The laminate flaw beneath my feet

I am hoping to move to a firstfloor flat which has laminate flooring. However, the lady on the ground floor has complained about the noise it makes. What are my options? To remove the laminate would be troublesome. I like natural wood but if I installed this with underlay, on top of the laminate, would it improve matters? Or is carpet with thick underlay the solution?

David Snell, The Daily Telegraph - 24 November 2007

With the apparent increase in allergies, wooden or laminate flooring has become ever more popular. With busy lifestyles, the need simply to sweep and occasionally polish, rather than constantly having to vacuum, has served to enhance the popularity of timber flooring. But with all of this has come an increase in complaints about noise - full article

Slum landlords’ £18,800 fine for overcrowding

Three landlords have been fined a total of £18,800 for managing overcrowded houses in Northampton, with one complaint suggesting 22 people had lived at one of the properties.
Magistrates heard that a resident described the accommodation as “deplorable, it smells, there’s no privacy and it’s not fit for human beings”.

Ollie Jelley, Northampton Chronical & Echo - 24 November 2007

Mumtaz Begum Hussain, Hamayun Raza Hussein and Farrah Januja were all found guilty of not having a licence to manage a house of multiple occupancy.

Prosecutor Kathleen Greenwood said: “These tenants are people at the lowest point of the housing market, they are in quite a vulnerable position.” - full article

Sub-prime ‘time bomb’ is set to explode in Britain

Lenders are cracking down on sub-prime borrowers across Britain and could force tens of thousands of homeowners into forced sales of their homes, property experts warned yesterday.

BritainGrainne Gilmore and Gabriel Rozenberg, The Times - 24 November 2007

The global credit crunch provoked by the crisis in American sub-prime mortgages is creating a time bomb in Britain’s own market for loans to borrowers with imperfect credit records.

The warning came as figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) suggested that the slowdown in house prices was on course to be the most severe in at least a decade, as would-be buyers take fright at a declining market.The number of mortgages approved in October for home purchases by the BBA dropped by 17 per cent over the month to only 44,105, the lowest figure since the body began to compile figures in September 1997. Approvals were 37 per cent lower than a year ago.

Experts fear that the emerging British sub-prime crisis could further destabilise the domestic property market. As existing homeowners with particularly bad credit records – known as “heavy” sub-prime customers – come to the end of the cheap two-year fixed deals that were readily available until the summer, lenders are refusing to offer similar terms - full article

HM Land Registry - The October House Price Index

House Prices from the Land Registry - The Land Registry House Price Index is the most comprehensive available. Using Land Registry’s data set of completed sales, it is the only index to be based on repeat sales. The index includes figures at national, regional, county and London borough level. So if you want to know house prices in your area, or even a different part of the country, look them up on the House Price Index.

The October House Price Index will be published at http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/houseprices/ on Wednesday 28 November 2007 at 11:00 hours.

Paragon warns of collapse

Paragon warns of collapse as financing woes hit share price.

One of Britain’s biggest buy-to-let lenders warned shareholders yesterday that it could collapse if it failed to raise an extra £280 million, prompting fears of a knock-on blow to the housing market.

Christine Seib and James Rossiter, The Times - 23 November 2007

Trading in Paragon shares was suspended yesterday morning after they plummeted by more than 50 per cent to 100p on the news that the lender needed to raise cash via a rights issue after the credit crunch had made borrowing from other banks too expensive.

The stock closed down almost 39 per cent to 125p.

If the rights issue does not go ahead and it cannot raise money elsewhere, Paragon said that there was “significant doubt” about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern - full article

Hips extension to hit flat and small house sales

Owners of flats may struggle to sell their homes next year after the extension of the compulsory home information pack (Hip) scheme to one and two-bedroom properties from December 14.

Judith Heywood, The Times - 23 November 2007

Experts fear that compiling a sellers’ pack for smaller homes, many of which are leasehold flats, will prove too great a burden for vendors who are already suffering a market slowdown. A reduced supply of small homes would be to the detriment of already struggling first-time buyers.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, the property website, said: “The combination of wider economic uncertainty overlaid with legislative tinkering is an unhealthy mix.”

Owners of larger homes, which are already subject to the compulsory pack of legal and energy efficiency information, have reported delays and expense in securing leasehold and legal information from freeholders or managing agents - full article

Landlord & Buy-to-Let Show - London Olympia - 18/19th April 2008

The 2-day, Landlord & Buy-to-Let Show – Friday 18th and Saturday 19th April 2008, London Olympia – is supported by LandlordZONE and is a must for all serious Landlord and Buy-to-Let investors, keeping them up-to-date with all important legislative issues and sector developments. Book your free tickets today.

Is the buy-to-let boom over?

The damaging effects of the credit crunch on the buy-to-let market were finally brought clearly into focus yesterday, as the sector’s third-largest lender, Paragon, revealed it had been forced to draw up provisional plans for an emergency rights issue.

James Daley, The Independent - 21 November 2007

Its story is a very similar one to the tale of Northern Rock. Like the Newcastle-based bank, Paragon’s business model relies on being able to raise money in the credit markets. Hence, as it has become harder to get its hands on capital through the traditional routes in recent months, it has been cornered into considering other options. Unlike Northern Rock, however, Paragon does not have a savings book – and will not be granted the luxury of a Government bail-out – leaving it more exposed as the credit crunch has dragged on.

Yesterday’s news of a potential right’s issue confirmed investors’ worst fears, promptly wiping 39 per cent off the share price and leaving the stock worth around a quarter of the value it held when the credit crisis began in August.

Elsewhere, Bradford & Bingley, the buy-to-let sector’s largest lender, sold off more than £4bn worth of loan books to sure up its own balance sheet – a less dramatic but equally significant move. Both events displayed just how hard the credit crunch has been on smaller lenders in recent months. And while their respective fundraisings should eventually leave B&B and Paragon with enough money to finance their existing debt obligations, it will continue to be very difficult to write any significant volumes of new business with confidence, as long as there is no end in sight to the current crisis - full article

Introducing the Ultimate Tenant Find Service.

Its here, finally a product and service that has been tailor made to suit the private landlord. LettingZone in association with Discount letting service direct are pleased to announce the launch of a new tenant find service providing quality exposure for rental properties from an established letting agent at an affordable cost. For a one off fee of £59 (£49 Landlord association members) you can now place your property in front of millions of tenants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year. Private landlords’ properties are showcased on all of the top property portals throughout the UK, generating massive exposure and quality leads from prospective tenants. This new service is a must for any private landlord looking for an affordable way too tenant their property without taking on expensive letting fees.

It is a known fact that 80-90% of home searchers use the internet as their first port of call when searching for a new home. The days of tenants walking the streets searching for to let boards and hiking from letting agent to letting agent up and down the high street are well and truly gone. The internet provides a valuable service to tenants searching for rental properties in their specific area or indeed within an area they are looking to relocate too.

Continue reading Introducing the Ultimate Tenant Find Service….

LandlordZONE Newsletter - Buying & Selling at Auction

The November Newsletter from LandlordZONE - 20 November 2007

This Month’s Contents:

Cover4LetProperty.co.uk - Our sponsors and Leading Providers of Landlord’s Insurance

This Month’s Topic - Property Auctions - read the Full Newsletter

The Auction Solution
LettngAgent.com
Crosby Lease Lend
Investment Research & Due Diligence
Discount Property Auction
Book Review: Landlord’s Survival Guide
Money Back Mortgages
Landlord Manager V2
Hammersmith & Fulham Direct Lettings
Next Month - The New Housing Allowance
Crimson Investments
Landlord News Items
Landlord Show NEC Birmingham 6th December 2007
Cover4LetProperty.co.uk
AccommodationforStudents.com
Property Tax Portal
Free Forms, Notices and Downloads

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