Interest rates have gone up, but here’s why Landlords don’t need to panic

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords have been under a lot of pressure recently, with interest rates going up, house prices dropping, and changes in government, anxiety levels have been at an all-time high. But despite the current state of affairs, we still have options to help us get through this patch without panicking.

For many Landlords, selling has been the best option. This doesn’t mean that they’ve had to say goodbye to their entire portfolio, most landlords have opted to sell the majority and keep a few core profitable buy-to-lets ticking over to weather the storm.

Market worries

One of the concerns some landlords have had with this option is a) they’re worried what price they’ll be able to get for their portfolios in this current market and b) what to do about a market which appears to have less buyer interest than back in June.

As specialists, and trusted partners of LandlordZONE, this is where we’re here to take away the stress. At Landlord Sales Agency, we’re experts in selling landlord portfolios, no matter what condition, and no matter whether there’s tenants in, out, or renovations, refurbs and certificates that need doing or getting.

We’re also aware of the current market, which is why our team of specialists have the best strategy to get you the highest price possible so you can take a step back, and recoup the costs before next year’s economic uncertainty.

Most of our landlords are happy to work with 85% of the current market value, and for this we take the whole portfolio off your hands and deal with every single issue to get it sold within 7 to 28 days. At first glance this might seem conservative, however it’s a huge win when Estate Agents are unlikely to sell for more, and if they can, by the time they sell the market will have dropped again.

Put simply, 85% of 100% value in this current market is the highest you’ll get compared to waiting until next year and potentially getting 85% of 90% when the market drops.

Added to this, our formula 1 style team of portfolio exit specialists are here to help with whatever you need, and ensure that everything runs smoothly and fast so you can sit back and relax knowing you’ve got a great price for your buy-to-lets and zero hassle to worry about from this point onwards:

• We have a list of buyers who will buy your properties without having to evict tenants. This dramatically cuts down the time it takes to sell, plus means that you can continue collecting rent all the way up until the actual sale. For those properties that require evictions, we personally help your tenants relocate, or help them financially to find a new place.

• No matter how many houses you have, or in what condition, we’ll take them all off your hands, and get you the highest price for your portfolios in less than 21 days. We sell entire property portfolios, or partial portfolios in bulk in one go.

• We’ve got an extensive list of over 30,000 private buyers and relationships with the top property buying companies. Most of our portfolios sell within a week which is exactly what landlords need right now. We simply don’t have time to waste.

We sell properties either in one go as a full portfolio or as single units, depending on your instruction. Unlike traditional estate agents, or other property buying companies, both methods are extremely fast. We work quickly to collect information about rent, tenant history, running costs and ensure all certificates are in place to guarantee the sale is not delayed.

If any certificates are missing, we have a team of engineers, builders and experts who will get all the certificates and paperwork done for you. The stress is completely removed out of the sale, and seller involvement is kept to a minimum so you can relax knowing it’s in swift and extremely capable hands.

Furthermore, we take our promise to ‘solve any landlord problem’ so seriously that, as a result of the number of enquiries we’ve received from landlords with cash flow problems, we can also use the equity tied into property to offer an interest-free loan of up to £20,000 to be repaid on completion.

We know what it’s like right now to be a landlord who needs to sell, and we’re here to help.

We’re so confident in what we do, we can afford to go the extra mile to really help landlords get through this tough patch, and get the highest possible price for their property portfolio.

So if you want to exit the market, talk to us today.

Contact Landlord Sales Agency

View Full Article: Interest rates have gone up, but here’s why Landlords don’t need to panic

Cost of living crisis – how landlords can protect their income

admin    Uncategorized     agents

With the cost of living crisis happening in the UK, some tenants are likely to find it more difficult to meet their rental payments. This means it’s essential for landlords to take steps to protect their income during these tough times. Here we share seven tips on how landlords can do this.

Tenant affordability checks

Make sure the tenant you have already or are about to take on can afford the property and keep up regular dialogue with them. If you work with a qualified letting agent they will be used to checking out tenants to make sure they have the income needed to cover the rent.

Keep your property in great condition

To secure the best rental income and reduce any void periods when the property isn’t let, make sure your property is in great condition and really appeals to what local tenants want.

No deposit option

If you haven’t already, it is worth comparing taking a deposit versus offering tenants a ‘no deposit’ option. This can help you access more tenants, some of whom may have the income to support the rent, but not necessarily the savings to pay for a deposit upfront.

With our no deposit option at Leaders, it means landlords will be indemnified for the equivalent of 7 weeks’ rent, whereas if you take a standard deposit, that’s capped at 5 weeks.

Regular rent reviews

It’s key to make sure you regularly review rents to maximise your investment without overstretching your tenant’s affordability. Not choosing to increase rents for existing tenants, especially if they stay for some years, can oddly cause problems later on.

Not only could you be losing money that could be spent on maintenance or energy efficiency measures, but from a tenant’s perspective, when they do eventually look for a new property, they may feel that rents have ‘skyrocketed’ in comparison to what they’re currently paying.

Reduce risk with landlord insurance

You should purchase landlord insurance in case the worst happens to cover any problems, whether this is from something like a fire or flood, to damage caused by tenants or their visitors.

It’s not just food and energy bills that are rising, the cost of repairs to properties has also gone up and it may be a shock if you have to pay out unexpectedly.

Expert tax advice

It’s always important to check you are paying the minimum amount of tax you need. Property tax is complicated and isn’t separate to your other earnings, so do seek expert property tax advice this year to make sure you have reduced your tax bill by all the costs you can.

If you want advice on protecting your landlord income in these uncertain times, get in touch with your local Leaders branch.

View Full Article: Cost of living crisis – how landlords can protect their income

Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) Landlord tax planning strategies – pin Canary Wharf

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Our Hon. Legal Counsel, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers, will be presenting an overview of several landlord tax strategies at the pin meeting Thursday 3rd November.

The Canary Wharf meeting will be held at The Hilton London Canary Wharf

View Full Article: Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) Landlord tax planning strategies – pin Canary Wharf

Live-in landlord advice?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hi All, I recently purchased my first property and decided to rent a few rooms out to help cover the cost of running the place. I’m a live-in landlord and registered to vote there, this is in the Portsmouth area.

View Full Article: Live-in landlord advice?

Bridging loan transactions hit record high

admin    Uncategorized     agents

A total of £214.7 million in bridging loans was transacted by contributors during the third quarter – the third consecutive quarterly increase and a 20% rise on Q2, research reveals.

The latest Bridging Trends figures show this is the highest contributor lending amount since they began recording data in 2015.

View Full Article: Bridging loan transactions hit record high

LAW: Landlord fails to win costs off solicitor and tenant after ‘hopeless’ RRO claim

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The landlord of a charitable building has failed in its unusual attempt to win costs from both a tenant who tried to claim a rent repayment order (RRO) and his legal firm.

Governors of Sutton’s Hospital in The Charterhouse said tenant Merryck Lowe had acted unreasonably in making his application (he had claimed that the landlord operated an unlicensed HMO and had also harassed him) because it was “hopeless”.

The case is particularly unusual because The Charterhouse is a ‘rambling nest’ of medieval and Renaissance buildings with an educational, military and residential background near London’s shimmering skyscrapers. As well as being a tourist attraction and film location, its mission is to provide a home, a community and lifelong care for older people in need.

Its governors also sought to win a ‘wasted costs’ order against solicitors JMW which it said had acted negligently and/or unreasonably.

A tribunal dismissed Lowe’s original HMO claims in July 2021, finding that the building in London’s Charterhouse Square, in which his flat was situated, was not an HMO, and that his claim relating to harassment hadn’t been made in the correct timeframe.

£28,000 costs claim

In the most recent tribunal hearing, the governors of Sutton’s Hospital argued that this application should never have been brought and sought costs totalling £28,009.

While it acknowledged that his solicitor should not be held to have acted improperly, unreasonably or negligently “simply because he acts for a party who pursues a claim which is plainly doomed to fail,” it said JMW had conducted the case in an unreasonable manner.

Judge Robert Latham said: “There was an arguable case that the flat was an HMO. Even had we been satisfied that the case was hopeless, we would not have concluded that it had been an abuse of process for the applicant to bring [an] application.”

He dismissed the application for penal costs against the tenant and wasted costs against JMW, and added: “We are not satisfied that either the applicant has acted unreasonably in bringing this claim, or that either the applicant or JMW have acted unreasonably in the conduct of this application.”

Pic credit: Ingleby Trice.

View Full Article: LAW: Landlord fails to win costs off solicitor and tenant after ‘hopeless’ RRO claim

LATEST: Nationwide reports ‘sharp slowdown’ in property price growth

admin    Uncategorized     agents

October saw a sharp slowdown in annual house price growth to 7.2% from 9.5% in September, reports Nationwide, as the average house price fell 0.9% to £268,282.

This was the first monthly drop since July 2021 after the market was sent reeling by the mini-Budget, which led to a sharp rise in market interest rates. Higher borrowing costs have added to stretched housing affordability at a time when household finances are already under pressure from high inflation, explains chief economist Robert Gardner.

Jonathan Hopper (pictured), CEO of Garrington Property Finders, believes the market will continue to feel the aftershock of the mini-Budget for months. “Fewer mortgages are available, with interest rates having gone up in an express lift, rather than the gradual escalator we’d been expecting,” he says.

Asking prices are being reduced in many areas, and sellers who just months ago could take their pick of offers are now biting off the hand of a strong, proceedable buyer – even those asking for a price reduction, adds Hopper. “In some areas, sellers’ fears of declining values have triggered a surge in supply, bringing forward the traditional spring bounce in new stock for sale by up to five months.”

New buyer enquiries almost dried up as uncertainty about the future direction of mortgage repayments added to cost-of-living concerns, says Jeremy Leaf former RICS residential chairman. 

“Activity has slowly started to resume since as mortgage rates began to stabilise and are now starting to fall.

“Buyers are negotiating hard as they strive to take advantage of good mortgage offers while prices continue to be supported by lack of stock,” says Leaf.

View Full Article: LATEST: Nationwide reports ‘sharp slowdown’ in property price growth

HMO Leasing / management recommendations?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, I have a six bed / three bathroom property near Wolverhampton which I am looking at turning into an HMO.

I am looking for a company to take on the management of this HMO with a guaranteed rent including covering for void periods

Does anyone have advice or experience of this or recommendations of companies you have used please?

View Full Article: HMO Leasing / management recommendations?

Landlord that ‘vindictively’ evicted tenants accused of ignoring tribunal

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Former tenants of billionaire landlord John Christodolou have accused him of flouting their successful rent repayment orders.

Despite being ordered to pay back-rent to three tenants in his Stoke Newington block, they believe the Monaco-based landlord – one of Britain’s richest men – is trying to avoid the penalty, reports The Times.  

Jordan Osserman (pictured) and his flatmates were awarded the repayment orders in July 2021 when they told a first-tier tribunal how Christodolou had failed to license an HMO in Simpson House, Somerford Grove (main pictured), and neglected to install fire safety measures. They also reported a lack of heating and hot water, poor building maintenance and lack of pest control measures.

Section 21 notices

Prior to the case, the tenants were approaching the end of their tenancy, but instead of going into a rolling basis or a contract for a new tenancy, they received a Section 21 eviction notice, which they believe was also sparked by their request for a block-wide reduction in rent during Covid.

In June this year, an upper tribunal increased the amount from £18,400 to £22,500, when the judge said that they had been “vindictively” evicted, adding that “the landlord’s business practices involved a systematic or institutional neglect of regulatory requirements”.

The three tenants submitted a statutory demand with a deadline for payment of 29^th September but haven’t heard back from the landlord.

However, following their successful case, some 20 other rent repayment orders, collectively worth up to £500,000, are due to be heard.

A few months ago, the tenants at Somerford Grove were asked to pay their rent to the new company which owns the block – Simpson Assets 3 – which they found out is ultimately owned by Christodoulou. Osserman said: “They came up with a new strategy which is that they are not going to pay.”

Read advice: How to handle the S21 notice process.

View Full Article: Landlord that ‘vindictively’ evicted tenants accused of ignoring tribunal

October sees a sharp slowdown in house prices

admin    Uncategorized     agents

The annual UK house price growth slowed to 7.2% in October, from 9.5% in September, Nationwide reports.

Its house price index reveals that prices fall 0.9% month-on-month – the first monthly decline since July 2021.

Robert Gardner

View Full Article: October sees a sharp slowdown in house prices