I had to pay one day’s council tax?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, North Norfolk district council is charging me one day’s council tax because the tenant moved out at 11am on the 9 /8/23. The new tenant moved in on the 10/8/23.

As the tenant didn’t sleep at the house on the 9/9/23

View Full Article: I had to pay one day’s council tax?

Housing Benefit freeze sees tenants falling ‘£200 short’ every month

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Families on low incomes are grappling with a monthly deficit of £200 due to a stagnant housing benefit that doesn’t cover soaring rents, a charity warns.

Housing advisors from Wiltshire Citizens Advice told the BBC that tenants relying on Housing Benefit are facing a severe shortage of rental properties that are covered by it.

View Full Article: Housing Benefit freeze sees tenants falling ‘£200 short’ every month

Rising mortgage rates have reduced landlord earnings by £4,000 on average this year

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords have effectively lost more than £4,000 in earnings per property during the last year thanks to soaring mortgage rates and rising costs.

A landlord taking out a two-year fixed-rate BTL mortgage in June 2022 would have received an average monthly return of £609 from rental income after paying interest, adding up to £7,312 a year, according to personal finance comparison site finder.com.

Taking out that same mortgage in June 2023 would have made 59% less in average monthly returns at just £250, working out at £2,995 – a drop of £4,317 in yearly income.

New deal

The platform compared monthly average buy-to-let mortgage rates, house prices and rent prices to estimate the returns and believes the rising cost of owning a rental property has made it far less appealing for landlords to sign up for a new deal.

Buy-to-let interest rates are still climbing and reached an average of 6.18% in July, while the average UK house price in June was £287,546, according to the latest ONS House Price Index when the average buy-to-let mortgage rate was 5.45%.

As a result, between January and March this year, the value of buy-to-let mortgage lending dropped by 40% to £5.8 billion on the previous quarter while the value of loans granted also dropped by 44%.

The share of homeowner loans granted for buy-to-lets was also just 9.8% of total mortgage lending in Q1, the lowest share since 2011, which suggests that fewer people are looking to invest in the sector, according to Kate Steere (pictured), housing expert at finder.com.

“We’re seeing a trend of landlords pulling out of the buy-to-let market as consecutive base rate hikes have made it unprofitable for them to continue,” says Steere.

“This will have a worrying impact on an already competitive rental market, leaving renters with fewer options and rising costs as they attempt to navigate the cost-of-living crisis.”

Read more about mortgage interest rates.

View Full Article: Rising mortgage rates have reduced landlord earnings by £4,000 on average this year

Unlock Tax Benefits and a Sunny Lifestyle: Introducing Malta’s Global Residency Programme

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Are you a UK property investor on the lookout for smart ways to minimize your tax burden while exploring new horizons? Imagine a life where over 300 days of sunshine, enticing tax benefits, and a remarkable lifestyle converge. Intrigued? Let us introduce you to an exclusive opportunity that could reshape your financial landscape: Malta’s Global Residency Programme (GRP).

View Full Article: Unlock Tax Benefits and a Sunny Lifestyle: Introducing Malta’s Global Residency Programme

Even upmarket landlords face ‘stark choices’ now says leading property figure

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Landlords in the capital’s prime rental sector are facing a stark choice between topping up a rent shortfall or selling up.

Luxury residential property expert, Jo Eccles, reports that highly leveraged landlords are coming under serious cost pressures as fixed rate mortgage deals come to an end. Stress testing by lenders means some are finding they can borrow 30% less than before, forcing them to make up the shortfall or sell.

The founder and MD of Eccord, which manages £1.5 billion worth of residential property in prime central London for portfolio and individual landlords, says: “Those with the financial flexibility are reorganising their finances to pay down debt and raising rents by an average of 15% at renewal, but it isn’t always enough to meet their increased borrowing and service charge costs – which are up 30% in some buildings.”

One landlord has seen his mortgage repayments more than double from £4,000 a month to £9,000 a month and can’t sell due to cladding issues.

Rent increase

“We’ve secured him a significant rent increase of 19% but he has still swung from a monthly surplus to a £2,000 shortfall, which he’s having to personally top up each month.

“This illustrates that the challenges landlords are facing can’t always be resolved with rent increases alone.”

Some now have no choice but to exit the market which will further diminish supply and cause more hardship for tenants, believes Eccord.

“For landlords who are able and committed to remaining in the market long term, we are seeing them review their existing arrangements,” she adds.

“Many are choosing to move away from underperforming letting agents or property managers with high staff turnover, as they recognise the importance of tenant experience now more than ever, if they’re to achieve high rent increases.”

Read more about rising mortgage rates.

View Full Article: Even upmarket landlords face ‘stark choices’ now says leading property figure

Essential Considerations Before Selling Your Rental Properties

admin    Uncategorized     agents

When it comes to the decision of selling your rental properties, your thought process is respected. However, before taking the leap, it’s crucial to delve into some essential aspects that might influence your choice. One such critical factor is Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

View Full Article: Essential Considerations Before Selling Your Rental Properties

Section 21 removal will cause chaos in courts

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A leading industry body is warning the Justice Secretary that the removal of Section 21 will cause harm to the legal system.

Propertymark has written to Alex Chalk about the level of widespread concern from landlords and letting agents about the capacity of the courts to handle possession cases.

View Full Article: Section 21 removal will cause chaos in courts

LANDLORDS – How to survive: By the team with over 200 years of experience in Property and Buy To Let

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Do you want to survive the current market challenges? With the turmoil and the uncertainty in the market for landlords, Property118 has teamed up with Paul Shamplina to put on an event for the 19th of October in Central London

View Full Article: LANDLORDS – How to survive: By the team with over 200 years of experience in Property and Buy To Let

‘HMRC figures show landlord exodus began TWO years ago’, says Savills

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New data analysis confirms a rise in buy-to-let landlords selling properties during the past two years and the potential for more properties to leave the sector.

Savills has number-crunched HMRC figures to reveal that last year’s (2021-22) disposal figures have been revised by 8.5% from 141,000 to 153,000, suggesting that landlords could have been selling up earlier than was previously thought.

There were 151,000 residential disposals in 2022-23, making it the second biggest year on record compared to 2021-22.

Forecasts

The number of homes sold by landlords rose to 25,000 between April and May from 22,000 in February and March, according to forecasts based on an analysis of capital gains tax receipts. In contrast, over the past decade there have been an average of 61,000 disposals each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14.

The past two years have seen a 26.5% increase in the number of residential disposals compared to between 2014-15 and 2019-20.

Sales in the 2022-23 financial year generated £1.83 billion in CGT, as did sales in the 2021-22 financial year which also generated £1.83 billion. This is a significant increase over sales in 2020-21 which generated £1.14 billion.

Disposals

Savills says the revisions to the 2021-22 figures create the possibility that the 2022-23 figures will be revised up next year, making the disposals even higher and the outlined trends stronger.

It adds: “All this points to an increase in buy-to-let landlords selling properties in the past two years and the potential for properties to be leaving the sector.

“It also suggests this trend may have started earlier than previously thought. However, it is not clear if those properties are being bought by other landlords or being taken out of the private rental sector.”

Read more about CGT.

View Full Article: ‘HMRC figures show landlord exodus began TWO years ago’, says Savills

OFFICIAL: Rental property shortage raises rents at fastest rate in seven years

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UK private rental prices increased by 5.3% over the past year – up from 5.2% in the 12 months to June – recording their highest annual rate since 2016.

Rents for new tenancies were up by 5.2% in England, 6.5% in Wales, and 5.7% in Scotland in the year to July, according to the latest ONS data, which shows the highest annual percentage change was in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and London, at 5.5%, while the North East saw the lowest at 4.6%.

Prices in London (which account for almost a third of UK rental expenditure) experienced the highest annual percentage change since 2006, while private rental prices in Northern Ireland increased by 9.2% in the 12 months to May 2023.

The ONS explains that growth in the region has slowed since the peak of 10% in the 12 months to March, but that it remains higher than for other UK countries. 

Pressure

Nathan Emerson, Propertymark CEO (pictured), says the huge disparity in the number of properties available to rent compared to the continuously growing number of renters looking for a home, continues to put pressure on rent prices.

He adds: “UK governments need to urgently address the problem and look to adequately incentivise the provision of desperately needed homes rather than forcing landlords out of the private rented sector with unfair regulatory and financial hurdles.”

Extreme

Price increases in the lettings market are less extreme than last year, believes Gareth Atkins, lettings MD at Institutional PRS and Build to Rent, who says: “We’ve seen expected growth and are now into a more consistent busy market we normally see at this time of year.

“As such, the market will remain highly competitive through the summer. This July, as the seasonal rush began, there was an average of 21 renters registering per each new instruction in London.”

Read more about why there's a shortage of stock.

View Full Article: OFFICIAL: Rental property shortage raises rents at fastest rate in seven years