Property Lease Options The FSA Catches Up

Synopsis: The media and the FSA catch up on an emerging scandal we first wrote about 2 years ago. It’s nice when the media catches up on an emerging scandal that we at LettingFocus first wrote about almost 2 years earlier. This is the summary of one such news story. Sound familiar? “Property investors are willing to buy peoples’ homes. […]

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Universal Credit the Private Rented Sector and a Sense of Groundhog Day

Summary: The government’s plan to normally pay the Local Housing Allowance part of the planned Universal Credit to tenants (not to landlords) reminds us of the film “Groundhog Day”.  Haven’t we been here before and did we not learn from what happened last time? The Universal Credit was first announced at the Conservative Party Conference in 2010, though the idea […]

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Do Private Rented Sector Rents Follow LHA Rates

An interesting new report from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the British Property Federation (BPF) disputes claims from some in government that past rises in the housing benefit bill were caused by landlords increasing rents in order to take advantage of pre-determined benefit levels. The report is called “Leading the Market” and it concluded that a more likely […]

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Consent to Let Scam How Freeholders Rip Off Leaseholder Landlords with Consent to Let Fees

Summary: Landlords are being ripped off by freeholders for “Consent to Let” fees that the freeholders are not entitled to levy. Readers of this blog will know that all things being equal, I far prefer to buy a freehold property rather than a leasehold one. The many reasons for this are explained at length in “Successful Property Letting – How […]

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A Guide for Tenants Looking for Homes to Rent in the Private Rented Sector from Landlords and Letting Agents

The Buy to Let Landlords Guide to Finding Great Tenants eBook

Synopsis: David Lawrenson, owner of private rented sector consultancy www.LettingFocus.com explains how tenants can jump the queue and get the best rental properties simply by getting organised. He also highlights how they can avoid becoming victims of “fictitious lettings frauds.” This week, I thought I would give something back to the “community of tenants” by writing a short piece on […]

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Westfield Stratford CrossRail and Hot Locations

I was recently quoted by “The Independent” newspaper in connection with whether Stratford was a potentially good place to buy and let. The article is entitled “East London First Out of the Blocks” if you want to look it up online. In the piece I said that the key drivers of any area – the things that make a place […]

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Buy to Let Mortgages, the SVR and Follow On Mortgage Rates

Landlords (or indeed anyone buying a property) face ever rising costs to buy and sell property. On the buying side, stamp duty and the now ubiquitous “mortgage arrangement fee” are both much higher than in days gone by and local councils also charge more for searches. On the selling side, estate agency fees continue to rise. On both buying and […]

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Property Let by Private Landlords Often Not Looked After Properly

Why do some people dislike private landlords so much and are their complaints valid? Back in the 1970s, in the last days of rent control and tenant lifetime security of tenure, landlords akin to Peter Rachman were still flourishing. These guys didn’t worry about legal niceties to get their property back. They just used threats, sent the tough boys in […]

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Olympic Property Letting Frauds Plus Private Landlords and the Media

Summary – Why the private rented sector is in the news so much. Plus, a prediction of coming Olympic property letting fraud. So, the private rented sector is in the news. Indeed it is in the news a lot. And that’s not surprising because, for the first time since the 1960s, more property is in the private rented sector than […]

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