Buy to let investors hiring property firms to refurbish homes should protect their finances by carrying out strict credit controls – especially if they are parting with up-front cash.

Paul Spriggins In this interview Paul explains how he develops brick and tile UK holiday park homes, sells them for £71,000, returns investors 10% + per annum and provides 10 year, fixed rate, non-status, non-recourse financing subject to a minimum £20,000 cash deposit.  This is a long interview so make yourself a coffee before reading it!

Thousands of shared house landlords in Oxford are the first in England to meet strict new selective licensing guidelines as the city council takes on new powers.

Taxpayers often ask why they have to pay more income tax than the amount they owe for the year when filing their self assessment returns. The answer comes down to many taxpayers failing to realise what you owe is strangely not what you pay.

Mortgage lending has slumped to the lowest level for a decade as banks and building societies tighten their grip on the housing market. Mortgages and remortgage advances added up to £136 billion in 2010 – the lowest total since 2000 and almost a fifth (18%) lower than 2009.

Councils protesting about a government U-turn over shared house planning laws have won the right to challenge the ruling in the High Court.

Landlords have  launched an online campaign against a council’s proposals to micromanage shared houses by introducing planning controls and extra licensing.

Poor mortgage market management by governments and greedy lenders is blamed for triggering the global financial crisis and hindering recovery  in a blistering study.

Property investors Brian and Mary Pat O’Donnell prospered in the boom times by buying up trophy office buildings in prime locations around the world, but are now fighting to hold on to their billion pound portfolio.

Prices are rising and the Bank of England is under pressure to raise interest rates to support the economy – but how does changing the interest rate affect what a family has to pay for food, fuel and mortgages? Inflation is the result of the amount of money spent in the economy increasing at a […]

By Neil Patterson, Partner of The Money Centre. Remember; insurance companies have to make money too, but as a landlord if you understand how they price schemes and view risk you can maximise savings on your portfolio.

Landlord Lynne Hampson faces jail for cheating the benefits system out of thousands of pounds and even spent some of the cash on extending her luxury home with a swimming pool to take in more paying tenants.

The monthly house price charade seems ridiculous when lenders and the government are still crunching the numbers for November when online stores and personal banking web sites can deliver real time stock and account details in seconds.

Landlords are often fined huge sums in court for failing to maintain their properties.  Some deserve their fines but many others are confused by the law and rely on advice from letting agents and other property professionals who may not know much better themselves.  This troubleshooting guide for buy to let landlords answers many of […]

Cash-strapped banks are offering to write off huge amounts to encourage landlords and property investors to remortgage to another lender. Some banks are offering up to 25% of any mortgage debt as an incentive.

The big freeze sent a chill through the housing market as sales slumped to an eight-year low in December. Estate agents say sales plummeted to just an average two per branch for the month – the lowest figure since January 2003.

Business guru Gerry Robinson is turning his talents to solving inheritance tax and estate planning problems for families in a new TV show. The new six-part series ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ starts on BBC2 tonight (January 14) with a look at families who want to split their money between their children and favourite […]

This is a story of how I will quadruple my gross annual rent in 2011 on a £120,000 property.

The Bank of England base rate remains unchanged despite economic pressures to step up a gear. The Bank’s monetary policy committee voted to keep the rate at 0.5% for a record 22 consecutive months.

The buy to let mortgage war is hotting up as more lenders cut rates as they grapple with each other to grab a larger share of the market. Landlords are not likely to make property investment mortgages easier to access – lenders are just vying with each other to attract business to their companies rather […]

Landlords can have a say about government reforms on local housing benefit for private tenants by taking up an invitation from the Residential Landlords Association (RLA). The RLA has sent out a plea to thousands of members to participate in an online survey.