Sunday, October 31, 2010

Tax changes for HMOs

According to an article on taxationweb multiple occupancy landlords could be hit by a new change in relation to their classification of communal areas for multiple occupancy dwellings. This is particulalry likely to impact on student landlords.

The update HMRC's Business Brief 45/10 states that areas such as kitchens and lounges will be now treated as 'dwellings' alongside tenant's private rooms.

The change comes into force on 22 October and has implications for VAT and for expenditure previously eligible for capital allowances.

Get Expert tax advice

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Starbucks or artisan landlord?

I hear a lot from commentators on the private rental sector who bemoan the variability of accommodation and management of property within it.

I agree, some landlords are rubbish. There's no doubt about it. Most landlords are reasonable at managing their property and alot are great and very professional.

Those journalists who highlight the variability/inconsistency within the sector and call for an influx of corporate institutions to take over just don't get it. Do you think that all these new big institutions who are just interested in returns to their shareholders will all be excellent? Do you think that by the time they have employed, subcontracted, outsourced the maintenance or management of their buy-to-let empires; that response times for repairs will be any quicker? A small landlord with one or two properties can speak directly to the tenant and the plumber or electrician that day. to sort things out. With all those middle men, do they think that this will come at no cost to the tenants?

I suspect that this promised land of perfect rentals will be as variable and inconsistent as the existing system dominated by us small buy-to-let landlords.

Despite the clamour for corporate mediocrity, the reality is that a diverse private rental sector where most tenants deal with owner managers in my view will in general deliver more value, service and satisfaction than their disinterested corporate cousins.

So here the numb? Do these journalists buy their coffee at Starbucks or do they risk buying it from an artisan coffee house?

I know what I'd do every time.

Landlord insurance - professional rates

Thursday, October 28, 2010

First time buyer dilemma

New research from the Home Builders Federation shows that the average first time buyer would have to save every single penny of their earnings for more than two years to have a chance of getting a foot on the housing ladder. In London it would take three years.

Even over five years, young people have to save almost half of their take home pay every month to save a deposit for a house, with some areas even higher.

This sizable hurdle to buy will prolong the time tenants stay in the rental sector.

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Prices down again Nationwide

The Nationwide today reported that house prices have continued the downwards path with a fall of 0.7% in October.

This follows on from the record fall reported by the Halifax for September of 3.6%.

The average price of a house according to the Nationwide is now £164,381 which is still 1.4% above the price last year.

The main brake on house prices appears again to be lack of finance as banks keeps a tight rein on their Loan To Value ratios.

Landlord Insurance - the value option

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

'affordable rent' tenure

Details on the Coalitions new 'affordable rent' tenure will be published shortly according to Grant Shapps the Housing Minister.

This new type of tenancy will be more akin to that found in the private rented sector and not automatically grant tenants and their siblings a council house for life as is the case with the existing system.

Landlords insurance - a select choice

Exodus of London benefit tenants

The Guardian warns about the changes in Housing Benefits driving out low income London tenants from high value parts of central London.

This could impact on the business of some landlords who have exploited the anomalies in the BMRA designations for the Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

Councils have warned that up to 82,000 households could be forced out of central London as private landlords replace tenants on benefits with more lucrative professional tenants.

Whilst I sympathise will anybody that might potentially loose their home. Equally, I think that there is something a little perverse of the state paying for people to live in areas that most working people in the UK could not afford.

I'd love to live in penthouse apartment in Kensington. Unfortunately, the modest income from rents on my buy-to-let properties and Property Hawk won't quite stretch that far. Oh well - there's always the lottery.

Landlord insurance - get professional rates

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Property Manager on my iPad

I just operated Property Manager, our free property management software, on my new shiny iPad.I'm pleased to say it worked pretty well. Logged in, created a test tenancy, downloaded the AST, logged out. The date picker works but in an odd way, otherwise it's pretty perfect. Is this the future, landlords on tablets?

Predictions of HB fallout

Polly Toynbnee gives a, well,........... Polly Toynbee type view of the housing market following the implementation of the coalitions proposals to cut housing benefit payments.

Read Toynbees tea leaf style predictions here

Landlord sues surveyor and wins

Surveying companies must be 'shaking in their boots' following on from the recent court case.
A landlord has won his case against a surveyor who had estimated the rental income on a new-build flat, paving the way for future challenges from other aggrieved investors.

The landlord Emmett Scullion bought an apartment in Cobham, Surrey following a valuation from local surveying firm Colleys, now part of Lloyds Bank.

The surveyor put a valuation of £352,950 on the property and estimated the flat could achieve a rental figure of £2,000 pcm.

The novice landlord purchased the flat based on these figures only to find that he could barely achieve a rental figure of £1000 pcm, half the amount indicated by the surveyor.
The landlord was then forced to sell the property at a loss. Following a long legal battle the has just been awarded £72,000 by the courts, who decided that Colleys owed him a duty of care.

Read more in the Guardian

With this legal precedent set, let the flood gates open.............

Read the judgement

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

BTL mortgages - most popular

Interest Rate	Overall Cost for Comparison	Max LTV	Product Detail	Completion Fee	Early Repayment Charges
3.75% Tracker	4.7% APR	65%	Variable tracker rate of BBR + 3.25% until 31/12/2012 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.74% for the remainder of the term. There is a free valuation up to £680 for purchases and remortgages and free legals for remortgages only. This product is available up to 65% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at payrate. There is a £250 booking fee and an application fee will apply.	0%	4% of amount being repaid until 31/12/2012
3.88% Tracker	4.1% APR	75%	Variable tracker rate of BBR + 3.38% for the lifetime of the loan. This product is available up to 75% LTV and there is a rental calculation of 100% at a notional rate of 8.5%. An application fee will apply. Available on a repayment basis only and for loans up to £150,000. The completion fee is payable at offer stage.	£1695	1% of original balance being repaid for 1 year
4.2% Tracker	5% APR	75%	Variable tracker rate of BBR + 3.70% for 1 year then reverting to a variable rate of BBR + 4.34% to give a current rate of 4.84% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	2.5%	3% of amount being repaid for 1 year
4.6% Tracker	5.2% APR	75%	Variable tracker rate of BBR + 4.10% for 2 years then reverting to a variable rate of BBR + 4.24% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	2.75%	3% of amount being repaid for 2 years
4.8% Tracker	5.5% APR	75%	Variable tracker rate of LIBOR + 4.00% for 2 years then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate of 4.60% + 0.25% = 4.85% to the end of year 5, then for the remainder of the term, the lender's standard variable rate of 4.60% + 0.75% = 5.35%. The product is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 130% at 7%. Please note that the completion fee will increase by 0.25% on applications for HMOs, freehold houses split into flats and limited companies. An application fee will apply.	2.25%	3% of amount being repaid for 2 years
4.99% Fixed	5.5% APR	80%	Fixed rate of 4.99% until 30/11/2011 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.99% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 80% LTV and there is a rental calculation of 125% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	3% (min £595)	5% of amount being repaid until 30/11/2011
4.99% Fixed	4.6% APR	70%	Limited company product. 4.99% fixed rate until 30/11/2011 then reverting to a variable rate of BBR + 3.49% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 70% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at a notional rate of 4.99%. An application fee will apply.	3.5% (min £595)	5% of amount being repaid until 30/11/2011
5.29% Fixed	3.7% APR	60%	Fixed rate of 5.29% until 02/12/2012 then reverting to a variable rate of 2.49% over BBR to give a current rate of 2.99% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 60% LTV and there is a rental calculation of 125% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	1.5% (min £1500)	6 months interest at the Buy to Let Standard Variable Rate or fixed rate whichever is higher until 02/12/12
5.49% Fixed	5.7% APR	80%	Fixed rate of 5.49% until 30/11/2013 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.99% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 80% LTV and there is a rental calculation of 125% at the pay rate. An application fee will apply.	3% (min £595)	5% of amount being repaid until 30/11/2013
5.59% Fixed	5.2% APR	70%	5.59% fixed rate until 01/12/2012 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.79% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 70% LTV and the rental calculation is 120% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	£1995	4% of the outstanding balance as of 1st January until 01/12/2012

IMPORTANT! Due to current market conditions, lenders are withdrawing and replacing products with little or no notice.
Please check our website regularly to see the most up-to-date products available.

Please visit www.propertyhawk.co.uk and click on Mortgages to search the full product range and find a buy-to-let mortgage to suit your specific personal circumstances.

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk

Tel: 029 2069 5446

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgages. The Financial Services Authority does not regulate some forms of mortgage.

Capital gains tax strategies

Taxcafe have just published a new book by property tax expert Carl Bayley called Property Capital Gains Tax.

This guide contains dozens of NEW capital gains tax saving strategies and is useful reading for landlords, property investors and second home owners.

Subjects covered include:

* The new capital gains tax rules announced in the June Budget. 
* How to reduce your taxable income and pay CGT at 18% instead of 28%. 
* How one property investor could save over £30,000 by doing exactly that. 
* How your spouse or partner can now save you almost £18,000 in capital gains tax every year. 
* How one couple could save £167,000 in CGT and £40,000 income tax by following the strategies in this guide.
* How your children can help you avoid capital gains tax completely. 
* How trusts can be used to safeguard children’s properties.
* How to convert heavily taxed income into leniently taxed capital gains. 
* Main residence elections - How to enjoy a tax-free second home. 
* How unmarried couples can have two tax-free main residences... plus the traps to avoid.
* How one property investor will pay £29,180 less tax per property by using a company.
* The new Entrepreneurs Relief rules - How to pay tax at 10% and save up to £1.8 million. 
* How one investor with a £200,000 profit will pay just 4% tax after living in the property for only a year.

Buy-to-let Tax guides

Monday, October 25, 2010

Tips On Tenancy Deposit Disputes 18: Illegal Evidence

Tip 18: Illegal Evidence

This week’s post is a word of warning. The advice from the deposit protection schemes is always to provide as much evidence as possible to support your claim and, on the whole, they are right. The more documents, images and receipts you can amass in support of your claim, the stronger your case becomes.

Problems can arise when parties to a dispute take evidence gathering a little too far. I know of several cases where a party involved in a dispute made audio recordings of the other party speaking, without their knowledge or their consent, and submitted the recording in evidence. While it may be tempting to secretly record your ex-tenant saying something incriminating, you might be wise to keep such recordings yourself. The way I read it, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the person whose private conversation was taped can sue you for passing the recording to a third party.

Passing illegally obtained evidence to an adjudicator may also place them in a very difficult situation, as most adjudicators are legally trained and operate under a regulatory body. Submitting evidence that is questionable in origin can present them with a choice between rejecting your evidence, with attendant risks of making a decision that is unfair, or relying on the evidence, and potentially exposing you to prosecution. Deciding which course of action to follow might mean spending half and hour trawling through a dry and complex code of conduct, which won’t endear you to them.

As a general rule, adjudicators just want to get on with the business of making decisions, and don’t want to be distracted by thorny side issues about admissibility, so, unless your entire claim hinges on those secret recordings, I advise you think twice about sending them in.

Tom Derrett is the Principal of Deposit Claim, an ex-adjudicator and an expert on the Deposit Protection Schemes.

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Landlords ripping off taxpayers?

A study by the Department for Work & Pensions entitled 'Low Income Working Households in the Private Rented Sector’ found that despite offering worse conditions landlords were charging higher rents to housing benefit claimants than to low paid working adults.

The Study concluded that private landlords with housing benefit tenants were charging the maximum amounts of rent possible – the implication being that landlords were ripping off the taxpayer.

Another aspect of the research highlighted the fact that benefits paid to private sector landlords have risen much quicker than the charges paid by tenants in the social sector. The rises above inflation over the last decade have been 36% and 19% respectively.

Shock horror!
Well shock horror - landlords are trying to maximize their profits. There was me thinking I was running a charity!

There are a number of issues which I would highlight from this research:

Firstly, £8.5 billion does seem an awful lot of money. However, how much would it cost the public sector to build and then manage the number of houses to provide the accommodation provided by the private rental sector for those tenants receiving benefit. The answer I suspect is a hell of a lot more than this.

Secondly, the changes to the system of housing benefit under the LHA were bound to encourage landlords to seek out the cheapest property in each BRMA that they could then let to a tenant. This only makes good business sense for a landlord looking to maximise their rental yield.

Thirdly, rents for tenants on benefit need to be arguably higher to compensate landlords for the greater risk a landlord takes on for renting a property to tenant on benefit in that they will not be paid or that the tenancy will be problematic.

The reality is if there is a problem with the current Local Housing Allowance system which we think there is. It is not reasonable to blame landlords for working within the system designed by government and their minions. Research like this is easy fodder for those elements of society who wish to vilify landlords and exploitative individuals feeding off the misfortunes of the poorest members in our society. In reality the blame lies with governments who seem unable to produce a benefit system which incentivize landlords to provide quality accommodation whilst making a reasonable return.

Landlord insurance - portfolio rates

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Landlords building up a 'cashpile'?

If the latest stats from the FT are to be believed it could well be that landlords are using their relatively low gearing to remortgage to build up a cashpile, ready to take advantage of further projected weakness in the UKs housing market.

Traditionally many experienced landlords have run at fairly low levels of gearing with the average in the sector even during the boom years running at only 40%. Now according to Paragon Mortgages Financial Adviser Confidence Tracking report landlords accounted for almost 1 in 5 of mortgage intermediary business.

The majority of this comprises of experienced landlords (48%) buying additional properties to expand their portfolios. However, a third of all buy-to-let mortgages is for remortgages. Could this be landlords looking to build up a cash pile ready to jump in and buy up bargains in light of the storm clouds appearing in the prospects for the UK housing market? We have advised landlords in the past of the advantages of building up a cash pile in allowing them to 'gobble up' a property bargain.

If so landlords will have the added reassurance that their investments are underpinned by record rents and demand for rental property.

NEW Mortgage Search

Saturday, October 23, 2010

UK Sales and Lettings

Summer Snapshot of UK Sales and Lettings

A shortage of good quality stock in both the sales and rental marketplace has affected overall pricing and dynamic movement in the industry. However, a few key factors such as buy-to-let investment, well priced stock and the continual demand from prospective buyers all point towards a busier autumn season, rental management figures suggest.

Over the summer months the national shortage of property for rent has been largely driven by the difficulties facing first time buyers when applying for mortgage finance. In addition to this, many renters are choosing to stay put due to the uncertainty of which direction the house prices will go in over the next few years.

However the sales market has not been so stagnant and the volume of sales reported in July for Hamptons International (a premier property agent) showed an increase of 24 per cent. This is all the more impressive if one considers the amount of negative press surrounding the UK property market and economy over recent months. The formation of the new coalition government gave the market a post-election bounce; this has carried on into August giving Hamptons International a 10 percent increase in value when compared to 2009.

Shortage of stock is however not such a detrimental problem for the landlords; the average rental renewal increase is now over six percent for Hamptons. Furthermore landlords who stood fast during the economic storm are experiencing income growth across their portfolios twinned with the improved yields. This is a key point that demonstrates to new investors that there is profit to be made in the UK rental market. Those who see residential property as a long-term investment would find Autumn/Winter 2010 a good time to enter the market place: also highlighted by the rise in buy-to-let mortgage approvals. This type of mortgage has been virtually non-existent over the last two years but the Council of Mortgage Lenders recently reported 15 percent growth during the second quarter of 2010.

Property is in high demand whether it is for rental or for sale. Hamptons International has reported there are six applicants for every one of their rental properties and seven for every sale property. Although according to Mark Goldberg, the Head of Sales for Hamptons, in order to sell the property it needs to be “well-priced.” It is the vendors that that have used common sense, done their research into local rates and priced their houses accordingly that have experienced fast paced success.

Despite August being a traditionally quieter month for the property market, there has boost in the number of enquiries for sale properties. Together with the improving mortgage conditions and the interest from new investors in the rental market it points to Autumn 2010 being an active season for the market place overall.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Spending Review

Key Spending Review announcements

Supporting growth, reforming public services and building a fairer society

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has presented the Government’s Spending Review, which fixes spending budgets for each Government department up to 2014-15.

The diagram below shows you a summary of the departmental settlements in 2014-15, the last year of the period covered by the Spending Review

See more of the Spending Review in pictures by visiting our Flickr channel
Discover how the Spending Review will impact on departmental budgets between now and 2014-15 (PDF)

The Spending Review comes at a time when the State is spending significantly more money than it raises in taxation, and is having to meet the gap – called the deficit – by borrowing at record levels. Last year, the Government borrowed one pound in every four that it spent and the UK currently spends £43 billion on debt interest, which is more than it spends on schools in England.

This diagram showing government spending on debt interest and amount of borrowing as part of total budget:

This chart shows how much the State currently spends on debt interest in comparison to other areas of spending:

The Government has said that tackling Britain’s record deficit is its top priority and that it is necessary to secure sustainable economic growth. The consequences of not acting could be serious: higher interest rates, business failures and rising unemployment.

The Spending Review sets out spending plans for the four years until 2014-15. The scale of the deficit has required the Government to make tough choices about how taxpayers’ money is allocated. This chart shows government receipts and expenditure up to 2015-16

In its approach to these choices, the Government has prioritised:

spending that promotes long-term growth, and creating the conditions for a private sector-led recovery and
fairness, with all sections of society contributing to tacking the deficit, whilst protecting the most vulnerable and providing opportunity for the poorest.

This is underpinned by a radical programme of public service reform, improving transparency and accountability, giving more power and responsibility to citizens and enabling sustainable long term improvements in services.

The Spending Review also delivers the Government’s specific commitments set out in the Coalition Agreement to:

increase NHS spending in real terms in each year of this Parliament;
spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on overseas aid by 2013 and
restore the earnings link for the basic state pension from 2011, as part of the triple guarantee of using earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest, from April 2011.

Find out how the Spending Review supports the Government’s priorities of:

In the run-up to the Spending Review, the Government engaged widely. It invited experts, public sector workers and members of the public to contribute their ideas to shape the way government works and to deliver better value for taxpayers’ money. Over 100,000 ideas were submitted, with the most promising being taken forward. Find out more about the Spending Challenge.

Property price twitter - cuts

BoE warns 'no relief' for house prices - Telegraph
Where cuts will hit house prices most - Thisismoney
Warning of house price falls after lending slump - Guardian
Nationwide warn of further house price falls - Telegraph
Lending levels fall to lowest since 2000 - Propertytalklive
Mortgage lending drops to 10 year low - Telegraph
House prices will take five years to recover - Thisismoney
Growing student debt prevents first time buyers - Telegraph

See all the property price tweets

Cheap online tenant reference

Single persons rate raised

From 2012, single people under 35 will be paid a shared room rate rather than a rate for a full flat.

The shared room rate is lower than all other housing benefit payments and is currently paid to claimants under 25. It is based on the amount of rent charged for a single room with shared use of the rest of a house.

The government expects raising the age at which the shared room rate can be paid will save £215 million by 2014/15.

Property industry response to cuts

Well things are going to be different.

George announced hes slashing the social housing budget from £8.4 billion over the previous three-year period to £4.4 billion.

Read RICS response to the spending review

Read the responses from the agents

Responses from others in the property industry in Propertytalk.

Read charity Shelters response

What do you think about the cuts?

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Property Investor Profile

Property Investor Profile – Q3 2010

Landlord Centre, the online buy-to-let mortgage specialist, produces the Property Investor Profile to track developments in the UK buy-to-let mortgage market. Its findings for Q3 2010 highlight several positive signs for the sector, including:

· An increase in both loan size and loan-to-value for mortgage offers obtained during the period

· A narrowing price gap between fixed rates and trackers, meaning that fixed rates are proving popular amongst landlords

· Demand for remortgages continuing to increase

Buy-to-let mortgages offered in third quarter 2010

	Q3 2010	Q2 2010	% change during Q3 2010
Average loan size:	£117,666.31	£109,712.22	+ 7.25%
Average LTV:	66.13%	64.50%	+ 2.50%
Average chosen fixed rate:	4.71%	4.80%	- 1.88%
Average chosen tracker rate:	4.45%	4.30%	+ 3.49%

Andy Young, chief executive at Landlord Centre comments on the Profile’s findings:

Buy-to-let loan size and loan-to-value on the up

“It is encouraging to have seen the steady increase in loan size over the last three quarters with the average buy-to-let mortgage now over 30% higher than it was during the final two quarters of 2009. This reflects the gradual recovery of property prices and the availability of some higher loan-to-value buy-to-let products in the mortgage market. The average loan to value is also creeping up slowly and was 66.13% in quarter three compared with 64.23% during quarter one.”

Fixed rates gain popularity as pricing comes down

“Over the last year we have seen a steady lowering in the price of the average fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage being offered. For mortgages offered in quarter three this year via Landlord Centre, the average fixed rate was 4.71% compared with 5.24% in the final quarter of 2009. However, tracker rates have started to increase since the beginning of the year (4.15% in Q1 2010) and the average tracker rate offered in quarter three this year was 4.45%.”

“As the pricing of trackers and fixed rates have converged we have, unsuprisingly, seen a rise in popularity of fixed rates and in the third quarter there were more fixed rate mortgages offered (55%) via Landlord Centre than there were trackers (45%).”

Demand for remortgages is increasing

“For the fourth quarter in succession we have seen an increase in the percentage of applications received for remortgages compared to purchases, with an almost even split in quarter three this year. 48% of applications were for remortgages compared with 52% for purchases. This may reflect increasing competition in the market as new lenders have entered the market and established lenders like Paragon have re-emerged, resulting in more attractive buy-to-let products for existing landlords.”

Conclusion

“The buy-to-let mortgage market has stabilised and there are some positive signs appearing with increasing competition in the market. However, the level of finance available to landlords is still very low, at just around £8 billion of new loans expected in 2010, so there is still a way to go the before the market recovers to a normal level and to the extent that supply meets demand.”

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

RLA accreditation scheme

The ‘Residential Landlords Association Accreditation Scheme’ has been launched.

The scheme is open to any landlord or property manager in England and Wales. (they don't need to be a RLA member)

“The intention is to foster better communication and mutual understanding between landlords, tenants and local authorities and to provide better living conditions in higher standards of decent, safe homes,” says RLA chairman Alan Ward.

If you feel that "accreditations what you need" then you can find out more here

Free property management software

BTL Mortgages - most popular

Looking for a buy-to-let mortgage? Visit www.propertyhawk.co.uk and save time and money!

Our free online buy-to-let mortgage service aims to provide you with the most competitive buy-to-let mortgages in the market, whilst helping you choose a product to suit your individual requirements. You can use the free buy-to-let mortgage finder to get an instant personalised quote and apply for your mortgage online. There are no broker fees charged for this service so you could save yourself considerable time and money when arranging your next buy-to-let mortgage.

Below is a selection of the most popular buy-to-let mortgages currently available. For full information on these products, and all other buy-to-let mortgage schemes available to you, please visit www.propertyhawk.co.uk and click on Mortgages to use the free online buy-to-let mortgage finder. If you would like to discuss your requirements with a member of the support team please telephone 029 2069 5446.

The elephant in the room?

Now I've heard landlords called alot of things in my time.

Apparently, we are now the 'Elephant in the room' according to this planning blogger.

What is he on? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black?

He is indirectly blaming landlords for keeping the price of houses artificially high and thwarting an army of home owners.

I would point out that:

1. a small number of landlord purchasers has negligable impact on prices.

2. the most significant factor to lack of purchases is lack of finance and lack of new buyer able or willing to take on more debt.

3. landlords are taking on the risk and costs of further house price falls.

The real elephant in the room my friend is the planning system that fails to release sufficient land and grant permission for enough houses to increase supply to the levels we need!

Landlords building insurance

Monday, October 18, 2010

FT buy to let appraisal

The Financial Times talks of the continued cautious outlook in the buy-to-let property market.

Positive news for investors comes with several lenders cutting rates and offering a wider choice of BTL mortgage products.

This brings the range of BTL mortgages up to 306, up from 292 last month and 227 a year ago.

The FT also reports a small increase in average rents.

However this needs to be set against the highly fragile housing market and a very restrictive lending climate requiring heavy deposits and meeting stringent criteria.

There's a long way to go before the 'good times' are back.

Read the FT article here

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Landlords rent to homeless

A charity in London is working with private residential landlords to provide rental property for the homeless.

Real Lettings sub-lets private landlords rental properties currently in 16 different boroughs in London.

Howard Sinclair, chief executive of Broadway, the charity behind Real Lettings, says: "From the landlord's point of view it can be a great deal. They get to lease their property for three to five years, get a guaranteed rent, and get their property back in the same condition they let it."

TVs property man Phil Spencer argues the case to landlords by saying about the scheme "But apart from the social good done by this scheme the key message is for landlords that this is a viable option, particularly if you have had your fingers burnt in the past by a tenant who refuses to pay or causes damage. OK, you get less rent, but the hassle is taken away. It's like renting out to a big private corporate client with all the guarantees in place. It can make real sense if you want a hassle-free rental. The only thing to bear in mind is that you won't want to sell the property during the duration of the agreement."

To find out more read this article in the Guardian or this one in the Independent

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Sunday, October 17, 2010

House prices dips good for landlords

Landlords need to look on the bright side according to the Independent.

Whilst our residential portfolios could be destined to fall by billions.

Falling prices means higher rental yields!

How does the song go?

"Always look on the bright side of life!"

Thursday, October 14, 2010