Property investors could profit from government plans to encourage development of empty offices in to new housing. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced proposals to remove planning restrictions to stimulate the developments – and the move is a good fit with councils seeking to dilute concentrations of shared houses in residential areas.

A High court judge has thrown out a challenge to the government’s decision to review house in multiple occupation planning rules. Four councils led by Milton Keynes argued at the High Court, London, that housing minister Grant Shapps’ decision to overturn planning rules for house in multiple occupation (HMOs) did not give planners enough time […]

In a recent survey of our database of over 100,000 landlords, 78% of respondents said they would trust a Peer to Peer recommendation over an advertisement or a listing on Google or Yell.com

Buy to let borrowers and property investors can choose from almost 300 mortgage packages – more than double the number available a year ago. Competition between banks and building societies has hotted up as more lenders joined the market, and is set to intensify as more prepare to start lending in the coming months.

Mortgage lending thawed in February after a drab couple of months affected by the bad weather. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures were upbeat all round for first time buyers, movers and remortgages.

Guest Blog from Lorna Rose of TenantID For some reason mortgage defaults increased during the first 3 months of this year. I’m not an economist, but I suspect the current financial climate may have had something to do with it.

This is the ninth in a series of 10 articles written by specialist landlord & tenant solicitor Tessa Shepperson, founder of the online Landlord Law Service. What do you do if your tenant won’t leave when their section 21 notice expires? As you no doubt know, section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is the […]

Buy to let mortgage lenders are barring legal advisors who have not signed up to the new Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) from acting for them. More than 700 legal firms have joined the CQS scheme – and mortgage lenders are making membership a condition of acting for them for every buy to let purchase.

  Homeless charity Shelter is calling for the scrapping of council tax discounts on second homes and property that stands empty. A new study looking at ways to maximise the use of existing housing reckons ending the discount would raise £42 million a year that councils and the government could divert to improving housing supply.  […]

Paul Shamplina has over twenty years experience in the legal field, originally working as a clerk, private investigator, debt collector and certified bailiff. As co-founder and director of Landlord Action, the market leaders and longest serving independent company specialising in fixed-fee tenant eviction and debt recovery, he has acquired a reputation as the landlord’s friend. […]

According to The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC), many landlords are still unaware of even basic health and safety rules when leaving their properties for rental.

Please join me and lot’s of other property investors at the Ipswich Property Network on the evening of Monday 11th April.  I will be presenting a variety of my property investment strategies and an overview and further insight into the development of Property118.com.  More details HERE

The latest lender statistics showing house prices have slumped by 0.1% in a month are next to meaningless. The cost equivalent of the price fall is around £163 since February for the owner of an average home and the percentage change is considered as rounding to most mathematicians.

  Skipton Building Society has launched a 4.49% 24-month fixed rate and a 5.49% 36-month fixed rate, both available up to 60% loan to value.

Buy to let homes are standing empty for less time as demand from tenants continues to hot up. Landlords can expect rental home voids of just 2.8 weeks a year –down from 3.5 weeks compared with a year ago.

Sequel to Frazer Fearnhead’s popular Guest Blog It’s amazing what you uncover upon conducting a check out inspection. Below are the top 7 nightmare cases inventory agents from The Video Inventory Agency have discovered.

If you’ve invested into a business or commercial building (no time limit) then you could be due a SUBSTANTIAL tax rebate.

The big worry for buy to let landlords and homeowners is how their finances will cope when mortgage rates start to rise. Many landlords are coping with their finances because mortgage rates have dropped – but they have two concerns.  First, is how much extra tax they might have to pay if interest rates stay […]

The media and do-gooders are quick to jump on the ‘rogue landlord’ bandwagon to answer the clarion call of rough justice for the less well off, but this support is not always justified. Pressure groups and charities plug in to well-paid media professionals to hype their campaigns to grab headlines, and sometimes readers have to […]

About a year ago Mark Alexander predicted that Equity Release mortgage providers would enter the buy to let lending business.  With most traditional lenders insisting that buy to let mortgages are repaid at age 75, it looked as though the only real choice for borrowers with an interest only mortgage was going to be to sell their […]

Landlords selling buy to let property could be hit by a new tax if the government takes up a proposal from a leading bank aimed at making buying a home cheaper. HSBC wants the government to reverse stamp duty laws and make the tax payable by sellers rather than buyers. This could cut the purchase […]