How do you serve yours? Section 8 & Section 21 Notices

When you have decided that you wish to take steps to end the tenancy and prepared your Notice(s), you need to bear in mind the rules for serving the Notice. It is important that you get this right.

Get it wrong and a Judge could order that you have not given the tenant sufficient notice and delay you getting possession of your property and your tenants staying on.

Personal service, if you are going to hand deliver the Notice it all depends on what time you deliver it and what day. If its delivered before 4.30 pm on a business day (Mon to Fri are classed as business days) it is deemed as being served on that day, this means that your notice period can run from that day. However, if you can't serve the Notice until after 4.30 pm on a business day your Notice must run from the following day Alternatively if you are serving a Notice at the weekend, it can't start running until the Monday.

Postal service, just to confuse matters further there are different dates if you serve your Notice by post. If served by First Class Post, it would be classed as being served the second day after you posted it.

For example if you put the Notice in the post on Monday, it is classed as served on the Wednesday. However, beware, if you post the Notice on a Friday, technically it would be served on Sunday but as this is not a business day the correct date for service is Monday.
There are different rules for fax and email service but not many tenants have fax machines or reliable email accounts so it’s best not using this method unless you are very sure of matters.

Safe things to do, one way to get round this is to make sure that you serve your Notice a couple of days before you need to.

Rebecca Brough is a Solicitor at Fidler and Pepper who deals with Residential Landlords on a daily basis. Rebecca offers landlords requiring legal help a Free initial consultation.


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10% + YIELD Sheffield

Got a spare £10 Million?

If so you could be in the market for a 10% + yield and your own block of apartments in the centre of Sheffield.  I know Sheffield well and it's a good spot on the edge of the City centre near Waitrose. 

If you bought this gleaming glass tower, it would definitely be a case of landlord envy from your mates.

Details are:

Velocity Tower, 10 St Mary's Gate, Sheffield S1 4LR
160 apartments (60 studios, 80 x 1 bedroom and 20 x 2 bedrooms) subject to 143 ASTs 5 office suites and approximately 71 car parking spaces
Potential to develop a further 80 apartments and a 126 bedroom aparthotel
Total current rent reserved - £1,094,160 pa - 10.4% GIY
ERV - £1,224,000 pa - 11.6% GIY
Freehold
Offers invited in excess of £10,500,000





James Wilson
Email: james.wilson@allsop.co.uk
Tel: 0113 236 6679

Michael Gorman
Email: michael.gorman@allsop.co.uk
Tel: 0113 236 6683

Tim Gladwin
Email: tim.gladwin@allsop.co.uk
Tel: 020 7344 2632


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Property price twitter - kebab

"Come on let's go for a kebab"

Mortgage approvals subdued - BBC
House price continue to fall - BBC
Property prices down 0.4 in May - Land Registry
Home repossession warning - ThisisMoney
Home repossessions warning number 2 - Guardian
House prices already fallen 30 percent in real terms - Telegraph
House price falls with realist sellers - Telegraph
House prices fall in June - Hometrack - Reuters
Scottish houses face negative equity - Scotsman
House prices to fall a further 10 percent - Telegraph



See all the property price tweets

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Rogue landlord TV

Channel 4 focuses on rogue landlords in its Dispatches program on Monday 4th July at 8pm.

Landlords need to be prepared for more anti landlord backlash following the 'good tarring with the same brush' that society and mobs rush at when things aren't going so well. Stir it up!

The ones who will be screaming for the heads of landlords will probably be the same ones picketing to save their guilt edged pensions outside school gates and council offices following a lifetime of security, flexitime, long holidays and low productivity.

Humanity is driven by selfishness.

Let's try sharing the love and the cake.

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BTL mortgages - most popular

Looking for a buy-to-let mortgage? Visit www.propertyhawk.co.uk/mortgages.aspx 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/mortgages.aspx 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 or you can submit a quick enquiry directly to the team by filling in our online enquiry form.

Most popular buy-to-let mortgages

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison
80%	4.99% Fixed	Sep 30 2013	3.5% (min £595)	£0	No	5.6% APR
80%	5.09% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	2.5%	£250	No	5.6% APR
75%	4.69% Fixed	Sep 1 2013	0.5%	£0	£500 cashback on completion	5% APR
75%	3.74% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	£1999	£250	No	5.4% APR
70%	4.49% Fixed	Jul 31 2013	£1250	£245	Free valuation and free legals for remortgages (properties valued up to £500,000).	5.2% APR
70%	3.75% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	2%	£199	No	6.1% APR
65%	4.4% Tracker	2 Years	2%	£150	No	5.2% APR
65%	4.65% Fixed	Jun 30 2013	0%	£250	Free valuation up to £700 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only.	4.9% APR
60%	3.15% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	£1249	£250	No	5.2% APR
60%	4.5% Fixed	Dec 31 2012	0%	£295	Free valuation and free legals for remortgages only	6.1% APR

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/mortgages.aspx 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.

---

Hinckley and Rugby BTL rates

Property Hawk Mortgages can now offer two highly competitive buy-to-let products with Hinckley & Rugby Building Society. The 3.74% 2 year discount is a market-leader in the 75% LTV bracket and could be an excellent choice for landlords


Whole market BTL mortgage search

Inside track - class action

According to reports on thisismoney a class action is being prepared by residential investors who were allegedly swindled out of hundreds of thousand of pounds by property sourcing company Inside Track during the boom years.

I can't believe that many investors effected made their first investments as early as 2002.  That's almost a decade ago.  Time really does fly but some wounds still have not healed!


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Landlords need more support

Industry expert John Heron MD of Paragon Mortgages has used his position of Chair at the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) annual conference to call for more government support for private landlords.

He concluded: “Based on Government household formation projections and economic forecasts, it is estimated that there will be 4.1 million households living in the private rented sector by 2016, a significant jump from the 3.4 million we have today. The existing stock of private rented property is already under great pressure, so there needs to be a major expansion in the supply of privately rented property to ensure the sector can cope with the number of renters already in the pipeline.”


My thoughts are that what landlords really need is to be generally left alone.  No more legislation or regulations such as the idiotic landlord licence of the like that the previous government constantly threatened.

From my point what would be more useful would be a tax regime that allowed landlords to off set improvement costs to their properties against rental profits.  This to me would encourage landlords to improve their property and de facto the condition of their tenants.

Currently capital costs can only be included in a landlords expenses where they are for repair or renewal.  In any other business there are a full range of capital allowances available which can be off set against profits.  This to me has always struck me as unfair. It does nothing to recognise the genuine role of private sector landlords operating a rental business.  Interesting to hear your thoughts?

Landlord insurance - 5* defaqto ratings

Owl envy

Owls can turn their heads nearly all the way round. Their eyes can be at the back of their head whenever they want to see what's coming up behind them.

After looking through her service charge accounts this morning, Property Sparrow has concluded that having eyes at the back of your head would indeed be very useful, especially when dealing with freeholders and their agents. Why are some freeholders so reluctant to give out information upfront? Why does everything have to be in the past tense, behind us and where you can't see it unless you keep looking backwards?

On one of Property Sparrow's service charge budget sheets sent out by the freeholder's agent, there's an annual charge for gardening at the block. Looking back it was £135 in 2009, £330 in 2010 and £600 in 2011. There's been no change to the garden during that time and it's very small. Cross with herself for not spotting this and querying the massive increase much earlier, Property Sparrow fires off an e-mail to the agent asking for an explanation about why leaseholders weren't told about the gardening budget increase in advance.

A wise owl would have been able to see this coming.

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Tips On Tenancy Deposit Disputes 47: Disputes and the AST

Tip 47: Specify What The Deposit Is For In The Tenancy Agreement

Landlords don’t always give a lot thought to the wording of their tenancy agreements. Most seem to the same old agreement they’ve been using for years, some download copies from the landlord association they belong to, and some buy a generic agreement off the shelf.

Each tenancy is different, and you really should check through your agreement every time you re-let the property or the tenant re-signs, to make sure that the agreement properly reflects your needs. One of the key things to look at is the clause that deals with permissible deductions from the deposit. Usually very near the beginning of the agreement, this is the section that sets out what the deposit may or may not be used for, and is one of the first places the adjudicator will look to see whether your claim is valid.

Many tenancy agreements state that the deposit may be retained by the landlord to pay for repairs to damage to the property caused by the tenant which is in excess of fair wear and tear. This sounds good on the face of it, but what if:

1. The tenant didn’t cause the damage, a visitor did.
2. The landlord wants to retain money for cleaning.
3. The landlord wants to retain money for rent areas.
4. The landlord doesn’t intend to repair an item straight away, for example a chipped worktop, but wants to claim for compensation.
5. The landlord wants to claim for loss of rental income while the property was being repaired.

Shouldn’t the landlord be entitled to claim in those circumstances? Of course they should, but if the contract doesn’t allow for it because it is sloppily drafted, then the claim will not succeed. A signed contract is assumed to be an accurate reflection of the wishes of the parties, and you can’t just go adding obligations after the agreement has started. A court or adjudicator will enforce the contract as it is written unless there are compelling reasons not to (see post on Unfair Terms, for example).

Contrary to popular opinion, there is no magic to drafting contracts, you just need to be really pedantic and ask what is the literal meaning of the words on the page. You should be able to work out for yourself if the contract covers the claims over the deposit that you need, but if you are in doubt, obtaining the advice of a trusted solicitor is usually money well spent.

Tom Derrett is the Principal of Deposit Claim, an ex-adjudicator and an expert on the Deposit Protection Schemes. Tom helps landlords to claim money through the deposit protection schemes.

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Repossession towns

Shelter has highlighted those towns with the highest risk of repossession.

This might be of interest to vulture landlords looking to capitalise on forced sellers.

Be careful the karma might come back and bite you!  Look at all those landlords who have got suckered into putting money up for BMV deals from 'distressed sellers' who then end up being scammed by the property sourcing company who disappear or fold without a trace and with the landlords dosh!

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DONT rent to this man!

Ed Balls the Shadow Chancellor is in trouble again.

OK it's a cheap jibe but a man who 'Ballsed' up so heavily on the economy & still thinks that the answer to all economic ills is to 'spend more'.  Isn't that like putting an alcoholic in charge of the Bar?

Well his latest financial misdemeanour relates to the letting of his constituency office.

No real surprise that he left things in a mess!


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Divided Britain

Gone are the days when people moved around the corner from their parents. We have now almost reached a situation where the majority go to university, aspirations have been raised. The coming decades will see an acceleration of the down spiral of Britains more deprived towns and cities as any talent from the areas are drawn away, leaving the un- confident and the less aspirational to continue to sink.

With an increasingly flexible population ready to re - locate to the best opportunities and the more exciting locations we will continue to see the divide in property values increase.

Read article on the differences in property growth London v Blackpool

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Property price twitter - drink

"Would anyone like a drink? Help yourselves to olives."

House prices to fall 10 percent - Yahoo
Four in five homes are worth less than they did in 2005 - Telegraph
New home loans price war - Express
House price growth in London and the North analysis - Moneyweek
Property sales slow in May - BBC
Repossessions on the up - Moneymarketing
Repossession hotspots - Guardian
House prices to fall later this year - Sky
Asking prices up - EAT
The weakest ares see a 25 percent drop - FT advisor


See all the property price tweets

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BTL sector praised

It's about time that BTL landlords got some recognition for their positive contribution to society.

The Paragon Chief Exec, John Heron spoke of the vital role BTL had played in the provision of accommodation in the private rented sector at the Council of Mortgage Lenders conference.

Mr Heron commented "The private rented sector makes a great contribution to the UK economy – it facilitates labour mobility and flexibility, provides an income to thousands of small businesses, supports a number of associated industries, such as letting agents and maintenance companies, oils the wheels of the housing market and makes a great contribution to the public purse."

BTL mortgage search - free

Homelessness - landlords to be used

Grant Shapps has called on private landlords to be used to counter the problem of homeless families being shoved into 'temporary' accommodation for long periods whilst councils find suitable council property.

The proposals are being put forward as part of the Localism Bill.


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Property Manager- Notes to self!

I've just been using Property Hawks free property management software and was reminded how useful the Notes part of the software is for landlords like me who have a useless memory.

Just login to your property manager account.  Go to the operations and then NOTES tab.

That way in a weeks time when it come to remembering what part of the boiler needs replacing and how much it costs and how many hours it takes to fit.  You will still have the information at hand not a sinking feeling that you chucked that bit of paper away as scrap!

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BTL mortgages - most popular

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/mortgages.aspx 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 or you can submit a quick enquiry directly to the team by filling in our online enquiry form.

Max LTV	Interest Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison
80%	4.99% Fixed	Sep 30 2013	3.5% (min £595)	£0	No	5.6% APR
80%	5.09% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	2.5%	£250	No	5.6% APR
75%	4.69% Fixed	Sep 1 2013	0.5%	£0	£500 cashback on completion	5% APR
75%	3.99% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	£2499	£250	No	5.4% APR
70%	4.49% Fixed	Jul 31 2013	£1250	£245	Free valuation and free legals for remortgages (properties valued up to £500,000).	5.2% APR
70%	3.75% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	2%	£199	No	6.1% APR
65%	4.4% Tracker	2 Years	2%	£150	No	5.2% APR
65%	4.65% Fixed	Jun 30 2013	0%	£250	Free valuation up to £700 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only.	4.9% APR
60%	3.15% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	£1750	£250	No	5.3% APR
60%	4.5% Fixed	Dec 31 2012	0%	£295	Free valuation and free legals.	6.1% APR

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/mortgages.aspx 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.

---

Maintaining property - Withnail

I've always bought old properties for myself to live in. I've enjoyed a Victorian terrace, an Edwardian semi, a twenties detached and a Georgian farmhouse.

I like all that period charm, the character, the blah, blah, blah, that I've been conditioned by the style police to aspire to.

Old properties are troublesome however, the older they get the faster the rate of deterioration, just like cars and people.

Scratch at my Georgian farmhouse and it would crumble away in my fingers, at which point I would throw the rug metaphorically back down and carry on with my day. Even all that pure Georgian symmetry couldn't make up for the endless maintenance, so I updated and moved forward in time back to another Edwardian one. ( still troublesome, but not as bad)

The years of tiresome maintenance on period properties have paid off in terms of decent re-sales ( to other stylish aspirants ) and the joy of living in that period home ambience.

"Just look at my beautiful cornicing darlings, .....and the high ceilings. Have I shown you the stone salting slab in my larder?"

But does it make sense for a rental property that you will hopefully spend as little time in as possible?

My Victorian rental properties are a pain in the back side, solid 9 inch brick walls are a haven for mould and mildew that forces endless re -decoration. I've had to have roofs replaced, root ingress on drains, what an absolute nightmare, damp proofing, shall I go on?

All this work eats directly into the rental profits as well as my time.

The joy of owning an old property is lost if you don't actually live in it, and tenants will happily rent any property in the right location at the right price. So for rental, take my advice and buy a nearly new one ( so you don't lose money on the initial 2 year dip ).

I've just been renovating a 1970s bungalow that was built by it's original builder/owner to live in. The roof and walls have been built to withstand a direct hit from a stray bomb, there is no damp and hopefully no maintenance issues for a long time to come.

Get one that is well insulated and that will give you years of maintenance free letting.

Forget the crumbling old wrecks for renting out, save those for yourself to live in, shivering, but in a stylish and elegant manner. Chin, chin!

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Property pension priority

Well the bureaucrats are about to hit the barricades in defence of their pension rights.

The last few years has been tough for people like me.  Savings have been savaged by a global melt down.  Property prices down and employment prospects have disappeared.  I've watched my former colleagues in the public sector who's lives seemed to be totally unaffected by the worst economic melt down since the great depression.  Their view was "what down turn"?

The economic chickens are now coming home to roost and the reality has started to bite.  Redundancies, pay freezes and now pensions.  I've spoken before about property pensions.  This weeks developments and the Pension Bill which went before the Commons on Monday proves what I've been saying for some time. 

Whether you are in the public or private sectors the demographic time bomb remains hidden and unaddressed.  If you really don't want to have to work til you're 90.  Time to consider a property pension.

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Olympic gold rents

The Evening Standards outline some tips to maximise the rental for landlords and homeowners looking to rent out property during the Olympics.

Read article here

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Reflection on LHA cap

Guardian blog post on the reduction of London landlords prepared to rent to Local Housing Allowance tenants following the Government rent capping.

Tenant political mess

Would you trust your country to a guy who can't even manage not to wreck his own offices?

Ed Balls has been forced to pay £1295 to his landlord after leaving his rented office in such a state.

As any insider in the Labour party knows, it is either Mr Balls or David Cummerbland who are set to make the first real election challenge,( not the dribbling Ed Cummerbland who was set up purely as an interim fall guy for the Labour PR department, I mean seriously as if.)

Politics, heh?

Read full details of the dirty tenants behaviour

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Dirty boiler talk!

I know that landlords love nothing better than when I get down and dirty and start some serious boiler talk....

Well here it goes.

I've been toying with replacing one of my boilers for the last few years.  It's an aging Halstead put in over 15 years ago and now has a dodgy heat exchanger.


What to buy?

For years I have been suckered into thinking Worcester Bosch was the ultimate Teutonic solution to all my heating needs.  Could it be the inclusion of Bosch within the company name, a well respected and longstanding German brand that brought my loyalty.  All this belies the fact that Worcester Bosch is actually a British company with all the associated engineering frailties?

I was chatting to Scott my new 'bestist' plumber mate about Worcester Bosch.  Apparently, he was like me a fan but in recent years Worcester Bosch have gone the way of the car manufacturers treating boilers as cash cows for more lucrative maintenance contracts.  In so doing they are deliberately engineering their boilers to make them difficult or expensive for non Worcester Bosch engineers to work on them.  If you do get a Worcester Bosch engineer out they will very kindly charge you around £200 a pop! Nice...

Scott has pointed me in the direction of some alternatives.  The Ideal Logic with a 5 year parts and labour guarantee looks a good starting point.  Anybody with another suggestion?

Just for those landlords who like a bit of boiler porn.  Check out the picture of the 'bad boy' Ideal Logic above.  Rather sleek I think what do you reckon?



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Switching my mortgage

I've been just filing some of my rental business paper work.  You know one of those jobs that sits there for months and never gets done until you either get fed up of the mess or you have a dreary Friday morning spare.

In so doing I came across my mortgage statement for one property.  The mortgage is with the Leeds BS and I was a little shocked to discover I'm acutally paying 5.99%.  The rate was originally on a 0.54% tracker which came to an end in the middle of 2010 and since then the Leeds has very kindly put me on their standard variable rate of 5.99%.  They must be laughing all the way to the bank with the margin they are making on my loan.  I'm not happy.

ACTION!

Action is called for. I noticed their website was advertising a 4.64% 2 year fixed rate on their website    so I thought I'd give them a call to see if I could swap.  No sir, that rate is only available to new mortgages and not remortgages.  The best deal for me was their 6.29% for a 5 year fixed rate deal.  This comes with an admin fee of £1068.  I'm tempted just to guard my portfolio against rate rises in future years.  However what I really need to do is get down to some serious research!

That's todays task!

Mortgage Search

Property price twitter - oh

Oh!

House price analysis - Market Oracle
House market struggles to sell - Daily Mail
Another confusing house price index - Estate agent today
Interest rates kept on hold -BBC

See all the property price tweets

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Northern Rock slashes rates

Northern Rock has slashed it's buy-to-let fixed rates by 0.5%

This has resulted in the cost of it's fixed rate to 1.9.13 coming down to 3.39%, equal lowest for this term according to Moneyfacts. Among other improvements is a two year fixed rate deal of 2.99% exclusively through it's intermediary partners.

For more details and to carry out a full Mortgage search have a look at Property Hawk Mortgages.

Landlord register nonsense back

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson has put forward a Ten Minute Rule Bill asking for further legislation of private residential landlords.

Mr Wilson is calling for a national register of landlords to be introduced.

“With proposed changes to homelessness legislation, cuts to housing and high house prices and deposits, private renting will be under increasing pressure, especially at the lower end of the market especially amongst the most vulnerable groups,” he said.

It seems that these public sector lackeys won't rest until they've got some kind of list. Mr Wilson is an ex shop assistant who became a clerical assistant so I'm not sure what he'd do with the list if he got it, presumably file it away neatly under the heading "Complete waste of time."

Thankfully I think this Labour nonsense will continue to be ignored by the logical and realistic Grant Shapps.

Read more on the bill here


Landlord insurance - professional rates

BTL mortgages - most popular

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/mortgages.aspx 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 or you can submit a quick enquiry directly to the team by filling in our online enquiry form.

Max LTV	Initial rate	Term	Reversionary rate	Completion fee	Booking fee	Early repayment charges	Incentives
80%	4.99% Fixed	Sep 30 2013	Lender's standard variable rate currently 4.99% for the remainder of the term	3.5% (min £595)	£0	5% of amount being repaid until 30/09/2013	No
80%	4.99% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	Lender's standard variable rate currently 5.49% for the remainder of the term	2.5%	£250	2% of original balance being repaid for 2 years	No
75%	4.99% Fixed	Jul 31 2013	Lender's standard variable rate (currently 4.60%) + 0.5% for the remainder of the term	1%	£99	5% of amount being repaid until 31/07/2013	Free valuation and free legals
75%	3.99% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	Lender's standard variable rate currently 5.64% for the remainder of the term	£2499	£250	No	No
70%	4.49% Fixed	Jul 31 2013	Variable rate of BBR + 4.45% for the remainder of the term	£1250	£245	4% of original balance being repaid until 31/07/2013	Free valuation and free legals for remortgages (properties valued up to £500,000).
70%	3.75% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	Lender's standard variable rate (currently 5.69% ) + 0.3% for the remainder of the term	2%	£199	Tapered charges of 3/2% of the amount being repaid for the first 2 years	No
65%	4.4% Tracker	2 Years	Lender's standard variable rate currently 4.60% for the remainder of the term	2%	£150	3% of amount being repaid for 2 years	No
65%	4.65% Fixed	Jun 30 2013	Lender's standard variable rate currently 4.74% for the remainder of the term	0%	£250	No	Free valuation up to £700 for purchases and remortgages and free legal's on remortgages only.
60%	3.15% Disc.Tracker	2 Years	Lender's standard variable rate currently 5.64% for the remainder of the term	£1750	£250	No	No
60%	4.5% Fixed	Dec 31 2012	Lender's standard variable rate currently 5.99% for the remainder of the term	0%	£295	3% of amount being repaid until 31/12/2012	Free valuation and free legals.

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/mortgages.aspx 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.

---

Tips On Tenancy Deposit Disputes 46: Check-Out Fees

Tip 46: Claiming For Check Out Fees

It is increasingly common to see deposit protection claims where the landlord is seeking a deduction from the deposit to pay for check out fees. Almost without exception, the check-out fees relate to the cost of a check-out inspection by a third party inventory company.

Third party inventories and reports are industry best practice and protect the tenant every bit as much as the landlord. With this in mind, it seems perfectly fair to me that the tenant should be expected to bear half of the cost. The deposit protection system exists to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords, but it also necessitates third party inventories in order that both parties can use the system fairly. Paying the for half the expense of the inventory is the indirect cost to the tenant of deposit protection.

Of course, just because I think it is fair, doesn’t mean that deposit protection adjudicators will decide these cases in the favour of the landlord. The adjudicator will refer to the tenancy agreement to determine whether the claim is enforceable. If the tenant has agreed to the check-out fee in the contract, the adjudicator will uphold it. If the fee is not mentioned in the AST, you can more or less forget it.

You would be surprised how many landlords and agents don’t know what clauses are in their contracts. Many times I have decided claims where the landlord was certain that there was a no smoking clause or a specific pet agreement in the contract when there wasn’t. It’s always worth getting a lawyer to draw up a contract that properly protects you and your property, so that you know where you stand.

Tom Derrett is the Principal of Deposit Claim, an ex-adjudicator and an expert on the Deposit Protection Schemes. Tom helps landlords to claim money through the deposit protection schemes. 

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Bad property forum experience

I've just wasted ten minutes on an online property forum.

What always amazes me about all these forums is the amount of poison air that is inevitably sucked into these virtual vacuums.

It doesn't take long before you realise that the fake comradery is a cloak for stealth selling, and many of the posters are there for a misguided ego trip or for the opportunity to spew their bitter text to relieve their real-life frustrations and anger.

SM, more Sado Masochism than Social Media.

Well I wont be back for a while. Life's too precious and I much prefer a real life spanking.

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