Rents keep surging!

Rents have surged to a new high according to the Rentindex.

Over the last few days rents have surged to just shy of £640 an all time high.  This is a massive increase of over 3% in the last 3 months.  It seems landlords are confident enough to increase rents and tenants are desperate enough to sign up for the tenancy before the Winter descends!

Just a warning.  The seasonal down turn will hit any day now.  This is as landlords in the continuing game of 'cat and mouse' decide that having their buy-to-let property let before Xmas is better than achieving top rent.  This changes again come spring when we expect a seasonal kick up in rents.

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Landlord - boiler advice

This is advice from Alan one Property Hawk regular who straddles the world of being a landlord and heating engineer.  As Winter approaches we all know that the next challenge for landlords will be boiler related.  So this is in his own words some targeted advice:

I'm a landlord & a heating engineer
I am a Landlord and a retired Heating and Electrical Engineer. Last week, on Thursday I had a call from one of my tenants. He told me that he didn't have any hot water unless he had his heating turned on as well. As this didn't sound like a crisis, as he did have hot water of sorts, I agreed to go round and fix the problem on Monday of this week. Why am I so confident that I can fix the problem? Well for one thing I have years of experience and secondly I know the property has a Combi boiler. When someone has hot water but only when their heating is on I know this is the classic symptom of a failed diverter valve. In fact I was so confident that it would be this part, I ordered it straight away, so that I would have the new one by Monday.

Landlords - put off working on their boiler
Most Landlords are put off fixing any part of their heating or hot water system by their fear of gas. When you take into account all the components of a heating/ hot water system over 90% of the parts have nothing at all to do with gas. These non gas parts are perfectly capable of being diagnosed and replaced by competent Landlords. There is no requirement to employ a Gas Safe engineer if the part to be replaced is not a gas part. If you can change an alternator or fan belt on a car you are perfectly capable of replacing a diverter valve in a boiler.

Fixing the problem
On Monday I went around to the house. I checked that the problem was as the tenant had described and then I set about replacing the failed part. This involved turning off the electricity to the boiler, draining down just the boiler sealed water system and the mains cold water. Then undoing five pipe joints, carefully removing the diverter valve and the wiring at the top of the valve. Within half an hour the valve was replaced and the boiler back to full working order. Cost £49 for the valve replacement. Typical Plumber call out and repair price of £280, so a significant saving. I know I also spent some time with the tenant but this time was well spent as he now thinks the Landlord's service is wonderful.

Landlord heating DIY
How can you too take advantage of fixing your own heating and hot water problems at minimum cost? I recommend firstly, download the boiler manual, as supplied by the manufacturer if you don't already have it. There is a good site with free downloads at http://www.freeboilermanuals.com/ . This book will give you guidance on how to replace components in your boiler. The manual will also tell you clearly which parts are gas related and which parts are not. Secondly, take a look at my books at www.fixtheheating.com. These books are designed to help you diagnose the problems with the whole system and then point you at the failing component. There are also safety tips and if the part in question is gas related there are clear warning not to interfere with it.

If the books do not help you fix the problem, then there is also an online help and guidance service.


Landlord insurance - expert brokers - professional rates

More on West Brom's utter BS

The need to take action against West Brom BS for adding 2 percent onto its BTL tracker mortgages gathers pace. The fear by many in the market is if West Brom BS can do it on their BTL mortgages then who else can do it, and why stop at BTL's?

The fear is if West Brom get away with it, who's to say other lenders won't give it a go and before we know it the breaking of rate agreements could be taken up by the broader residential mortgage market.

Mortgage broker Ray Boulger has voiced the concern that West Brom might set a dangerous precedent "If they are allowed to get away with this, some lenders may well be tempted to try to increase the tracker margin on residential rates as well."

Mr Boulger is amongst many in the industry who are encouraging customers to write to the FCA directly.

Even though BTL mortgages are not regulated, the lenders are, so the regulator might be able to force a back track on what can only be described as the manipulation of the contract small print.

It's time to fight back against West Brom's utter BS.

Information about the class action

Read more in the BBC

Landlord insurance - portfolio rates

 

Most popular BTL mortgages

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison	Lender
85%	5.99% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	7% APR	Kent Reliance Multi Let & Ltd Co. Semi Exclusive
85%	4.99% Fixed	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.8% APR	Kent Reliance Semi Exclusive
80%	4.59% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.7% APR	Kent Reliance Semi Exclusive
80%	4.95% Discount	2 Years	0%	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	5.3% APR	Hanley Economic Exclusive
75%	4.39% Discount	2 Years	1.5%	£130.00	No	6.5% APR	Kent Reliance large loan
75%	2.88% Tracker	2 Years	2.5%	£150.00	Free valuation for purchases and remortgages & free legals on remortgages	5.3% APR	Mortgage Trust ltd Edition Exclusive
75%	4.49% Discount	2 Years	2%	£130.00	No	6.6% APR	Kent Reliance Ex-pat
75%	3.99% Discount	0 Years	£995	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	4.1% APR	Hanley Economic Exclusive
60%	2.45% Discount	2 Years	£1950	£250.00	One free Valuation on properties valued up to £1,000,000	5% APR	Hinckley & Rugby Exclusive

 

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 01494 894639

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.

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Sunday Papers - Buy-to-let

It seems that buy-to-let is flavour of the month according to a brief scour of the Sunday papers.  The Sunday Times has even devoted a 3 page spread in their Money Section devoted to the subject.  We get the usual.  A guy from Manchester who has become a property millionaire in a couple of minutes sorry years.  I'm guessing that this is not a net millionaire but he has racked up enough debt to own a million pounds of property.  Not the same by any means.  We have meaningless tips to profit from the buy-to-let boom and off course a meaningless comment from a 'celebrity' landlord - Penny Haslam (never heard of her) and of course a salutary warning from a landlord who has been stung by non-paying tenants.  Shock horror & thanks!  Off course there is a little bit promoting the Times ebook on buy-to-let and of course a guide to buy-to-let finance.

What does this all mean?  Well of course it means that property prices are rising so sewing the dreams of another generation of boom bust millionaires.  Our advice is to ignore the hype and plough your own steady furrow.

Landlord insurance - professional rates - expert brokers

What will happen to BTL

The Express have written a long winded article pontificating the future of BTL.

They have some concern as to whether the Help to Buy scheme will  kill off rents in the BTL sector. The simple answer to this is, maybe a little, but any fall in rent will be more than compensated for by an increase in capital value, so please don't worry about us on that score.

As to their concerns for our security following any rise in interest rates that is obviously far more of a worry.

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Bad tenant register

In light of the recent article where tenants are seeking to name and shame landlords one landlord has decided to hit back.  He is looking to promote the idea of a Local Bad Tenant Database.  The idea is that landlords can sign up and share information about tenants who have encountered problem tenants.  This way the landlord hopes to allow landlords to avoid serial scammers who make a career out of defrauding unsuspecting landlords out of rent and often leaving their rental property in appalling condition.

It seems perfectly acceptable for councils to set up a Rouge Landlord DB such as the one in  Northampton. 

Is it fair - is it legal?

The difficulty with any register is that how accurate is it?  If tenants get blacklisted know doubt some will contest this and want a right to put the record straight.   Whilst Property Hawk is all for equity and treating our tenants fairly, there is a problem with serial tenant 'scammers' playing the system and this Register of Bad Tenants could just be the solution.  What do you think?

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Help to Buy take up rates

Biggest take up of the Help to Buy Scheme has happened in areas with the cheapest price. The Midlands has seen the highest use of the scheme with 6.4 percent of purchases taking advantage of the offer compared to just 2.4% of London property transaction  according to Savills research.

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Landlord fined £75k for splitting property

A landlord has been fined £75,000 by Barnet Council after splitting a number of large properties into flats without obtaining planning permission.

David Dahan, 65, from Finchley, pleaded guilty of repeatedly failing to comply with planning enforcement notices.

Councillor Richard Cornelius, said: “I hope the confiscation of his ill-gotten gains serves as a warning to others that we can, and will, come after anyone who we learn has profited from the proceeds of crime.”

Read more on this on the Barnet Council website

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Living in a Box

The charity Brighton Housing Trust has started constructing a new scheme to create 36 homes for homeless people using shipping containers. The scheme has been inspired by a Dutch concept, where containers have been used in a number of sites. The largest site in Amsterdam is constructed from 1000 containers.

Each resident will have a box, with its own front door, kitchen and bathroom. The boxes provide 26 square metres of floor space.

Its clearly better than living in cardboard box - cue the eighties classic.

Read more in the Guardian blog

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10% + yields available

We all know the power of the rental yields.

THE HEIGHTS

Allsop are advertising two block investments in the West Midlands promising the potential of gross rental yields above 10%.  Obviously, we are not talking Kensington or Chelsea but a landlord with access to mortgage finance gets a lot for their cash.  Be advised - check out the rental voids before committing to anything.

The Heights, Walsall Road, WEST BROMWICH, B71 3AZ
FOR SALE

• Unbroken freehold investment opportunity
• 55 apartments
• All two beds (18 with en-suite)
• Subject to 42 Assured Shorthold Tenancies (13 vacant)
• Total current rent reserved £263,280 per annum
• Gross Initial Yield – 8.1%
• Estimated rental value - £338,580 per annum
• Estimated Gross Initial Yield – 10.4%
• Allocated and visitor car parking spaces

CALLOWBROOK LANE

188-192 Callowbrook Lane & 3-9 Deelands Road, RUBERY, B45 9LB

Description
    •    Two Detached Freehold Blocks
    •    16 flats (14 x two beds and 2 x one bed)
    •    Fully let until 01 July 2014 to Trident Housing Association
    •    Total Current Rent Reserved: £67,991 per annum
    •    Estimated market rent: £94,200 per annum
    •    Total Gross Yield: 8.49%
Price
Offers in excess of £800,000

Michael Gorman
+44 (0)113 236 6683
michael.gorman@allsop.co.uk

Mortgage Search - expert brokers - whole of market

Tenants set to name and shame

Get ready for the tenant fight back.

According to the Guardian tenants are getting ready to get at landlords and letting agents via an online 'Trip Advisor' style name, rate and shame website.

I wonder if the reviews on this site will be as equally skewed as their holidays equivalent.

For example, let's say you are a letting agent in a small town, with a couple of rivals. Wouldn't it make sense to get some friends and relatives to pop up some negative reviews on the competition, or pay some link farm in India to pop up some disgruntled posts.

Let's hope they have a 24 hour webmaster ready to edit the flurry of slanderous remarks. As ever, maybe the only real winners will be the lawyers.

Landlord insurance - portfolio rates 
 

London soars whilst the rest of the UK snores

The Rightmove price index for October shows another leap in London property prices whilst the rest of the country stays relatively dormant.

Though the average asking price for UK property rose by 2.8% (+£6,923), that was largely thanks to the massive increases in the capital, which saw asking prices up +10.2% (+£50,484) on September.

Prices in outer London are now more than double those in the rest of England & Wales (excluding London), though average wages only 60% higher.

The rest of the country is not seeing the same kind of property price performance. Seven out of ten regions have seen increases below the level of inflation during the past year, with two regions,
Wales and the West Midlands experiencing falls over the past month.

Download the Rightmove October price index here

Read more comment in

The Guardian

The Huffington Post

This is Money

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Student applications bounce back

The fear that the student population would be hit by the hike in tuition fees seems to have been put to bed.

Following a small fall in 2012, UCAS data report a 3% rise in student applications in 2013.

Landlord insurance - portfolio rates

Most popular BTL mortgages

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison
85%	5.99% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	7% APR
85%	4.99% Fixed	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.8% APR
80%	4.59% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.7% APR
80%	4.95% Discount	2 Years	0%	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	5.3% APR
75%	4.39% Discount	2 Years	1.5%	£130.00	No	6.5% APR
75%	2.88% Tracker	2 Years	2.5%	£150.00	Free valuation for purchases and remortgages & free legals on remortgages	5.3% APR
75%	4.49% Discount	2 Years	2%	£130.00	No	6.6% APR
75%	3.99% Discount	0 Years	£995	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	4.1% APR
60%	2.45% Discount	2 Years	£1950	£250.00	One free Valuation on properties valued up to £1,000,000	5% APR

 

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 01494 894639

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.

Average rental yields remain strong

2013 has so far provided a stable environment for residential property investors in the UK with competitive buy-to-let mortgage rates available and high demand from tenants delivering good rental income. This has resulted in an average rental yield of more than 6.0% since the beginning of the year. In Q3, the average rental yield for buy-to-let applications processed by Property Hawk Mortgages was 6.06%. 

Student tenants deliver highest returns

One of the most consistent trends observed in the Property Hawk Mortgages Property Investor Profile has been the excellent rental yields achieved from student accommodation, which are considerably higher than the average. In Q3, the average rental yield from a student tenant was 7.50% (compared with a 6.06% overall average).

It is surprising therefore that such a small percentage of applications processed by Property Hawk Mortgages have been for properties rented out to students. In Q3 only nine out of 425 applications sampled were for student properties, representing just 2% (families represented 62% and professionals 33%).

This is a segment of the private rented sector that could really provide an excellent opportunity for landlords, especially as the demand for student accommodation is likely to remain strong with the number of people currently entering higher education.

It may be that landlords have some reservations about renting to students, perhaps thinking they might be unreliable payers or give cause to higher property maintenance. However, recent research by the National Landlord’s Association has shown that students are in fact the most reliable

Tenants; just 38% of student landlords experienced arrears in the last year compared with 59% of those letting to blue collar workers, 40% letting to families and 71% letting to benefit recipients.

Other benefits of renting to students are that they don’t require state-of-the-art accommodation; they sometimes pay a term in advance and they tend to share accommodation in groups, thus increasing overall rental income.

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 01494 894639

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.

Cashflow on PM3's Front Page

A landlord asked to have the cashflow details on the front screen of PM3. Not everyone bothers loading these, so we decided to make it something you could choose to see.

On the Investments Cashflow page you'll see the link to add or remove cashflow from the front page:

Click it, and you'll get a new panel on the front page:

Action against West Brom tracker increase

We have recently received a warning from one landlord warning and highlighting landlords about the recent decision of the West Bromich Building Society to recind their buy-to-let tracker rate mortgage rates.  In their own words:

"There are now plenty of angry borrowers out there, 6,700 in clients of the West Bromwich Building Society and a further 12,200 clients of Bank of Ireland are already affected. These lenders have decided to increase their profit margin by increasing the interest rates regardless of the fact that the Bank of England base rate has not changed. They are relying on ambiguous small print in their contracts, which is in conflict with their promotional materials and offer letters.

It appears a strong possibility that other lenders may follow suit and many now feel that this unethical practice should be stopped before other lenders make their decisions.

A Class Action group has formed to fight back. Those already affected are confident that the law is on their side, in particular due to established legal precedent that ambiguous or self-contradicting contracts must be interpreted in a way that benefits the customer (termed “contra proferentem”).

The Class Action is receiving support from many tracker mortgage borrowers in addition to affected customers of the West Bromwich Building Society and the Bank of Ireland.

People affected by the West Browmwich Mortgage Company decision are buy to let landlords, however, Bank of Irelands increases also apply to residential mortgage borrowers.

Fears are that other mortgage lenders which have provided tracker mortgages could follow suit."

If you have a view or have been affected then please post your thoughts below.

Read more on the West Brom BS situation from the BBC

Landlord insurance - expert brokers - professional rates

Average LTVs and loan sizes remain high

As competition among lenders has remained strong, the ability of landlords to obtain higher level of lending has improved. Although Kent Reliance is still the only lender offering 85% LTV buy-to-let mortgages, there is a wide selection of lenders and products available at 80% and 75% LTV. Landlords are also clearly interested in employing higher gearing in their property investments, as the average LTV for offers processed by Property Hawk Mortgages during Q3 was 74.69% (up from 73.91% in Q2).

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 01494 894639

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.

A plumber a plumber my kingdom for a plumber

Like buses leaks come along in threes I've concluded.  My tally so far this week is 2 dripping taps and an over active toilet overflow.  The problem is my regular 'odd job man' Mick has dared to take a holiday.  "How dare he!"  I'm in desperate need of a good cheap plumber in the Nottingham area.

To quote shamelessly from Shakespeare "A plumber a plumber my kingdom for a plumber"

The loneliness of a long distance landlord.  Is anybody getting my pain?

To find out whether you are responsible for compensating your tenant in your rental property in the case of a leak check out the latest discussion on our forum.

Landlord insurance - professional rates

Latest house price data from ONS

It's official, house prices are higher than ever before.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics reports the average price of a residential property in the UK is now £247,000. This is the highest figure the index has ever recorded.

• In the 12 months to August 2013 UK house prices increased by 3.8%, up from a 3.3% increase in the 12 months to July 2013.
• House price growth remains stable across most of the UK, although prices in London are increasing faster than the UK average.
• The year-on-year increase reflected growth of 4.1% in England, 1.1% in Northern Ireland and 1.0% in Wales, offset by a fall of 0.7% in Scotland.
• In August 2013, the UK HPI surpassed its previous peak in January 2008 (185.5) by 0.3%.
• Annual house price increases in England were driven by London (8.7%), the East Midlands (3.8%) and the West Midlands (3.5%).
• Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 2.1% in the 12 months to August 2013.
• On a seasonally adjusted basis, UK house prices increased by 0.5% between July and August 2013.
• In August 2013, prices paid by first-time buyers were 4.9% higher on average than in August 2012. For owner-occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 3.3% for the same period.

Read and watch more on the BBC

Read more in the Telegraph

Read more in the Guardian

Read more in the Independent

Landlord insurance - portfolio rates

When will interest rates rise?

It's difficult to imagine they ever will - they've been bouncing around at 0.5 most landlords see their BTL mortgage payments as a fixed cost.

But sadly they will - they certainly won't fall.

Currently the Bank Governor, Mark Carney, is talking mid 2016.

The analysts can't agree some are predicting late 2015 will see a rise to 0.75, whilst others think it won't happen until 2017.

Whenever it happens those landlords on trackers need to be ready. Nothing goes on forever.

Read more on interest rate rise predictions in This is Money

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Letting agents breaking the Equality Act

A BBC investigation into letting agents in London found  ten that were ready to agree not to let rental property to prospective Afro-Carribbean tenants.

BBC reporters masquerading as landlords asked various letting agents in North West London if they were prepared not to let their rental properties to Afro-Carribbean tenants. During the course of the investigation ten letting agents agreed, breeching the Equality Act 2012. 

Shocking, but not surprising. 

How the situation can be policed is difficult to answer, as one letting agent suggested - 'we'll just not return their calls.'

It will be interesting to see if any prosecutions follow this investigation.

Watch it on the BBC
Read more in the Guardian

Read more in the Telegraph


Landlord insurance - professional rates

Another landlord tax, sorry licence

Boston Council in Lincolnshire is set to reap the profit on adopting the landlord licencing revenue raiser.

The council is proposing a licence of £490 to help stamp out landlords that are not managing their rental properties effectively. Alternatively the council could use the laws of the land to prosecute any landlords who are not fulfilling their legal requirements - but where's the profit in that.

Read more on the proposal in the BBC

Most popular BTL mortgages

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison	Lender
85%	4.99% Fixed	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.8% APR	Kent Reliance Semi Exclusive
85%	5.99% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	7% APR	Kent Reliance Multi Let & Ltd Co. Semi Exclusive
80%	4.3% Tracker	2 Years	£1995	£0.00	No		Precise Semi Exclusive
80%	4.14% Fixed	Dec 31 2015	2.5% (min £595)	£0.00	No		The Mortgage Works
80%	4.95% Discount	2 Years	0%	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	5.3% APR	Hanley Economic
75%	2.88% Tracker	2 Years	2.5%	£150.00	Free valuation for purchases and remortgages & free legals on remortgages	5.3% APR	Mortgage Trust ltd Edition Exclusive
75%	3.99% Discount	0 Years	£995	£0.00	One free standard valuation for properties up to £250,000. If the property is worth more than £250,000 then there will be a £240 contribution towards the valuation	4.1% APR	Hanley Economic
75%	2.84% Fixed	Oct 31 2015	2.5%	£195.00	Paid standard valuation (No maximum)		Accord
65%	4.2% Tracker	2 Years	3%	£150.00	No	5.4% APR	Paragon
60%	3.39% Discount	Oct 31 2015	1%	£99.00	Free legals on remortgages only.	4.9% APR	Principality BTL
60%	2.45% Discount	2 Years	£1950	£250.00	One free Valuation on properties valued up to £1,000,000	5% APR	Hinckley & Rugby Exclusive

 

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free

Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 01494 894639

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.

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Autumn auction opportunities

For landlords looking at building their residential property portfolio the Autumn is always a good time to start looking.  The fair weather house hunters put away their cheque books until Spring leaving the way for landlords to seek out some good deals and desperate sellers.  A good time to strike a be putting in offers is around Christmas when sellers are facing a long-stretch before the market recovers.

If you are looking to snap up a bargain over Autumn you could do worse then have a look at Allsop's latest online residential auction catalogue.  Don't forget to have a look at our advice on buying auction property.

Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements

Buy-to-let lending down over Summer

It seem us landlords were taking it easy over the Summer.  Well you can't work all the time?  You obviously do a little time to spend the rental profits.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) there was a small decrease in buy-to-let mortgages in August compared to July down from 15,200 to 14,900 with a total value of £1.9 bn.  The reduction was mainly due to a fall in landlords remortgaging which fell from £1.1 bn in July to £1 bn in August.

New buy-to-let mortgage still outnumbered remortgages in August with new purchases coming out at 7,900 compared to 6,900 remortgage loans.

It looks like us landlords like a bit a sun.  A distant memory now.  Summer over - looking at my Winter to-do list and I'm starting to feel quite daunted!

Mortgage Search - best buy-to-let rates

New Housing Minister

The cabinet reshuffle has thrown another 'bod' into the role of Housing Minister. Unsurprisingly Kris Hopkins, has no particular relevant property experience.

What is interesting however is his introduction to the post by his fellow Tory MP, Nadine Dorries. She described her colleague as 'one of parliaments, nastiest, slimiest MPs'.

Kris has a military/media background.

When I went to his website krishopkins.co.uk I got the message 'this website is currently being rebuilt', ... now that doesn't bode well, especially when his last blog post was back in 2010.

Kris you're going to have get things built a lot faster than that.

Well anyway ... welcome to your new post Kris, and good luck with the crisis.

Read more in the Guardian

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