Stay vigilant over knotweed threat

admin    Uncategorized     agents

With the nightmare tale of a family unable to sell their home due to Japanese Knotweed hitting the newsstands this week, the RLA is reminding members to be vigilant.
According to reports a family in the Midlands are unable to sell their property due to an extensive outbreak, with potential buyers warned by surveyors and shunned by mortgage lenders over fears the roots of the giant weed could interfere with the foundations of the home.
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Rental market holding-up post Brexit

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Buy to Let has faced one blow after another over the last 12 months or so: an onslaught of new regulations making the task of letting considerably more onerous, a 3% increase in stamp duty on investment properties, a hike in income tax after the removal of tax allowances, a punitive capital gains tax regime […]

… LandlordZONE.

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Is Airbnb compounding the housing crisis?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

London listings on Airbnb have rocketed by more than a quarter in just four months – sparking fears the popularity of the holiday letting site is depriving the city of vital homes to rent.
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ARLA warn of inadequate official documents

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), a leading UK professional association for letting agents, is advising its member agents to not to rely on online government documents, which are required to fulfil their legal requirements. ARLA cites a number of incidences where civil servants responsible for drafting official documents are making serious mistakes, mistakes […]

… LandlordZONE.

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Rents rise in most UK regions, says ONS

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Data just released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that private rents continued to rise, by an average of 2.4% across the UK 12 months to July 2016. This figure is unchanged compared with the year to June 2015. These figures are considerably above the inflation rate for the period in question, with […]

… LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Rents rise in most UK regions, says ONS

RLA calls for clarification on CGT Amendments

admin    Uncategorized     agents

We are calling on the Government to clarify the amendments recently tabled to the Finance Bill 2016. These amendments appear to blur the distinction between trading profits from the purchase and resale of property, and investment in property to let.
View Full Article: RLA calls for clarification on CGT Amendments

Bank profits from Buy-to-Let Success

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Demand for buy-to-let mortgages has boosted challenger bank OneSavings’ profits, reflecting its strategy of targeting buy-to-let landlords. Shares in the FTSE 250-listed Kent based challenger bank, OneSavings, rose 12 per cent this week on the back of results which showed its focus on buy-to-let lending is paying off. The bank specialises in buy-to-let mortgages and […]

… LandlordZONE.

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Grenwich tops London BTL Yields

admin    Uncategorized     agents

New research which has looked at rental returns in each London borough on a street level, reveals that Greenwich is the highest yielding inner city borough. (*Source: London estate agent Portico, August 2016). Greenwich borough offers buy-to-let landlords the highest returns and the most affordable monthly rent. According to the research, landlords can expect a […]

… LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Grenwich tops London BTL Yields

Record numbers of low-income private tenants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Private landlords, having taken up the mantle of providing a big proportion of the UK’s social housing, now house record numbers of low-income tenants. The consequence of this is that housing benefit payments to private landlords have double in 10 years to £9.3bn. As tenants on no, or low, incomes have shifted into the private […]

… LandlordZONE.

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Brexit and the Buy to Let Market

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Despite the fact that Britain is yet to trigger Article 50, which gives it two years to negotiate the exit from the EU, already there have been recent moves by the banks to curb BTL lending and gloomy warnings for the housing market from the Treasury. But is this all a knee jerk reaction? Should […]

… LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Brexit and the Buy to Let Market