Page 913 – Property118

Gifts and Discounts to Tempt Property Investors

15th September 2011

Desperate property sellers are flirting with some extravagant discount offers to attract cash-rich buyers. The latest ploy is a ‘buy one house, get one free’ deal on new homes, but other bonus offers include an art collection and a speedboat. Where cash discounts and help with finance are offered to many new home buyers to […]

London Buy to Let Rents Surge to a Record High

15th September 2011

Buy to let rents in London have surged to a new peak of £1,202 a month. Rents are still climbing in most regions, but are soaring in the capital as London reports the only rising house prices in the country over the past 12 months. Rising prices and difficulties in finding mortgage finance have led […]

Homelet Find Rents Are Still Rising

15th September 2011

Average rents across the UK continue to rise, according to Homelet’s latest rental index for August. London went up a further 4% to £1,202, reaching a new record as the UK on the whole reached £791. While month by month prices fluctuated up and down across the country, the annual change has been an increase […]

HMRC Handles 1,000 Tax Fraud Emails Every Day

15th September 2011

Fraudsters are sending out thousands of bogus emails to try to trick taxpayers to give out their bank details in return for HM Revenue and Customs refunds. HMRC fraud investigators are handling around 1,000 reports of scam email every day and close down 100 fraudulent web sites run every month. The problem is escalating as […]

Secret Billionaire Pays £7,857 a Day Rent for London Flat

15th September 2011

Demand to let prime London property is surging with rents reaching £55,000 per week for the cream of homes. Wealthy visitors settling in London from overseas are driving the market – with cash-rich tenants from Russia, the Middle East and Asia battling for the best properties. Harrods letting agency set the record with £55,000 a […]

Get Out of Property Now?

15th September 2011

Landlords Money Week Magazine are telling us to Get out of Property Now. “Dump property”. “……If you are a property speculator” In 2007 they told us to “Get out of property now” “Get the right dividend payer into your portfolio now” “Hold Gold” Professional landlords are not “speculators”. To professional landlords property is the means […]

Property118 Landlords eNewsletter – Issue 62

14th September 2011

This week saw more improvements to the Property Services Directory, you can list yourself now if you haven’t already or search the 740+ businesses in the directory. Discount Lettings are still well ahead with testimonials and you can see who the top 10 companies by testimonials in this week’s featured articles. Featured Property News Articles […]

More House Price Gloom as Market Flatlines

13th September 2011

The latest official statistics confirm the housing market is sluggish and is not showing any signs of a revival at any time soon. The government’s Communities and Local Government statistics for July show that house prices fell 1.5 percent year on year and a nominal 0.3 percent from June. The average house price is now […]

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Rogue Landlords Under Attack for Tenant Misery

13th September 2011

Homeless charity Shelter claims around 1,500 rogue landlords are making life a misery for tenants. The figure was pinpointed from asking councils across England and Wales about private housing complaints. The response was councils have received 86,628 complaints from tenants in the past year. The calls for help highlighted potentially life-threatening dangers like hazardous gas […]

Scottish Landlord Who Took Eviction Into His Own Hands Faces Prison

13th September 2011

A Scottish landlord could face jail after he aggressively attempted to evict a heavily pregnant tenant over late rental payments from a two-bedroom Fife property. He is said to have told police officer that “It is cheaper my way.” to evict the tenant rather than go through the courts. The eviction noticed had been issued […]

Buy to Let Keeps Mortgage Market Afloat

12th September 2011

Capital raising to invest in more property is driving the buy to let remortgage market, according to a lender. Almost half of landlords (47 per cent) told Paragon Mortgages that their main reason for remortgaging was to raise funds to expand their portfolios. More than a third (35 per cent) switched mortgages for a better […]

Buy to Let Fraudsters in £1 Million Property Club Scam

12th September 2011

Buy to let fraudsters lied about rental returns and finding tenants in a scam that tricked investors out of more than £1 million. The property investment club sold 21 houses in Burnley and Pendle, Lancashire, to Irish landlords by offering false promises about the likely real returns. In fact, Manchester Crown Court heard the sale […]

The New Kids on the Block

12th September 2011

What do you think of the way councils operate in relation to housing in your area? Do you think they are on the ball? – Helpful? – Proactive? – A blessing or a curse? Not only can I guess your response but also the look on your face as you read those words. But soft………what […]

London Property Prices Set for 140% Increase

12th September 2011

Property investors are ready to see prices at least double in some London hotspots, according to estate agents Knight Frank. Some neighbourhoods may see prices shoot up by up to 140 per cent by the end of 2016, says the study. The findings reveal different price drivers for neighbourhoods across the capital – but two […]

Cannabis plant in a hadn

Buy to Let Cannabis Farm Goes Up in Flames

12th September 2011

A landlord is counting the cost of taking a year’s rent upfront from renters who turned out to be a drugs gang who turned his buy to let home in to a cannabis factory. The house was destroyed in a fire sparked by the gang tampering with the electricity supply to bypass meters in the […]

Housing Market Boosted by Surge in Buy to Let

9th September 2011

Surging buy to let mortgage applications have boosted mortgage valuations to record summer levels, according to surveyors. Property valuations for landlords were up 85 per cent in August on figures of 12 months ago, according to Connells Survey and Valuation. The total number of valuations in August was just 4 per cent lower than July, […]

HMO Licensing Fees

HMO Landlords Warned to Put Their House in Order

9th September 2011

Councillors have warned HMO landlords to put their house in order or face prosecution. The warning was triggered as magistrates in Bath fined two local landlords for breaching HMO licensing conditions. Richard Seccombe was ordered to pay £700 plus £15 victims surcharge and £100 costs for flouting fire safety in a rental property in Wells […]

Keep it Simple – Take Your First Steps in Property by Recycling Your Deposit

9th September 2011

At Your Property Network we are often approached by first time property investors who are confused about the best way to set about building a small to medium sized property portfolio. Many have a reasonable amount of capital behind them and can see the very real attractions of long-term investment for capital growth and pension […]

Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) logo

Disputes Still Favour Tenants According to DPS

8th September 2011

After another bad few months for landlords in tenant disputes, the AIIC have issued more tips to help landlords in adjudications. According to The Deposit Protection Scheme’s findings, June 1st to August 19th saw over 1,000 disputes with 60% due to damage to property. Cleaning costs played a part in 40% of the disputes and […]

Unaffordable House Prices Need to Drop 25%

7th September 2011

Homes are still 25 per cent too expensive and the market needs to carry on adjusting, according to a new house price survey. Economic analysts Fitch Ratings have introduced yet another house price survey in to an already confused and crowded market. The firm is inviting comments about the underlying model – a copy of […]

Struggling Letting Agent Dipped in to Client Funds

7th September 2011

A letting agent confessed to a judge that he dipped in to rents and deposits paid by tenants to keep his struggling business afloat. Zulfiqar Hussain, who traded as Charles Lawson Lettings in Oxford, pleaded guilty to eight charges of unfair commercial practice and transferring criminal property at the city’s crown court. The charges arose […]