Letting agents complaints increase

Christopher Hamer was featured this morning on Radio 4 Today programme announcing that complaints to him are on the rise.

Currently only 60% of letting agents are registered with an ombudsman scheme.

Anecdotally, he recalled that one of the most common complaints by landlords against letting agents is that the letting agent fail to reference their prospective tenants properly.  The result being that tenants are taken on that lead to problems with the tenancy at a later date.

The Ombudsman has no powers to fine letting agent but he does have powers of redress that includes paying compensation.

The Property Ombudsman has recently dispelled two letting agents one in London and one in Torbay

To make a complaint.


Property referencing - online

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.

Most popular buy-to-let mortgages

Interest Rate	Overall Cost for Comparison	Max LTV	Product Detail	Completion Fee	Early Repayment Charges
3.88% Tracker	4.2% 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. The completion fee is payable at offer stage. Refer all cases for fees, maximum LTV and loan amounts.	REFER	1% of original balance being repaid for 1 year
3.99% Discount	5.4% APR	75%	Exclusive discounted rate of 3.99% (1.65% discount off the lender's SVR) for 2 years then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 5.64% for the remainder of the term. This product has no early repayment charges. It is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 135% at payrate. There is a booking fee of £250 and an application fee will apply.	£2499	No
4.49% Fixed	4.9% APR	60%	Fixed rate of 4.49% until 31/03/2013 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 £700 for purchases and remortgages and free legals for remortgages only. This product is available up to 60% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at payrate. There is a booking fee of £250 and an application fee will apply.	£999	4% of amount being repaid until 31/03/2013
4.59% Tracker	4.8% APR	75%	Variable tracker rate of BBR + 4.09% until 30/04/2013 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.50% for the remainder of the term. There is a free valuation and free legals for remortgages only. This product is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at a notional rate of 6.75%. An application fee will apply.	£1999	3% of amount being repaid until 30/04/2013
4.8% Fixed	5.2% APR	75%	Fixed rate of 4.80% until 01/06/2013 then reverting to a variable of BBR + 4.24% to give a current rate of 4.74% for the remainder of the term. The product is available up to 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at the payrate. An application fee will apply.	2.5%	3% of amount being repaid until 01/06/2013
4.8% Tracker	5.6% 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 a notional rate of 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 normally apply.	2.25%	3% of amount being repaid for 2 years
4.95% Discount	6.1% APR	70%	Exclusive discounted rate of 4.95% (1.04% discount off the lender's SVR + 0.3%) for 2 years then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate (currently 5.69%) + 0.3% for the remainder of the term. There is a free valuation up to £335 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only. This product is available up to 70% LTV and the rental calculation is 130% at payrate. There is a booking fee of £199 and an application fee will apply.	0%	Tapered charges of 3/2% of the amount being repaid for the first 2 years
5.09% Fixed	5.5% APR	75%	Product for first time landlords only. Fixed rate of 5.09% until 28/02/2013 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 75% LTV and the rental calculation is 125% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	2.5% (min £595)	5% of amount being repaid until 30/04/2013
5.59% Fixed	5.2% APR	70%	5.59% fixed rate until 01/06/2013 then reverting to the lender's standard variable rate which is currently 4.79% for the remainder of the term. This product is available to first time buyers and up to 70% LTV. The rental calculation is 120% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	£1995	4% of the outstanding balance as of 1st January until 01/06/2013
5.99% Fixed	6.2% APR	85%	Fixed rate of 5.99% for 2 years then reverting to a variable rate of LIBOR + 5.00% for the remainder of the term. This product is available up to 85% LTV and the rental calculation is 120% at payrate. An application fee will apply.	2.5%	5% of amount being repaid for 2 years

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.

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Property investor show - London

The Property Investor Show storms in to town on the 18th and 19th of March.

The show is being held in London's Excel Centre.

There will be a range of seminars at the event and on Friday Graham Penny of 'Homes under the Hammer' will be conducting a live residential property auction.

Check out the details on their website.


Landlord insurance - price beat quotes

Tips On Tenancy Deposit Disputes 35: Seeing The Tenant's Evidence

Tip 35: Seeing The Tenant’s Evidence

Sometimes, for whatever reason, the tenant will start the process and give their evidence first. Being in the position of responding to their claim can be an advantage.

If the tenant submits their evidence before you, you should be able to see a copy of their actual evidence in time to draft a response. At least one of the schemes posts electronic copies of the evidence to a web page that you can view and download at your leisure. Another scheme will routinely send you a summary of the claim against you. 

The summary tends to be just one or two paragraphs and isn’t always that helpful for analysing the evidence against you. If you ask, and sometimes you have to ask more than once, they will email you the actual statement and evidence. 

Once you have copies of the evidence and detailed information about the claim, you are in a much better position to formulate your defence. Use your knowledge of the tenant’s claim to draw attention to shortcomings in their arguments and to point out any holes in their evidence.

Tom Derrett is the Principal of Deposit Claim, an experienced deposit protection 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

Where to invest?

Anybody investing in residential property is always faced with the conundrum of where to put your money.

Do you buy cheap and hope that the low value property will catch up with higher valued areas?  Or is it best to back the more expensive proven winners, anticipating that they will continue to out perform.

Well if the latest report from Savills is anything to go by we are still in the invest in the best faze of the property market revival.

Landlord insurance - leading rates

Time for a property pension?

The recently published Hutton Report on public sector pensions confirms what we all know.  Public sector pensions will be increasingly under pressure over the next few years.

Gone for ever is the system which allowed my dad to retire at 50 after working a FULL 26 years!

This time its public sector pensions that will have to catch up with economic reality.

I'm the first to admit that property is no panacea in terms of investments.  However, I'm glad that my pension provision is mainly locked up in my residential property portfolio.  Most importantly for me is that it gives me the control not the policy makers who refuse to be honest how long you will have to work for fear of risking political suicide.

If you want to retire before you are 70 or even 80 in the next 40 years you should seriously consider partly funding it with a property pension.

Mortgage Search - free broker advice