An internal report from town hall advisers confirms consultation over extending house in multiple occupation (HMO) powers is a sham aimed at avoiding compensation claims. The report – to councillors in Milton Keynes – suggests Housing Minister Grant Shapps is urging councils to take on controversial planning powers to curb the spread of shared houses […]

The Treasury announced new tax avoidance measures aimed at raising at extra £2 billion in tax over the next four years today. The announcement is the first step of the government’s much-vaunted tax avoidance blitz on individuals and companies – and more will soon follow promises the Treasury.

Improving knowledge and skills to make more money is one of the common traits of buy to let investors who queue up to attend seminars, courses, and conferences. Some of these events cost thousands of pounds to attend – and investors often try to claim the cost back through their property business only to find […]

Millions of homeowners and businesses may find buying buildings and contents insurance harder to obtain as a result of cuts to government spending on flood protection. Government figures show about 5.2 million homes are at risk from flooding – and that’s about 25% of the total homes in the UK.

After becoming an accidental landlord in the late 80’s I later realised this was the business I wanted to be in.  For me it started with a desire to invest into something that I could touch, feel, engage with and affect returns.  It was an opportunity to speculate to accumulate and to take control of […]

To get you started, the boys in the office came up with the following answers: Hugh Heffner to organise the party guests Aggie and Kim (off the TV program “How Clean Is Your House) Jamie Oliver to provide the party food Bob the Builder to fix it, so they don’t have to.

You may have noticed some changes to Landlord News which include:

  This week Sarah agreed to write an exclusive article for Landlord News to explain how her latest online venture “Tepilo” can help property investors to reduce their costs by letting and/or selling their properties for FREE. Some quotes from Sarah:  “If buyers and tenants are heading directly to the internet why is it really […]

This rule of thumb is very simple.  If you have £100,000 of buy to let mortgages you should have £20,000 in the bank. This article was written to show you a safe strategy that you may never have considered before.  If you don’t have the right level of liquidity reserve, don’t panic.  There are ways […]

Tenants struggling to pay rent arrears to buy to let landlords have rocketed by 20% in a year, according to the Citizen’s Advice Bureaux (CAB).  The free access advice centres across England and Wales dealt with 20 rent arrears inquiries every day during the three months ending September 30.

Business is booming for student landlords as rents, property values and returns are all increasing. The average student landlord benefitted from a 13.5% return on investment in the year ending September 30, reports estate agents Knight Frank in their annual student property survey.

Up to 3,000 cases currently before the courts are likely to be withdrawn by lenders who will have to start proceedings all over again as a result of the Supreme Court ruling that found lawyers have not served the right paperwork on homeowners in arrears with loans secured against their properties.

Letting agents expect buy to let rents to keep edging higher as more tenants snap up the few available rental properties. Four out of 10 letting agents reported seeing an increase in rents over the quarter ending October 31, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) residential lettings survey – while some (27%) […]

Private landlords may have to bear in mind their tenant’s human rights before they can evict them, according to the latest court ruling. Lawyers are likely to thrash out the implications of the case that could undermine a landlord’s ability to repossess a property in the New Year.

England faces a worsening housing crisis as house building is drastically out of pace with the demand for new homes.  The nation’s appetite for homes will run at about 250,000 a year for the next 25 years mainly due to the needs of a growing population, according to the latest government figures. 

A flurry of results and reviews about borrowing, the economy and tax that show the current state of the UK’s finances is pretty steady, if uninspiring, are now out. Building society gross lending was down nearly 10% in October – at £1.96 billion compared with £2.17 billion in September. 

Property prices in small market towns outstrip those of most nearby towns and cities by an average of £30,000, according to Lloyds TSB. House prices in English market towns are, on average, £29,319 (14%) higher than the surrounding counties.

What’s the cheekiest/craziest request you’ve received from a tenant?

A new rent survey based on the average cost of renting compared to buying a similar home on an interest only mortgage at 5%. Aberdeen is the cheapest place in the country to let a home, with rents 22% below the average cost of buying a similar home on an interest only mortgage at 5%.

Buy to let landlords making big rental profits and looking to save tax often flirt with the idea of running their business through a limited company. The main benefit is a company can be a tax-effective way of managing income.

Paying tradesmen for cash in the hand jobs seems like a good idea at the time – but ends up costing landlords more. The problem is only the tradesmen win when a landlord hands over cash for a job in return for a discount. The discount is generally equal to VAT the tradesman will not […]