This is the second in a series of 10 articles written by specialist landlord & tenant solicitor Tessa Shepperson, founder of the online Landlord Law Service.  If you let a property in poor condition to your tenants, not only will you get complaints and lower your reputation as a landlord – it is also against […]

A PDF of the Bank of Englands February inflation report can be downloaded here

Housing Minister Grant Shapps wants key players in the housing sector to join together to help first time buyers find homes.  House builders, lenders, insurers, councils and consumer groups turned up for a summit meeting chaired by Mr Shapps, to thrash out how they could help young people who want to own their own home.

Retailers are shutting up shop in Britain’s high streets and many of the doors may never open again for trading.  New data shows town centre business rates for shops are surging, with shopping ‘black spots’ in the north and midlands.

Investment opportunities for buy to let landlords look good as mortgage availability increases and asking prices for homes continue to fall.

The Blue Force Group – including Blue Force Property and Blue Force Services have collapsed holding cash for soldiers that could run in to millions.  Many of the soldiers with cash on deposit with the firms could lose up to £11,000 each.

Tenants often skip their rented home leaving behind old furniture or other belongings that are broken or too heavy to move, leaving the landlord to sort out the mess behind them.

Mortgage lending seems to have bottomed out in 2010 after plunging from £362 billion at the top of the market in 2007 to £77 billion last year.

Vanessa Warwick, from Property Tribes, interviews Tessa Shepperson of Landlord Law. Filmed at the offices of Property118.com

New figures from the government show how the banking crisis and recession crippled the housing market. In 2008/09 – the latest figures available from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) – only 9% of all households in England (2.0 million) had moved to their current homes within the previous 12 months, the lowest number since […]

The truth is finally out about how the buy to let market performed in 2010 as the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has released the latest loan figures for property investors. The figures confirm the market expanded by 7%, with about 1.3 million buy to let mortgages worth £152 billion on the books of the […]

Neighbourhood no-go zones for houses in multiple occupation are spawning some unholy alliances between former property letting adversaries to fight their local councils. More and more councils are announcing ‘article 4’ declarations to let them take on tough controls to restrict new houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) from opening.

A  property agent has had a newspaper advert banned for bragging the firm rented more properties than most. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled the advert was misleading because the firm could not substantiate the claims.

Home sales slipped to the lowest level for 18 months as estate agents reported a poor month of trading. Fewer sellers put their homes on the market while buyers are holding off because of worries about rising interest rates.

Buy to let landlords who want to demonstrate their green credentials can save tax and keep their tenants happy while upgrading energy efficiency.

The BBC has launched another story about substandard buy to let homes and ‘rogue landlords’ – but just who is covered by the tired old cliché? The UK has about 3.5 million buy to let properties and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) that are let by private landlords.

New lenders are eyeing buy-to-let as others are shaping up their deals to give landlords a wider choice of rates and products. Yorkshire Building Society has indicated a move in to the market before July on the back of the merger with Chelsea Building Society, which had a large property investment lending book.

Somebody had to be first to do it but who would have expected it to be Kensington Mortgages?

As all landlords know, if you take good care of your properties and your tenants they will look after you.  If you’re not a good landlord they will tell all their friends but do they tell all their friends what a great landlord you are and when you’ve got a property coming vacant?

Have you got what it takes to be a landlord? Often people seem to think that being a landlord  is money for old rope.  “Landlords!  They just sit there doing nothing and collect the money as it comes rolling in!”  That’s the popular view. Of course it’s not  true!  So what does it take to […]

Taxpayers should not respond to bogus emails from fraudsters offering  tax rebates on behalf of HM Revenue and Customs. HMRC has revealed crime gangs have sent out millions of fake ‘phishing’ emails following the January 31 tax return filing deadline.