Landlord and BTL Blog

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Labour's housing election promises

Here are Labour's housing promises in short and sweet, bullet pointed clarity -

Labour will: ✓ Ban rip-off letting agents fees on tenants ✓ Introduce three-year stable tenancies that limit rent rises #GenerationRent
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 3, 2015

Labour will: ✓ Get more homes built: 200,000 a year by 2020 ✓ Help more people onto the property ladder ✓ Give renters a fairer deal
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 3, 2015

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RLA argue against rent controls

The Residential Landlord Association believe 3 out 5 landlords would leave the industry if rent controls were implemented on the Private Rented Sector.

The RLA Chairman, Alan Ward, warned

“At a time when tenants need more choice over where they live, state-controlled rents would choke off supply, increase rents and reduce quality. It would be history repeating itself.”

The RLA Chairman defended the performance of the Private Rented Sector by referencing the most recent English Housing Survey.

The survey's data showed up the contrast in performance, with the supposedly rent controlled social rented sector, recording a 25% increase in average rent between 2008/09 and 2012/13, whereas Private Rented Sector rents over the same period rose by just 6.5%.

“Rather than coming up with ideologically-driven ideas, proponents of rent controls need to address the root issues, namely the need to boost the supply of homes to rent.” concluded Mr Ward.

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A Labour win will hit landlords

A Labour win could hit landlords, tenants and homeowners #GE2015 http://t.co/oZ2trYcATd pic.twitter.com/YAz4cDf78f
— Telegraph Property (@TeleProperty) February 4, 2015

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Tips on avoiding rental voids

UK rental voids For landlords the biggest drag and drain on resources is always the curse of the rental void.

Luckily for landlords rental voids are near a historic low.

Classic tips on avoiding a rental void are:

1. Don't be greedy on the rent. Don't hold out on unrealistic rental demand. This is a classic mistake made many newbie landlords. The reality is that they will never get back the lost rent of a void.
2. Keep pushing the market - make sure you keep pushing your letting agent and look for other ways to market your property outside the big property portals for fee
3. Always make sure your rental property looks it's best before marketing it for letting. Tenants are easily put off and in an increasingly competitive market they won't come back
4. If the rental property starts to stick on the market consider using rental incentive like free sky

Having said all this NEVER EVER let to tenants who you are unsure about without the back up of rental guarantor. If the tenancy goes wrong a small rental void will pale into insignificance compared to the massive costs of getting possession of your rental property and the costs of getting your rental investment back on track.

Rent guarantee insurance - specialist brokers - internet rates

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Knight Frank PRS Index for Q4 2014

UK Private Rented Sector Index shows marginal hardening in yields http://t.co/wgWsRpKocH by @ggilmorekf #Property pic.twitter.com/7UXCzznKoW
— Knight Frank (@knightfrank) February 3, 2015

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Most popular BTL mortgages this week

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Lender
85%	4.99% Fixed	2 Years	3%	£130.00	No	Kent Reliance Semi Exclusive
85%	5.49% Discount	2 Years	3%	£130.00	No	Kent Reliance Multi Let & Ltd Co. Semi Exclusive
80%	5.39% Variable	0 Years	2%	£0.00	No	Saffron Light Refurbishment
80%	3.79% Fixed	2017-04-30	£2495	£150.00	Free valuation	Mortgage Trust Exclusive
80%	4.25% Fixed	2017-04-30	0%	£150.00	Free valuation	Mortgage Trust Exclusive
80%	3.5% Discount	2 Years	0%	£0.00	No	Hanley Economic Exclusive
75%	2.75% Discount	2 Years	0%	£0.00	No	Hanley Economic Exclusive
75%	2.5% Discount	2 Years	£1995	£250.00	One free Valuation on properties valued up to £1,000,000	Hinckley & Rugby Exclusive
75%	5.39% Variable	0 Years	2.5%	£0.00	No	Saffron Light Refurbishment
75%	2.25% Fixed	2017-04-30	2.5%	£150.00	Free valuation	Mortgage Trust Exclusive
75%	3.5% Fixed	2017-04-30	0%	£150.00	Free valuation	Mortgage Trust Exclusive
60%	2.45% Discount	2 Years	£1950	£250.00	One free Valuation on properties valued up to £1,000,000	Hinckley & Rugby Exclusive

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