Councils are afraid of tackling shared housing problems because they fear landlords will sue them for loss of earnings, a senior planning councillor in a university town has revealed. In an exclusive interview, the planner disclosed his council abandoned taking on powers to give them more control over houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) after taking […]

Private landlords have no room for complacency and need to improve standards as the private rented sector changes, urges the National Landlords Association (NLA).

Debt management firms can make financial problems worse for those that owe money by giving poor advice and misleading consumers by claiming to offer free services while taking hidden fees. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned 129 firms that their credit licences will be withdrawn if they do not show immediate action has […]

The buy to let mortgage market is in a state of flux as key lenders have changed their criteria over recent weeks. This weekend, Lloyds Bank effectively shut up shop to portfolio landlords with more than three properties. From close of business Friday (September 24), the bank reshuffled buy to let mortgage products and lending […]

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is not an opt-in process – if you have made a gain and do not already have a self-assessment tax return, the obligation is on you to report the matter to your tax office and not hope you have got away with it just because you have not had a bill. […]

The government is diverting £900 million over the next three years to beef up HM Revenue and Customs in a bid to clamp down on tax avoidance to make sure everyone hands over every penny they should to swell the Treasury coffers. Ministers demonise tax cheats in the media as immoral and illegal – and […]

The case highlighted the wording of Section 214 of The Housing Act 2004, which concerns courts making an order for landlords to protect a deposit or return the money in full to the tenant. The section also allows a court to penalise a landlord who fails to protect a deposit by imposing a penalty of […]

In a landmark case that could affect hundreds of similar actions waiting to go to court all over the country, Anthony Finlay was taken to court by developers AMA (New Town) for breach of contract. He is just one of many property investors and buyers who were forced to withdraw from buying new build properties […]

Switch on the TV or radio news, open the paper and log in to the internet and just about everyone is lamenting the price of a home. First time buyers can’t afford to step on to the property ladder, families can’t afford to move and banks aren’t lending.

We speak to many property developers who tell us that they are not doing any new developments now, “because the economy is weak and the margins charged by funders are too high”. Banks in the commercial and corporate sectors are paying low rates of interest on deposits which are way below the rate of inflation. […]

The most popular articles in Landlord News are undoubtedly those that relate to tax and accountancy advice. Steve Sims, author of the best selling book ‘Understanding and Paying Less Property Tax for Dummies’, runs our specialist tax and accountancy service. Steve also writes for tax and business magazines and web sites and was recently invited […]

The latest figures for uncollected tax reveal property investors owe £142million from undisclosed letting income and £55million evaded in undeclared Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on land and property sales. The HMRC report claims that half of the returns submitted by self-employed taxpayers and partnerships had under-stated the true tax liability.

Property investors looking for the best returns on their cash should look at the booming student letting sector. Student numbers are increasing as universities and colleges in towns and cities all over the UK expand. But while student populations are on the up, only one new bed space was created for every eight new students […]

Following the letter of the law is seemingly a problem for government solicitors as well as property investors over deposit protection rules starting on October 1. The Communities and Local Government Department (CLG) has already issued revised guidance about the regulations before they even come in to force.

Bank of England Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions September 2010

In the last week of August the new administrators of The Money Centre’s Landlords Insurance Scheme were overwhelmed with requests to switch to our new block policy for landlords insurance before the 1st of September. Sadly we couldn’t get back to them all in time to secure the business. We now have a process to […]

Peter Curran, Head of Intermediary Distribution at Lloyds Banking Group recently announced, “From 25 September, buy to let property portfolios will be limited to a maximum of three properties, or £2m worth of lending (whichever is exceeded first), across Lloyds Banking Group. At the same time, buy to let products will no longer be available […]

In this article I look at the differences between owning property as joint tenants, tenants in common or as individuals. I also explain why portfolio landlords who are married couples should own half the properties each in single names and how to deal with property ownership which is not structured for optimal tax purposes right […]

Tax code bungles and other IT disasters at HM Revenue and Customs have led to thousands of workers redeployed for working on ‘higher priority cases’. HMRC has already announced that filing forms authorising advisers to speak to tax inspectors as client agents are backed up until at least October 31, which is also the last […]

Commercial property tenants are finding relationships with landlords are better but they still have room for improvement. Tenants marked their landlords an average of 4.9 out of 10, according to a satisfaction survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Rents have hit a two-year peak as the squeeze on mortgages has dried up funds for first time buyers and home movers. Rents were up 1.4% or £12 a month on those in July – equalling the last peak of £686 per month last seen in September 2008.