This landlord sold her portfolio of 23 properties in one go in only 5 days

admin    Uncategorized     agents

It’s a theme that’s becoming ever more common, if you were in any doubt, now is the time for us to sell up our portfolios, cash in and retire while the market is still high, and before the window closes.

View Full Article: This landlord sold her portfolio of 23 properties in one go in only 5 days

Moving season is fast approaching, are you ready for it?

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Did you know that August has been one of the most popular months to move home for the last twelve years? That means there’s plenty of time still to prepare. Of course, August isn’t the only upcoming month bursting with prospective new tenants. We may be approaching ‘the Spring Bounce’ which is something worth preparing for.

Alternative starting paragraph: Did you know that we may be approaching the “Spring Bounce”? Although August has been one of the most popular months to move home for the last twelve years, it’s not the only upcoming period bursting with prospective new tenants. And this one is well worth preparing for.

What is the spring bounce?

The ‘Spring Bounce’ got its name from the sharp up-tick, therefore bounce, in interest in the housing market at this time. More people are searching for, inquiring about, and investing in long-lets. Indeed, new homes.

Spring is one of the busiest times for the property market, for many reasons. ‘Spring cleaning’ can sometimes apply to lifestyles. AKA, tenants may be looking for a fresh start in the new year. Your property could very well be that fresh start. So, you yourself might be looking to invest in new properties. What better time to invest and expand than during the moving season?

How long does moving season last?

Studies suggest that ‘moving season’ can last from Spring all the way through to the end of Summer. Notably August, as we mentioned.

One of the main reasons for this is families. Families often move during the British Summer Holidays. Not only are these an impressive six weeks of free time to prepare for and start a move — but it also makes sense for their children. Moving during this time doesn’t disrupt their school time. They can get use to their new home, and unfamiliar environment, for a few weeks. Thus, they can settle before the nerve-wracking experience of starting a new school.

One benefit of families moving during this time is that families look for larger long-lets. You can feel assured that they will stay for a lengthy period, also. Families will often stay in one home for years at a time as not to disrupt the lives of their children. Of course, larger properties also carry larger rents. You stand to benefit from adapting to moving season, as well as perfecting your properties for the oncoming swathe of prospective clientele.

Additionally, students can sometimes leave sorting their accommodation to the last minute. Whether they are busy or simply forget, it happens. This means that September is also an ideal time to let smaller properties, particularly to students looking for a quick and easy move.

Is there such a thing as a quick and easy move?

Yes! Though, as a landlord, you may beg to differ. Sometimes it may seem like the moving process is full of stress, for everyone involved. Many factors can act as stressors. The threat of void periods looms, tenants could be troublesome, forms may seem endless and do more harm than good. That’s where Clooper comes in.

Clooper is constantly listening to the customer – if something doesn’t work or resonate, it’s tweaked and adapted. That’s partly why our platform is so well adapted to your needs to speed along the moving process, for everyone involved. All this without glossing over vital details or missing important steps.

What exactly is Clooper?

Clooper is a tech-enabled marketplace of holiday lets, serviced accommodation, serviced apartments, and long-term rentals. Our marketplace is as diverse as possible, to meet your current and future needs. We utilize our pre-existing network, as well as global advertising efforts, to secure both corporate and private tenants for our accommodation suppliers and landlords.

Clooper’s’ algorithms are constantly sourcing, promoting, and matching tenants to properties. In addition, our marketing and customer success team are efficient and readily available. Our management team has over one hundred years of combined knowledge and experience in providing high-quality accommodation, and that’s just the beginning.

How exactly we can help you

To take advantage of the upcoming moving season, you’ll need to be prepared. Clooper takes the hassle out of preparation in two ways.

The first is by being with you every step of the way. Without taking you out of the driver’s seat. All you need to do is add your property details using our simple interface and get your property listed in minutes. After that? Simply sit back while we advertise for you. Clooper matches you with prospective tenants. You then contact the ones of your choosing and start finding your perfect match straight away.

Clooper also automatically advertises your property on other platforms. Not only do you have access to our marketplace this way, but your listing is also added to Zoopla. Clooper is notably a marketplace for all sorts of properties — short-lets and long-lets. However, as moving season looms there has been a sharp up-tick in interest in long-lets.

So, what are you waiting for? If you want to maximize your earnings through moving season, the time to start preparing is now. Prepare with the help of some of the best minds in the market with Clooper.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Moving season is fast approaching, are you ready for it? | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Moving season is fast approaching, are you ready for it?

Avoiding fire risk assessment for years lands owner with £50K bill

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A landlord has been handed a £50,000 bill after admitting serious fire safety breaches in his rented office block.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service found that the fire risk assessment had not been reviewed at Broadway House in Bedford since December 2015. During an audit of the multi-storey block in June 2019, it also discovered that the external fire escape had missing steps, numerous fire doors were in a poor statement of repair, there was an inadequate fire alarm system, fire exit signs and fire action notices and no evidence that the firefighting equipment, fire alarm and emergency lighting systems had been maintained.

Firefighting equipment

Owners Mr and Mrs Lusty were given two months to sort out repairs but further visits showed that while new firefighting equipment had been provided, nothing else had been done.

These failings put people at risk of serious injury or death should a fire occur, Luton Magistrates’ Court heard. It imposed a fine of £10,000 for each of the four offences and ordered Lusty to pay full costs of £10,525.

Enforcement action

Chief fire officer Andrew Hopkinson says the prosecution sends out a clear message to landlords that if they do not comply with the required fire safety regulations, it is prepared to take enforcement action to keep people safe. He adds: “This individual didn’t comply with the law and left their tenants at serious risk by affecting the ability of the occupants to safely escape should a fire occur. We will look to provide support and advice where required, but if people are put at risk, then we will not hesitate in taking further action.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Avoiding fire risk assessment for years lands owner with £50K bill | LandlordZONE.

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Tax trap hits portfolio landlords eager to help Ukrainian refugees

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Some landlords hoping to offer properties to Ukrainian refugees will be hit with huge tax bills because the tax office has not updated its rules around the government’s resettlement scheme.

The Enveloped Dwellings rule was designed to stop people buying properties tax efficiently through companies for personal use, or leaving them empty. Those landlords who own a property through a limited company must pay the annual tax if they don’t receive any rent, which works out at £3,800 for every home worth between £500,000 and £1m and £7,700 for those between £1m and £2m.

Generous people

Tim Walford-Fitzgerald, of accountancy firm HW Fisher, told The Telegraph that one portfolio landlord had a £700,000 home he wanted to make available to Ukrainian refugees, but faces a £3,800 bill if he does. Walford-Fitzgerald called on HM Revenue & Customs to grant an exemption to landlords wanting to let properties to refugees for free. “The rental market is red-hot at the moment,” he told the paper. “These are generous people who are willing to forego their income for the greater good and HMRC should not be dumping a bill on them.”

The tax trap will catch out those landlords who incorporated their property portfolios to make their business more efficient; according to investment specialist Thirlmere Deacon there were 41,700 buy-to-let incorporations made in 2020, an increase of 23% on 2019, taking the total number of buy-to-let firms to 228,743.

Government response

A government spokesman said: “We are currently looking into this and we will publish further details in due course.”

There has been an enormous groundswell of support for the Homes for Ukraine scheme across the UK, including from tenants, but in England, families who have applied to be sponsors are complaining that the system is overly complicated and lengthy.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tax trap hits portfolio landlords eager to help Ukrainian refugees | LandlordZONE.

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MP blames short-term lets for housing shortage and council strain

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A Private Members’ Bill to set up a national register of short and holiday-let accommodation has had its first reading in the Commons.

Karen Buck’s Bill aims to ensure councils could better monitor breaches of the rules around rental periods and act swiftly to deal with noise, waste and other nuisances. She said the sector had become highly commercialised and there was now a need to know who was letting property, where they were letting it, and for how long.

Significant shift

“It is clear that the short-let tourist accommodation sector is now dominated by whole property lettings in many areas, including owners with multi-property listings,” the Labour MP said. “That suggests a significant shift into that market by individuals and businesses who would otherwise be in the residential lettings market, or making property available for sale.”

Buck added that it was nearly impossible for councils to enforce existing rules and said the growth of the short-term let industry had created an uneven playing field in the hospitality sector. “Traditional providers such as hotels are required to bear the costs of business rates and corporation tax, and comply with regulations, not least in respect of health and safety, whereas short-term let owners do not.”

More controls

Christopher Chope MP argued that because of fears the government was going to introduce more controls in the residential lettings market, many people had moved away from residential shorthold leases. “The Bill will be an attack on good, responsible citizens and small businesses who are trying to help meet a need by providing the short-let and holiday accommodation,” he added.

In January, the government promised to look at setting up a holiday lets register for England, while Airbnb has also called for a national register. The Short and Holiday Let Accommodation (Registration) Bill will get a second reading on 2^nd May.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – MP blames short-term lets for housing shortage and council strain | LandlordZONE.

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9% reduction in rough sleeping according to government stats

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The annual rough sleeping statistics, published 24 February 2022, show that rates have fallen for a fourth year in a row with a 9% reduction in rough sleeping compared to last year. Numbers have fallen in every region of England

View Full Article: 9% reduction in rough sleeping according to government stats

Evicted lodger now trying to sue me for £5000 at County Court?

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I recently started to rent out a room in my home. At first, the person seemed reasonable, but sadly I came home from work one night and found she was smoking cannabis at the entrance to my property. I share this main entrance with two other properties in my block.

View Full Article: Evicted lodger now trying to sue me for £5000 at County Court?

Help for green improvements but not for struggling renters on benefits

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A VAT cut on solar panels and heat pumps has been welcomed by the sector but there’s frustration that the Chancellor ignored the impact of rising rents in his spring Budget.

Rishi Sunak announced he was cutting the 5% rate on energy saving materials to 0% for five years to help households improve energy efficiency and keep heating bills down. He promised the changes, which take effect from April, would save a typical household more than £1,000 to have roof-top solar panels installed.

Product demand

Jonathan Murton, director of energy efficiency consultants Murton & Co, says the rise in energy prices had already increased demand for products and adds: “I suspect there will be frustrations though as we are already seeing orders not yet fulfilled due to increasing backlogs and lead times.”

Elsewhere in the Budget, the Chancellor announced he was cutting fuel duty by 5p and reducing the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p in the pound from 2024. He also raised the threshold for the amount people earn before they pay National Insurance to £12,570 a year.

Cost-of-living crisis

The National Residential Landlords Association is disappointed that the government has again failed to explain what was required of the rental sector when it comes to energy improvements.

Chief executive Ben Beadle says: “More broadly, as renters, along with all others, face a cost-of-living crisis, the Chancellor should have reversed his decision to freeze housing benefit rates. Without this, those relying on the benefit will find it increasingly difficult to afford their rents.”

Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, adds: “When inflation is running at 7.4%, the Chancellor should have targeted help towards those least able to manage, by raising benefits at the same rate and making sure Local Housing Allowance covers rising rents. If he wants economic growth, the Chancellor should be shifting taxation from work to property wealth.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Help for green improvements but not for struggling renters on benefits | LandlordZONE.

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Eviction rules change in Wales – but not for long

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Landlords in Wales have a brief window of opportunity to serve Section 21 eviction notices after Covid-imposed changes end but before the new Renting Homes Act kicks in.

The six-month notice rule – first introduced in July 2020 – ends tomorrow and reverts back to two months, but only until 15^th July when under the new Act, landlords will need to give six months’ notice again. The government had previously extended the rule last December in a bid to ease homelessness.

New regime

Property lawyer David Smith at JMW Solicitors says: “There is a short period to serve these notices for them to expire before Renting Homes comes into effect in July. As things stand those notices cease to exist in July. However, there are hints that notices served before July will carry over into the new regime.”

Once the new law comes in, landlords will not be able to give notice until six months after the contract starts, and unless they have been registered and licensed with Rent Smart Wales and followed deposit protection rules.

Media campaign

The Welsh government has now produced a new toolkit to help get the message out about the biggest shake-up of housing law in Wales for decades.

‘The Way You Rent is Changing’ is a communications campaign designed to tell everyone in the PRS about the new rules, and includes digital advertising, a radio campaign and direct communication, directing landlords and tenants to the website for more information.

As well as providing them with the toolkit, it’s also asking landlords to help share information about the changes on their social media channels.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Eviction rules change in Wales – but not for long | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Eviction rules change in Wales – but not for long

Spring Statement 2022 – Landlord Reactions

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has just presented his Spring Statement to Parliament, focussing on the cost of living crisis and its exacerbation by immediately falling into another crisis, supporting global economic sanctions against the war in Ukraine.

The Chancellor’s policies to relieve the cost of global inflation to households included:

The threshold for paying National Insurance will increase by £3,000 from July to parity with the basic rate of income tax at £12,570.

View Full Article: Spring Statement 2022 – Landlord Reactions