Landlords speak: Brexit is still a big worry for over half of you, our poll reveals

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Results are in from the latest LandlordZone poll of our readers and forum users to find gauge your attitudes to the year ahead.

Despite estate agents heralding a ‘Boris
bounce’ in the housing market, landlords believe our EU exit will make their
lives harder.

A poll of
Landlord Zone subscribers revealed that they fear Brexit could hurt supply and
demand.

We posed the
question: ‘Now that the dust has settled, do you think Brexit will have a
positive or negative impact on landlords in the UK?’

A majority –
57.9% – said it would have a negative impact, while only 42.1% believed it
would have a positive effect.

With
depressed house prices and more landlords quitting (according to the latest
ARLA Propertymark survey), the sector is coming to terms with tax relief cuts
and the Tenant Fees ban.

Many
landlords are also reluctant to expand their portfolio. However, in an uncertain
property market, fewer sellers could direct many people into the private rental
sector, while the ‘Boris bounce’ has put a spring in the step of estate agents
nationwide.

That’s the view of Paul Shamplina, founder of
Landlord Action, who believes the Conservatives’ win will spark strong demand
for rental properties and growing rents.

“During the run-up to the election, landlords
were hugely worried about Labour or the Lib Dems getting in,” he says. “All I
was hearing was doom and gloom and that they were planning to exit the market,
so landlords breathed a sigh of relief at the election result.”

But he adds: “The
only problem Brexit might bring is if there are fewer EU tenants to generate
demand. We also await the result of the Court of Appeal case on Right to Rent
to find out whether the government pulls the scheme.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Landlords speak: Brexit is still a big worry for over half of you, our poll reveals | LandlordZONE.

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The Big Question: Should ‘to let’ boards be banned?

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Camden Council is one of the latest in a long line of local authorities planning to ban all ‘to let’ boards from rented homes. The council is following in the footsteps of those in Newcastle, Lincoln and Durham to impose the bans, which have been in place in some towns and cities, including historic areas […]

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Landlords contribute £3.61bn annually into local economies

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Aldermore’s new buy to let research2, surveying 1,000 UK-based landlords, highlights the important contribution landlords make to their local economy with eight in ten (81%) turning to a local tradesperson when their property requires work or renovation. Landlords spent on average £1,443 in the last 12 months on services such as plumbers

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Pockets where rental yields have lifted post tenant fees ban

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The latest research by lettings management platform, Howsy, has looked at which pockets of the buy-to-let market have seen the biggest uplifts in rental yields since the tenant fee ban came into force as part of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 back in June of last year.

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Today in politics: CMP, RLA research, Universal Credit and housing benefit

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We look at plans to extend the CMP deadline for letting agents yet again, debates on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit and research from the RLA and LGA. CMP regulations published  The draft Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents (Approval and Designation of Schemes) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 and explanatory note have now been published. Rules were […]

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Newbie renting to Universal Credit claimants?

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I have been browsing this site and found it to be very useful with lots of handy information and a great bunch of valued members – so I decided to join as well! I am having a few issues (with the agent &

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Nation’s most valuable property postcodes revealed

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The latest research from estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has looked at which postcodes across the nation are the most valuable when it comes to the average price paid by UK homebuyers in the last year.  

GetAgent.co.uk
compiled data from Land Registry property transactions over the last year,
breaking each sale down to postcode level to see which two to four digits had
the highest property pedigree.  

London

Of course, the capital tops the list and in
fact, the top 22 most valuable postcodes are all located in London across the
boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.  

The cream of the crop is W1J, where property
sold prices averaged a respectable £7.6m over the last year. SW1A follows with
an average sold price of £5.5m, with W1S (£4.3m), W1K (£4.1m) and SW1X (£4m)
also amongst the most prestigious.

Outside of London

While the capital dominates there are postcode
pockets outside of London where the average sold price is £1m plus. GU25 in
Surrey is the most expensive property postcode (just) outside of the M25.
Property sold prices in the area averaged £1.5m last year placing it in the mix
with the capital’s big hitters.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this exclusive
property price club is restricted to the South, but you would be mistaken.
Manchester’s M2 postcode flies the flag for the North, with an average sold
price of £1.3m.

Buckinghamshire’s HP9 is the only other
postcode where sold prices have averaged over £1m in the last year at
£1,089,664.  

At the other end of the scale, Stockton’s TS2
ranks as the most affordable postcode with an average sold price of just
34,000, with 40 other postcodes also seeing the average property price come in
under the £100k mark.  

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk,
Colby Short, commented:

“Apparently there’s been a Brexit inspired
market slowdown? Although someone clearly forgot to inform homebuyers in these
pricey postcodes, with the average selling price remaining at a very healthy
level indeed.  

When it comes to the prices being paid for the
property in these postcodes it boils down to two things. Prestige and supply.
Well to do homebuyers want the prestige of living in one of these well-renowned
postcodes but unfortunately, there’s only a finite supply of homes available
within them.  

Therefore when one does hit the market, not
only does it hold its value pretty much regardless of wider market conditions,
but the chances of two or more buyers running the price up in a bidding war are
also high.  

Who would have thought four little letters
could have such an impact on property prices?” 

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Nation’s most valuable property postcodes revealed | LandlordZONE.

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Low LTV costs?

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I have two BTL interest only mortgage, which are coming to an end and I need to find another provider.

Unfortunately, the LTV has changed considerably as the flats have reduced in value and in order to find another decent mortgage rate I will have to reduce the mortgage amount by £65000 from my savings to get the LTV to 75%.

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Will self-managing landlords ever embrace tech?

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Small fortunes have been spent trying to persuade self-managing landlords to use online platforms, but are they really needed? We asked one tech CEO to make his elevator pitch.

Hundreds of millions of
pounds have been spent developing online tech to help landlords manage their
properties direct.

And this outpouring of
investor cash appears to be working. When LandlordZone sat down with a dozen
landlords last week to talk to them about their thoughts on the property
market, many but not all had used tech in one form or another to manage their
tenancies or businesses.

We sat down with Calum
Brennan, CEO of England’s largest and oldest online lettings platform
Howsy.co.uk, to find out if all this tech has a future or whether it’s just a
passing tech fad.

What advantages does tech
offer landlords?

Brennan says he started up
Howsy because he believes data can be used to make renting better and, for
example, accurately price properties when they are listed and therefore help
‘shift them quicker’.
But Howsy’s tech can also complete some slightly more Orwellian feats including
predicting when a tenant is going to default on a rent payment, and whether a
landlord should repair or replace a boiler, for example.
“That’s what got me excited,” he says.

Landlord acceptance

Brennan says it used to be
difficult to get landlords to accept tech, but claims it’s getting easier as
they begin to use comparable ‘disruptor’ platforms such as Uber and become
familiar with the advantages of online.

“I recently moved to a small
town near our new Coventry customer service centre and found that I could use a
laundry app to get my clothes dry cleaned; something that would have been
unimaginable five years ago,” he says.

Costs

Brennan says Howsy’s tech enables it to hugely increase the margins that it makes from each property compared to a traditional letting agent and therefore this is passed on to the landlord as a lower fee.

Don’t landlords like local?

“Local expert agents have
much to offer but their service levels and quality can vary from town to town
or area to area, whereas our tech offers a consistent service and a national
brand regardless of where it’s delivered,” he says.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Will self-managing landlords ever embrace tech? | LandlordZONE.

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HMO Landlord Defeats VOA in Land Tribunal Ruling on Banding Individual HMO Rooms for Council Tax

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We published an article a few weeks ago by Andrew Roberts from The Great Property Meet which asked our community for help and guidance for one of his Members in preparation for a Land Tribunal hearing (article link here).

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