Page 956 – Property118

Why the latest house prices statistics are meaningless

6th April 2011

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.

Devil dressed as a business man

Tenants from Hell (Part 2). Every Landlord’s Nightmare

5th April 2011

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.

Will your mortgage go toxic if interest rates rise?

5th April 2011

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 […]

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Why Shelter’s ‘rogue landlord’ complaints are misleading

5th April 2011

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 […]

Could this be the ultimate buy to let investment property exit strategy?

5th April 2011

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 […]

Home sellers should pay stamp duty not buyers, says bank

4th April 2011

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 […]

Grant Shapps

Housing minister backs rent-to-buy lease options web site

4th April 2011

Housing minister Grant Shapps has publically backed a web site advertising rent-to-buy homes. The scheme seems to promote lease option purchases that are popular in the US and Australia but rarely seen in the UK. The web site – www.tryitbuyitproperty.com – matches homeowners who have problems selling with potential buyers who cannot raise a mortgage.

Property118 Group created on LinkedIn

1st April 2011

There are already several LinkedIn Groups for UK property investors but none that we’ve found appear to offer a Directory of daily news relating to the property industry. For this reason Property118.com will be publishing their latest news to this new group which can be found here.

Singles forced to share as benefit rules change

1st April 2011

Shared house landlords can expect a surge in inquiries from tenants as the government changes the rules on paying housing benefit to singles. From January, singles aged under 35-years-old can only ask for cash to cover sharing a room in a house in multiple occupation (HMO) rather than self-contained housing. 

to let sign

Letting agents under siege from home hunters

1st April 2011

Thousands of home hunters are besieging letting agents to snap up buy to lets as the mortgage famine bites and stops them buying their own homes. Sequence Lettings, part of Skipton Building Society property firm Connells, has seen a 37% increase in the number of prospective tenants signing up to view homes.

CML slams mortgage reform without reading the details

1st April 2011

The industry-voice of Britain’s mortgage lenders has already slammed a European Commission proposal to help borrowers before appearing to read the document in detail. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) claims more moves to protect consumers are unnecessary because the UK already has a highly regulated financial services industry. 

HMO planning u-turn challenged in High Court

1st April 2011

Councils protesting at how Housing Minster Grant Shapps reversed house in multiple occupation planning rules have started a legal challenge against his decision in the High Court.

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How busy is your website?

30th March 2011

When you consider that property118.com was launched just seven weeks ago it’s quite amazing that we are already ranked as being the 9,869th busiest website in the UK.   

Spotlight on Robin Pilley, HMO investor – Part four of a four part story

30th March 2011

Robin Pilley invests into HMO’s (Houses in multiple occupation) in the Haverhill area and regularly achieves up to 16% yields, he is also a Director of CXG Property Services, which is a Letting Agents and Property Sourcing Company.  As these yields are so good we’ve asked Robin to share his story in a four part […]