Landlords Can Be ID Fraud Victims

There was an excellent programme on BBC1 about ID fraud last night.
What it did not say is that landlords are particularly at risk if they fail to ensure that all utility bills and other personal correspondence are always re-directed to their own homes from any accommodation they let out.
Documents like utility bills and bank statements can be used by an ID thief to set up an account in your name and destroy your credit rating or to steal money direct from your account.
Houses that have been converted into flats are a really big problem because they usually don't have secure post boxes for residents.
All too often post in these types of properties is left in the hallway for anyone to pick up.
Often the flats will be rented out and there is a rapid turn over of tenants and other occupiers, thus increasing the risk.
As well as being at risk from other existing flat occupiers, any former occupier can easily copy the front door key (or not return it when they leave) then get in and steal post.

Every Landlord Should Keep Up to Date and Read These

Sometimes, I'm astounded at how many landlords never read up on their subject -and these are the landlords who always have problems.
So what's the best way to keep up to date about property?
First read a good book.
There are three good books on buy to let.
First, there is my book "Successful Property Letting" which now is the UK's top selling property book on Amazon.co.uk. (You can also get it at my site www.lettingfocus.com -just click on the picture of the book and a link takes you through to amazon.)
There are now two other good ones too - One is by Melanie Bien and the other is the Which? Guide by Kate Faulkner.
And you should read a good newspaper too.
The papers I always read are:
1) The Independent on Wednesday and Saturday
2) The Times "Bricks and Mortar" on Friday
3) The Guardian on Saturday - even though their writers there are pretty anti private landlord.
All three have regular stuff on buy to let and the Indy and Guardian are also very good on personal finance in general.
For me as a buy to let expert if it's not in one of these papers, its probably not worth knowing about.
Other than that, all serious property buy to let investors in the UK should be a member of a professional landlords association. Fees are under £100 and you get so much for the money.
I'm a member of the National Landlords Association - and when I started off I found that their helpline is invaluable and well worth the fee on its own. Other associations like the NFRL and the RLA are said to be very good too. Back to main site: www.lettingfocus.com
Copyright: D. Lawrenson 2007.

At Last Lenders have Been Told Off On Mortgage Closing Fees

Some good news from the regulators.
At last the mortgage lenders have been told that they cannot impose fees on customers when they close a mortgage that are out of all proportion to the cost of administering that action nor raise closing fees far above what was originally agreed in their contract with their customer.
About time too!
The way has also been left open to people who have had to pay unusually high costs in the past to make a claim too - as long as they have the documentation to prove that they were unreasonably overcharged.
Just a footnote though. This change has nothing to do with Early Redemption Penalties (ERCs) - thsee are another matter where you are on your own.
On ERCs lenders can and will still be able to charge what they like. After all, they have to make up for those headline grabbing low rates somehow.
Back to main site: www.lettingfocus.com
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2007

Insurance for Buy To Let

I was quoted in yesterday's "Sunday Times" by in house column writer Rosie Millard - see link.
The article was about whether it was worth getting specialist landlords insurance - which, in my view, is essential if you let out property.
It was a good article though I had reservations about some of the things that were said. But hey, that's journalism!
On a connected issue, a friend asked me if its ever getting insurance to protect the rent in the event of tenant default.
My experience is "Yes, if you can afford it."
However, the last time I looked the cost was about 3 to 4% of the rental income but cover only kicked in after 2 months unpaid rent and was limited to 12 months in total.
Also, in my experience (with the provider I looked at anyway), none of my tenants would have scored high enough on the credit score to have qualified for the cover. And yet none of those tenants who I took on anyway ever defaulted.
Different providers may have less stringent rules on the kind of tenants they accept to cover, but my experience was that the tenants would have to be very blue chip indeed to have been covered under that particular scheme.
If you are a provider of such insurance and your requirements are less tight, do let me know and I'll happily put you to the test.
Copyright D. Lawrenson 2007 Backto site:www.lettingfocus.com