Homecare maintenance contracts – alternatives to British Gas?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, I’ve had BG boiler plumbing and drains homecare contract cover for some 20 years now for a modest portfolio of London properties and the service has been good – things like appointments or 24 hour service so you can book plumbers in the middle of the night (the only spare time I get).

View Full Article: Homecare maintenance contracts – alternatives to British Gas?

Will student tenants leave the utility bill?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, my question is, I have a buy to let property, and have noticed my tenants’ gas and electric bill is outstanding at £2,600.

They are overseas students so when they disappear will I, the landlord, be responsible for paying it?

View Full Article: Will student tenants leave the utility bill?

House sale profits exceed £100k for the first time

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Despite a slowing market and a recent drop in prices, it has been revealed that house sellers are racking up more than £100k in profit for the first time.

The figures from Hamptons show that for 94% of sellers who sold up last year

View Full Article: House sale profits exceed £100k for the first time

Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) Landlord tax planning strategies – PPN Stratford

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Our Hon. Legal Counsel, Mark Smith, Head of Chambers at Cotswold Barristers, will be presenting in person an overview of several landlord tax strategies at the Progressive Property Network Stratford meeting Tuesday 10th January.

Workable, 19th Floor 1 Westfield Avenue

View Full Article: Meet Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) Landlord tax planning strategies – PPN Stratford

Helping homeless to move on could be right up landlords’ street

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Landlords are being encouraged to donate the addresses of their vacant properties as part of a unique bid to stem homelessness.

Dreamt up by architect Chris Hildrey, ProxyAddress allows people to securely borrow a stable, donated ‘proxy’ address duplicated from an existing property. The scheme particularly aims to target the thousands of vacant properties in the UK, owned by councils, housing associations, developers, and individuals – including 270,000 long-term empty homes. 

Local services

Hildrey says the estimated 320,000 people with no fixed abode can’t access banks, benefits, GPs, libraries, and local services. But by using ProxyAddress, the virtual copy of a physical address is attached to the person, not the place, so it can move with them wherever they go. It also doesn’t impact on the physical address’ post, credit rating, or value – or the residents who might be living there. Addresses initially last six months with the option to extend the arrangement if necessary.

“Developers can have months before their properties are built and lived in, while the addresses of long-term vacant properties can also be put to good use,” he tells LandlordZONE. “We’ve already had a number of small private landlords as well as larger companies offering us addresses.”

De facto ID

Hildrey explains that it’s not about using the proxy address to physically receive post but as a de facto form of ID. “It’s about reclaiming independence and helping people get over those hurdles. Once someone has the address, they can get a job, a bank account and then save up for the deposit for a rental property.”

ProxyAddress boasts a 95% success rate in its initial pilot of 50 homeless people in Lewisham, and Hildrey cites examples of those who’ve found work and a private tenancy as a result. It’s now expanding to five new locations including Glasgow, with the aim of rolling the scheme out nationally – and even internationally.

View Full Article: Helping homeless to move on could be right up landlords’ street

Important news about property investment in 2023

admin    Uncategorized     agents

In 2023, many investors will choose to give up, and sell up, before they run through their cash savings entirely, and that’s without mentioning the recession, falling house prices (coming soon), and rising rent prices (happening already).

What does this mean for property investors?

View Full Article: Important news about property investment in 2023

December dip makes small dent in rising house prices

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Average house prices fell by -1.5% in December, while the annual growth rate dropped from +4.6% to +2.0%, according to the Halifax House Price Index.

A typical property now costs £281,272 – down from £285,425 in November – following six months of rapid growth during the first six months of 2022, before cost-of-living pressures, coupled with rising interest rates, began to impact household finances and demand.

Greatest slowdown

Over the last year, the North East saw the greatest slowdown, with annual house prices rising by +6.5%, compared to +10.5% the previous month. Eastern England, the West Midlands and Wales experienced the smallest falls in growth rate.

Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, says these trends need to be viewed in the context of historic prices. “The cost of the average home remains high – greater than it was at the start of 2022 and over 11% more than house prices at the beginning of 2021,” she says. “As we enter 2023, the housing market will continue to be impacted by the wider economic environment and, as buyers and sellers remain cautious, we expect there will be a reduction in both supply and demand overall, with house prices forecast to fall around 8% over the course of the year.”

Underlying demand

However, estate agency Chestertons believes there won’t be the widely anticipated drop in values this year. Instead, prices will see only a slight dip before a 1.3% increase in England and Wales and rapid growth of up to 10% in London in 2024. The firm says strong underlying demand for homes combined with fewer-than-expected forced sales will cushion prices.

Sebastian Verity, head of research, explains: “We expect 2023 to be characterised by a slower property market during which around 25% fewer properties will come onto the market and change hands compared to a ‘normal’ year.”

View Full Article: December dip makes small dent in rising house prices

Landlords: Give this article about future renting problems to your tenants

admin    Uncategorized     agents

As the headline says, landlords who want to explain just how difficult life is right now to their tenants should give them this article. For tenants who believe we should have a rent freeze and all landlords are evil, then be prepared for a shock.

View Full Article: Landlords: Give this article about future renting problems to your tenants

Council tax liability?

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Hello, My tenant had a two years AST but she left after 18 months. The council made her liable for council tax and she appealed. I was not involved in the tribunal hearing.

She won the appeal saying the landlord agreed to end the tenancy

View Full Article: Council tax liability?

Business rates revaluation 2023 will hit small retailers hardest

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All non-domestic properties usually have their business property Rateable Value (RV) revalued every five years by the Valuation Office Agency. The next revaluation is due to take place on 1 April 2023.

What is Rateable Value?

The value is determined by the Valuation Office Agency, a branch of HM Revenue and Customs HMRC). The rateable value is based on an assessment of the annual rent the property would rent for if it were available to let on the open market at the fixed valuation date.

The rates payable are calculated by applying a multiplier, before any relief is applied. The multiplier is set each financial year by the government. In 2022 the multiplier for premises over £51,000 rateable value is 51.2p.

Until the revaluation 31 March 2023, the rateable values will be based on a valuation date of 1 April 2015 and from April 2023, the rateable values will be based on a valuation date of 1 April 2021.

It’s important for business rates payers to submit your rental information to make sure your business rates are accurate. HMRC says that revaluation is not designed to raise extra revenue overall, but the changes can mean significant changes for individual districts and properties.

A long awaited reform

Retailers have welcomed long-awaited business rates reform which is widely expected to reduce retail ratable values throughout England and Wales by around 10% when the changes come into effect on 1 April 2023. Rates will varying across different geographies, sectors and retail categories and it is expected many large retailers will see big reductions.

The changes will potentially save some of the large retailers many millions of pounds and coming at a time when other costs of occupation, particularly energy cost rises, this will be very welcome. According to property agents Savills, the revaluation will favour larger stores – these are likley to see rates reductions in the region of one-third, whereas with smaller stores any reductions will be more likely under 10 per cent.

The news has generally been met with positivity, and as a consequence, “we have seen an up-tick in landlord and tenant activity since the announcement, with expansionist retail occupiers gaining confidence despite ongoing economic and occupational headwinds,” says Savills.

Tom Whittington, Director, Commercial Research at Savills says:

“The revaluation favours larger stores (> 1,850 m2), which will see rates reduce by more than a third, compared to small stores (< 750 m2), with reductions of 8%. This should benefit prime units for fashion and comparison goods and has been met with enthusiasm within the shopping centre market, where stores with larger footprints tend to account for a greater proportion of revenue than non-prime high street units. The challenged department store market has been granted significant respite with a 30–40% reduction; a silver lining that could support a recovery for those operators still active.”

Meanwhile agents, Colliers International’s Head of Business Rates Team, John Webber says:

“Colliers has been highly vocal in its call for reform of the business rates system, which unfairly penalises the retail sector who pay over a quarter of the total £26 billion (net) business rates tax bill, but whose gross value is less than 10% of the UK economy. High business rates have been cited as one of the key factors in the decline of many of the UK’s high streets.”

Some key points highlighted by Savills:

The key points are:

• Falling RVs for much of the sector nationally, reducing by an average of 10% for retail and 2.2% for leisure, but with far more significant changes apparent when drilling into specific assets and locations.
• No downwards phasing of liabilities – this means that a property will have its entire reduction in rates payable from day one. This was unexpected but very good news. Increases will remain phased.
• Rate reductions appear to favour larger units and prime retail and leisure locations, with some off-pitch, local and independents biased locations significantly worse off.
• However, a continuing benefit to small businesses is the 50% relief being given to retail, leisure and hospitality occupiers in 2022 as a result of coming out of Covid. This will be increased to 75% relief in 2023, but subject to a cap of £110,000 per business (not per property)
• A cap on the annual multiplier – it was set to increase by inflation (10.1%), but for 2023–24, it will be frozen at the current level.
• Encouragingly, we’re seeing deals that were teetering on the edge now progressing as a consequence to lower RVs and savings softening the blow of other increases to occupational costs.
• The relief felt by retailers is tempered for those exposed to large tracts of logistics space, which are seeing an average rates increase of 38%. However, most retail brands’ store portfolios significantly outweigh their storage space.

*Transitional relief traditionally aims to phase in changes in liability so that an occupier facing a large increase in rateable value doesn’t immediately bear the full brunt of an overnight increase in liability. However, this usually works two ways: While the transitional relief limits increases, it also limits decreases. The treasury says it should be fiscally neutral so that downward transition pays for upward transition, and therefore affecting individual businesses differently. The good news is that downward liability phasing will no longer apply this time.

What will be the impact of the 2023 revaluation on different parts of retail and leisure?

Savills has concerns that the benefits of the 2023 revaluation appear to favour larger, prime and mainstream retailers, so there is risk at local high street level. Secondary or non-prime retail may have received a bit of a raw deal as some of the largest increases that Savills has identified are in convenience, retail services and independent-biased locations. These are categories that the agent has championed as “important differentiators and a potential antidote in ‘failing’ high streets and shopping centres.”

“Some businesses that typically serve communities and have proven resilient during the last few years against a backdrop of severe headwinds may now find themselves being punished for their success. Yet the backdrop to challenging market conditions and oversupply remain ever-present.

“Given rising occupational costs, any increase in business rates risks market failure, which would speed up the urgency for repurposing in some markets. Part of the rationale for seemingly high increases for smaller businesses could be from the lack of adequate evidence or previously low rates being rebalanced. Even if deemed ‘fair’, the scale of the uplift in some areas could be extremely damaging. The counter-argument to this, however, is that small businesses continue to benefit from rates relief, at least in the short term,” says Savills.

Business Rates revaluation 2023

View Full Article: Business rates revaluation 2023 will hit small retailers hardest