Lifetime fixed buy-to-let mortgages where max LTV increases the older you are

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Yes, you read that right. It is now possible to obtain BTL mortgages with an indefinite term and an interest rate that will never change, EVER!

Even if you’re 90 years old you can qualify for these buy-to-let mortgages with virtually no underwriting at all

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Nothing ventured, nothing gained

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If you’re new to the concept of property investment, or just want to ‘top-up’ your property portfolio, then our latest investment opportunity may just be what you’re looking for.  With prices starting from only £77,000, why not take a look.

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Diplomatic/embassy rental?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi everyone,  I have a Prospective rental to a diplomatic East African embassy. Of course the rental is income good, but I am not 100% sure, because of their diplomatic status.

If anything goes wrong what legal rights do I have if any?

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‘The Landlord’s Friend’ – Hamilton Fraser’s property podcast

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Hamilton Fraser’s regular property podcast
aims to help landlords navigate a smooth path through the rapidly evolving
regulatory landscape of the private rented sector, by providing top tips and
advice to help them make constructive and informed choices about their future.

In this
month’s podcast Eddie Hooker, CEO of award winning Hamilton Fraser Total
Landlord Insurance and Paul Shamplina, Founder of Landlord Action and Brand
Ambassador at Hamilton Fraser, are joined by a special guest – property market
analysist, commentator and co-author of ‘The Landlord’s Friend’, Kate Faulkner.

With bags of
expertise in the sector, and an intricate knowledge of what does and doesn’t
work for landlords, Kate has made a number of media appearances, including in
the Daily Mail, on the BBC, the one show, Radio 5 Live, ITV, and LBC Property
Hour, sharing her unique insights. 

After the successful
release of ‘The Landlord’s Friend’ book, written by Kate and Paul back in 2015,
they have now released a new edition for 2019 focused on how landlords can make
the best out of the ever changing sector, while also ensuring that they remain
compliant.  

Eddie, Paul
and Kate discuss the launch of ‘The Landlord’s Friend’ book, including their
motivations behind releasing a new edition and the process involved, as well as
exploring the importance of being a business savvy landlord, why it is vital to
understand your tenants and the intricacies of landlord regulation and
legislation. In addition, they cover topics ranging from government policy and
how buy to let has evolved, to increasing market demands and whether landlords
get a bad rap in the industry.

Following on with their new closing question for
2019, Eddie and Paul round up the podcast by asking Kate…

‘If
you could make one new property law what would it be?’

Missed the previous podcasts in the series? Don’t worry you can catch up with industry news here!

Previous guests include:

• Tessa
  Shepperson, residential property lawyer and Managing Director of Landlord Law
• Tony Gimple,
  Founding Director of Less Tax 4 Landlords
• Jeremy Leaf,
  Principal of Jeremy Leaf & Co Chartered
  Surveyors and Estate Agents
• Arden
  Hanley, Property Educator and HMO landlord

Sean Hooker, Head of the Property Redress Scheme

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ‘The Landlord’s Friend’ – Hamilton Fraser’s property podcast | LandlordZONE.

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Hidden How to Rent update – “MHCLG, do not do this again”

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Lawyer Giles Peaker, in an article for Nearly Legal, ‘How to rent guides – sneak updates‘ uncovered that the official How to Rent guide has recently been updated twice since the 31st of May without reference to the date of the most recent changes.

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Right to Rent Guide updated under RLA pressure

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Under campaign pressure from the RLA, protesting that inadequate government guidance on Right to Rent checks could leave landlords exposed to prosecution, the Home office have now released an update on the official guide.

The risk to landlords has arisen since 20th May this year when nationals of Australia

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The Queen didn’t mention my Card

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I did meet the Queen about four months ago, but she did not mention my Card. I guess I will have to wait until my hundredth birthday! Whilst I appreciate it was meant as a joke it does raise a most important point.

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Tenant fined more than £100,000 for subletting a council flat

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Sub-letting:

Westminster City Council successfully took one of its
tenants to court for sub-letting a council flat to tourists on Airbnb.

Toby Harman was found guilty of breaching the terms of his
tenancy agreement with the council and was given an Unlawful Profits Order totalling
£100,974.94, one of the highest such awards made in any council’s favour.

Evidence gathered from Harman’s bank statements showed that
he had been receiving rents from tourist lets on the vacancy listings website since
2013.

Harman had used an online alias by the name of “Lara�, but investigators
managed to link the lettings to him through his name appearing on online
reviews This find followed a trawl by anti-fraud software. He had accumulated
over 300 reviews on the popular tourist rental website.

As well as the fine, Harman has been evicted from the apartment
he rented off the council in Victoria, central London.

Following a spate of similar abuse of the system, Westminster
City Council is calling for a compulsory registration scheme across the board for
property owners, to make it easier to keep track of these types of rentals.

Last year the council successfully recovered 24 of its social
housing properties from similar frauds and currently it has over 1,500
properties under investigation for possible abuses with short-term lettings.

Andrew Smith, a councillor for Westminster City Council, has
commented:

“Social housing is there to provide much-needed homes for
our residents, not to generate illicit profits for dishonest tenants.

“It’s illegal for council tenants to sublet their homes and
we carry out tenancy checks, as well as monitoring short-term letting websites
for any potential illegal sublets.�

“Along with a six-figure unlawful profit order, by getting a
possession order, we can now reallocate the property to someone in genuine need
of a home,� Cllr Smith had said.

An Airbnb spokesperson had said that this particular property
had been removed from the platform earlier in the year when the exact
circumstance came to light.

“We regularly remind hosts to check and follow local rules –
including on subsidised housing – and we take action on issues brought to our
attention.

“Airbnb is the only platform that works with London to limit
how often hosts can share their space and we support proposals from the mayor
of London for a registration system to help local authorities regulate short
term lets and ensure rules are applied equally to hosts on all platforms in the
capital,� said Airbnb.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been calling for a London registration
scheme which registers anyone wishing to rent out a property for less under 90
days. This follows revelations that there could be any many as 80,000 rooms for
let listed on these websites in the capital.

Mayor Khan has said:

“Short-term lets are a benefit to visitors to London, and to
Londoners themselves who want to earn a little extra money.

“But these benefits must be balanced with the need to
protect long-term rented housing, and to make sure neighbours aren’t impacted
by a high turnover of visitors.�

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tenant fined more than £100,000 for subletting a council flat | LandlordZONE.

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New Safety Act does not require specific HHSRS inventory reports

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Health & Safety:

Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inventory reports are not a requirement for letting agents and landlords to comply with The Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act 2018, according to No Letting Go.

The UK’s leading provider of inventory services says there is currently widespread confusion relating to the new legislation, which aims to ensure that all rental accommodation is suitable for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and throughout.

The Act was introduced in March and provides renters with powers to take legal action directly via the courts against their landlord if their rental property does not meet certain requirements.

As well as homes which are overcrowded, have unsafe layouts or have been neglected, those that contain any of the 29 HHSRS hazards could be deemed unfit for human habitation.

The HHSRS was introduced in 2006 and provides local authorities with the means to check health and safety in residential properties and identify hazards, with a ‘category 1’ hazard being the most dangerous.

Councils can use the HHSRS to recover costs from landlords for repair works or order them to carry out improvements.

It was recently announced that the government is aiming to reform the HHSRS to ‘improve, clarify and modernise’ the system, as well as addressing whether some hazard profiles can be removed or combined.

“Since the introduction of new legislation in March, we’ve seen organisations publishing HHSRS checklists and offering health and safety checks,” says Nick Lyons, CEO and Founder of No Letting Go.

“For inventory providers and other industry firms to promise to be able to do this is misleading due to the nature of some of the 29 HHSRS hazards.”

“The new Act is there to make it easier for tenants to prosecute landlords if there is an issue with one of the 29 hazards,” he says.

If tenants identify an issue which they believe makes their property unfit for human habitation, they are required to notify the landlord in writing.

The landlord – or a letting agent acting on their behalf – then has 14 days to provide an adequate response in writing to explain how they propose to resolve the issue.

“Providing the issue is dealt with in a timely fashion, there will be no problem for landlords and no further action taken,” Lyons explains.

“There is no legal requirement for an HHSRS report to be provided at the start of the tenancy,” he says.

No Letting Go says that some of the HHSRS hazards, such as radiation and volatile organic compounds, are not visible or obvious and therefore tricky to fit into a tick box format.

“A good inventory and documented mid-term inspections, alongside efficient maintenance processes, can prevent problems and ensure that letting agents and landlords remain compliant with The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act,” says Lyons.

Some 15 of the 29 HHSRS hazards would be picked up in a good inventory or property visit, according to No Letting Go.

These include damp and mould growth, excess heat or cold, lighting, entry by intruders, food safety, sanitation, water supply and more.

It says the remaining 14 hazards, such as lead in paint, are much less common and it’s difficult to see how an agent or landlord could check the property for these issues unless they are specifically trained or raised by the tenant.

“The HHSRS in its current form is complicated, so it’s good news that the government has committed to simplifying it,” says Lyons.

“Moving forward, a reformed HHSRS will be able to complement independent inventories and legislation like the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act in order to protect the condition of properties and provide renters with a higher standard of accommodation.”                

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – New Safety Act does not require specific HHSRS inventory reports | LandlordZONE.

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Shelter’s call for Boris to follow through on Section 21 ban

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Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter, has sent an open letter to PM Boris Johnson calling for him to follow through with the Section 21 ban announced by Theresa May and “make these plans a reality by seeing through the crucial legislation a Conservative government has already committed to.”

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