Read Issue 11 of the LandlordZONE Up-Date
Read a full range of articles, news stories and book review on landlording and property management.
To Advertise in the next issue of the LandlordZONE Up-Date call 0845 260 4420 or email advertising@landlordzone.co.uk
The LandlordZONE Up-Date – end of year edition – in now available to read at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/update/december12.html
In this Issue:
Editorial – Changes to Direct Rent Payments for Landlords
Review of the LandlordZONE Xmas Promotion – 12 Days of Christmas – 12 company offers for LandlordZONE Members
Book Review – The Insiders Guide to Buying Property in Difficult Times
Vist our sponsor: Best insurance deals at – Cover4LetProperty
Choosing a Letting Agent
Leaders, the letting agents, who have supplied content for this newsletter, explain what all landlords should know about choosing a leting agent.
Not all landlords feel the need to use a letting agent, preferring to handle all aspects of the letting and management of their property and tenancy themselves. But for some landlords a letting agent is a must – to save time, reduce effort and stress, and provide them with expertise and peace of mind.
A good letting agent can be worth its weight in gold for landlords…
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Mar12/index.html
Editorial:
A case this week reminds us all of the importance of protecting your property investments from a fraud scam which has become prevalent in recent years – title theft.
Jailing Grandmother Surjeet Chana, 64, for nearly 4 years for involvement in a £3.8 million scam, Judge Michael Grieve commented on the impact on the victims of the loss of their properties: “It takes little imagination to realise the shock and trauma that this experience would bring.”
The Land Registry, the government department responsible for recording land ownership and property transactions in England and Wales, has paid out well over £26m since 2006 in compensation to victims of a recurring property fraud.
This con involves property title theft with criminals taking out mortgages on properties they do not own, pocketing the money and leaving the real owner thousands of pounds in debt.
Fraudsters target properties where there is no mortgage or the owner lives elsewhere, so landlords are particularly vulnerable, especially if they ever lived in the property themselves. Fraudsters may attempt to acquire ownership of a property either by using a forged document to transfer it into their own name, or by impersonating the registered owner.
There is an increased risk of fraud when: – a property is empty or has been bought to let – an owner is spending time abroad or absent – the owner is infirm or in a nursing or care home – a relationship breaks down – a property has no mortgage.
Is your property registered? About 20% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered. If it is not and you become an innocent victim of fraud and suffer a financial loss, you will not be compensated.
Are your contact details up to date? If your property is registered, you should make sure the contact details at the Land Registry are up to date. You can provide the
Land Registry with three different addresses, including an email address and an address abroad.
Form RQ provides additional security for owners not living at the registered property. Under this measure you or your conveyancer can make a request using our form RQ asking the registrar to enter a restriction, free of charge. See the Land Registry website.
Don’t forget, if you are in London Tuesday the 13th or Wednesday the 14th of March take some time to visit the Landlord & Letting Show at its brand new venue – The Barbican. Free tickets are available from the website, alsong with details of forthcoming events at: Gateshead: 2nd-3rd May, Manchester: 27th-28th June, London: 4th-5th September, Glasgow: 10th-11th October, Coventry: 28th-29th November
Tom Entwistle, March 9, 2012
e-mail your comments to: editor@landlordzone.co.uk
This issue is sponsored by: Cover4LetProperty
This LandlordZONE Newsletter is now available, in addition to the .pdf version, in digital-book format.
Download LandlordNONE Newsletter in Adobe® .pdf format: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGJan12.pdf
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Mar12/index.html
The links to the journal are also posted at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/newsletter-archive.htm and at
http://www.landlordlog.com/
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LandlordZONE Forum Apps for both Android phone users and Apple iPhone & iPad users. These free apps can be downloaded from the Android Market & the iTunes Store – full instructions here:
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Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Feb12/index.html
Editorial:
We continue to live in interesting times as the old Chinese proverb says, as more often than not the daily grind of bad news trumps the good, with stock prices bobbing up and down like a yoyo.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) tells us that UK consumer price inflation fell in January, but house prices too continued their slide in the last quarter of 2011, according to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
More gloom as Credit rating agency Moody’s threatens Tuesday to downgrade Britain’s Triple A credit rating, which pushes the FTSE lower and, despite the Greek parliament’s agreement Monday on severe austerity measures, Greece continues to cast a shadow and much uncertainty over the Eurozone and the UK.
The economic effects of recent natural disasters are still being felt, with Lloyd’s of London estimating its costs from the severe flooding in Thailand in 2011 at £1.4bn adding to previous losses suffered in the Japanese tsunami.
Despite all this the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) latest figures show that properties being bought with buy-to-let mortgages increased by around 84,000 in 2011. During Q4 2011 a total of 34,800 buy-to-let mortgages (including 15,600 remortgages) were advanced – a total of almost £4billion. This adds modestly to the stock or rental property available to let, easing pressure on rents in some high demand areas.
At the height of the property boom in Q3 2007 quarterly mortgage lending was over 93,000 loans, worth £12.7billion, so the buy-to-let market is continuing at subdued levels, but there are clear signs it is continuing its recovery from a low point in 2009. CML figures indicate that buy-to-let accounts for nearly 13% of outstanding mortgages in the UK by value, and that buy-to-let lending now represents approximately 11% of total gross mortgage lending in Q4 2011.
Although mortgage areas in buy-to-let are generally lower than is the case with owner occupier mortgages, repossession rates are higher. This is due to the fact that the lenders exercise more forbearance with owners than they do with landlords, but they stress that a tenant’s rights are unchanged even if the landlord defaults.
CML claim that buy-to-let is performing an important role in the housing market, providing good quality accommodation, flexibility and mobility for those that need it, and does not crowd out first-time buyers.
For those interested in saving money on tax, Carl Bayley’s new TaxCafe 2012 book on Capital Allowances should prove very useful – see: www.taxcafe.co.uk/capitalallowances.html
Coming up soon the first in the 2012 season’s property shows – the Landlord & Letting Show – at its new venue – the Barbican, London, will be well worth a visit if you can make it on the 13th or 14th of March
Tom Entwistle, Editor – February 2012
e-mail your comments to: editor@landlordzone.co.uk
Tom Entwistle, February 2012
This issue is sponsored by: Cover4LetProperty
This LandlordZONE Newsletter is now available, in addition to the .pdf version, in digital-book format.
Download LandlordNONE Newsletter in Adobe® .pdf format: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGFeb12.pdf
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Feb12/index.html
The links to the journal are also posted at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/newsletter-archive.htm and at
http://www.landlordlog.com/
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LandlordZONE Forum Apps for both Android phone users and Apple iPhone & iPad users. These free apps can be downloaded from the Android Market & the iTunes Store – full instructions here:
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Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Jan12/index.html
Editorial:
The ongoing recession and the squeeze on mortgage lending are producing something of a bonanza for cash-rich landlords – those able to secure low interest mortgages with a good deposit.
If you’re careful you can pick-up good properties at bargain basement prices, whilst being virtually guaranteed a solid income stream.
With rentals in high demand in most areas and social landlords and local authorities strapped for cash, landlords continue to be the main source of growth for housing provision in the UK.
The Private Rented Sector (PRS) has grown steadily from a low point of 6 to7% of UK residential housing stock by value in the 1990s to around 19% today, and this proportion is expected to be well over 20% by 2020.
Landlords have been pilloried by some recently as contributing to the present housing market troubles, but the facts are landlords, unlike the traditional social housing providers, have “come up with the housing goods”. They have now been emboldened by a secure income, with the prospect of long-term capital appreciation as a potential bonus, in a period when alternative cash investment yields are extremely low – non-existent if inflation and taxation is taken into account.
Contributing to the growth of the sector has been a large cohort of “accidental” or “reluctant” landlords, unable to sell their homes, some of whom have since come to realise the benefits of being a landlord investor and going on to build up a buy-to-let portfolio.
The downside risk is that during a recession the guaranteed income can come to an abrupt end if tenants either can’t or won’t pay the rent.
Good landlord self-management or using a good professional agent is crucial, and this is where many newbies fall down: anyone can let out a property but maintaining that crucial cash-flow and staying on the right side of the law takes experience and professionalism as a landlord or agent.
High demand, low supply and the inevitable rent increases are now resulting in louder and louder cries from some quarters for government to control rents and increase security of tenure.
There is a real danger of going back to the Rent Act era troubles. It beggars belief that a half century of proof that rent controls long-term work against tenants would be overturned in an instant by some well meaning but misguided MPs.
These measures would inevitably drive many landlords out of the market, many would run their properties down by neglecting repairs, as returns become uneconomic, and the end result would be even more housing shortages.
e-mail your comments to: editor@landlordzone.co.uk
Tom Entwistle, January 2012
This issue is sponsored by: Cover4LetProperty
This LandlordZONE Newsletter is now available, in addition to the .pdf version, in digital-book format.
Download LandlordNONE Newsletter in Adobe® .pdf format: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGJan12.pdf
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Jan12/index.html
The links to the journal are also posted at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/newsletter-archive.htm and at
http://www.landlordlog.com/
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LandlordZONE Forum Apps for both Android phone users and Apple iPhone & iPad users. These free apps can be downloaded from the Android Market & the iTunes Store – full instructions here:
Android – www.landlordzone.co.uk/apptutorial.htm
iPhone/iPad – http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/landlordzone/id448930223?mt=8
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Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Dec11/index.html
Editorial:
In these times of great economic uncertainty, coupled with the hardships of the approaching winter weather, landlords need more trouble like a hole in the head.
So paying attention to good property management: fire precautions, the subject of this Newsletter, freezing pipes and damp / condesation problems, the subject of our next issue, makes a great deal of sense.
Fire regs and risk assessments apply mainly to commercial and HMO landlords but everyone should be fire safety concious where tenants are concerned, if they want to head off trouble.
We’ve added a couple of useful resources to our LandlordZONE document downloads this month – one, a Cold Weather Letter, reminding tenants of the precautions needed to prevent bursts, and secondly a Condensation Letter which explains to tenants the causes of condensation and what to do to avoid it. Both these FREE resources can be downloaded here:
www.landlordzone.co.uk/agreements.htm
Since we started LandlordZONE back in 1999 we have had a policy of keeping direct e-mails to our member base to a minimum – usually one mail-out per month.
However, our advertisers increasingly favour direct e-mails, so in response to many requests we have decided to increase the frequency of our mail-outs in a strictly limited way.
We want to respect the privacy of our members, but at the same time keep advertisers happy – they are after all the “bread and butter” of a free resouce like ours.
We have therefore scheduled just 2 mails per week for 2012 – first a LandlordZONE Update which goes out around 11am every Tuesday morning and carries up to ten logo ad slots. This will Update members on new site content, news and latest Forum posts
Secondly, just one Solus Mail Shot (single company ad) per week on Thursday mornings, around 11am.
Have a great and trouble free Christmas!
e-mail your comments to: editor@landlordzone.co.uk
Tom Entwistle, December 2011
This issue is sponsored by: Cover4LetProperty
This LandlordZONE Newsletter is now available, in addition to the .pdf version, in digital-book format.
Download LandlordNONE Newsletter in Adobe® .pdf format: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGDec11.pdf
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Dec11/index.html
The links to the journal are also posted at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/newsletter-archive.htm and at
http://www.landlordlog.com/
===========================================================
LandlordZONE Forum Apps for both Android phone users and Apple iPhone & iPad users. These free apps can be downloaded from the Android Market & the iTunes Store – full instructions here:
Android – www.landlordzone.co.uk/apptutorial.htm
iPhone/iPad – http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/landlordzone/id448930223?mt=8
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Why not forward this to a friend and if you think they will benefit from this service register at:
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Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Sept11/index.html
Editorial:
Whilst the residential lettings market is holding up very well, with record rental demand in some areas, it’s a different story with commercial.
The VAT rise this year, a threat of future inflation, talks of interest rates rising, lack of consumer confidence, rising unemployment, falling house prices and continued absence of credit from banks are all be factors that will contribute to further falls in commercial property values within the retail, office and industrial sectors during 2011.
Anyone with commercial tenants who are struggling in this climate will be aware of what a torrid time commercial landlords are facing; and this is compounded by the coalition government’s refusal to continue the relief to full empty business rates conceeded at the tail end of the last government. See and sign this petition: http://tinyurl.com/3fqp6kk
Although the commercial property sector where private commercial landlords invest is small relative to residential, it is nevertheless a crucial part of the small business economy. In my view it is common sense that imposing a high empty rates burden on landlords in this sector, although raising revenue for government at this time of stringency, is leading to hardship, the demolition of perfectly good properties and is seriously discouraging investment and the refurbishment and development of property for businesses.
Events: If you are interested in improving your skills, knowledge and contacts in the rental property industry you should be coming to some or all of these events:
The Landlord & Letting Show, on this week at London Olympia – Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th September 2011. Usually the busiest and in my opinion the best of all the landlord shows – it’s really worth a visit.
Camelot Vacant Property Conference in London – September 22, 2011 will offer delegates a comprehensive understanding of the relevant issues concerning vacant property protection and its management.
The Property Investor Show & OPP Live returns to ExCeL London for a 10th successive year ( 13-15 October 2011). This event attracts the largest audience of UK investors from around the world. Highly recommended.
e-mail your comments to: editor@landlordzone.co.uk
Tom Entwistle, September 2011
This issue is sponsored by: Cover4LetProperty
This LandlordZONE Newsletter is now available, in addition to the .pdf version, in digital-book format.
Download LandlordNONE Newsletter in Adobe® .pdf format: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGSept11.pdf
Digital Book version: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/digital-book/Sept11/index.html
The links to the journal are also posted at:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/newsletter-archive.htm and at
http://www.landlordlog.com/
===========================================================
LandlordZONE Forum Apps for both Android phone users and Apple iPhone & iPad users. These free apps can be downloaded from the Android Market & the iTunes Store – full instructions here:
Android – www.landlordzone.co.uk/apptutorial.htm
iPhone/iPad – http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/landlordzone/id448930223?mt=8
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To advertise call 0845 260 4420 or e-mail advertising@landlordzone.co.uk
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Why not forward this to a friend and if you think they will benefit from this service register at:
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