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Welcome from the Editor:

This month’s edition of the LandlordZONE Newsletter is devoted to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which are being phased in this year.

It’s important that landlords are aware of this development as all residential and commercial buildings are affected from 1st of October at the latest, with some commercial buildings being affected earlier. Remember, heavy fines are on the cards for non-compliance.

Energy Performance Assessors are likely to be in demand so prudent landlords may consider getting their properties up to standard and assessed early, especially if re-letting is likely.

The Landlord’s Energy Savings Allowance scheme (LESA) allows landlords to claim the cost of buying and installing energy saving measures against their tax bill.

Content for this month’s newsletter has been supplied by Jane Needham B.Sc(Hons) MRICS, Chartered Surveyor, Accredited Domestic Energy Assessor. Jane, who answers questions on the LandlordZONE Forum as a Topic Expert on Energy Assessment, Business Rates and Council Tax matters, has 18 years’ experience as a property professional.

It’s property show season again and we start off with one of the UK’s biggest events—7-9 March 2008 at ExCeL London, The Homebuyer & Property Investor Show

Friday the 7th has been designated “Landlord’s Day” so there will be more exhibitors of interest to landlords that day.
LandlordZONE will be exhibiting and Editor Tom Entwistle is giving a presentation:

15:45—Investing in Commercial Property: Successful Strategies for the Private Investor in 2008

Other seminars of interest:

10:45 - Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action—Dealing with Tenants From Hell

16:30 - David Lawrenson, consultant, author & regular contributor to the LandlordZONE Newsletter -  What type of property will show both capital and rental growth over the next 5 -10 years?

13:30 - John Socha - of the National Landlords’ Association—Lettings 2008 - Threats and Opportunities (also on Saturday & Sunday)

12:45 - Christopher Tanner - Blevins Franks Mortgage Brokers—The state of Buy-to-Let mortgage finance post-Credit Crunch

13:45 - Andrew Callen—lawyer, HMO's and Positive Cashflow

Full Seminar Details here — We look forward to seeing you at the event!

Tom Entwistle, Editor, LandlordZONE.co.uk

Energy Performance Certificates - This Month's Newsletter Topic

EPCs for all sales and lettings of property are due to come into force on a phased scheme. By 1 October 2008 let residential property MUST have a valid EPC when it is let.

The EPC scheme will apply to commercial property from 6 April 2008 (1000 sq M+) 1 July 2008 (500 Sq M +) and 1 Oct 2008 (All)
An EPC can only be carried out by an Accredited Energy Assessor. For let residential property this must be an accredited Domestic Energy Assessor.

All EPCs are to be held on a central register and can only be accessed by the landlord or person who is responsible for commissioning the EPC, although it must be made available for viewing by prospective buyers or tenants.

An EPC is valid for ten years on let property. If changes are made to the property which may affect the energy efficiency of a property, then a new EPC should be commissioned before a new letting takes place.

The theory goes that from the EPC, a potential tenant can see just how much it is likely to cost to heat and run the house for a year. Publicity will be aimed at tenants encouraging them to assess properties through the EPC before taking up a tenancy. The impact of this for the landlord is that tenants will be more aware of these issues and will become more selective on energy efficiency.

Read the FULL Newsletter to find out more...

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An initiative by Award Winning Landlord Mortgages. The service is very flexible and provides effective property management at a fraction of the cost of traditional Letting Agents.  

Landlord Manager V2 - Visionbase software Limited have been producing property management software since 1995 and are therefore one of the older established software products producers aimed specifically at landlords.
The latest version of Landlord Manager, which has just been announced, uses a simple user interface to allow you to record property income and expenditure for any number of properties. With numerous drill down facilities, reports and graphs you can easily track the progress of your rented property. Other features include a Rent Centre that will track your tenants and their outstanding rents, Tax Returns, VAT and a Sage compatible file to give to your accountant - www.landlord-manager.co.uk

Business Accountz is for Sole Proprietors, Partnerships and Limited Companies and is ideal for service based businesses such as Landlords and Property Investors. Unique one-click VAT Return. No confusing jargon. Fast and dead easy to use. Mac OSX 10.4+, Windows Vista/XP, Linux. Pro version available Summer 2007 adds Stock Control and Multi-company. 

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Prime Repossession Leads - At Last! Repossession Leads - NOW Available to Buy Nationwide - Motivated sellers are at the heart of the below-market-value industry. One of the most motivated of all sellers are people in the process of, or about to be, repossessed. Having probably exhausted most options available to them they are quite desperate to find a solution to their situation. Often selling considerably below their current market value.  Marketing for these types of motivated sellers can be extremely costly and time consuming. However, now you can buy the contact details (full name, address, postcode, including their approaching court date between 14 and 28+ days ahead) of homeowners facing repossession.

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Property Portfolio Software provides solutions to help self managing landlords get better organised when managing multiple properties. Their software solutions are designed by landlords for landlords and are guaranteed to save you time, money and effort in running all aspects of your property business.

An independent property mortgage and property finance web portal. The site contains all the help and investment finance information you should ever need to guide you through the process of successful property investment and securing competitive property finance. 

Successful Landlords know that Tenant Screening is "the" most important task when letting property. Tenant Verifying - doing credit searches and tenant referencing is the core of the tenant screening process.  Nice Car, Nice Suit, Nice Chat... No Rent!  Don't take chances - have those tenants checked out professionally!