Sale of Freehold without Freeholders approval?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

I would appreciate your assistance on helping resolve the following issue. I do believe we will need to take professional legal advice and would welcome recommendations on who could help. A management Company was set up to buy the freehold of a block of 6 flats in 1999. Four owners of the flats purchased 100%… Read more

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Take control of your BTL mortgages

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Like building any business, establishing a successful property portfolio takes determination, knowledge and patience. Ironically, one of the challenges facing landlords is the mortgage brokering process that’s meant to serve them. It’s paper-based and often can’t keep up. As the residential mortgage sector is enjoying the benefits of online portals to streamline the process, it’s high time for landlords to receive similar benefits in the buy-to-let

Buy-to-let is a dynamic and rapidly growing market that’s still served by traditional mortgage brokers. It’s a low-tech world of paper form-filling, delays, unreturned calls and a very limited market view – with the last point exacerbated by the fact that most mortgage brokers work from a limited list of lenders, with commission potentially influencing their selections.

Research shows that landlords could save over £3000* a year per property by changing the makeup of their portfolio to take advantage of the best mortgage deals.  There are even further savings as Property Master does not charge application fees for standard mortgages.

And that’s not the only challenge facing brokers like you. Government tax changes like the 3% rise in stamp duty on additional properties are squeezing the rented sector. Now like never before, you need to be able to take advantage of innovative products to find the best deal. But more stringent regulations have given rise to ever more complex lending criteria and a bewildering array of new mortgages. Just when you need it most, a great deal is even harder to find.

And most brokers are still operating in the same way as they have for the last 2 decades.

Enter Property Master, the UK’s first online buy to let mortgage broker.

Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Property Master allows private landlords like you to source and compare buy-to-let mortgages online. That means taking unprecedented control of your portfolio financing. It’s free to use and there are no application fees for standard mortgages.

Out go the forms and paperwork. In comes a dynamic portal where you can match your funding requirements against every BTL mortgage on the market across actual lending criteria.

You can run ‘what if’ scenarios, changing parameters such as rent, LTV and even switching to a limited company. At last you’re seeing a true whole-market view.

Once you find your ideal mortgage, you can apply on mobile, tablet or desktop with a single click and no need to re-enter details. The suggested mortgages are all pre-screened for acceptance – so you’re chasing real opportunities, not wild geese.

Property Master is completely independent. You’re presented with the best options based solely on your requirements with no influence from commission levels. With no application fees for standard mortgages, you save money, leverage further growth, and ultimately make the right decisions.

The system keeps working round the clock, sending you proactive alerts as offers change to your advantage. Property Master will even make unprompted suggestions to re-mortgage early if there’s a good enough deal and it’s right for your portfolio. How many traditional brokers do that?

And it’s completely free to use!

“Individual buyers often aren’t getting the best deal in a complex system that has changed little since last century. It can be slow, frustrating and complex. We have built Property Master to revolutionise the way landlords are able to manage the finance behind their portfolio, putting them in full control of their investment”.

CEO and Founder of Property Master, Angus Stewart

Navigating the changing buy to let mortgage market needn’t be complicated. Property Master provides landlords with the tools they need to truly optimise and take charge of their finances.

A unique database that’s completely free to use

You can search for approved mortgage options which meet each lender’s complex lending criteria, based on your individual properties and circumstances.

Find out more. Visit Property Master at www.property-master.com and watch our short introductory video to discover a new approach to buy-to-let mortgages.

*For example Birmingham Midshire SVR at 75% LTV is 4.59% compared with 2.49% for a 2 year fix. For borrowing of £160,000 that works out at £3,360 per year. (Correct 18/05/17) Many landlords have more than one property multiplying the saving.

… LandlordZONE.

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Liverpool named buy-to-let hotspot

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Liverpool has taken the crown as the UK’s top spot for buy-to-let rental yield. According to mortgage broker Private Finance, the city offers a rental yield of 8% for landlords after mortgage costs have been deducted. Its closest competitors were Nottingham at 5.6%, Coventry at 5.4% and Greater Manchester at 4.3%. According to the company […]

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Editorial, June 2017

admin    Uncategorized     agents

What a lot has changed since I last wrote an editorial for what is likely to be our last LandlordZONE® Newsletter in its current format.

From July 2017 we will be sending this Update out on a weekly basis, bringing you the latest landlord news and information along with some in-depth articles and reports on what’s important in the UK private rented sector (PRS).

We have a new Government, still a Conservative Government, but with a reduced majority. Despite Theresa May’s appeal for a “strong and stable government”, as we enter the crucial Brexit negotiations, it seems with have anything but.

Other bad news has come think and fast, leaving us with a slightly depressed feeling; the Manchester bomb, the London vehicle and knife attacks, and the Grenfell Tower fire; surely it’s time we had some good news for Great Britain.

Who knows what the future holds for the UK as we begin the process to extract ourselves from Europe; hard or soft, short or long drawn out? One thing is certain, we are told, we will be out, and what’s more, that’s what the vast majority want.

The Queens speech held few surprises with most of the promised legislation in the Conservative Manifesto stripped out, but one thing that did survive from the previous government, and with greater emphasis, is the banning of tenant lettings fees, not just by agents but by landlords as well.

Restricting holding deposits to one week’s rent makes sense and is appropriate in my view: you should be able to check out a tenant within a week, and if the tenant backs out you can retain the deposit, up to your own justified losses. If you reject the tenant, even when they fail your checks, you cannot retain the deposit.

On the other hand, restricting the security deposit to one months’ rent is more problematic for some. Landlords started to take six-week’s rent money to prevent tenants using their deposits to pay the last month’s rent, and also when landlords accept pets they usually ask for a higher deposit. These are problems that need to be ironed out before this becomes law.

The sixth edition of Kent Reliance’s half-yearly (state of the market) Buy-to-Let (BTL) Britain report indicates that landlords’ confidence has fallen back in the first quarter of 2017, with only 41% now optimistic (nearly 70% in the last study) about their buy-to-let portfolios.

However, although the rate of growth in private rented sector (PRS) has slowed, it has still expanded to reach 5.5 million households in Q1 2017, or over 20% of households, and is predicted to reach 25% of households in 5 years’ time.

The report says that around 25% of investor landlords are considering incorporating their business or transferring property assets to spouses, and limited company loans have accounted for 44% of mortgage applications during Q1 2017.

Landlords should think very carefully and take good tax planning advice before incorporating a buy-to-let business. Although incorporation works very well for a property development business, it does not suit every investment business, size comes into this as well as personal circumstances.

With the cost of incorporation, plus the extra accounting and company reporting cost, higher mortgage, transfer duties, and different tax rules on dividends and earnings, as well as regulatory risk – the possibility the government will change the rules – incorporation does not work well for everyone.

Some of you may have seen the new BBC documentary series entitled “The Week the Landlords Moved In” which has landlords swapping places with their tenants to experience life on the flipside.

The first airing this week showed one landlord’s son break down in tears after he swaps accommodation with his tenant and experiences for himself, not only the grimy conditions that his pensioner tenant lives in every day, but also living on a low income for a week, around £54, the cost of a round of drinks for him he says.

Another landlord featured, millionaire landlord Paul Preston, 40, admitting that he has “expensive tastes” living in a luxury apartment as he does with his personal trainer girlfriend Prea, who he refers to in the show as “Queen P” because of her “craving for luxury.” Paul has made a fortune dividing homes up into separate bedsits, and renting them out by the room, and just to emphasise the point he calls his business “Success HQ”.

Neither of these scenarios leave the public with a good image of landlords, rather they reinforce a stereotype which is basically a money grabbing soul, taking advantage of ordinary working people by providing shoddy and unhealthy accommodation at high prices.

Yes, damp and mould result because the tenants cannot afford decent levels of heating, but there is lots more landlords can do to make their accommodation safe, and to keep on top of maintenance, repairs and cleaning.

This is exactly the reason why Government (national and local) hates the fact that there are so many landlords like this, and why they want to encourage the build-to-rent programme to offer more accommodation which brings rents down overall, ads professional management and offers safe, clean accommodation. If private buy-to-let landlords want to compete with this in the future, they will need to up their game.

Tom Entwistle, Editor

… LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Editorial, June 2017

Section 8 and Section 21 with an improvement order outstanding?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

If you haven’t issued a tenant with a EPC cert when commencing a tenancy agreement can you still evict for non payment of rent? Also if you have a improvement notice order can you still evict for non payment of rent? Regards Tony

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Fire prevention in social and rented housing

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Fire safety measures are an important consideration for those in charge of social or rented housing. There are strict guidelines that should be adhered to, dependent on the type of accommodation, and tenants and landlords should be equally aware of these, although the provision of them is the responsibility of the landlord.

There are over 50,000 fires in dwellings across the UK every year, many of which could be prevented if the proper precautions were taken. For people living in rented accommodation, the likelihood of a fire occurring is over seven times higher than those who own their own property. Here are the basics that you need to know.

Gas appliances

All gas equipment provided in a rented property or social housing should be safely installed and checked every year. The tenants of the property should be provided with a gas safety check record before they move in and if you have not received this you are within your rights to request it.

The annual check should be kept by the landlord for 2 years and provided to tenants within 28 days of this being carried out. Any unchecked equipment, such as flues and pipework, could be a potential fire hazard in addition to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Electrical appliances

Landlords should ensure that any electrical equipment provided with the property, including plug sockets and light fittings, are safe and working properly. Any appliances should carry the CE marking where relevant, which indicates that it complies with the requirements of European law. As a tenant, if you think something is wrong with any of the electrics in the property you should notify the landlord immediately.

In a larger property, also referred to as a house of multiple occupation (HMO), the landlord should an electrical safety check carried out every 5 years by a registered electrician.

Fire safety equipment

All properties, whether rented or social housing, should come with a working smoke alarm on each storey – so if you are renting a house you should have one on all levels. If the property has any sort of coal or wood burning appliance then a carbon monoxide detector should also be fitted.

These must regularly be checked to ensure they are working. If a tenant is unhappy with the smoke alarms present and believes they are insufficient for the property they can report the landlord to the local housing authority. In an HMO fire extinguishers may also need to be provided. At least one extinguisher should be on every floor and if there is a shared kitchen then a fire blanket should be provided. It important to note that fire extinguishers will need to be assessed and checked annually to make sure they are still in fully working order.

There should also be a clear escape fire escape from the property, whether this is external or an internal stairwell that has been specially treated, and any doors leading to this should be fire doors. This will slow or stop the spread of the fire and allow the building to be evacuated quickly and safely, minimizing the danger to human lives. Purpose built flats are usually fitted with 60 minutes of fire resistance between the residences and the route of escape, but it should be at least 30.

Signs

Where rented property or social housing is in the form of flats, certain areas should be well signposted for the tenants. Any emergency fire exits or assembly points should be clearly marked and understandable. In certain buildings, such as HMO’s, it may also be a good idea to include fire action signs in certain places so all residents are aware of the correct procedure to follow should a fire occur, and how to keep it to tackle it if needed.

Furniture

If any furniture is provided with a property it must be fire safe and comply with the Furniture & Furnishing (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988. All soft furnishings should carry a label stating their compliance with these regulations and it is the responsibility of the landlord to make sure all furniture is provided with this.

Tenant precautions

Tenants can also help to minimize the risk of a fire and should take proper precautions in the property where necessary. Electrical sockets should always be used sensibly and not overloaded, and any electrics that are thought to be faulty should be immediately reported to the landlord.

In addition to this, if non-UK appliances are being used then the correct adaptor should be used at all times with it. If there are electric heaters in the property these should never be used to dry clothes and should be kept unobstructed at all times.

Mobile heaters should be kept a safe distance away from soft furnishings such as curtains and sofas and if there are candles in the property these should be handled carefully and also kept a sensible distance from any soft furnishings. If smoking is permitted in the residence, then tenants should ensure cigarettes are extinguished properly and the contents of ashtrays are checked before they are thrown out.

This article was written my Paul North, head of operations at Fire and Water Supplies. Visit the Fire and Water Supplies website to find out more.

… LandlordZONE.

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Mortgage lending up 12 % in May 2017, but BTL down…

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Gross Home lending up 12% in May but a new Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) buy-to-let forecast shows a downturn in landlord lending. The CML has estimated that gross mortgage lending reached £20.1 billion in May, a 12% increase, but the CML’s buy-to-let forecast for 2017 and 2018 has been revised down from previous expectations […]

… LandlordZONE.

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