Fraud investigators are warning landlords to watch out for crooks trying to cheat them out of cash. The overseas gangs are targeting buy to let and holiday let landlords with variations of a common fee scam. The fraudsters will contact landlords to make a corporate booking – often for a charity or religious organisation.

In the previous two articles in his series, Bill Main-Ian recalled the accident that saw him lose one of his legs in a car accident and then fight for his perfect house which led to him becoming a property investor. The story of how Bill got into property investing and triumphed through adversity is being […]

One of the leading buy to let industry lenders, BM Solutions, has released two new Remortgage only buy to let products that must complete on the draw down of funds by 30/06/2011.

The Mortgage Works (TMW) has cut interest rates across some buy to let mortgages and launched a new fixed rate deal. Rates are down by 0.5% on mortgages for first landlords, let to buy borrowers and those offering free valuations and legal fees. The new fixed rate is 4.99% at 50% loan-to-value over five years […]

According to The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC), poor and inadequate photographs are being used in property inventories at both check-in and check-out, leaving landlords exposed to potentially costly disputes with tenants over wear and tear.

The property market looks to have settled as house sales and mortgage lending seem to follow trends set over the past few months. Estate agents sold an average eight homes a branch in April – the same as February and March – says the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). A lack of mortgage funding […]

Buy to let lender Paragon Mortgages is about to test how markets react to fears about toxic mortgage debt by issuing £250 million in bonds. The lender had to stop mortgage lending when funding for securitisation of mortgage loans dried up in the credit crunch – but the firm feels banks may now be ready […]

A landlord who ignored council orders to improve his property was fined £2,000 for putting their lives at risk. He repeatedly breached fire safety rules and let tenants live in damp rooms. Mokhtar Pouri denied seven offences of ignoring council improvement notices and admitted three further similar offences.

If you’re into statistics about the private rental sector the latest report from Paragon will keep you happy for quite some time.  The report, which is 32 pages long, has been summarised below.  A PDF of the report can be downloaded here. Paragon also released their half year trading figures today, download the PDF here.

A landlord was cleared of harassment after his son tried to evict two tenants from a shared house at knife-point with a gang of men. The case arose from a dispute over an illegal eviction from a house in multiple occupation (HMO) Mohammed Qureshi managed for his niece in Peterborough.

Property investors are being scammed by firms whose bosses tell their land banking sales people they can make a guaranteed £1 million in 12 months. Land banking firms typically sell small tracts of undeveloped land on the premise that the value will soar as the plot lies in the path of a new development. But […]

You have a desire to build a rental property portfolio but you don’t know where to start. Does this sounds familiar? Well I can help but please don’t just take my word for it. If you’re new to the property investment business and need property investment advice or you are considering employing the services of […]

Mortgage lending fell again last month – down 14% from March, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The total of new mortgages fell from £11.35 billion in March to £9.8 billion in April. The CML, the industry voice of all the UK’s major bank and building society lenders, predicts little change in interest rates […]

Rents have bounced back to a record high as the mortgage squeeze forces would-be buyers to rent a home and into the hands of buy to let landlords. Average rents in England and Wales in April hit £692 a month – a peak last seen in November, according to LSL Property Services, one of the UK’s largest […]

Thousands of landlords have been left out of pocket with worthless contracts as emergency repair firm Homecall+ has collapsed. Homecall+ appears to have continued taking on new business since December 2010 without the permission of regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which failed to publicise a warning about the firm despite highlighting concerns.

Rising tuition fees are not affecting bookings for the next academic year for Britain’s largest student landlord, the Unite Group. In a trading statement to investors, the company has revealed room reservations for the 2011-2012 year are already ahead of last year – with 73% of bed spaces booked.

Specialists in Landlord Tax and Accountancy, Pacific Limited Chartered Accountants in Norwich, established in 1982, look after the tax affairs of buy to let landlords and property investors.  The founders of the business have invested personally into property for years. There are only two things certain in life, death and taxes.  Pacific have a goal […]

Consumer champion the Financial Ombudsman deals with an inquiry from a disgruntled financial services customer every 10 seconds every working day. The depth of customer dissatisfaction with financial firms was shown in the ombudsman’s annual report that disclosed over a million inquiries were handled resulting in a record 206,000 complaints in 2010 – up 26% […]

The buy to let market will ride on the crest of a wave for another two years as mortgage lenders revealed they do not expect to help first time buyers for possibly years. That bad news leaves thousands of expectant homebuyers adrift in the property market with letting as the only real option for setting […]

A spokesman for Mortgage Express revealed their exit strategies at the Northern Property Tribes last night which was met with uproar both on and off-line. Apparently, if you sell a property that’s mortgaged to them, Mortgage Express have the right to call in all of your other loans.  The details of how they can insist […]

The bank closed it’s doors to new lending a few years ago as a result of the credit crunch and has a strategy to clear all existing lending within eight years. They are encouraging redemptions (waiving penalties) and selling off loans to achieve their goal so they are definitely serious. Their latest offering is a five year […]