Whats the weirdest thing your tenants have left behind?

Landlords are used to finding to weird things when tenants vacate their rental property. I've had cars, trainers, pictures and all sought of bric, brac and tat left.

Other items left according to a recent survey by a city letting agent were: SEX toys, iPods, gym equipment and even a new kitchen are among items found by people moving into new homes - because the previous owners forgot they even had them.

Seldom-used vibrators are said to be the most common items left behind in bedroom drawers, according to one of Edinburgh’s leading property agents.

Whats the weirdest thing that you have found lurking behind in your buy-to-let property. And have you ever been tempted to us it!!!!


For more information about managing the tenant 'check out'

Landlords Should Price Rents Competitively and Get Properties Let Quick

As the ice stays on the ground many landlords face slipping up in these credit freezing times.

One thing landlords need to keep is rental income flowing, to help warm themselves against the icy winds of negative cashflow.

Landlords with empty, or soon to be empty rental property need to get them let quick!

In a flooded rental market, that is seeing falling rents, my strong advice is for landlords to price rents competitively and get properties let quick.

At this quiet time of year, in a hostile climate, landlords should not be holding out for 'top rents'.

Get tenants in quick sharp, reduce the horror of long voids and keep the rental income flowing.

Landlords don't want their financial pipes bursting due to sub zero cash-flow.

Your darling Margo

Warming landlords hearts in sub zero temperatures.

January Sales

Back to work at the estate agents at the weekend.

Property Sparrow expected to spend most of her time thinking about whether to hand in her notice. Instead she found herself answering enquiries, doing viewings and talking to real people who called in at the office.

She remembers reading somewhere last year that most estate agents only sold one property in November 2008 and this was certainly true of her branch: only one in November and none in December. In her town there are now exactly half as many properties advertised for sale as there were in January 2008.

By the end of this weekend three houses had firm offers accepted on them. These are all houses that need renovation: one has sold to a developer at 16% less than the asking price unchanged since July 2008, a repossessed house at 26% less than the valuation done in August 2008 and the third at – you could knock her down with a feather - the actual original asking price from October 2008.

All of the other houses and flats are in good condition and most of the vendors have reduced their prices significantly. Their For Sale boards are looking ragged and forlorn.

Which tenancy agreement?

From time to time I get questions from landlords about which tenancy agreement to use.


Property Hawk tenancy agreement

For instance some landlords are renting out a number of separate bedrooms in a shared house with the tenants each having access to shared facilities such as bathroom and kitchens.

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Most frequently landlords will let out an entire flat or house and therefore the tenancy agreement needs to allow the tenant to occupy the entire rental property as part of the tenancy.

Property Hawk's free tenancy agreement has been written in such as way as to allow a landlord to use our standard tenancy agreement to be used for both purposes. Where a landlord lets to a tenant in a shared rental property such as for instance in a student let then they may let the house under a single tenancy where all tenant's are jointly and severally liable to pay the rent. A landlord in this case just needs to make sure that all the tenant's names are included on the tenancy agreement. Equally, a landlord may rent each room separately. In this case the landlord just needs to ensure that they specify the room that the tenant is renting in the tenancy agreement.

Where Property Hawk tenancy agreement is not suitable

The tenancy agreement is only suitable for use in England and Wales. Landlords renting property in Scotland and NI with have to use another type of tenancy agreement.

Equally if the annual rent from the tenancy is above £25,000 per annum then a landlord will need a specialized so called corporate tenancy agreement as the tenancy is excluded from the assured shorthold tenancy bought about by the relevant Housing Acts.


More info on tenancy agreements


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For a free tenancy agreement

Buy-to-let mortgage latest - does it pay to go green?

Landlords looking for the best buy-to-let mortgage rates might be surprised to find that one of the best variable rates being offered is by niche mortgage provider The Ecology BS. For years the Ecology has been providing finance to landlords and developers but mainly to niche developers and individuals looking to act in a environmentally sensitive way. During the buy-to-let boom The Ecology BS lending rates for landlords were not the highest but they certainly weren't the cheapest either.

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With many of the biggest lenders now dropping out of the buy-to-let lending market the Ecology BS stands out by offering one of the most competitive SVR having cut by 0.8% to 4.9% last week. They also offer up to 80% LTV which is now amongst the highest available given that lenders have been rapidly backtracking from the high of 90% LTV some were prepared to lend up to in 07. So now landlords can support a green institution and potentially save a few bob!

Here are some of the other buy-to-let mortgage products latest information.

• Exclusive Connections
• Buy-to-let FIXED RATE MORTGAGES withdrawn & replaced with new rates of 5.29% to 1.4.11 w.e.f. 2.1.09....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Northern Bank (NI)
• Buy-to-let STANDARD VARIABLE MORTGAGE RATE reduced to 5.05%, w.e.f. 1.1.09....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Platform
• All buy-to-let MORTGAGE PRODUCTS withdrawn, w.e.f. 5pm 2.1.09....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Godiva Mortgages
• END-DATE on Buy-to-let FIXED RATE MORTGAGE of 5.99% to 31.12.11 extended to 31.3.12 & NEW FIXED RATE MORTGAGE of 5.49% to 31.3.12 launched, max 50% loan-to-value, w.ef 5.1.08....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Shepshed BS
• New Buy-to-let VARIABLE BASE RATE TRACKER of 5.75% for 2 years, DISCOUNTED VARIABLE RATE of 5.29% for term and FIXED RATE of 5.95% for 2 years, w.e.f. 1.1.09....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Coventry BS
• END-DATE on Buy-to-let FIXED RATE MORTGAGE of 5.99% to 31.12.11 extended to 31.3.12 & NEW FIXED RATE MORTGAGE of 5.49% to 31.3.12 launched, max 50% loan-to-value, w.ef 5.1.08....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• HSBC
• Buy-to-let STANDARD VARIABLE MORTAGE RATE reduced to 6%, w.e.f. 2.1.09....more
• 02 Jan 2009
• Chelsea BS
• Buy-to-let STANDARD VARIABLE MORTGAGE RATE reduced by 1.15% to 5.79% w.e.f. 31.12.08....more
• 31 Dec 2008
• Standard Life Bank
• Buy-to-let STANDARD VARIABLE RATES reduced to 5.92% to max 50%, 6.17% to max 65% and 6.42% to max 75%, w.e.f. 31.12.08....more
• 31 Dec 2008
• Ecology BS
• Buy-to-let STANDARD VARIABLE MORTGAGE RATE reduced by 0.80% to 4.90%, w.e.f. 1.1.09....more
• 30 Dec 2008
• Stafford Railway BS
• BUY-TO-LET PRODUCTS now available to a limited panel for intermediary business w.e.f. 24.12.08....more
• 29 Dec 2008
• Mansfield BS
• STANDARD VARIABLE RATE reduced by 0.30% to 5.69% w.e.f. 22.12.08....more
• 29 Dec 2008

Do landlords need more rental information?

Landlords like most potential house buyers are currently bombarded with a huge raft of often contradictory information about house prices. There's info on asking prices provided by websites such as Rightmove, the Government produces their own information using actual house prices from the land registry. For more details about house prices and who's measuring what have a look at this previous article.

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However, despite all this information on house prices the UK seems bereft of reliable and comparable rental data. Currently their is no index of UK rents for landlords.

The Centre for Housing Policy at York University briefly produced a record of average rents in the 90's but the shear scale of the effort involved resulted in this being very short lived.

IPD a global provider of rental data and property information will provide figures on average rents to some of their affluent private clients but only for a large fee. The data itself is also less than 100% reliable as it is gathered mainly from large corporate residential investors letting property on masse and predominantly in the major cities thereby giving only a snapshot of what is going on across the country.

Is it time that landlords have access to comprehensive rental data to find out what is going on in their local rental market? Would this be useful or can landlords gain enough information already about what's going on in their local rental market by keeping an eye on the local paper and rental sites like gumtree to find out what rents are being charged.

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