Landlord’s Log, the Personal Blog Of Mark Alexander, the Founder of Property118 As the credit crunch continues to affect property prices, the remaining equity in my property portfolio, which I’d not refinanced out, continues to shrink away. The more values fall the closer I get to being in a position of negative equity. Am I […]

News Sourced by Property118 Downletting is the new way to raise cash from a home that you can’t sell, according to letting agents. Many homeowners have problems selling large properties because buyers cannot raise deposits or mortgages, which means they cannot move on.

Mortgage lenders are quietly furious behind the scenes that Prime Minister David Cameron’s Euro treaty veto may have scuppered their fight to block the regulation of buy to let loans. As the dust settles on the UK’s lonely position standing in the kitchen looking on at the Eurozone party, buy to let could be one […]

The latest news and views from the property market and private rented sector. The Property Maverick returns with part two of his property analysis column along with news of Santander entering the buy to let lending market, Shelter’s latest findings and we’re still looking for your good tenant stories.

Missed Part One? Click to read Property Analysis – Part 1 Mortgage Cap Rate (Interest Only) = Net Annual Rental Income + Annual Mortgage Cost / Current Mortgage Outstanding Expressed as a percentage this indicator will tell you the maximum interest rate you can sustain and still break even. Obviously the higher the number the […]

When I first came up with the concept of Property118.com I wanted it to be the best property website ever. To achieve this I realised that it was important to focus on my website being found as well as producing interesting, informative and useful content. With this in mind I set about understanding the Google […]

Christmas is not only the time to be merry, but it’s also the time when the dreaded pundits come out with their property price predictions for the next year in a bid to garner column inches and web space for free publicity. Piles of press releases predicting this, that and the other for next year […]

Landlords who fail to submit their tax returns on time can expect no mercy from HM Revenue and Customs after changes in the law let the tax man levy more fines. HMRC will turn the financial screws on tax payers filing after the midnight deadline on January 31 – and then some as other new […]

Please leave a comment below if you think “The GOOD Landlords Campaign” is a good idea. One of my employees has had to move her family three times in two years because her landlords wanted to move back in or sell their property. She wasn’t told this when she rented the property and certainly would […]

Homeless charity Shelter is predicting thousands of tenants will skip their rents to pay for Christmas. Renters are putting festive presents, food and drink before the costs of housing and risking their homes rather than spending within their means and protecting the roof over their heads.

Santander has joined the buy to let lending frenzy with a range of purchase and remortgage deals for landlords. The property investment loans are available from IFAs and mortgage brokers under the Abbey for Intermediaries banner.

Landlord’s Log, the Personal Blog Of Mark Alexander, the Founder of Property118 Try associating the words ROGUE or UNSCRUPULOUS to a trade or profession which is not related in some way to property. Whether we like it or not, we now live in an age of digital communication and “no win no fee” lawyers. We […]

Landlords are seeing a rising amount of deposit disputes over the cleaning of properties according to The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks. They say 40% of all tenancy deposit disputes involve some sort of cleaning cost. They also claim tenants don’t see cleaning costs as anything more than “fair wear and tear”, hence the disputes.

Whether you own one or one hundred properties you must monitor the performance of each property on a monthly and annual basis. Before you can do this though, you need to have a goal or target in mind as to the performance you wish to achieve with each property over a specified time period, whether […]

Estate agents quoting misleading below-market-value home sale prices have been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld four complaints against Express Estate Agency, run in Manchester by Sell Quick.

Landlords can take the strain out of comparing letting agents to find the best deal with a new online service. The site lets landlords list details of their property for free – and invites local letting firms to pitch their deal against the clock.

Following my blog The Devil is in the Detail, I want to pass on some information that will help landlords avoid being caught out. “When you protect a deposit you are asked if there is a third party who has provided the deposit.  Most of us assume that the tenant has provided their own deposit […]

I am writing this blog to balance out another article on this website and to raise a question about whether it is reasonable for a business to be exposed to a trial by social media. Is it even possible that a group formed on Facebook could muster up enough support to potentially bring an established […]

Letting agents are ripping off tenants with high fees that are not revealed until they come to let a home, claims a new report. Mystery shoppers found only two letting agents visited in London, Manchester and Gloucester advertised letting costs online and the range and cost of fees varied ‘significantly’ between firms.

As an Airline Pilot, Ray Pearce has a fairly unique perspective on the changing trends of UK holiday makers; “Over the last few years I’ve observed an increasing trend for UK families to choose to holiday within the UK rather than flying abroad, so for me, investing in holiday lets is kind of hedging against […]

A landlord was fined £4,000 for failing to carry out fire safety work at a rental property after a tenant had to flee to safety from a blaze. Islington Council had already served Nadia Boujema an improvement notice ordering the fitting of fire detection equipment at the home near The Angel, North London.