Choosing Letting Agents / How the UK’s dopey banks made a mess of buy to let mortgage lending by David Lawrenson

Following on from last weeks’ blog, where I said landlords are not suffering too much, it seems that some landlords are suffering after all – even in the face of record low interest rates.
Latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders now show investors’ arrears rates are significantly higher than for standard residential.
So, what’s the truth?
Well, the truth is there are landlords and there are landlords.
Unfortunately, lots of would-be landlords did not do their research and believed all the hype spun by the many Get Rich Quick gurus and have gone on to make a complete muck up of it – bankrupting themselves in the process.
Many of these will have been to a guru’s seminar and went out and either bought existing housing with No Money Down from distressed sellers using bridging finance with a back to back next day remortgage or they bought new build ghetto flats with gifted or hidden deposits.
Both techniques have finally been stopped as the UK’s rather dozy mortgage lenders finally woke up to the fact that they had in fact just lent on 100% of the property’s value (or at least what the buyer paid.)
(Many borrowers would also use credit cards and loans for non existent kitchens to finance deals.)
With little understanding about how to be a landlord quite a few of these would-be investors got into trouble - and therefore so did the banks and building societies that lent them the mortgage cash.
On the other hand, landlords and property investors who ignored the hype, hopefully the type who read my property investing book – and listened to informed experts of the likes of Richard Bowser, Tom Entwistle and myself at property shows will have done rather well.

BUT WHY WERE BRITAINS MORTGAGE LENDERS CAUGHT OUT ON BUY TO LET?
That’s a very good question.
At a recent seminar I heard from John Corey, an American property expert about how in the USA, the types of techniques that borrowers were pulling here to raise big buy to let mortgage loans in which the borrower had no equity, had long been known to mortgage lenders and had either been stopped by law or through the use of intelligent underwriting techniques.
For example, by requesting up to a years worth of bank statements the American lenders could really assess a borrower’s true financial position. In the USA, it would have been impssible to raise say, £25K on a loan for something else one month and then use it as a deposit on a house the next month.
But in the UK, these kinds of things and many other sneaky tricks went on for years.
I suspct that many mortgage lenders in the UK did not have a clue about back to back re-mortgaging as a technique for someone to acquire a property with “No Money Down.”
OK, by sometime in 2006 and 2007 they had all finally woke from their slumber and have now stopped this kind of thing.
But if you get a buy let mortgage loan today, you will still walk out of the bank with virtually no help, no guidance or anything else to help you be a good landlord.
Unless you have read the right stuff you will have a good chance of becoming another arrears statistic on their buy to let loan book a few years hence.
A few years ago I contacted some senior figures in some of the banks (not easy – even getting their names is hard enough) and suggested that as a leading property author I could help them correct this failing. I’m still waiting for the call back.

MIND IF WE KICK YOU AGAIN SIR?
Don’t tell my partner but I have subscribed for most of the rights issues in the shares I have.
Many of these shares are well down on what I paid for them, so it’s a bit like asking a mugger if he would like to hit you and rob you again.
But the shares are all very heavily discounted and I figure that after the RBS’s famous 200 pence a pop rights issue surely, no one would be allowed to put out a rights issue prospectus which was so clearly full of nonsense.

TIPS FOR USING LETTING AGENTS
Don’t go with the letting agent that charges the lowest fees or one who claims he can get the highest rent. It is important yes, but not the only thing that counts. If the agent says they can get a premium rent. Fine. Ask them to prove what rent they have achieved for properties like yours by showing you comparables.
Ask other landlords which agents they use and trust. Then check if the agent is a member of a recognised trade association such as The Association of Residential Letting Agents which has a code of practice for members and client money protection schemes in place. Others bodies offering similar protection include The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the National Approved Lettings Scheme.
Landlords should check what protection the agent’s membership of a trade body gives them and if the agent is really still a member.
True, there are some very good and long established agents who are not members of any trade body for good reasons - like the very high cost of membership.
If you are set on using one of these, that’s fine, but make extra sure to check references and find out how long they have been in business.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the landlord experts. Read Property Articles.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property book - buy Property Investment Book. The new edition is for both accidental landlords and more experienced residental property investors and is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, landlord registration and capital gains taxes.
I’m a property expert and property speaker - and I run the well known property blog that you are reading now.
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general advice on property letting to anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer independent unbiased advice on renting out property because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier other than through the links we have on our affilate scheme page. Find out about some great deals we have arranged at our Property Affiliate page.
For landlords' insurance products such as rent guarantee cover and property insurance click on Ukinsurancenet. Don't forget to quote our reference code, LFOC, to get the best rates from them too.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week.
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Landlords are smiling at lower buy to let mortgage rates by David Lawrenson of Letting Focus. Just as long as they don’t need to raise new money!

Every now and again some smarmy old wage-slave former work colleague rings me up and says something like, “Boy, you landlords must be suffering at the moment.”
I reply, “Well, if you call a huge downward hike in my borrowings, suffering, then yes, I guess I am.”
You see, things are not as bad for us wiley old landlords as many people (fed by a constant media diet of hapless novice landlords losing thousands on now worthless Thamesmead flats) like to claim they are.
Take mortgage rates for instance.
Lots of landlords, myself included, opted for Bank of England (BOE) base rate tracker mortgages. I also have some lifetime trackers – at .75% above base and .85% above BOE base for life. Oh how I recall baulking at the set up fees at the time – a whopping £650 - which of course, is a pittance of a mortgage fee in today’s terms where 2 or 3% of the loan amount is now the norm.
Quite a few of my tracker mortgage deals which weren’t for life are coming out of their “special discount periods” in 2009. But even then it won’t be so bad.
Why?
Well, many buy to let mortgage lenders said in their contracts that at the end of special discount periods, the mortgage rate would switch to a set amount above the Bank of England’s base rate.
Now, one of the biggest players in buy to let lending was the Mortgage Express. But in the case of many of the Mortgage Express’s deals it seems the default mortgage rate will be 1.75% above BOE base. And Mortgage Express was not alone in doing this either.
Now that kind of rate actually looks superb when compared to current Standard Variable Rates – which is the normal default mortgage rate for domestic residential (non buy to let) mortgages coming to the end of THEIR special discount or fixed rate period. These are typically 4% above base.

NEW MORTGAGE DEALS
The problem for us landlords – and here we are just like everyone else - is how to get new mortgage money to buy new property.
The new mortgage deals are at a margin of at least 3% above base rate even if you put in 30% equity and they come with huge “arrangement fees” too - a misnomer if ever there was one. And there are long redemption penalties to make sure you don’t walk away easily too.
And that is why, when it comes to buying property cash is king at the moment! So, if you are set on buying property now at “below market value” prices to take advantage of the credit crunch you’ll need a lot more cash to do it.

GOOD LETTING AGENTS
I was quoted last Saturday in the Daily Telegraph giving a summary of the year 2008 and my outlook for 2009. Click here to view my comments and those of other talking heads - http://propertyclub.telegraph.co.uk/Page/View/465/3
I would like to qualify my comments in “The Tory” by saying that most letting agents are very good – they do a good job and work very hard.
For those of you who have read my book you’ll know that I really save my venom for our mortgage lenders - the banks and the building societies – many of whom I think were guilty of lending recklessly on worthless new build flats from 2001 – 2005 and now not lending at all, even on good property and to good borrowers.
However, there are a few letting agents who are slapdash with your property, inclined to cut corners and with whom you have a good chance of ending up with the tenant from hell. They let down the whole industry. For more information on how to find a good letting agent, read my article on Choosing A Letting Agency
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ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the landlord and property letting advice experts.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property book - Buy Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let.
The new edition is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on sale and rent back.
I’m an expert freelance property writer, property speaker and I run this well known property letting and investment blog
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property letting advice for anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let out.
In my work as a consultant I help private individuals with any aspect of buying property or buy to let. What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are independent property investment advisors because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
We simply give one to one unbiased advice and are often asked to evaluate other property investments.
In my corporate consulting role I also advise banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice and property training programme at my website.Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
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ARE YOUR TENANCY DEPOSITS SAFE FROM ROGUE LETTING AGENTS ASKS DAVID LAWRENSON OF LETTING FOCUS

My last newsletter, which covered how Accidental Landlords are being ripped off by letting agents, generated quite a lot of interest from the press.
So I thought I would highlight another letting agency man trap which is just waiting for the new landlords to fall into.

If you use a letting agent and that agent handles the tenancy deposit for you, you ought to think carefully about what happens to that money.
All deposits taken under an assured shorthold tenancy which started on or after 6th April 2007 in England and Wales must now be protected in one of the various tenancy deposit schemes. For more on this read our article on Tenancy Deposit Schemes
If you use an agent, bear in mind that it is you, the landlord who is ultimately responsible for the deposit regardless of whether you have assigned responsibility for it to a third party like an agent.
This means that it is down to you, the landlord, to ensure that it is protected and the tenant is told where (and in which scheme) it is, within 14 days of receiving the deposit.
Any penalties that result from not protecting it properly are the final responsibility of the landlord.
If the deposit is protected in one of the insurance based tenancy deposit schemes (which do not physically hold the deposits) and your letting agent later goes bust, the insurance based scheme will ultimately look to the landlord to pay the tenant back on theit deposit (assuming that there are no valid deductions for damage, of course.)
Landlords should be under no illusions that the insurance based tenancy deposit schemes are a “client money protection scheme.”
They are most certainly not!

SO HOW CAN A LANDLORD PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST THEIR LETTING AGENT GOING BUST OR MISUSING THE DEPOSIT MONEY
Well, for a start, before they use an agent, they should carry out financial checks on that agent because letting agents are not regulated and can hold client money without any form of protection for the consumer.
So, use a letting agent or manager who is a member of RICS or ARLA – they do provide some form of protection for client money.
Other letting agencies may be part of associations that also make it a requirement for members to take out Client Money Proection Insurance cover. If they are, do a check that they are really still members and make occasional checks to make sure the insurance cover is still in place.
Not all agents may be members of a trade association but that doesn't mean they are rogues. If they are not in an association, find out how long they have been in business and ask neighbours what their repuation is like.
And if you are in any doubt, just hold the deposit yourself and make sure it is put into one of the tenancy deposit schemes. The National Landlords Association says that an agent cannot refuse this demand. Also, to be on the safe side, make sure rent payments are paid direct into your own account.
Want to add a comment - feel free. To read other comments that have already been added to this blog, you have to click on "Link To This Post"at the bottom. Then go to the bottom of the post to read the comments.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the landlord and property letting advice experts.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - Buy Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let.
The new edition is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on sale and rent back.
I’m an expert freelance property writer, property speaker and I run this well known property letting and investment blog
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property letting advice for anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let out.
In my work as a consultant I help private individuals with any aspect of buying property or buy to let. What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are independent property investment advisors because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
We simply give one to one unbiased advice and are often asked to evaluate other property investments.
In my corporate consulting role, I also advise banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice and property training programme at my website.Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
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Letting Agency Fees Can Be Traps for Accidental Landlords says Letting Focus

Just the other day, I popped in to a local letting agent and was pretty surprised.
It was all very impressive with a posh waiting space and lots of young twenty somethings all busily taking calls at rows of high technology work stations. Wow! You don’t see that kind of thing in our local high street too much.
I was there to see if they could help me.
You see, right now I’m pretty busy preparing for my talks at the London Property Investor Show – the only property show that is worth bothering with. (You should go -see our ticket offer below)
So I thought, maybe this agent could take the time off my hands and find a tenant for a property that I have which have just become available.
As you may know, I usually do all this stuff myself for my London properties.
I find that finding and checking tenants’ references is easy for me because I know what I am doing and have done it a lot.
And in London, we have the blessed Gumtree.com free site to use to find tenants which works very well – as long as you remember to take a few pics of the property and keep refreshing your ad each day.
So, I asked the agent what their fee was.
“10% plus VAT” they replied.
OK, so far so good, but this is a bit like saying that a piece of string is, “Oh, so long.” In other words it is not much use at all.
“And what term is that 10% based on?” I asked.
“All our tenancies are for 24 months” was the reply.
Gulp. …..Now let’s see.
For this one bedroom flat, which was to rent at £758 per month, that is a cool fee to them up front of £2137.56. Crikey!
Now, let’s be honest, how many tenants do you get who come along and would willingly sign up to a 24 month term?
Not many. In fact, in all my 22 years of letting, I have never had one who wanted such a long tenancy.
For a start, they don’t know what you will be like as a landlord and 24 months is a long time to be stuck with a lousy landlord. But more importantly most tenants like the flexibility that renting gives them and would quite naturally like to be able to get out of a letting after 6 months. As a landlord too, you would be nuts to willingly sign up for a 24 month term because if you get a tenant who is, frankly a bit of an a**e you will want to be able to get rid of him a bit earlier than 24 months.
And unless, he was at least 2 months overdue on the rent or decides to run a brothel at the property or do something else of a nasty criminal nature, there is no sure fire way you can be easily rid of him if you have signed up to such a long term.

OPT FOR 6 MONTH TENANCY AGREEMENTS
That is why most sensible landlords opt for 6 month fixed term contracts which are extendable if everyone is happy after 6 months has ended – i.e. you simply agree to roll the same tenancy agreement on (it is called a monthly periodic tenancy)
After I walked away, I called this agency, this time posing as a tenant.
They explained about the 24 month thing - but only when pressed.
I queried why it was so long.
And the answer came back: “Sorry, all the landlords insist on it” which is, of course, is utter nonsense.
However, many new Accidental Landlords who have decided to rent out their home because they can’t sell it - will fall for all this – which is why letting agents like this one are trying to get away with it.
Oh, what happened in the end?
The next day, I let the property for nil cost using an advert in Gumtree. A nice lady tenant moves in next week.
And before I get complaints form letting agents reading this, I should say that not all letting agents operate like this.
Many agents in London and all the ones I have used for my Kent properties are sweeties and charge a fair rate for very good work.
However, there are rogues about – and some of the rogues are big names. So watch out.

OFFERS ON OUR NEXT EVENTS
Come to my next London seminar and networking meeting – details here… Property Seminar. Just email us at david@lettingfocus.com and give us your full name – and that’s it. Then jst turn up and pay on the night.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of property investment expert lettingfocus.com.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - buy the UK's top selling landlord book.
It is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on buying property below market value.
I’m an expert property journalist, property speaker and a well known landlord blogger
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I can provide landlords coaching
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services and am a regular speaker at property shows.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice, property mentoring programme at my website.What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer you help as an independent property investors coach because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, a developer, an agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad and we won’t make silly promises that you’ll become a millionaire overnight.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
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Accidental landlords are coming to an area near you soon says Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com

Accidental landlords are coming to an area near you soon says Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com
Ah, another week of more bad news on house prices.
I see the likes of the Telegraph and other right leaning papers are whipping up the bad news in an attempt to sink what slim chances the Labour government will have at election time, though one of their most pessimistic writers at the Tory, Ed Conway did break ranks recently to suggest that there may now be bargains to be had for credit rich investors.
Perhaps he has been reading this property blog.
Still, despite Mr Conway’s recent comments, the fact is that because of all this negative house price news, we are also seeing more signs of the re-emergence of the “accidental landlord” -this is the person who can’t sell their property (for the price they want) and have chosen to rent it out instead until such time as house prices improve.
Actually, a lot of this kind of thing happened in the last property recession in 1989-1995. Indeed, many of today’s property millionaires started back then – they rented out their first property through default rather than choice.
However, for each millionaire today there were many back then who “had a go” at being a landlord, had a bad experience and then gave up and cried off hurt.
And so it will come to pass, once again, that we will see many novice accidental landlords sign up with letting agents to find them a tenant.
Nothing wrong with using an agent of course!
But, they will happily sign contracts with the letting agent where they will end up paying big letting agent fees forever -and long after they have found them their tenant.
This is particularly likely in London and the South East where high and ongoing renewal fees are standard practice for some agents who regularly foist them on novice landlords who know no better and can’t be bothered to read the small print of the letting agent’s contract.
Hopefully this practice will be outlawed very soon once we have the judgment in the Foxtons case.
Also, there will be many an accidental landlord who gets a tenant from hell because he or his letting agent did not do proper and thorough tenant reference and background checks on the tenant. Others will not know they must lodge tenants’ deposits or how to do a good property inventory.
And there will be quite a few who will adopt a Rigsbyeque approach to being a landlord which will ensure they quickly lose their good tenants and end up with someone far less suitable.
However, some will prosper. They will have done their research – some will even have read my own book - and will do well.
Despite these accidental landlords coming into the market and adding extra supply to the stock of properties to let, there has so far been absolutely no sign of rents coming down in my patch of south London and Kent.
And that is not surprising really if you listen to the independent experts.
But the chances are you won’t have read what they have to say because on the subject of experts, the likes of the independent academics haven’t really got the hang of PR and all that jazz.
You are far more likely to hear from Nationwide, Rightmove and the like about house prices and rents than you are from the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
But in an interesting report that only the FT picked up, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - which is pretty independent – pointed to the fact that today’s first time buyers may be less interested in buying property and more into having a good time. The report is called, “Housing market recessions and sustainable home ownership.” It is well worth reading.
I agree with Rowntree on this and a lot of other stuff they say as well and I also think the peak of house ownership in the Thatcher years is now over.
I think that in the future there will be lots of people CHOOSING to rent - and hence lots of tenants for landlords (outside the city centre identikit buy to let ghettos, of course)
And on the subject of independent minded thinkers, another report by Professor Michael Ball of Reading University predicts that outside the buy to let ghettoes rents could increase 10-15% in both 2008 and 2009. It is called the “Modern UK Housing Market - origins and prospects”. Another good read that you wont have seen in much of the press though.
So there you go. As I always say, listen to the independent property experts and try to ignore the headlines that the rest put out and the papers gobble up. There are many vested interests out there - some of them political and most of them commercial.
Instead, listen to the independent voices if you can.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of landlord experts’ lettingfocus.com.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” which for the last 2 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - buy the UK's top selling property investment book.
It is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on buying property below market value.
I’m an expert property journalist, property speaker and a well known buy to let blogger
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I can provide landlords advice
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services and am a regular speaker at property shows.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice, property mentor programme at my website.What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer you help as an independent property coach because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, a developer, an agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad and we won’t make silly promises that you’ll become a millionaire overnight.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
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