Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
One result of the Tenant Fees Act was that landlords were reduced to only asking for a weeks’ equivalent rent as a “holding deposit” or to be strictly correct on terminology, (and so not to be confused with deposits against damages and non payment of rent), a “reservation fee”. In the old days, we used to charge tenants an equivalent […]
Read moreI rather like the feature on online letting agent’s OpenRent system where their system is able to screen out all the applicants who have not read your conditions properly. So with OpenRent you have a “pre-screening” option where you can state things like No Pets, No DSS, Not Suitable for Students, Min Income Required from Applicants, Min Tenancy Length and […]
Read moreIf you are like me – and a sensible landlord – you will know that you want to keep good tenants, not upset them, such that they end up leaving. So, when it comes to rent review times, you probably put the rent up by no more than the inflation rate, even if the rate of rent increases locally is […]
Read moreReal Gurus in Property Should “Do” as well as “Teach” It has been four years since I updated my main book, “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let”. The other day I had a quick look at the book. I found that there is not that much that is out of date though, except for […]
Read moreThe Ordering of Energy Performance Certificate Recommendations to Reduce Energy Use Are Illogical The recommendations of things that homeowners can do to improve the score they achieve on their energy performance certificates (EPCs) look illogical in terms of the order in which they are presented – and no one in the media ever seems to have ever asked why. Also, […]
Read moreThe Home Energy Model (the Latest Stupid Plan to Make People Cold in Their Own Homes and to Shake Down Taxpayers for more Subsidies for Renewables) Thought the Nut Zero stuff on energy performance certificates had been canned with the PM’s announcement of abandoning plans for a minimum Energy Performance Certificate grade of C in all rental properties by 2028? […]
Read moreThe Spring Budget – the Impact on Private Landlords So, what was in the Spring Budget for landlords? Well, not all that much really. It rather reminded me of the Dad’s Army scene where the platoon have to rest in a barn for the night. Captain Mainwaring asks Private Frazer to tell his ghost story about the “Old Empty Barn”. […]
Read moreFinding Out What Rents Are Actually Being Charged for Properties Like Yours Whenever a landlord is setting rents – either for a new tenancy or adjusting rents at an annual review, it is good to know what the local market rents are. Fortunately, the ONS collect rental data – and publish it quarterly. It can be useful, but has some […]
Read more2024 Outlook, Looking Towards a Labour Government and Some More Reasons to be Cheerful Further to my recent blog, I thought of a few more reasons to be optimistic for 2024. First, landlord exiting means falling supply which means rising rents. (Not great for tenants, obviously). Nimble landlords, especially those who are not over-leveraged, either with debt or someone else’s […]
Read moreReasons to be Cheerful from 2023 Some good things have happened in 2023 for landlords. There are reasons to be cheerful. First, the government has put the ending of fixed term tenancies and the section 21 route to regain possession on hold pending improvements in the court system. With the usual glacial progress in any works done by the government, […]
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