Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
Landlords who let HMOs may know about the sudden increase in cousins, uncles and aunts. Tenants who want to rent a shared house with more than two unrelated people will know about it too. Here is the standard definition of the family groups that could form a “household”, this from Birmingham local authority. I chose Birmingham because it is quite […]
Read moreHMOs and Council Tax Valuations Lots of landlords we consult with are reporting that their houses in multiple occupation are being increasingly targeted for what is sometimes called “disaggregation”. This is where the rooms are separated into multiple separate individual council tax bands by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). This is not good news as it raises the costs to […]
Read moreHMO Licensing Rules Extended From October 2018, the scope of mandatory licensing in England will be extended, which means an estimated 177,000 properties will need to be licensed for the first time, says David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com. From October 2018, the government is extending the scope of mandatory HMO licensing rules in England. (See below for the differences in the […]
Read moreHMOs and Students In our consulting work with private landlords we always urge extra caution for those people who want to enter the student market. You have to be pretty careful and know what you are doing. Probably the most important thing is to know how to look out for the risk that your market could be hit by the likes of a Unite or some […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson suggests local authorities are being lazy when they opt to use Article 4 restrictions to limit the numbers of shared houses (HMO) in their area. But it presents opportunities for landlords. Article 4 and HMO Restrictions Ever since the noughties, when Tony Blair decreed that 50% of all kids had to go on to study at a university, universities and […]
Read moreThe thirst from “property investors” for supposedly great returns from houses in multi occupation will make for a harder job for town halls housing departments. Often the returns from HMOs are illusory says David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com Every day at the town halls, junior front-line housing staffers spend a lot of their time dealing with single adults who “present” as […]
Read moreSometimes government policy doesn’t seem to join up too well – with different policies apparently conflicting with each other. Two good examples are (1) the lending activities of state owned banks which appear to hamper what local councils are trying to do with their private rented sector access schemes, especially lease schemes and (2) policies on HMOs which appear to […]
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