LettingFocus

New Blogs and Blog Posts - Look Out for LettingFocus's New Posts

2010-04-30T10:04:00.005+01:00

Dear Readers,

We are moving our blog postings over to a new platform on Wordpress and away from Blogger, whose owners, Google, no longer seem to like the idea of people using Blogger to post and then uploading them via FTP up to their own websites (as I do).

Google say they are still happy for us writers to publish our musings, but from tomorrow it will have to be on their own site, blogger.com/XXXXX

As an author, I'm well aware of how Google operates a free and easy attitude to copyright - and routinely ignores the rights of authors like me, so I'm sorry, but I won't be playing their game.

Instead, I plan to post our new Blogs onto the Wordpress platform, which we will then upload onto our site (much as we do now) and my techie expert Tim is working on this as we speak.

All being well, you won't see any change at all and the new posts I write in the future will continue to appear together, hopefully along with all the old posts you see here in the sidebar. Well, that's the long term plan, just as long as some technical issues like pesky SEO things don't get in the way.

Unlike property investing (which I do profess to understand), I have learnt that nothing technical is ever all that simple and I'm sure there could be some challenges along the way.

Please bear with us. And if you don't find our new posts (next one is due on 5th May) right on here soon, then please go to our main site home page LettingFocus Home Page (www.LettingFocus.com), where we should have some info on where our new blogs will be.

Whether you are a property portal, bank, insurer, local authority or a private landlord, we look forward to keeping you informed of the latest developments in the private rented sector and for landlords soon.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing association / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars. With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

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Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

PRS Access Schemes, Build to Let and the Rugg Review. LettingFocus Surveys the Wreckage

2010-04-27T10:53:00.005+01:00

Reading the housing section of the Labour party manifesto, one can see that the PR campaign that the British Property Federation (BPF) and their members waged on Labour Grandees has paid off in terms of Labour support for “Build to Let,” which for the uninitiated, is where the Government tries to open up the private rented sector (PRS) to big property firms and institutions.

Curious Move – And What Would Julie Rugg Say?

As I have said before, this is all very curious because Labour has decided to ignore Julie Rugg and the finding of the report they themselves commissioned.

Just to remind you, the Rugg Report said that those small pesky private landlords do a better job of being a landlord than the big boys. To quote her: “Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better – as can be seen when you look at banks and utility companies. Small landlords are more flexible: they don’t necessarily feel that they have to put up rents year after year. I also think larger investors aren’t impressed by the private rented sector because they simply don’t understand it. Indeed, there is a complete dearth of management skills in the corporate sector” (Julie Rugg quoted in “Residential Property Investor” the RLA magazine March/April 09 edition.)

Fast Growing PRS

And with the private rented sector growing from 8% of all housing stock to 14% plus over the last 20 odd years, you could add that the individuals who make up the bulk of the UK’s army of private landlords is doing quite well on their own and is also coping rather well with the current level of reduced mortgage availability. Read this piece for more on how well they are doing right now: http://bit.ly/dkoFz0

So, like me, you may be wondering, why does the Government need the big property firms to come in and join the private rented sector party? (And, no the answer is not to do with payback for donations to political parties.)

More Stock Needed in the PRS

Well, I guess one answer is that we need even more stock in the private rented sector. (Everyone now accepts that the Thatcher claim that most of us could be homeowners was always utter nonsense.)

The Government will certainly understand this need for more stock as it faces an ever mounting bill for Local Housing Allowance as more tenants - who would in times long gone, be housed in council houses - must now be housed by landlords. And so the Government clearly thinks: More stock in the PRS equals lower rents equals a lower local housing allowance (housing benefit) bill for us to have to foot.

And that’s all true. We do need more houses in the private rented sector. But what I’m not sure about is whether the big property companies and the institutions are the best people to provide it.

Tax, the PRS and Build to Let

It seems that the institutions and big property firms worry greatly about trying to get the Government to give them suitable tax breaks so they can make investing in the private residential sector or "build to let" work for them.

Now, we know the money is there to be made in the private rented sector. (At www.LettingFocus.com we show both corporates and private individuals how to do this.)

But the institutions that wish to join the party and invest, first need to understand how to maximise the "tenant asset" - and that is all about getting the right tenant in the first place and then providing a high level of service focused on their needs. If they can understand that part of the work and learn to get it right (doable but not easy), they can make money in the PRS without recourse to special tax breaks or other unique treatments doled out by Government. (Indeed we argue that these tax breaks are unfair on the UK’s small scale landlords.)

Who Will Help the Big Property Firms Get It Right?

Who can help these big institutions and property firms, who are much more used to commercial property, get the knowledge to allow them to be good in the private rented sector?

Well, managers of public housing assets (such as housing associations) could be candidates for this role, but I would suggest that managing tenants in the private rented sector is a tad different and calls for a slightly different approach and treatment.

At LettingFocus we work as consultant in the area around Private Rented Sector Access Schemes for the local authorities and housing associations. We know these bodies do a lot of good work in this area but we have found that they lack a really close understanding of the needs of landlords and are often inefficient in recruiting them. Indeed, the way many private rented access schemes are currently set up are a long way from being the optimum method of recruiting landlords and in some cases are incredibly wasteful of taxpayers’ cash.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

Services for Private Landlords

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Property Investors, Affiliate Income and HIPS – More Baloney!

2010-04-20T13:16:00.005+01:00

I recently received a magazine in which a Get Rich Quick in Property Guru was harping on about how “Property Investors” - (funny that these guys never refer to “landlords” who have to actually get in and do real work like arrange to get fixes for boilers, sort out tenant issues etc, but let’s leave that aside for now) - could make money by other sources of income linked to their property sourcing business.

The guru referred to how investors could make thousands each month by becoming a letting agent for other, er, investors, how they could do a spot of mortgage broking on the side or how they could make lots of cash each month by running affiliate schemes for landlord products such as we do on our Landlords Services page.

Not Much Money Here!

What a load of baloney as they would say in New York.

Most letting agents I know do OK, but they are not rich - and the work is very hard indeed involving long and antisocial hours dealing with difficult tenants and more than a few awkward landlords. And as the barriers to entry to become a letting agent are so low, profits have always been and always will be on the low side.

Or Here.....

The same goes for mortgage broking.

Right now mortgage brokers are having a very hard time in the buy to let arena as volumes are low and as more and more people go direct to the lenders (hardly surprising as there are so few lenders to choose from.)

And as to affiliate income, well I know from experience that even with our own busy site there is not much money to be had from that source either. A few hundred pounds a year from one of our insurance affiliates and that’s about it.

Maybe these guys have to promote these ideas about other sources of income because too many of their clients are so disappointed when they find they cannot make the £s they were promised at seminars through the route of No Money Down or Cash Out Property Deals, so they have to sweeten the clients up a bit and tell them the Holy Grail of Get Rich Quick is still possible. As they say in New York, again, Forgeddaboutit!

HIPS

So, Labour is the only political party that wants to persevere with the Home Information Pack (or HIP) in its current form.

My view is that it was too bad the current Government allowed itself to be bludgeoned into jettisoning the Property Valuation Report, which was to have been in the HIP when it was originally designed.

What should have happened was the Valuation Report should have been included in the pack provided by the seller.

It could have been made to be valid (or extendable at low cost) for say a minimum period of 6 months. And as a neat side benefit, this would have helped ensure only serious sellers put their property on the market in the first place – which seems sensible to me.

So why didn’t they do this?

The Banks and RICS Scuppered the Best Plans

Well, the net effect would have been to reduce the number of valuations that were done overall and so this idea may not have appealed to those with vested interests in the valuation business – namely RICS and the mortgage lending banks.

The banks (who make a pretty penny out of Valuation Reports) moaned about how no buyer would trust a report produced by a vendor. (Really, even one done by an esteemed RICS surveyor?)

Unfortunately, the government (back then as close to big business as ever) believed this nonsense and didn't face down the surveying industry or the banks on the issue.

And so we ended up with a HIP that, without a valuation, was not much use to buyers at all.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

Services for Private Landlords

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Private Rented Sector Access Scheme - Reaching Landlords is the Key. Plus A Comment on HMOs and Shared Houses

2010-04-13T11:11:00.004+01:00

I’m extremely busy with corporate work right now.

I am working with banks, insurance companies and with the public sector to help them improve their landlord facing products.

For local authorities and housing associations this typically involves helping them make a better job of Local Letting Agency Models, Private Rented Sector Access Schemes and Supported Access Schemes – which really boils down to getting landlords to let their properties to people on their housing waiting lists.

Many clients in the public sector have a fair understanding of what landlords want but the main area they could do a much better job of is to understand how to get large numbers of good landlords on their books.

For the banks and insurers my work usually involves improving the strategy, marketing, product design and training issues around buy to let mortgage and landlords insurance products.

Understanding among the banks of the landlord sector is usually quite poor (and apart from a few banks they tend to be less inclined to accept new thinking than is the case with the public sector).

This lack of understanding of what landlords want is in my view is partly because in the past they have typically relied on mortgage brokers to sell buy to let mortgages and because they still use the same systems that they use for residential mortgages.

For example, most banks send statements at end of the calendar year not end of the tax year – which is, of course, totally inconvenient for landlords who all have to complete a tax return.

But it is still nice to help private landlords from time to time (though my time to do this is ever more limited and I simply don’t have the time to answer every email.)

Multiple Tenants in a Shared House

One enquirer recently wrote to me enquiring about multiple tenants in a shared house and the situation where there are four co-tenants that are living in a house.

When the lease was up, two of them who were now married wanted to sign the lease without the other two but one of the others says that he is not leaving.

He asked me, “If the lease is signed without the others, do they have any right to stay? If they do stay how can you get rid of them?”

This case highlights one of the dangers with shared houses and HMOS because no matter how you do it this sort of situation does come up a lot.

Basically though, this is not the landlords problem.

The fact is, unless stated otherwise in the agreement all tenants are jointly and severally liable so must all start and end the contract together.

This means they are all in practice individually responsible for whole rent until such time that all of them end the agreement, even if one or more does not live there anymore.

So the onus is on tenants to agree about leaving among themselves and if they can’t, that is tough on them - they should not have entered into the agreement with the others in the first place!

In this instance, if the landlord really wants to force a resolution (and he doesn’t have to), the only way out is for him to give them ALL notice under S21 and follow normal steps to recovery.

Then once the old agreement ends, he can start a new agreement with whoever he likes.

This case is a pretty good example of why shared houses are a headache.

And despite what the promoters of HMOs say, large shared houses involve a lot more of this kind of work which in practice eats into the extra yield you can earn from HMOs and shared houses.

Election Fever

So, the election is on us already and the newspapers are now more biased than ever - reflecting their particular political allegiances.

I was reading the “Telegraph” the other day (someone left it on the train) and after having read it, I can see how readers of it could really feel that we are on the edge of Economic Armageddon in the UK. All caused by “This Labour Government” as the Telegraph would undoubtedly put it.

That’s why I stick to the non political FT - to understand what is really happening in the economy. I love to read it on a Saturday. And though things are bad, they are not that bad!

However, even in the FT, there are some bits I skip.

For example, I can never see the point of studying charts to predict a stock or currency’s future performance.

What happens to a stock’s price, just like in property, is driven by fundamentals and cannot be sensibly predicted by charts in any way.

Well, that’s my view, at least.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

Services for Private Landlords

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Buy to Let Tips in 500 Words by LettingFocus.com

2010-04-06T12:50:00.005+01:00

Someone asked me what my five very top tips for success in buy to let are and would I mind summarizing the main things to do / not do in fewer than 500 words. So here goes….

One - Always buy in the right area and the right type of property at a good (i.e. low) price and buy where tenant demand REALLY exists. And check tenant demand exists BEFORE you buy. In most places you should avoid new build flats as they seldom keep their value, especially the developments where most flats have been bought by other landlords and / or are on huge estates full of the same kind of identikit flats and / or where the arrangements to manage the land around the property and the structure are weak. Look out for and buy into areas that are REALLY getting regeneration money, new employment or better transport. Preferably, all three.

Two – Avoid all Get Rich Quick in Property exhortations and / or anyone who uses phrases like “financial freedom” or “no money down.” Be very wary of the types of lease options scheme where the tenant-cum buyer buys a lease from you to purchase a property from you in the future. We think they are at best unethical and we don’t think they will stand up to legal scrutiny in the future either. We also expect them to be banned just as soon as the FSA wakes up to them – which given their usual speed won't be for another three to five years at best.

The fact is you can get rich in property but it is not something you can do fast and if you cannot afford to invest without resorting to weird and strange financing / cash flow techniques then think hard about if you should not be in the property investing / landlord game at all.

Three – Don’t simply trust to a letting agent to do thorough reference checks on tenants for you. YOU need to make sure they have done the proper checks. If you skip this advice you will eventually get a tenant from hell. Trust me on this!

So, make clear to the agent what tenants you want and don’t want and ask to see all references and retain a veto if they aren’t good enough. Don’t pay over one months rent to an agent to find a tenant for you and NEVER pay renewal charges if all the agent does is find a tenant for you. Even better, find a tenant yourself for about £50. See our Services and Products for Landlords page.

Four – Be nice to tenants. Fix things fast, be available during working hours (within reason) and don’t be mean and sweat small pennies. Offer competitive rents to good tenants – i.e. one that’s a bit below the market average. Never forget, good tenants are worth getting and keeping! If you operate in “specialty sectors” like HMOS, students or “Benefit Tenants” you’ll need to do extra swotting up and make sure you know what you should be doing, stay within the law and get paid.

Five – As a landlord you have legal responsibilities - sorry but the days of Rigbsyesque “muddling through” are long gone. So, understand the law or risk getting fined. Have a good filing system and keep a sense of humour!

Lazy Journalism

It being the end of the tax year, I see the personal finance press was full of ISA stories at the weekend. But the best rate you can get on money tucked away for a year is actually from the National Savings and Investments (that’s the government) whose Index linked certificates are paying 1% above the RPI inflation rate. That means they are currently paying 4.7% and it is tax free. I have not seen a one year term ISA or a non ISA rate that beats that.

Too bad pretty well all the journalists that wrote about ISAs were copying from press releases from bank and building societies and were just too lazy to check out the NS&I rates.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do just two London seminars each year.
We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars. With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Property Clubs Need Regulating not Buy to let Mortgages says LettingFocus

2010-03-30T10:18:00.003+01:00

You may know that the Government wants to regulate buy to let mortgages in the same way as residential mortgages are already regulated.

We have written about the reasons for them wanting to do this elsewhere on this blog and we encourage you to click on the categories at the bottom of this post to read up on the background for this move and our views on whether it was a good move (or not!)

Regulate Property Clubs

However, it’s my view that the Government has really missed a trick on this whole area because what it should be doing is bringing the whole set of activities of so called “property clubs” under closer control within the FSA.

Why?

Because property clubs are responsible for too many would-be Get-Rich-Quick-Property-Millionaires losing huge sums of money.

One of the latest to go down, taking thousands of investors’ cash with them was Passive Investments and you can read more about the activities of this particular company at the Guardian article at the very bottom of this blog.

Many years ago I was on a train from a meeting in Weybridge with a chap who had invested a large part of his dear recently deceased mother’s inheritance with another property club, who had just run a presentation in Weybridge.

I was horrified to hear he had paid over £50,000 to this company for them to buy up 6 properties for him.

As I recall, he was an artist and not a rich man but he had been persuaded to invest by a very smooth talking antipodean motivational speaker. He thought he was doing well.

I asked him if he thought his money was safe. He said “Yes.” Apparently, the risk of the credit boom ending and this company going bankrupt and taking his cash with them, had had not occurred to him.

I gave him my card and said that he could call me if he ever needed help. He didn’t call. Sadly, at the time he was not that interested in my slow route to wealth in property through careful investments, low risk and ethical treatment of tenants.

Six Months Later

Fast forward 6 months and the company he had given £50,000 to had gone bust. Instead of the 6 properties they were supposed to buy for him, they had bought just one. £40,000 of his money had not been used. The firm was not taking calls and his £40,000 was now lost.

Poor man! And yet, perhaps he deserved it for being so gullible, so eager to get rich quick in property and so ready to be taken in by the smooth patter of the salesman.

Property Lease Options

With the demise of so called “sale and rent back”, and the advent of ever so slightly more clued up mortgage financing from UK banks, the property clubs have had to turn to something new to flog to the gullible – and this dear readers is the “Property Lease Option.”

Property lease options or “Let to Buy” is the mantra that pretty well all the old surviving and new property clubs are now preaching.

We have written about what’s wrong with many of these so called routes to riches in other blog posts.

Richard Bowser, of Property Investor News, a mentor of mine and a guy who has been speaking sense about property for aeons (yes, even longer than me) has attacked some versions of property lease option schemes in a recent email I received. Like me, he thinks some lease options work well to improve cash flow for the investor, but he is concerned about lease options taken out by tenant buyers.

We share those concerns and have written about our concerns extensively in other posts - see the categories at the end of this post to read more.

FSA Asleep on the Job

I have written to the FSA, telling them that these schemes are a time bomb waiting to happen which will hurt investors and those "tenant-homebuyers" on the receiving end of some property options – who are principally first time house buyers.

Naturally enough I have had no response. (Readers may be unsurprised by this though. Arch crook and Ponzi scheme purveyor Bernie Madoff has apparently said he did not think any regulatory organization could be dimmer than the US’s SEC until he discovered the British FSA, which is why so mush of his activity was eventually put through the UK.)

Sadly, the gullible and naïve don’t want to listen to boring old David Lawrenson and boring old Richard Bowser, which is fine, though a little sad.

I often think of the man on the train and what happened to him but it is too late for any help for him now.

Spookily enough, some property clubs have taken a leaf out of Madoff’s book. For many of them, you have to be “invited to join” and have, so I hear £100,000 spare capital.

They are clearly after the big fish.

Devious or Dumb

But were the property clubs devious or just bad at business?

I don’t think they all set out to con investors, though some will undoubtedly have set out to do so.

It is just they knew next to nothing about property as an investment - both the opportunities and the risks involved.

It is time to regulate the whole property club business.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do just two London seminars each year.

We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.

With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.

We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Link to the Guardian Article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/dec/07/buy-to-let-investors-fret

Blogger Not Supporting FTP to Own Site Hosting – Help Needed from Any Writers and Techie Folk Please

2010-03-23T08:55:00.003Z

I hope there are a few techies, publishers, authors and fellow blog writers among our usual property readers who can help with this query..........

I publish the blog you are reading here on my own website, Lettingfocus.com

We do this by putting it initially on the Blogger “platform” and then “uploading” it via "FTP" (File Transfer Protocol) to our own site, LettingFocus, where it happily sits and educates all and sundry about the business of buy to let and residential property investment.

However, from May 2010, Blogger owner Google will no longer support this. (They say it takes up too much "engineering resoruces" but as you will see, I wonder if there is a more cynical reason.)

Instead, bloggers like me are told that from May 1, 2010 we will instead have to have our blogs hosted on one of Bloggers own custom domains. (They will allow us to migrate blogs and all blog posts to one of their own custom domains, for example: www.Blogger.com/ LettingFocus.)

Our concerns with this are threefold:

First, we worry that we may lose copyright, control and ownership of the blog content to Blogger owner's Google. It is not clear to me who actually owns posts that are hosted anywhere else than on our own site. We do know that having them FTPd to and hosted on LettingFocus, we certainly own the posts and all copyright to them. It seems we could lose ownership / control with this move. And we know (as an author and occasional freelance writer) that Google "has form" in that it already sails pretty close to the wind when it comes to copyright and general rights of writers.
Second, we worry that we may lose the value of the links to our existing blog posts. In other words, where other sites have linked to our LettingFocus blog posts, if we were to migrate to Blogger custom domains it is not clear what will happen to these existing links and indeed if they will still work at all.
Third, if our blog were to disappear from our own site, we would have a quick word with our hosting company. They are a phone call away. Google has no phone number to call that I know of.

As a business person, author and writer, the Google / Blogger offer does not sound a good deal to me.

So, is it time to move to another platform/ provider that will still allow us to "FTP" and have posts on our own site?

Are the concerns I have overdone?

Can any techies out there share their view on the best alternative options for blog hosting at ones own site. (We prefer simple non technical alternatives please.)

Any help on these questions, would be much appreciated as there seems next to nothing on line about this. Authors, writers and business people are invited to comment.

Please email me at david@lettingfocus.com if you can shed light on this stuff.

Thanks for your help and apologies to our usual property reader for the intrusion in the usual property news and tips - which will be back soon.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do just two London seminars each year.

We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.

With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.

We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Threshold Increases to £100K

2010-03-23T08:16:00.006Z

The Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) threshold will rise to £100,000 on 1 October 2010 and it looks like the rise will apply retrospectively – in other words, to existing tenancies too.

It will mean that any tenancy with an annual rent between £25,000 and £100,000 and which was in existence on 1 October 2010 looks set to become an AST automatically on this date.

Landlords with rents over £25K (the majority of which are in London) will have to protect deposits for the first time and if they don’t do this, they could be falling foul of the law.

It could be that the plan to apply this change retrospectively to existing tenancies may be reviewed.

Landlords with higher rent tenancies should watch this space to see what happens.

HMOs

After 6 April 2010 if you want to let what has been a family house or flat to three or more unrelated people or if you have an existing shared house or flat which you let to a single person or a family you will lose the right - once they have moved out - to let it again to sharers without obtaining planning permission.

This plan is supposed to solve the problems sometimes associated with so called “studentification” where parts of some cities have become dominated by large shared houses, leading to some social and environmental problems.

However, the well received Rugg Review said problems, where they did occur, existed in only a very few areas.

They found that in most areas, large shared houses met a real housing need, contributed to the local economy and were not linked to problems of any kind.

And of course the councils have existing powers to deal with the issues anyway.

But that does not seem to have held much sway with the Government which is pressing on with the idea regardless.

This proposal is complete madness.

Sure, there are problems in a few wards but let’s let councils use the powers that they already have instead of bringing this into the orbit of the planning system.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do just two London seminars each year.

We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.

With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.

We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

Landlords, Rents and Buy to Let Mortgage Loans by LettingFocus.

2010-03-16T07:56:00.005Z

Richard S, one of the regular attendees at my landlords networking meetings, highlighted the dangers of landlords who have borrowed too much relative to the value of their properties.
Particularly at risk are those investors with high loans to value and who have a special mortgage rate deal (usually a low fixed or discounted rate for a period) which will soon end.

HOUSE PRICES

His opinion is that there is every chance that house prices will remain static, at best, for the foreseeable future.
I’m a bit more positive. I think house price growth will be slow but steady just as long as mortgage financing (high deposit requirements, high margins over base and high fees) remains restricted.
However, I think nil or negative price growth is likely in oversupplied and under populated parts of the country, especially areas which have been hit by significant job losses.
Once mortgage availability becomes better - lower fees, lower deposit requirements and lower margins over base - then house prices will tick up again at a more rapid rate.
This should happen when The Lloyds Group (HBOS and C&G) and Nationwide finally have some real competition in buy to let lending.

BASE RATES LIKELY TO RISE

But right now, the only way for the Bank of England Base rate is steady or up.
So what should investors do?
Well, all investors should be now taking a good look at the sensitivity of their portfolios to interest rate rises.
In other words, they should work out what would happen if the base rate went up from 0.5% to 3% or even 5%?
Even if the base rates does not go up, all investors should know what will happen if and when their mortgage rate comes off any special deal and back onto the lender’s reversionary rate.
Could they survive?
How strained would their portfolio be?
If they are at risk, they should start working on risk strategies right now rather that wait for the rate to rise.
My advice right now, given the real risks the economy faces, is to not go above 65% loan to value across your whole buy to let portfolio - even if you are on trackers linked to base rates – and ideally you should stay under 55%.

BUY TO LET MORTGAGE RATES FOR NEW MORTGAGES

Buy to Let Mortgage financing for new mortgages or remortgages is not getting easier.
Indeed, 2 years after the credit crunch started it is actually getting even harder (even though some residential mortgage rates have now eased a bit.)
For example, for a 75% loan to value mortgage, before Xmas the best rate was from C&G, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
Natch, like all mortgages these days, it came with a thumping “product fee” but its reversionary rate was 2% over Bank of England Base rate.
The reversionary base of the same mortgage, if you took it out today, is 4.34% over base and it is not guaranteed to track the base rate either.
In effect, with this mortgage over the long term, you will now be paying more than double what you would do pre-Xmas.
It is exactly the same with other lenders which is why people in search of buy to let mortgage financing are finding it very hard right now.

CAN YOU RAISE RENTS TO HELP CASH FLOW?

There is one very good silver lining though.
If mortgage finance remains hard to get AND interest rates rise, first time buyers and other non-landlords will also struggle to get mortgages – which will push even more people into renting.
This will, in turn, increase demand for rented accommodation and push up rents.
So, one possible way out of rising interest rates for lanldords could be to increase rents to offset their rising loan costs.
Whether you can do this or not will depend on the area you have bought into and the strength of tenant demand.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years, and author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.
For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing association / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we now do just two London seminars each year.
We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
Coaching can be done over the phone.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Local Housing Allowance - Tips to Make Sure Rent is Paid by LettingFocus

2010-03-11T09:33:00.002Z

It’s been a very busy week.
I have been speaking (twice) at the London Landlords Show, plus there was my own Seminar and Networking Event on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, it was off to an excellent meeting with people involved in the private rented sector access schemes and local letting agency models at the Crisis charity offices.

All good stuff!
At my talk at my own seminar, I looked at 12 tips for success if you are letting to tenants on Local Housing Allowance.
Here are 6 of those tips. (All attendees at the Tuesday seminar will be sent the rest. Past and present consultees will also be sent them on request.)

Getting Paid Under LHA

First, get the tenant to sign a disclosure form for the Benefits Service to allow them to share the tenants claim info and progress with you.
Second, make sure the tenant has all the documents they need with them. The form they need to complete asks for lots of documentation so you need to ensure it is all there or else there will be a delay in paying the claim.
Third, ideally go with them when they hand in the form so you can be aware it has actually been handed in and can be aware if (after all your efforts) there was still something missing.
Fourth, be proactive. Contact the Benefits Service often – for example if you are aware of any change in the tenant’s circumstances.
Fifth, if rent is late, apply immediately for the “safeguarding policy” so you can be paid direct as soon as possible.
Sixth, find out what the local authority is like in your area. Speak to them. Ask other landlords.
Some local authorities are very switched on and supportive of landlords and are fully up to speed with all the latest guidelines – which you can read here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/lha-guidance-manual.pdf Others are not supportive of landlords and are slow at paying LHA claims.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.
For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing association / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)
I also provide other services for both sectors as a consultant and I write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do just two London seminars each year.
We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Landlords Meeting & Property Seminar with LettingFocus on Tuesday

2010-03-03T11:32:00.004Z

If you have not already booked, don’t miss our Evening Seminar Event for landlords on Tues 9 March starting at 530pm.
We have anywhere between 20 and 30 people at these events which tend to be fun and informal and now only take place twice a year.
The attendees are always a mix of friendly experienced and novice landlords.
As usual, we will have guest speakers along including James Davis of Online letting portal UPAD, speaking about how to “Avoid the Void.”
Plus there will be another speaker too.
And there will be lots of opportunities to ask me about a range of property letting and investing topics.
Though it will be a busy event, there will be some time for networking during the course of the evening.
We open at 530pm.
The first talk is at about 630pm and we will end at about 9pm at the latest.
To book a place for this event please just reply to this email us at David@LettingFocus.com with your full name and write “Reserve a Place” in the subject box.
Payment is on the night - £30 if you email to reserve a place before lunchtime Tuesday or £35 otherwise. Hurry - there are just 8 places left.
More details including venue details here…..LettingFocus Event 9th March
Not in London?
Click here to find out about our Private One to One Phone or Meeting Based Consulting
Interested in our consulting work for organisations with landlord facing or but to let products? Click here: Consultancy for Organisations

Kind regards
David Lawrenson
www.LettingFocus.com Consulting and Independent Property Advice
Author: “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” –the UK’s top selling property title for the last three years.

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Private Rented Sector Access Schemes - Landlords Should Take a New Look At Letting to Tenants on Local Housing Allowance

2010-03-01T11:28:00.006Z

I have to admit, I’m the original landlord who preferred my tenants NOT to be on Local Housing Allowance (the now not so new version of Housing Benefit.)
Many years ago I had a tenant hailing from Guadeloupe who was getting housing benefit. (Guadeloupe as a department of France, presumably qualified him for getting this! Not sure I would get my rent paid in Guadeloupe or even France for that matter, but let’s leave that one to the “Daily Mail” for now.)
His rent was paid in the end, but it was always late and altogether it was quite a bit of hassle.
The tenant also had an odd habit of going out and leaving the front door open, which, as you might imagine, was a bit annoying to people in the neighbouring flats.
After that experience, in future, I only let to tenants who are working and had incomes.
And that’s why many landlords shy clear of letting to Benefit Tenants - it’s the fear of non payment of rent, administrative delays at the Town Hall combined perhaps with other prejudices regarding how their property might be looked after by such tenants.
Now, some of these prejudices are unfair – there are many good Benefit Tenants who pay their rent dutifully on time every time.
And on average “Benefit Tenants” stay longer too.
But, the prejudices exist all the same.

LHA – Using Landlords as Guinea Pigs
But what really got landlords cross was the decision by the current Government to replace Housing Benefit with the new system of Local Housing Allowance (or LHA as it is sometimes called) for landlords.
This was rolled out nationally in 2008.
LHA brought in a different way of calculating what was paid out - which we have looked at in other blog posts - but the key difference as far as private landlords were concerned, was that unless the tenant was deemed vulnerable, or was in 8 weeks arrears, the LHA would always be paid to the tenant.
This was a big change from the Housing Benefit system where it could be paid to the landlord if the tenant preferred it that way (and many did).
Now this change only affected private landlords. The lucky old councils and housing associations would still be paid direct under the old system of Housing Benefit!
In other words, as my friend Tom Entwistle of LandlordZone eloquently put it, “the private rented sector was being used as a guinea pig.”
The idea behind the change was to give tenants more financial responsibility: “Let them manage their own budgets” said the Government, loftily (possibly in the style of the ill fated Marie Antoinette - when she was discussing bread and its availability.)

Result – Chaos and Arrears for Some Landlords…….
Well, what’s happened as a result?
Well, many tenants spent the money they got from LHA on something other than the rent.
The result was arrears have risen, landlords have exited this part of the market in droves and both landlords groups and the likes of Shelter and Crisis are calling for a change whereby those tenants who don’t trust their own budgeting skills can once again opt to have the money paid direct to the landlord.
I think this policy reversal could happen eventually even under the current government who brought the original change in. (The Conservatives have already said they would reinstate the right for tenants to elect that payments of their LHA can be made direct to landlords.)
In the meantime, is LHA really that bad?
I’m not so sure.

. …An Opportunity for Other Landlords
I have always known that some landlords specialise in letting to tenants on LHA, and that’s not always because they are letting in areas where the entire population is on benefits either.
So why do they do it?
What do they know that other landlords don’t?
Over the past year, through the consultancy work I do with the public sector with local authorities and housing associations, helping them to understand and attract private landlords though things called “Private Rented Sector Access Schemes”, “Local Letting Agency Models” and the like, I have been surprised by the extent and level of help on offer to private landlords who choose to let to tenant on LHA.
I knew help was there, I just hadn't grasped the extent of it.
It varies by local authority but in many areas there is money to pay you rent in advance, to pay and safeguard deposits and occasionally even landlords finders’ fees.
Plus there is lots of help and advice from the local authority too.

New Rules
Recently, new rules have cut the actual time a tenant can be in arrears before the authorities can pay landlords direct.
And the definition of “Vulnerability” which also triggers direct payments has been eased.
Landlords should look at this sector again, but to make it work for you, you do need to be like the landlords who already let in this sector - very, very clued up on how the LHA system works.
Oh, and you need to be in a place where the local authority is landlord friendly and efficient at processing those LHA claims.

DON'T MISS OUR NEXT LANDLORD SEMINAR, MEETING AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors: Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
I help private landlord investors (see more on this below) but these days I’m mainly a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the media.
I have written articles, guides and documents on letting property and property investing for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and for quality landlord and property websites.

Services for Private Landlords
For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do two London seminars each year.
We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Private Rented Sector Access Schemes, Local letting Agencies & Choice Based Lettings - A Criticism by LettingFocus

2010-02-19T14:23:00.008Z

In our consultancy work for housing associations and local authorities, looking at Private Rented Sector Access Schemes and so called "Local Letting Agency Models," we have seen that the public sector provides lots of different incentives such as Rent in Advance Schemes, Deposit Bonds, Finders fees and the like to get landlords to let to people on low income who are dependent on Local Housing Allowance.

The incentives have been assiduously studied and evaluated on cost grounds by the providers. There has been some especially good work by Crisis and Shelter on this.

However, we have not yet seen any piece of really good research which looks in detail at the value to landlords of the different incentive offers that are used by RSLs and local authorities. (Only the National Landlords Association touched on it as part of a wider research piece but it barely scratched the surface of this question.)
The charity Crisis rightly highlighted the danger of "incentive inflation" as RSLs and local authorities compete to get landlords to give them their properties.
This was a step in the right direction but what's the payoff in terms of benefits to the public purse?

In the absence of more research on this, we at the LettingFocus consultancy say that local authorities are in danger of providing offers that may be OK for the the landlord, but which may not be the best option from the taxpayers point of view.

We thought the Rugg Review was super, but even that review missed this important point.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
Primarily, I work as a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing and buy to let product strategies and services.

I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the media.
I have written articles, guides and documents on letting property and property investing for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and for quality landlord and property websites.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

Property Seminar and Landlords Networking Event on 9th March 2010

2010-02-15T14:51:00.004Z

Don’t miss our property seminar and landlords networking meeting in London on the Evening of 9th March.
The meetings are small and informal and now only take place twice a year – we have a maximum of 25 guests and the meetings last for about 3 hours.
As usual we will have a special guest speaker plus you will have the chance to ask me lots of questions about residential property investment and letting.
And of course, you can network with other landlords too.
There are only eight places left, so hurry.
If you want to come, just email me at david@LettingFocus.com and then just turn up on the night. Cost is £30.
Location of venue here:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

Gas Boiler Scheme

Landlords will know from previous posts how I complained about the lack of tax incentives for landlords to replace their old boilers and the general vagueness from HMRC on this matter (and specifically the vagueness on whether putting in a new boiler could be classed as an improvement, replacement or even a repair) which affects how it could be treated for tax purposes.
But some good news, at last.
Landlords should be aware of the boiler scrappage scheme which will cut the cots of replacing old boilers by £400.
The basic procedure seems to be as follows: 1. Obtain three written quotes for the job. 2. Ring the 'Act on CO2' helpline on 0800512012 3. They will send your voucher out approx 10 days after application. Vouchers are valid for 12 weeks. 4. Have the work carried out, then send a copy of the 'paid' invoice along with the voucher back to 'Act on CO2'. They will then send you a cheque for £400.00For full details please see this link: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Home-improvements-and-products/Heating-and-hot-water/Boiler-scrappage-scheme

Inside Track Back - David Lawrenson Quoted in the FT

Claer Barratt in the FT two weeks back reports that less than two years after it collapsed into administration, the men behind the buy-to-let property club Inside Track are back, targeting UK investors with a new get-rich-quick property scheme.
Members are promised they can make "make £100,000+ in five minutes" she says, and a nationwide programme of seminars has begun to recruit investors eager to participate in the UK's next property boom.
Financial Times sister publication, “Investors Chronicle” went to one of these and found participants being encouraged to part with fees of more than £40,000 to acquire a portfolio of five UK properties from distressed developers, with IAP Global acting as the middleman.
I was quoted in the FT article too where I observed, “High-risk techniques are not used by the majority of responsible landlords, and it is therefore unfair that we might have to suffer increased regulation as the result of irresponsible activity from a small minority of greedy investors."
The full article is here (you need to register (for free, currently) to read the whole thing):
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2673677a-11f6-11df-b6e3-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I’ve been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
Primarily, I work as a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the media.
I have written articles, guides and documents on letting property and property investing for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and for quality landlord and property websites.

Services for Private Landlords

For private landlords and other investors in the private rented sector, we do two London seminars each year.
We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment or view other people's comments on this post, simply click on “link to this post.”

Letting Agents and Tenant References and Checks by LettingFocus

2010-02-09T10:11:00.003Z

Landlords using letting agents to find a tenant for them need to be very careful that they set out EXACTLY what references they expect the letting agent to obtain from the tenant as part of the reference checking process.
Those of you who have read my book “Successful Property Letting” will know that I tend to go a little bit further than most letting agents do in terms of the kind of the references I wish a tenant to provide.
Where the property in question is close to me I still tend to do the “finding tenant” job myself using websites like Upad -see the link at Services and Products for Landlords
I do the viewings myself and then get the tenants to provide the employers and past landlord references plus all necessary documents - which I then validate.
And I ask to see a lot of documentation too – bank statements, utility bills, proof of ID etc.
Plus I do a credit check.

Why Do It Yourself?

Sometimes I am pretty busy on my corporate consulting work and speaking engagements and I sometimes think to myself, “Hey, why am I still doing this myself?”
The answer is complex.
But I find that I can do reference checks a lot faster myself than a letting agent can do it, so I’m not sitting and waiting ages for a “Go” or “NO GO” decision on the tenant.
Plus I get to see all the references the tenants provide, I study them carefully and can make up my own mind as to whether they will be good tenants or not.
And with the stress and cost one has if one gets a tenant from hell, it is really a job that I am loathe to lose control of.

As an example of this, a consultee of mine recently used a letting agent.
The agent had the tenant fill in the application form. But though the tenant was from Korea (and clearly outside the EU) the agent did not think to ask to see the work permit from the Home Office.
Doh! Basic stuff! But all too common a problem, I'm afraid.

Agree What Checks Your Letting Agent Will Do

In this case, the landlord had not agreed in writing exactly what reference checks they wanted the letting agent to do when they had agreed for them to do the work to find the tenant.
It’s an easy mistake to make and one that I have to confess I have made in the past.
I do use letting agents from time to time (and I have to for my properties that are far away because I cannot physically do the viewings.)
However, the letting agency is fully appraised as to what refs I need and he sends me copies of the tenants application form and copies of the references obtained too.
I trust them.
In theory all good letting agents should be as thorough on reference checks as he is.
After all, they should not want to provide you with a duff tenant because that will strain your relationship (or it should!).
But some letting agency staff are blinded by the commission and frankly could not give a monkeys about the quality of the tenant.

Be Wary of Pure Commission Driven Letting Agents

This type of letting agent will have the view that as long as they have ticked the minimum number of boxes as part of the reference checks and have got their commission, they are happy with that.
A letting agency near us has staff that I know are entirely on commission. This is the sort of firm you should be wary of and keep on a tight rein.

Private Rented Sector Policy Is Often Made on the Hoof

As part of the corporate consultancy work I do for mortgage companies and in the social housing sector, I get to read a lot of position papers on the private rented sector.
But I am continually amazed that in the private rented sector, so much government policy is made without the benefit of any good quality research.
Julie Rugg in her superb report into the private rented sector found the same thing.
Policy has been and continues to be made that affects landlords and tenants but which is not rooted in valid research findings.
What research there is, is often limited in scope and uses too small sample sizes.
An example is the proposal to require houses converted to HMOs to obtain planning permission. It may be sensible policy, but where is the research to justify this proposal?
I may come back to this issue another time.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
Our main business is at a corporate level for organisations - both public and private companies.
We provide consultancy for banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

OTHER WORK

We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media. In addition, we have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.
For private landlords, we also find some occasional spare time to help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE, LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?

See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

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Housing Benefit and Shared Houses – More Pesky Government Meddling

2010-02-01T12:06:00.004Z

Welcome to this weeks blog - a whole day early.
Well, the current government sure likes to meddle in the private rented sector - which, of course, keeps writers and consultants like me very busy indeed.
In the latest move, Housing and Planning Minister, John Healey MP has announced plans to tackle anti-social behaviour and property standards by requiring landlords to get planning permission before turning a property into an HMO or house in multiple occupation for the first time.
Also, they have announced plans to make it easier for local authorities to introduce licensing schemes.

Odd Move
The plans to require landlords to get planning permission before turning houses into HMOs, strikes me as rather odd because when the plans were first mooted they were rejected by a pretty broad lobby consisting of organisations as diverse as the National Union of Students and the British Property Federation.
The National Landlords Association said, “If the Government was really interested in dealing with anti-social behaviour and property standards in the small minority of places where they are an issue, they would have taken up the NLA's call for more targeted local management action by councils working with landlords in their areas.”
They went on to say that these measures could lead to “A 'nimbys charter', creating no-go areas for landlords, students, young professionals, low income families, migrant workers and a wide range of other groups who rely on private-sector shared housing.
I agree.

Not Enough Low Cost Housing
Surely, the government should "go back to the start" and look at why more people are living in shared houses.
And the answer is that as the population has grown faster than housing supply and there are just not enough houses for people to live in.
Doh!
And as we aren’t building enough low cost social housing, people who need a home are looking to the private rented sector to provide it.
“Simples!” as the Meerkat would say!

New LHA Arrears Guidelines
And of course, increasing numbers of tenants now get their private sector rent paid by housing benefits (or Local Housing Allowance as the new flavour is called.)
Still, there was one bit of good news on that front.
The government has just changed its Local Housing Allowance (LHA) guidance on rent arrears and payment to landlords.
Local authorities can now pay LHA direct to landlords when tenants are contractually 8-weeks in arrears, rather than waiting until 8 weeks have physically passed.
This change takes into account the situation when rent is due in advance.
So, it means most landlords (whose tenancy agreements require rent in advance) will only have to wait 4 weeks.

Housing Benefit and the Press
Of course, the likes of the more right leaning press (when they are not getting cross about inward migration and hook handed clerics) get themselves very worked up about the growing Housing Benefits bill.
Certainly from my experience the number of people of housing benefits has grown massively.
Indeed, in my patch it is hard to find any tenants whose rent is not paid via the Local Housing Allowance system.
This is all very different to 10 years ago.
Back then, 90% of my tenants were UK nationals with the remaining 10% from countries like Ireland and Aussie and the odd Frenchman and German. Nearly all were all paying their own rent (they were not on housing benefits)
Five years ago, mass inward migration really took hold and suddenly 90% of my tenants were new migrants from all points of the world. Again, all seemed to be working. None were on Housing Benefit.
Today, 90% of all the tenants I have applying for my latest property are overseas nationals with about 75% on Local Housing Allowance - for which it seems residency qualifications are minimal. Just don’t tell anyone at the Daily Mail!

Why Many Landlords Don’t Like Local Housing Allowance
Getting landlords to let to people on housing benefits is not easy (even if the payment in many areas is at least 10% above private sector rents).
Why, because quite a lot of landlords don’t like the fact that the monies are normally paid to tenants (not direct to landlords like in the old days unless they are in arrears as explained above) so there is the risk the tenants go and spend it on something else.
The Tories have pledged to reinstate tenants choice for immediate direct payments to landlords should they win the election.
As part of my consultancy work with housing associations and local government I work to help them get more landlords to let to people in receipt of LHA / Housing Benefit them.
As you can imagine, this consulting work is in demand.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
Our main business is at a corporate level for organisations - both public and private companies.
We provide consultancy for banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

OTHER WORK
We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media. In addition, we have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

MENTORING
For private landlords, we also find some occasional spare time to help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment or view other people's comments on this post, simply click on “link to this post.”

Skipton Building Society Pulls a Fast One on Mortgages. Will Other Lenders Follow Suit asks LettingFocus.com

2010-01-26T07:49:00.006Z

I’m interested in the recent decision by Skipton BS to unilaterally change the way the Standard Variable rate (SVR) is applied on their variable rate mortgages.
It could set a precedent to other mortgage companies.
In their mortgage agreements it was apparently stated that the SVR would be at a set amount above Bank of England base rates but it seems there was also a clause which in the event of “exceptional circumstances” allowed them to alter this.
So they have now invoked this clause and bumped up their rates.
Nice!
I guess they have checked that the mortgage agreements with their customers really allowed them to pull this trick but I wonder if this was made crystal clear within the main part of the original mortgage agreements when their customer signed.
If not, then how legal is this move?
Indeed I wonder if there is a case of an Unfair Contract term here.

PARALLEL IN THE FOXTONS CASE?
In the Skipton case, I’m wondering if there is a parallel with the recent case of the Foxtons letting agency renewal fees.
Here, Foxtons got into trouble with a judge because the renewal fee (or repeat fee) it charged landlords when a landlord extended their tenancy was hidden away and not made clear to the landlords when they signed up with the letting agent.
The judge ruled that in cases where the possibility of repeat renewal fees on lettings was not made clear by Foxtons (and indeed any other letting agent) it acted as a kind of “trap” for consumers.
Indeed, the judge actually used the word “trap.”
The Foxtons ruling has opened the way for landlords to claim back years of overpaid renewal fees with letting agents. (We have commented extensively about the Foxtons case in other posts – click on the Categories at the bottom of this post for more on this.)
So far, I see no one in the main stream press has really bothered to question the action of Skipton Building Society in invoking an odd clause to up their SVR rate.
Perhaps they should.

MORTGAGE CUSTOMERS OF OTHER BANKS SHOULD BE WORRIED TOO
I have to declare a particular interest here.
One of my buy to let mortgages is on a lifetime tracker of 0.69% above base for life; another is on 0.89% above base - also for life. Others mortgages have neatly defaulted to 1.5% above base for the rest of time.
I do hope the lender who issued those - in both cases for a one off mortgage fee of much less than £1,000 (ah the good old pre credit crunch days!) - will not be able to wriggle out of what is a great deal for me! And a duff one for the banks!
Many other people with mortgages which were taken out in the good times will be in the same boat as me and will be wondering if they could also get shafted by their lenders in the same way as Skipton has hit its borrowers.
Someone needs to look into this before the rest of the banks and building societies follow Skipton’s lead.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
At a corporate level, I provide consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies.
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the media.
I have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

We still do a bit of work for private landlords too.
We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that really work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show investors how to manage tenants properly and fairly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our CORPORATE CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both from companies and from private landlords click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

WANT TO BE KEPT UPDATED WITH OUR LATEST BLOGS?
Over on the right hand side under all the previous blog entries you will find a button which says “Site Feed.” Simply copy the site feed link into your News Reader or News Aggregator.
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WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
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Off Plan Developments – It May be Getting Harder to Walk Away

2010-01-22T13:02:00.003Z

I see that some property investors who walked away from off plan deals face being prosecuted by the developers after a test case which a developer won.
In the last few years, lots of purchasers have tried to walk away from duff off plan property deals - figuring it was better to lose their deposits than complete purchases on properties where the values had fallen heavily (and they were effectively overpaying.)
In some cases, willing buyers were unable to complete their deals anyway as their mortgage lenders had pulled financing as prices of these types of properties collapsed.
(Not terribly bright valuations done in the first place then by the banks!)

High Court Case
The recent High Court test case was won by Prestige Homes and this case could lead to lots of other cases being taken to court by developers.
However, at least one group of investors is resisting, claiming one developer recommended customers use the developers own preferred solicitors who presented purchasers with lists of valuations supposedly carried out by other surveying firms which miraculously matched the sales list”.
Somehow, this all seems very familiar.
I have to say that it really is a case of buyer-beware in property, especially where new build was concerned.
Back in the early and mid Noughties, many new and green investors got mugged by so called "property clubs" into buying a lot of new build stuff that was way overpriced.
We are still seeing the fall out today.

Keys
When I buy a property I love it if the previous occupant leaves lots of keys behind.
Getting new keys cut seems to be getting rather expensive these days and even worse, takes up lots of time as the keys you get copied often don’t fit, necessitating extra trips back to the locksmiths.
This is one of the really irritating nitty gritty aspects of being a hands-on landlord.
If any locksmith can guarantee that he can cut an EXACT copy of a key that he guarantees to fit my locks perfectly, then he can have all my key cutting business.

BBC International – Why Bother
I’m just back from a lovely business -cum-holiday break in Mexico.
And as I always when I’m abroad I watched CNN to keep up with the news - not the much inferior BBC TV service.
If the BBC cannot put out a decent international product, maybe it would be best to shut it down completely.
The BBC Radio service overseas is great… but the TV…. Well, I wouldn’t bother.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
At LettingFocus.com, we help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
At a corporate level, we also provide consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies.
We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media.
We have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

Back on 23rd Jan

2010-01-06T10:40:00.002Z

We will be taking a break and will be back blogging again on or around 23rd Jan
Happy New Year from David Lawrenson and LettingFocus.com

A Word on the Best Property Commentators

2010-01-05T08:05:00.005Z

I thought it best to qualify my forecast about house prices in my pre-Christmas blog post.
Those forecasts I made don’t allow for any really crazy stuff that may happen – like the UK deciding to waste more money (and sadly more lives) in yet more unwinnable wars, a terrible pandemic or an earthquake leveling some major financial centre or other.
Or indeed, the so called “Masters of The Universe” in their red braces up in the square mile could come up with some other daft financial instrument that no one, not even their own bosses and certainly no financial journalist either knows about or understands – which leads to another economic meltdown.
Stuff like that is hard to quantify, allow for or to take account of in one’s calculations mainly because the probability (of it happening) is so hard to predict.

Personal Finance and Journalism
Talking about predictions, one of the curious things in 2007-8 was the fact that so few financial journalists saw the credit crunch coming.
Hardly any of them had an understanding of how the financial alchemy being practiced in the city (the CDOs and the like) worked and how it could end up hurting all of us so much.
You cannot blame them too much for this though.
As I have said before, it was pretty obvious that tne directors of the banks did not have a clue either.
The FT was better than most though at seeing that something was amiss and I am very indebted to whomever at the FT wrote that it would be best to pass up on the Royal Bank of Scotland’s ludicrous rights issue at 200 pence a share (now the subject of legal action against directors).
Thanks FT.
Thanks to you, I passed up on that rights issue and have you to thank when RBS sold my rights at 227 pence - a profit of 27 pence a share.
When it comes to personal finance investments I highly rate the commentary of John Authurs and Mathew Vincent (both at the FT), David Smith (Sunday Times), Nick Hasell (Times) and David Kuo (Motely Fool).
Many other commentators leave a lot to be desired.

Property Experts
And what about the property experts?
I have to say that when it comes to property predictions over the years I have noticed that there are some regular journalist-commentators who are always more right than wrong and whose analysis of the true situation in the residential property market is first class.
They are David Smith again (of the Sunday Times), Claer Barratt (of the FT and Investors Chronicle), Anne Ashworth (Times), Jeremy Gates (PA) and Michael O Flynn (FindaProperty.com).
There are some other good people too - but these are the regular writers whose work I most admire.
Many other writers, I’m afraid, are often terribly wide of the mark with one “quality paper” in particular always hopelessly wrong about property. (Sorry, cannot name them in case they read this and get mad at me.)
Non journos who also understand the market well are Ray Boulger, anyone at Savills and Knight Frank and Stuart Law of Assetz.
In the professional landlord magazine / website arena you will know that I greatly admire Tom Entwistle (of Landlord Zone) and Richard Bowser (of Property Investor News)
Listen to all these experts and journos for your tips and you won’t go too far wrong.

Here We Go Again
More snow is expected today and we will no doubt see the usual hopeless response as some City Hall staff and schools up and down the land take the opportunity for yet another day off. (Is it me but do kids get more days off anyway for holidays than when I was a nipper?)
Last year our brilliant Mayor of London walked off from a grilling when someone suggested that perhaps it might have been a bright idea to have the gritting and snow plough people staying somewhere close to their vehicles ready to work overnight as soon as last years' snow started.
They weren’t and so the whole of London ground to a halt for 2 days.
Pathetic!

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
At LettingFocus.com, we help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
At a corporate level, we also provide consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies. We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media.
We have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Buy to Let Tips and Advice from Letting Focus and David Lawrenson

2009-12-28T17:32:00.002Z

I found something on the Internet that I had written a few months ago for Kate Faulkner’s site over at Designs on Property and thought it would be good to put in on the last blog of the year as the advice still makes good sound sense and should really be the first principles for anyone new to buying property to let out. So, here they are - my top ten tips for buy to let.

1. Buy into the right location. Look at areas that are getting or have just got faster transport links such as Folkestone in Kent or regeneration money such as Elephant & Castle in London. Also, look for areas where new employers are moving in or existing employers are hiring workers. There is lots of information on all this on the Internet and the publication Estates Gazzette, available in most libraries, has lots of news on planned regeneration. Do your research.

2. Use today’s weak market to make “hard ball” offers at below the asking price. If the vendor won’t play, simply walk away and make a cheeky offer somewhere else.

3. Buy the type of property that is in demand from tenants and for which there will be a strong resale market when you eventually come to sell. Ask letting agents for their view of what type of house is in demand locally.

4. Read up and understand your legal responsibilities as a landlord. Get my book – still the UK’s top selling property title.

5. Try to build up a deposit of at least 25 per cent to allow you access to the best mortgage rates.

6. Carefully check all prospective tenants’ references to avoid the “tenant from hell”. If your agent does this for you ask to see the references they obtained. Don’t fully trust to an agent until you have worked with them for a while and they have aerend that trust.

7. Treat tenants as you would like to be treated.

8. Keep all receipts and invoices and have a good administration system.

9. Have a sense of humour. You’ll need it from time to time.

10. If you need advice, make sure it is independent advice and not provided by someone also looking to sell a property or finance package to you.

Happy New Year to all you LettingFocus.com blog readers.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Hi, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
At LettingFocus.com, we help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.

We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
At a corporate level, we also provide consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies. We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media.
We have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?
IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Predictions for 2010, ALL Change on Housing Benefit and the Pre Budget Report. News from LettingFocus

2009-12-21T18:56:00.003Z

‘Tis the time of year to make predictions about house prices and the like.
As I have said before there are so many different micro markets in UK property market, it is more or less impossible to make a sweeping forecast about house prices which will apply in every locality.
However, my general view is that the story of increasing population / increasing number of households combined with a lack of housing supply is more important than the opposing factors constraining growth in property prices - like unemployment, debt and lack of mortgage finance.
And because of this I expect prices to increase overall in 2010.
However, there will undoubtedly be areas of the UK where local unemployment and business failures will mean house prices will fall.

Local Housing Allowance – All Change

The Conservatives have said they will reinstate direct rent payments to landlords (where housing benefit tenants choose it) if they should become the next Government.
And now the current Government has put it under review too.
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) came in for new tenancies in April 2008 when it replaced the old housing benefit system.
With the old system where rent could be paid straight to landlords in the private sector, it now goes direct to the tenants who are then responsible for passing on the rent money to their landlord. (Only in special circumstances like where the tenant is deemed vulnerable or if the payments to the landlord are over two months behind can rent be paid direct to the landlord – but even then it can take longer than two months before LHA is paid direct by some councils.)

Big Sums of Money

Faced with a big wodge of money which they are not used to having, some tenants spend the money on other things and often fail to make their rent payments - so increasing numbers of landlords are now refusing to let to tenants who are in receipt of Housing Benefit.
According to research from the National Landlords Association (NLA) of 1,000 landlords operating 13,000 LHA tenancies, the total rent arrears bill accumulated by these landlords since LHA started is a whopping £4,400 per landlord.
It is thought there are about 675,000 LHA tenancies which means that total rent arrears across the UK could be in excess of £220 million.

Temptation

It is claimed that many tenants would prefer not to be put in the way of temptation and would rather the LHA was paid direct to the landlord.
At LettingFocus.com, we have also been critical of the way the LHA is set – as it is based on very wide Broad Market Rental Areas.
This means that in some areas the rates of LHA are too high and in other areas they are too low – with knock on impacts for tenants who don’t qualify for LHA.
My old pal, Tom Entwistle of Landlord Zone has criticized the way landlords were used as guinea pigs in the current system - which does not apply to council tenants.
Check out the Government’s consultation document for more on this….…www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/hb-consultation.pdf

Pre Budget Report

No real news here.
Stamp Duty Land Tax went back to being applied for all properties over £125K
And there is so some money to replace old inefficient boilers – but not a lot – and we don’t know if it will be available for let properties yet.

Merry Christmas to all our readers.

ABOUT US

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.

We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
We also do consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies. We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?
SELLING SERVICES TO LANDLORDS – YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
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Tips for Getting Good Tradesmen and Repairing Appliances at Christmas by LettingFocus.com

2009-12-13T19:20:00.005Z

Following my appearance on BBC2’s “Working Lunch” programme, here are our tips for a hassle free Christmas.

If you need something repairing, whether it is a white good like a washing machine or a semi-fixed installation like a boiler, first check if it is covered by the warranty or guarantee period first - and also what the extent of cover is.
For example, is the machine only covered for parts or is it covered for both parts and labour. Is it covered under any extended warranty you have taken out?
Check if you have a service contract with British Gas or another provider such as your home insurer? Some of these contracts offer a service line that is open on Christmas Day – though you may have to wait a little longer than usual for someone to actually come out to you during the festive period.
As I said on the programme, I would always advise people to have white goods fixed by a tradeseman supplied by the manufacturer of the machine. They will know what they are doing, be familiar with the machine and if they don't fix it right you can always go back to the manufacturer and complain to their Service Help Desk. You cannot do that with a man you plucked frrom the Yellow Pages or the Internet.

Preventative Steps

But even before you get to Christmas get things checked out well in advance because if you are not covered by a guarantee or warranty it will probably cost more to get stuff fixed at Christmas (and even if you have a warranty it will take longer too.)
So, if the boiler is making a wheezing noise or the washing machine is clanking, have it checked out now.
Check gutters to ensure they are clear of leaves and other debris and have your roof checked for missing slates.
Make sure you know where the water stop valve is (and that you can turn it off) – this is useful in the event of a flood.
Make sure you know where the fuse box is and that you know how to turn off the gas.
Keep a note of the number 0800 111 999 – you should call this if you smell a gas escape.
Ask friends for names and phone numbers of good plumbers, heating engineers and other tradespeople.
Have some portable electric fan heaters you can use to keep warm if the heating conks out and no one can come out and fix it promptly.

Getting the Work Done

Only use properly qualified tradesmen who are member of a national body of association. Check what membership of the body gives you and check they really are members by asking for ID
For example, all gas engineers should be listed on http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/ (the new name for Corgi)
Decent plumbers and some heating engineers should be in http://www.ciphe.org.uk/ (which also has a list of plumber and heating engineers who are available over the Christmas period) or the Association of Plumbing and Heating Engineers.
Some white good suppliers are closed for only one day at Christmas.

Agree Fees

Assuming you are not covered under a warranty, agree a call out fee. Check if it includes VAT or not. Never agree to “payment by the hour.”
The call out fee is your payment to the contractor to diagnose the fault. As it is Christmas, you may have to agree to pay a higher call out fee than at other times of year. Don’t be surprised about this – after all how would you feel if your boss insisted you come into the office.
Once the problem is diagnosed, decide if it is worth getting it fixed anyway.
You need to decide if it may be better just getting a new machine in - (make sure you have checked out prices of new models in advance from local suppliers as well as the Internet) - this is especially true if the machine is old anyway.

Fixed Price Quotes
Get fixed-price quotes in writing (not an estimate) showing how long the job will take to complete.
If a contractor says you need to replace an expensive machine like a boiler, get a second opinion first, if you can. We have heard of lots of big firm service engineers saying boilers cannot be repaired when they can be. Often it is just a question of someone having the right part!
If you are getting something fixed, only pay when the job is complete and materials and debris cleared away.
If it is a big job ask for references from others or from sites like RatedPeople.com.
Always check installer ID and finally pay on time, so they come quickly next time and you are front of the queue when the next big freeze comes or your white goods break down.

ABOUT US

At LettingFocus.com we are experts on landlord issues.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.

We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.

At LettingFocus we pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.

Property syndicates and property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.

With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we can advise you on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price. We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.

We also do consultancy and write for companies such as banks, local authorities, property websites and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?
SELLING STUFF TO LANDLORDS – YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

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Buy to Let Maintenance Issues – How to Plan for and Deal with Them

2009-12-08T10:22:00.004Z

Well, it has been that kind of week - a week where I have spent a lot of time running about after tenants to get things fixed.
The facts are that November and December are usually the hardest months for landlords because of two factors.

Cold, Wind and Rain – the Enemies of Landlords
First, this is the time of year when it starts to get really cold, windy and when it rains a lot too.
Cold and rain have a habit of “finding out” old boilers and badly looked after roofs and gutters. Once the thermometer drops a bit and tenants put on their central heating a lot, it is then that boilers break down.
And heavy rain (when combined with cold and wind) will find its way through bad and blocked gutters and loose tiles.
So, I would say it is essential that a landlord simply must have a good plumber, heating engineer and roofer / gutter man on their books and ready to come out at “reasonable notice.”
Landlords should also have some emergency convector heaters to give to tenants in case the central heating cannot be fixed for a few days (perhaps because a part is not immediately available.)
I say “reasonable notice”, because whilst you have to deal with things reasonably quickly, you are not there at the tenants’ beck and call and cannot be expected to get a heating engineer there on the same day, especially if it is at the weekend.
You are not running a hotel, after all.
So even if you can reply the same day, I’d hold off replying for 24 hours unless it was an emergency.
To keep good roofers and heating engineers on your side and ready to come out to you first when the big freeze is on, pay them promptly and treat ‘em well.

Dead Time for Finding New Tenants
Second, this is the time of year when I dread getting notice from a tenant because it can be very hard work trying to find a new tenant in the run up to the Christmas and New Year Holidays as few people wish to move house now.
Thankfully none of my tenants are leaving but the weather has made it a busy week.
But if any did want to give notice now, I'd probably look to offer an incentive to stay for another month or two.
It is when I have weeks like this last one that I have to go to look at my healthy bank balance and convince myself that yes, being a landlord is really worth it.
I’m pleased to say it is - that the rents more than cover the costs and the hassles – and it beats wage slavery any day.

Crisis What Crisis?
It is sad to hear about all the people losing their jobs – unless they are Fred Goodwin and the like - but if I never read the news and had to go on my own experience then I would have to wonder if the newspapers are making this whole recession thing up.
Right now, here in rainy London, I have had to wait weeks to get work done because materials have all sold out and even my trusted contractors are all booked up.
I’m sure it may be different in other parts of the UK, but here I am forced to ask, crisis, what crisis?

Useful Article
You may also find this related article useful.
It looks at the things you can do to reduce the chances of tenants contacting you and how to plan preventative work to reduce the number of times you get call outs from tenants: Landlords Need to Plan Maintenance

CHECK OUT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting

TO READ PAST CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?

ABOUT US

LettingFocus.com are experts on landlord issues.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson. I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.

We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk.

At LettingFocus we pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.

Property syndicates and property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.

With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price. We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.

We also do consultancy and write for companies such as banks, local authorities, property websites and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord or buy to let product strategies.

SELLING STUFF TO LANDLORDS – YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009.
If you have a website & are thinking of reproducing material here, that’s fine but we DO require a link to the blog to be included, including also all the links in this section. (The full article including all links must be available to ALL VIEWERS of your site and not restricted.)

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment or view other people's comments on this post, simply click on “link to this post.”

Mortgage Fraud Danger in Below Market Value (BMV) says LettingFocus

2009-12-01T12:03:00.003Z

Is making money in property as easy as some people say?
Well, it’s not hard, that’s for sure, providing you know what you are doing.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is very hard (e.g. running a kids football team as I do and having to deal with some of the parents) and 1 is very easy, I would rate buy to let as a 4.
To keep it simple, it is really just about doing a few things right.
First, you find a property in an area where there is currently strong and ongoing future strong tenant demand for that property.
Second, you buy the property at a good lowish price and third, you find good tenants who will look after it and pay the rent on time.
Sounds simple – and yet so many people try to overcomplicate it.
Usually the companies who overcomplicate it are trying to sell property that is supposedly dirt cheap and which does not require you to put any or much money in.

Too Good to Be True
If you see a deal that looks too good to be true, it usually is.
Very often you will see such companies trying to promote “no money down deals.”
But please keep in mind these important facts……
Mortgage lenders will ALWAYS want to see that you have put some money into the property you are buying. They want to see that you have a stake in it.
And this cannot be funny money – it has to be YOUR money – not money you have borrowed from someone else or from another company.
It has to be YOUR money and you have to tell the mortgage company where it has come from – i.e. the source of the funds.
If you don’t tell the truth about where the money comes from, you have committed mortgage fraud and if you don’t tell the mortgage company the true price you are paying for the property – with all the kickbacks made clear – then you are again liable to be done for mortgage fraud.

Use Your Own Solicitors
Lots of companies specialising in marketing no money down deals will require you to use that company’s own finance arm and legal advisers.
This is because they will make some money from the legal team and finance co. Nothing wrong with that, of course.
But you should check out the cost first as it is often not cheap – and always make sure you have the deal and the property checked by your own solicitors and valuers.
Finally, if you are paying someone to source leads you ought to check out their track record very carefully indeed. Look at the Internet and ask for references.
There are some good firms sourcing below market value property -and we can help with that too - but there are some whose leads have proved to be not so much “below value” as “very poor value.”

Final Thought
It is important to have a mix of investments.
I always laugh when I see how people who manage equity and bond funds are very keen that investors avoid direct property investments like buy to let.
And many who promote buy to let often gloss over the risks and hard work involved to make it work.

CHECK OUT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting

PAST CLIENT TESTIMONIALS from past customers – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK click here: Buy the Book at Amazon

ABOUT US
LettingFocus.com are the experts on landlord issues and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.

We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, that are ethical and which involve minimal risk.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.
Finally, we advise companies such as banks, local authorities and social housing providers with their landlord or buy to let facing strategy.

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Realted article: BMV or Below Market Value

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

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