

-By Guest Columnist Mary Latham- Landlords may be invisible but their properties are not and neither are their tenants, especially if they are among the increasing number who rely on benefits to pay their rent. Following a meeting of the Homestamp consortium this week, I was standing on a busy street outside of a small […]

-By Guest Columnist John Paul- Part 1 of an 8 part series Welcome to the first in a series of eight articles giving you top tips for renting your property to tenants in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA). I have personally built a successful portfolio by letting to LHA Tenants and the profits and […]

Property investors are targeting high-yielding HMOs and commercial property in a switch away from buy to let, according to a new survey. Confidence in the property market is high – and up to 60% of landlords are looking at better returns from their investments over the next six months, says the report from a mortgage […]

Police are on a high after closing 5,000 cannabis factories across the North West in the past three years – and are urging landlords and letting agents to step into the war on drugs. Police are shutting down an average four cannabis farms a day – with many located in rented homes and commercial properties.

This short story really struck a chord with me when people told me that I was crazy to follow my dream to build the UK’s leading news source and directory of service providers to the UK Private Rented Sector. There once was a bunch of tiny frogs… …who arranged a running competition. The goal was […]

Firstly with this being a milestone edition we have to thank you, our readers, for your valued and continued support. We invite your feedback at the bottom of this newsletter to ensure we continue to bring you the news you want to read. Mary Latham looks at what the EPC changes mean to landlords, whilst […]

We have just released the centennial edition of our eNewsletter so what better time for me to report on our progress and to thank everybody involved in our successes to date. We launched Property118.com on 4th January 2011 and what a year it has been! It all started as a simple blog about my property investment strategy […]

For those who think “More legislation to make life difficult for landlords” let’s first look at why Government need us to have Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s). When fossil fuels are used they emit carbon dioxide (CO2), which is known as a “greenhouse gas” (GHG) because it helps produce something called the greenhouse effect. This traps […]

I’m an amiable kinda guy, the office joker in the roman helmet, more predisposed towards seeing the good in people than the bad. My default approach to dealing with landlord tenant disputes is to go into “Come on people, lets all shake hands and sort this out” mode, as opposed to a Sweeney, kicking in […]