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.

If your net assets are worth over £325,000 when you die, any money that you leave to anybody other than your husband, wife or civil partner will be taxed at 40%. This includes payouts from your life insurance policy, regardless of whether you’ve made a Will or not. The solution, which is very simple and […]

The latest capital gains tax (CGT) increase announced by the Chancellor George Osborne in June has added a massive £36 million in unnecessary tax payments, according to independent financial web site unbiased.co.uk. Capital gains tax is charged on the disposal of investment property and rates currently stand at 28% for higher rate taxpayers and 18% […]

In comparison, the rest of England and Wales was stuck in a rut with more static month-on-month figures. The buoyant London market is put down to less worry about long term job prospects and cash-rich buyers not affected by difficulties in obtaining mortgages.

Landlords need to turn detective and make sure they police how tenants are using their rental properties otherwise insurers could refuse to pay out on claims for damage left behind by crooks. One of the largest UK insurers, Aviva, urges landlords and letting agents to start their own neighbourhood watch – especially for cannabis farms.

The seasonally adjusted index for the month was 4.7% below the recent peak in April 2008, but 11.1% above the recent trough in April 2009. This figure is the best indicator of trends in house prices over time, says the CLG.

The UK’s average property value is currently £167,953, according to the Halifax’s latest survey. It is probably fair to say that every landlord owns at least two properties, their own home plus at least one buy to let property. Therefore, excluding any other assets or life insurance policies, their assets are likely to exceed the […]

The housing market seems to have shaken out the inflation excesses of the boom period of a few years ago. Estate agents, builders and lenders are all reporting a stable level of activity, even though this may be constrained for property investors looking for profits from capital growth.

Millions of landlords and property investors are tied up in the HM Revenue and Customs PAYE code bungle and may have to pay back tax wrongly calculated over previous years. Any property investor who has tax collected under the PAYE scheme or receives a notice of coding for pension payments could be drawn in to […]

Buy to let mortgage borrowers can breathe a sigh of relief for another month as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep the official bank rate steady at 0.5%. The decision means the bank rate has remained at the record low of 0.5% for 18 consecutive months since March 2009.

Building on the success of a property business involves much more than managing tenants in rental homes. Many investors start to lose a grip of their property business once they have two or three successful property transactions under their belt and their portfolio starts to grow.

Housing minister Grant Shapps has scrapped complicated blanket planning rules for houses in multiple occupation (HMO). He has announced new regulations aimed at cutting 8,500 HMO applications from the planning system every year by removing the need for every new HMO to apply for planning consent.

Landlords could face big fines if they do not act to comply with changes to assured shorthold tenancy agreements from next month. The change means compulsory tenancy deposit protection comes in to force for assured shorthold tenancies for rent up to £100,000 a year from October 1, 2010.

Tax is obviously too taxing for most people as around 1.4 million UK workers have to repay an average of £1,400 each in underpaid tax following errors by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). On top of that, HMRC overcharged another 1 million taxpayers by £238 million last year.

Independent mortgage advisers have thousands more loan products to choose from across the market than direct providers like banks and building societies. Independents could source mortgages for clients from an August average of 4,545 products – up 19% from a July average of 3,807 – while direct lenders could select from a restricted range of […]

Signing a home over to family is not an easy solution to tax problems or trying to avoid paying for care in your old age. In many cases, the switch in owners can cause more issues than the action was meant to solve.

More and more investors and landlords who have not owned up about their property profits are under scrutiny from the taxman. The first indication you are under investigation for unpaid tax is often a benign ‘compliance check’ letter through the door.

Buy-to-let lending through specialist business finance brokers is up 66% in 2010 – but is still way behind the billions borrowed at the height of the property boom. Commercial finance brokers arranged buy-to-let loans totalling £0.718 billion in the year – up from £0.476 billion last year.