Last week, London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, renewed his calls for rent controls to be implemented in the capital. Currently, that’s not something under mayoral control, but Khan wants the Government to make it possible that he, or indeed his successors, can impose rent controls. As rents seem to be steadying or even declining in some […]
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Imagine sending two landlords into the same property and asking each of them to compile an inventory. They’ll come up with different results. One may produce something quite detailed, documenting every single item, while the other takes a more superficial approach, listing just the key features. It’s obvious that the second landlord’s technique might cause […]
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Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has unveiled new plans to reform the UK housing market. Speaking in the House of Commons on the 7th Feb, Javid presented plans to reform the UK’s “broken” housing market through the aptly entitled white paper Fixing our Broken Housing Market. As expected, the reforms focus on stimulating UK housing supply, […]
Read MoreAs individuals, we’re all getting older – hopefully – but it seems that the general trend amongst landlords is the same. In 2004, the London School of Economics (LSE) conducted a survey. Twelve years later they repeated it and the differences are striking. In 2004, 24 per cent of buy-to-let landlords were aged 55 or […]
Read MoreFollowing persistent cuts, interest rates on buy-to-let mortgages are now at an all time low. UK landlords are taking full advantage… 2016 has been a year of ups and downs for UK landlords. First they found out their tax bills would climb. Then they were hit with stamp duty hikes. Then the public voted to […]
Read MoreRenting to students was traditionally seen as a no go area for many landlords. Students were often viewed by many landlords as a high-risk tenant with the potential to cause trouble. However, the steady growth in the student buy-to-let sector over recent years has many landlords reassessing this situation. Student numbers are at an all […]
Read MoreVoid periods are inevitable. A void period when your property is unoccupied with no rental income will happen to most landlords during the lifetime of their investment. Yet excessive or lengthy void periods can significantly impact the viability of your investment. Many property experts agree that landlords should never take for granted that their property […]
Read MoreSo has the market spoken? The recent buy-to-let market’s dramatic rise and fall with the introduction of new stamp duty rates for landlords certainly indicates it has. Whilst we are just getting our heads around the impending new tax arrangements, aspiring landlords or those seeking to increase their portfolio will now have to contend with […]
Read MoreAt LegalforLandlords, we’re just as happy to work with new landlords who have a single property to rent as we are with experienced landlords with big portfolios. If you’re just dipping your toe in the waters of buy to let, though, you may be wondering where to start. Choosing your own home is one thing, […]
Read MoreLandlords who have to apply to the county court to evict a tenant who won’t leave their property have to pay court fees for the privilege. Those court fees have recently been increased by 25% without notice. And yes, unfortunately the implementation is instant. We’ve reported recently on the quickest way to evict a tenant […]
Read MoreThe average UK income hasn’t been rising at the same rate as the cost of rent for tenants that want to buy their first property, and the gap between those two figures has reached its highest point so far since the recession. New day = new data. The Office of National Statistics and the […]
Read MoreThe market is continuing to rumble and ripple with talk of the effects of the stamp duty surcharge that is coming into force on 1 April 2016. We recently reported on how landlords with a smaller portfolio are likely to be more hard done by as a result of the surcharge than those with larger […]
Read MoreTo rent or not to rent? Historically, the ambition has been to get on the property ladder as soon as possible, but the constant rise in house prices makes this far easier said than done. The rise in house prices increases the number of people renting, which drives up rental costs, which makes it even […]
Read MoreCrowdfunding site The House Crowd recently published research suggesting that buy-to-let investors see 2016 as a negative year for their investments because of the legal changes to the sector. So much so that a fifth of them claim they intend to sell their buy-to-let properties this year – and perhaps reconsider their retirement plans. It […]
Read MoreMonday 1 February marked the first day of the new Right to Right regime being rolled out across England following a trial period in the West Midlands, which means letting landlords and their agents now have legal obligations they must adhere to – or face a hefty penalty. Right to Rent was introduced by the […]
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