Banks Banning Tenants on Housing Benefit

It’s true that the vast majority of properties on our books don’t accept tenant’s who are in receipt of housing benefit. We’re often asked why this is the case, hearing time and again from prospective viewers that their being eligible for housing benefit does not mean they are unable to pay the rent in full…

Letting Fees Ban Unlikely Before Late 2018

The ban on letting agents in England imposing fees on tenants is unlikely to be implemented before late next year according to analysis by the Residential Landlords’ Association. The proposed ban is currently at its formal consultation stage and is open for responses up to June 2; the Department of Communities and Local Government has…

Budget 2017 Review

Chancellor Phillip Hammond gave buy to let landlords little cause to cheer his Budget 2017. Property investors wanted to hear that he was scrapping or watering down the tax changes on the way in April, but to no avail. He did not mention mortgage interest tax relief – leaving the way open for higher rate…

Tenant’s Checklist

When you’re moving home there’s so much to remember! Our handy tenant checklist helps you to ensure you’ve got everything covered! Click here for our tenant checklist!

HMRC guide to property letting & tax

HMRC have released the latest version of their e-learning guide, Letting out property. Split into sections to make it simple to find what you need, the guide covers different types of property income, expenses, tax returns and much more. They’ve also introduced a ‘News’ section so we can keep you up to date with the latest…

Pre-Tenancy Landlord Checklist

When you have new tenants moving in, there’s so much to remember! Our handy tenancy checklist helps you to ensure you’ve got everything covered! Click here for our new tenancy checklist

Simple guide to the buy-to-let tax relief changes

Are you confused by the upcoming changes in tax changes for buy to let income? The change to mortgage interest relief was first announced in the 2015 emergency Budget. Since then it’s become variously known as Section 24, The Alice In Wonderland Tax and The Tenant Tax – whatever you call it, a whole lot…

East of England Shows Highest Rent Increase in 2016

According to the Your Move Buy to Let Index, the East of England saw the highest rent rises in 2016. Rents rose in the East of England by 6.1%, to an average of £864 per calendar months. The South East say rents increase by 4.6%, to an average of £877 per calendar month. London saw…

Section 21 – Required Information for Tenants

All tenancies (including renewals but not tenancies that continue on a statutory periodic basis) that started after the 1st October 2015 are now subject to new regulations associated with the service of Section 21 notices. You must provide your tenants with the following documents at the commencement of the tenancy: A copy of the AST…

Blacklist of Bad Landlords to be Published

An official blacklist of bad landlords and letting agents will be introduced by the government from October 1. The database will cover property people who are convicted of housing offences in England. These are mainly aimed at landlords with houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) who are found guilty of running a home without a licence…