Transfer of equity with partner not spouse and SDLT?

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I own a BTL property in my sole name and intend to transfer the title into joint names with my partner and transfer a small percentage of equity (10-15%). We are not married so it’s not a transfer between spouses.

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Rent affordability improved last year by nearly 1%, latest figures reveal

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An annual report into rental affordability has revealed that tenants were paying a lower percentage of their salaries in rent during 2021 than the year before.

The latest rental affordability index from BTL mortgage broker Paragon covering 2021 reveals that across England people on the national average salary of £30,264 paid 32.1% of their wage to a private landlord.

But the firm’s previous report for 2020 shows that a tenant earning the national average wage was paying 32.8% of their salary or a reduction of nearly 1%.

While this is not a seismic shift in renting costs, it highlights how claims by some campaigners that rent affordability has been ‘out of control’ are wide of the mark.

Improving since 2013

The Paragon data also echoes the official ONS statistics which shows that affordability has been improving in recent years as salary increases have outpaced weak rent rises.

The most recent ONS report says: “For most regions, private rental prices have become slightly more affordable since 2013, as the proportion of income required to rent in 2020 was less than in 2013.”

But campaigning groups such as Shelter and Generation Rent are correct on two aspects of rent increases within the PRS.

One is that affordability in London and the South of England has reached worrying levels. The Paragon report says someone earning the average wage of £36,326 in London will pay 50.2% of their post-tax salary on rent, and 36.1% if they live in the South East.

And the current crisis in the PRS, which has seen landlords exiting the market as tax breaks have been withdrawn in recent years while on the other hand unaffordable ‘for sale’ properties have grown the tenant population, have spurred on large increases in recent months, adding to the cost of living crisis.

The ONS recent revealed that the average rent for a tenancy in England is £755, recorded between October 2020 and September 2021, the highest ever recorded.

“The lower purchase prices for homes in regions such as Yorkshire and The Humber means that investors can keep rent prices relatively low while still covering their overheads,” says Richard Rowntree (pictured), MD Of Paragon Bank.

“It’s important to acknowledge, however, that there is a limit to this, and the current economic conditions mean that it is becoming more expensive to manage a lettings business. Alongside supply of properties that is exceeded by demand, this is placing pressure on rents.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Rent affordability improved last year by nearly 1%, latest figures reveal | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Rent affordability improved last year by nearly 1%, latest figures reveal

CGT on selling a share of my Buy to Let?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

I need to raise some finance shortly and one of the options I am looking into is to sell 2/3rds and retain 1/3rd of a freehold BTL property I’ve had for 20 years.

Going forward the house will remain tenanted and we will split the rent 3 equal ways

View Full Article: CGT on selling a share of my Buy to Let?

Can I index link rents into my tenancy agreements?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi all, I have just been talking to a fellow landlord and in the discussion, the question and idea came up can we index link the rent into an AST contract?

The next question is if this indexing clause was possible in the contract would you still have to serve a rent increase notice to the tenant and what would be the best option to link it to eg.

View Full Article: Can I index link rents into my tenancy agreements?

Landlord warns investors after JV ‘opportunity’ leaves him nursing £300,000 loss

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A landlord who lost £300,000 when a joint venture deal went sour wants his experience to serve as a warning not to take potential property investment partners at face value.

Rehman Akhtar (main pic), who currently lives in Saudi Arabia, had amassed a portfolio of around a dozen buy to lets in various locations around the UK, as well as properties in Bahrain, the UAE and Malaysia.

After attending property training courses he became a middleman, sourcing investors for UK developers looking for funds, he tells expatpropertystory.com.

Akhtar was invited to invest £300,000 in a development project in Doncaster by a well-known property trainer, with the assurance it would return a 30% profit in 12 months – not realising that there were already two other investors involved.

When the builders ditched the project, having built up about £650,000 worth of debt, the other two investors repossessed the property, sold it at auction and made just enough money to pay themselves off.

Life savings

The sunk deal has drained his life savings and he is now selling all the UK properties to pay back his investors’ money. Akhtar says he’s learned not to make big decisions alone.

“Use mentors, use friends and colleagues, use lawyers,” he suggests. “Even if I had spent £1,000, or £2,000 on a good lawyer to analyse this deal or a good accountant, that would have been money well spent.”

He advises others to ask potential partners whether they are the only investor in the deal.

“Ask if they have had any deals go bad before, if they had any projects that didn’t quite complete and if you can talk to five other investors that they’ve worked with.”

Akhtar adds: “Do not be afraid to say no. Just because you get on well with that person…especially with JVs, as soon as you hand that money over the fence to the developer, your power is lost.” 

Read more about JVs.

Listen to a podcast interview with Rehman Akhtar.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlord warns investors after JV ‘opportunity’ leaves him nursing £300,000 loss | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Landlord warns investors after JV ‘opportunity’ leaves him nursing £300,000 loss

‘Rent To Rent’ Millionaires

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In my 30+ years of investing into UK rental property I’ delighted to have met 1,000’s of people who have made their millions doing he same things as me.

I’ve also met more than a handful of people who have made their millions by educating newbies to the property investment business as a result of sharing their ‘Rent To Rent‘

View Full Article: ‘Rent To Rent’ Millionaires

Journalistic Support Required

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Believe it or not, the vast majority of the News articles you see on Property118, together with Readers Questions, Social Media Posts, Daily Newsletters, Weekly Roundup Newsletters and comment moderation are dealt with in between other tasks performed by just one person

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KERCHING? Buy-to-let outperforms stocks, bonds and gilts over past 10 years

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Buy-to-let property delivers better returns than stocks, bonds and gilts over a 10-year period, according to new research.

Analysis by AJ Bell reveals that the best stock deal would pocket investors £31,833, gilts and bonds produces £23,693, while those who choose to keep their cash in savings would see an even poorer return of just £3,082.

On the other hand, Private Finance reports that a landlord investing £50,000 would make a profit of £54,106 from rent, plus a further £39,079 from capital growth, delivering a total profit of £93,185 over 10 years.

The world’s markets have been highly volatile since the start of the pandemic, suffering losses in the trillions of dollars. 

They took another major nosedive when Russia invaded Ukraine and the resulting fuel wars and uncertainty have caused stocks and shares to continue under-performing this year. 

Quit

However, the buy-to-let sector presents its own challenges, as rising costs, tax changes and potential regulatory changes are prompting growing numbers of landlords to quit.

Nine out of ten landlords expect rising interest rates and inflation to have an impact on the cost of maintaining their property investments, according to recent research from GetGround, which found that more than half of landlords expected costs to jump between 25%-50%.

Daniel Jackson, sales director of Sequre Property Investment, believes Covid has prompted a revival in buy-to-let market investment thanks to Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday, steadily rising average rents levels, increasing property values and low mortgage interest rates. 

“This trend is likely to continue with house prices predicted to rise steadily through 2022 and rental yields achieving more than 8% in some parts of the UK, particularly the Midlands and North East and West,” he predicts.

“These statistics show what we and our investors have always known – that long-term property is a far stronger and more resilient investment than other asset classes.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – KERCHING? Buy-to-let outperforms stocks, bonds and gilts over past 10 years | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: KERCHING? Buy-to-let outperforms stocks, bonds and gilts over past 10 years

Smart Property Investment UK – Bank Conversion Site Tour

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How you can do smart property investment in the UK right now.

Join me on site of my latest Property Deal, where I have purchased a bank in Rickmansworth.

I plan on using Permitted development to turn the uppers into flats and keep the ground floor as a commercial unit all without needing planning permission nor having any money left in the deal.

View Full Article: Smart Property Investment UK – Bank Conversion Site Tour

LATEST: Rising living costs drive tenants into ‘bills included’ BTR sector

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The cost of living crisis is driving more and more tenants into the arms of build-to-rent landlords as renters seek ‘bills included’ tenancies, Rightmove has claimed.

Its latest Quarterly Rental Tracker reveals tenants exhibiting a variety of behaviours to avoid higher bills including staying put longer to avoid paying more rent at a new tenancy and seeking ‘bills included’ homes.

The portal’s analysis of features in over 20,000 build to rent listings on its platform has revealed a significant increase in demand for properties with all bills included.

Over the past year, enquiries from tenants have jumped by 36% for this type of property, the biggest increase out of all available features.

Inflation

The report also reveals that landlords are responding to the cost of living crisis prompted by high inflation, the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices.

Rightmove says many landlords have recognised the challenges of rising household bills for tenants, with two-thirds choosing not to put up rents over the past year, while a third have increased rents.

Nevertheless, a lack of stock and a growing tenant population mean rents continue to rise at the fastest rate ever recorded, now standing at £1,088 per calendar month (pcm) per tenancy, up 11% on this time last year.

It is a similar story in the capital where rents are up over 14% to £2,195 pcm.

“People who had been waiting to see what happened last year are now being faced with record rents and so are seeking out properties where they can have more certainty over their outgoings, with all bills included becoming increasingly sought after,” says Tim Bannister, Director of Property Data at Rightmove.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Rising living costs drive tenants into ‘bills included’ BTR sector | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: LATEST: Rising living costs drive tenants into ‘bills included’ BTR sector