When the UK property market hit the fan at the end of 2007, it looked like the end for buy-to-let. The sector was – quite rightly – reviled for its part in the escalating financial emergency, and seemed mired in a double-sided ethical crisis. Linton Chiswick, CityWire.co.uk – 29 January 2010 On the one hand, [...]
2010 will see a moderate start for the rental market despite applicant levels remaining consistent. It is the low stock levels that will continue to place demands on the market; Largely due to accidental landlords returning to the sales market and bringing stock levels down. This disproportion between supply and demand remains influential in both [...]
The new fees being charged by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme are continuing to be slated by leading agents. www.estateagenttoday.co.uk – Friday 29th January 2010 TDS said it had no alternative and insisted its new pricing system is fairer. But Caroline Kavanagh, group lettings director for the Townends Group, warned yesterday of serious potential consequences for [...]
The RICS has refused to be drawn into the row over TDS charging, while staying silent on rumours that it underwrote TDS for £500,000. www.estateagenttoday.co.uk – Friday 29th January 2010 The organisation – along with the then separate organisations of NAEA and ARLA – backed the launch of TDS when it was a voluntary scheme, [...]
The UK housing market is experiencing a trend of ‘reluctant tenants’, following a shift in supply and demand for properties, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). ARLA’s research, conducted across UK letting agents and landlords, reveals that the surplus of rental property is reducing, while demand for properties rises. According to ARLA, [...]
Student housingStudent letting is booming as a huge demand for rooms outstrips the supply in many towns and cities. www.studenthousing.co.uk, 26 Jan 2010 In the current academic year, 2.4 million students enrolled in universities through UCAS, the clearing house that handles student applications for higher education – a 34% increase over 10 ten years. Demand [...]
Skipton Building Society Pulls a Fast One on Mortgages. Will Other Lenders Follow Suit asks LettingFocus.com I’m interested in the recent decision by Skipton BS to unilaterally change the way the Standard Variable rate (SVR) is applied on their variable rate mortgages. It could set a precedent to other mortgage companies. In their mortgage agreements [...]
January 31st Tax Return Deadline Download the Full Newsletter January 2010 If you are like me you will have spent at least some time over the Christmas period pouring over paperwork for the dreaded tax return—and vowing as ever that next year you will be more organised. Many new landlords with perhaps just one property [...]
Is it safe to say that the property market in Bulgaria is dead and offering no profit to real estate investors? Or are there pockets of the country still worth a punt? An overview of Bulgaria’s current property fortunes for investors and those who hold property in Bulgaria www.shelteroffshore.com, Thu, January 21, 2010 What’s Actually [...]
Date of Issue: 13th January 2010 Over the past 12 months Landlord Action, a company specialising in tenant eviction, has seen a 15% increase in the number of overcrowding cases they are dealing with, with more cases in London than anywhere else in the country which, they believe, is a direct result of the recession. [...]
