New partnership to help landlords find trusted builders

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Many landlords don’t know where to turn when it comes to finding a builder they can trust, with many relying on word of mouth. This is set to change thanks to a new partnership between the RLA and the National Federation of Builders, (NFB) set up to give landlords confidence that they are hiring reputable firms […]

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Joint HMO tenancy – Can I just change the locks?

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My query revolves around the following. I understand if a tenant from a ‘joint’ HMO tenancy leaves ‘before’ the end of the fixed term it requires the agreement of the other ‘joint tenants’ but ‘Not’ if ‘after’.

So query would be if a joint tenant left after the fixed term due to issues with the others as I understand it that would mean the end of the tenancy for the others so does mean if a landlord really wanted to could just change the locks/get the police to stop the others entering without the court order for possession/illegal eviction?

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Demand for renting will continue to grow…

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Buy to Let:

In its Spring 2018 “What next for buy-to-let?� Report, Hamptons International say the outlook for the private rented sector (PRS) remains growth positive, despite a fall in investment.

Even with the recent changes in government policy, which have generally had a negative impact on the sector, the PRS will continue to grow. The Hamptons International Research estimates that there will be six million households renting by 2025. That compares to 4.7 million or 19% of households, today.

Sustained house price growth over recent years in the South of the country has brought down yields for anyone investing now, new buyers, but canny buying still brings good long-term returns, if not even in the short-term. Average yields in London are currently around 5.4% compared to 7.9% in the North West, even so 20% of landlords in London are achieving higher yields than those in the North West says the Hampton’s report.

Cash purchases are hugely important in the sector, says Hamptons, which is insulating the sector from various regulatory and tax changes – reducing mortgage interest relief does not affect these landlords. The report says that 65% of investor purchases were made with cash in 2017, which accounts for £21 billion worth of property.

Although landlords need a healthy return (income yield) to cover costs in the short term, accepting a lower yield may be an acceptable short-term strategy providing the total return, a combination of rental income and capital gains, makes up for it.

On average, landlords selling in 2017 made a total gross return of 69% over 8.5 years, according to Hamptons International, with 60% of that return from rental income and 40% from capital appreciation. Higher historic house price growth in the South means capital appreciation accounts for more than half of total returns.

Now, lower house prices and weaker expectations of price growth in the South are making the North a more attractive proposition for buy to let landlords. Since the introduction of the 3% stamp duty land tax (SDLT) charge in April 2016, landlords have been buying fewer properties, especially in London and the South East, and have sold 50,000 more homes than they’ve bought.

“Landlords seem to be thinking twice before adding to their portfolio or replacing homes they’ve sold,� says Hamptons, but despite these landlords selling more homes than they bought, the private rented sector in England has continued to grow in the 12 months after the introduction of the higher stamp duty charge.

Hamptons says:

“Between April 2016 and 2017 the number of households renting increased by 164,000, 3% more than2016. We forecast that the sector will continue growing in 2018, and over the next five years. By 2022, 20.5% of households will be renting in Great Britain, up from 19.4% today. By 2025 the sector will reach six million households.�

The performance of property as an investment, compared to other places to put money to work, has discouraged owners from selling their surplus properties. A slowdown in the property sales market has seen more people renting to move (accidental landlords) and a continuing decline in social housing sees more tenants on housing benefit renting in the private rented sector.

The continued growth of the private rented sector, in the face of a decline in landlord purchase activity, has surprised but there are greater forces at play say Hamptons. The growth in demand for renting homes stems from longer-term structural changes in demographics and the housing market as a whole.

These changes are far from unique to the UK, with countries such as Canada, Australia, the US experiencing similar changes in a low interest rate, high asset value, high rent environment, which only goes to exacerbate the renters’ problems when it comes to saving for a deposit to buy.

House prices have been consistently growing above average incomes, constantly raising the barrier to entry for many young, and not so young people, leading to what we now see as a steady decline in home ownership and growth in demand for renting.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Demand for renting will continue to grow… | LandlordZONE.

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Reintroduce mortgage interest relief and drop 3% stamp duty surcharge

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Petition:
Reintroduce full mortgage interest relief and drop the 3% stamp duty surcharge

We call on the Government to reintroduce full mortgage interest relief and to drop the 3% stamp duty surcharge which is increasing homelessness by driving many landlords out of the sector

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Shared ownership 25% and no heating

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Hello, I am about to purchase 25 % of a house under shared ownership and then pay rent for the equivalent 75% equity the housing association owns.

However, the house has no heating at all.

Can this be right?

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Declining home ownership continues apace…

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Renting:

The number British people renting in their middle‑age has doubled over the last ten years.

Pressures on living standards through stagnant wages for many people over the last 20 years, and rising property prices, are having their effects and bringing about structural changes in the housing market for both young and old.

Over 25% of those in their late thirties and early forties are now renting and there is a definite trend which sees older people selling up and going into rental accommodation.

The Office for National Statistics and the National Centre for Social Research annual Family Resources Survey concluded that this trend in the decline in the number of people who can afford to buy their own home was a significant one, which began before the recession of 2008.

Although the study shows that more people now own their homes outright (mortgage free) that did 10 years ago, there is increasing evidence of older people opting for renting in retirement, and there is an increasing likelihood that people wll look to ways of raising equity from their homes.

In Quarter 1, 2018 the Key Retirement Equity Release Market Monitor report shows the highest recorded first quarter result both for equity release new plan numbers and total lending. This trend is a continuation of the growth experienced year-on-year though 2017.

The average equity release loan amount increased slightly over the period from £73,609 to £74,048 and money drawdown remains the most popular type of plan, with the average age for those releasing equity falling marginally from 72 in Q1 2017 to 71 today.

Gifting (Bank of Mum and Dad) is a major motivation for those releasing equity from their homes and the numbers and percentages gifting have increased year on year. The main reasons for gifting vary widely but the more popular are: house purchase, university / school fees, paying down debt, divorce, holidays.

Paula Higgins, of the HomeOwners Alliance support group, told the Daily Mail:

“People are stretched to the limit and have insecure wages.

“When they split up, a couple can’t each buy a property in the same area that lets them share the children.

“The danger of all this is the social inequality it will create between the haves, who are homeowners, and the have-nots.’

A major report by The Resolution Foundation think-tank release recently has proposed some quite radical measures to address these inter-generational shifts in fortune.  The most radical of these proposals is to strip the older generation of wealth to help the young.

This would, according to the Foundation’s reasoning, include rent controls, building more cheap housing, and a one-off benefit payment of £10,000 to all those at 25.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Declining home ownership continues apace… | LandlordZONE.

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Landlord GDPR policy – Short version

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For individual Landlords GDPR policies can seem more complex than necessary.

The GDPR Policy on my web site is a One page (Two sided) document that explains a Landlords policy adequately. Many have written about GDPR, and in quite a lot of detail

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What on earth are you waiting for?

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Charles Darwin once said; “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

When former Chancellor of The Exchequer announced in the Summer Budget 2015 that the basis of taxation for individual landlords was to change

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UC email to Landlords is causing THOUSANDS to be HOMELESS!

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Firstly, if there are any Newspapers, Media outlets, TV program’s readings this and you are soon doing a story on Universal Credit, then I give you full permission to use all this post of mine.

Below is the email that UC are now sending to Landlords when we report that the tenants are in arrears.

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Change is needed to help older renters

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The RLA believes the Government must help landlords support older renters looking for greater security, following the publication of a BBC report which claims the number of middle aged renters has doubled in a decade. The BBC News data claims: The proportion of 35 to 54-year-olds who live as private tenants has nearly doubled in 10 years […]

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