Melboy

He should have held this Autumn budget on November 5th as it is all a bit of a damp squib. 😅 The only really clear statement that affects us Landlord's is the dramatic drop in Capital Gains Tax relief from £12,500 to a very lowly £3,000. It was widely expected to be a drop to £6,000. Still, it is only a problem if you need or want to sell your rental property and for me personally I don't. Stamp duty changes in 2025 as well. I do expect there will hidden tax rises which have not been revealed.

RL said: "I am in receipt of a state pension.....so looking forward to my 10.1% triple lock increase in April". 😄 I don't think that is going to happen especially 10.1% increase. It will be much reduced.

I don't have friends in high places but I do know people who have. The worst kept budget secret since George Osbornes "pasty tax" has been revealed to me and that is CGT on second homes sales is to be halved from £12,300 to £6,000. It will be interesting to see next week if this private information has any truth in it. Only a real problem if you need to selI your 2nd home I guess. It wouldn't not surprise me one bit if the Tories didn't go for some form of new tax on the sale of your private home because they are very suicidal at the moment and definitely not looking for another 4 years in Government. So with that in mind let's have a sweepstake on what you think the Chancellor's budget will bring......apart from misery of course. 😅

I guess there may be many landlords who are not looking to sell anytime soon or later like me. I have my properties in dual and triple ownership and by that I mean Husband & Wife and in a couple of cases Daughter & Son are on the property deeds. CGT only becomes a problem if you have to sell. No doubt the Government are looking at some novel ways of forcing landlords to sell just for the pure hell of it. Was this a clever move on my behalf? I doubt it but it does mean a 3rd party has a share of the property and in the event of being carted off to the Old Folks home it may mean the property can't be sold off to pay nursing home fee's which are currently costing about £1,500 a week.

Listening to a financial program this morning on the radio it has been pre announced ( as per normal ) that Landlords will be affected by the Autumn budget and it was indicated that it would Capital Gains Tax that would be that tax. I would imagine the Chancellor will reduce or cancel the the amount of CGT relief you can claim per person. Easy prey I guess are landlords.

If there wasn't 80 miles between us Grampa you would be my agent. 😀

Anyone got a BoE IR tracker mortgage? My Son has not paid a penny in interest on his mortgage for 12 years. 😀 I think this is about to change for him quite dramatically though and I believe it already has in the past year. Interesting and not unsurprising to note that tracker mortgages from around 2010'ish quickly disappeared from the mortgage market. Do they still issue tracker rates today? Possibly but I haven't looked into it as I don't have any need to do so. Watch the rise in BtL mortgage rates from today and probably anyone wanting a BtL mortgage will probably have to put up a much larger deposit to secure that mortgage.

With an almost certainty BoE interest rates will rise at at 12 today from 2.25% to 3%. The warnings have been there for the past 2 weeks and financial institutions have already factored this rate rise into their day to day business. It is not going to stop there either as the USA is currently 4% on the Federal Bank Rate and also likely to go higher next month. I can see 4% here in the UK by the end of January 2023. These latest IR rises will seriously affect the BtL market and of course the normal mortgage market money supply. Batten down the hatches for a rough ride ahead. The burning question is of course is Buy To Let property landlord / management business in it's final throes of serious decline and this gloomy prediction is before the Autumn budget on the 17th November where I see BtL landlords and their business getting stuffed yet again.

I wouldn't invest right now due to the instability of house prices and the forthcoming rises in interest rates. Some may think differently to that statement and I wish them all the luck in the World. If you are looking for long term and by that I mean 10 years or more and can buy below market value a nice property then it may be given a consideration.

Providing accommodation for illegal Channel crossers is costing the UK Taxpayer £7 Million every day. 33,000 have crossed the channel this year alone. 64% of the Crossers were young Albanian Men funded by the Albanian drug and prostitution Gangs operating here in the UK. Apparently all the UK requisitioned hotels are now full to capacity having been taken over by the Government through SERCO Ltd. Here in Swindon the Holiday Inn sacked all the staff, cancelled all the future bookings, told existing guests to leave the next day to make room for bus loads of illegal immigrants. It sort of worked out but as each day passes rooms do become available as asylum seekers escape into the night and according to local people it's not unusual to see these people being picked up and driven away in the darkness. Clearly the Government has lost complete control on the situation and now they want landlords to house these people. Good luck with that I say but of course that is only my opinion and perhaps there are private landlords willing to do this. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11359697/Homeowners-asked-illegal-migrants-annual-hotel-bill-house-hits-2-4billion.html

I would never let through any local council especially mine and that is based on a previous bad experience. I would concur with everything that RL has said about tenant criteria and selection. I have advertised on Gumtree many times with a 100% success and have and do still have excellent tenants but there again I have been extremely selective who I take on on. You don't say where your flat is located and in these times of suitable rental property availability I find it surprising you cannot find a tenant. In my area of Wiltshire there would a queue at the door for any rental property coming to the market, letting agent or private.

Being a landlord of rental property involving long distance management will always be a problem whether you manage it yourself or with a letting agent. Property in the North East is cheaper and so are the rental money returns and there is a very good reason for that compared to the Southern area's of the UK. You would have to carry out some fairly precise financial figures on what you intend to do to make sure it is worthwhile to proceed.

Almost certainly going to happen in the rest of the UK as well. The Scottish Parliament rent freeze has not produced any details as yet but no doubt they will be fairly severe. Any Scottish landlords reading this posting?

With housing availability being in very short supply I would hope that the vast majority of tenants will prioritise their finances to ensure they keep a roof over their heads. I am not expecting any problems but you never know do you. I guess the worse case scenario you could add to Richlists list of priority tenant expenditure is unexpected unemployment/redundancy. I am reviewing the way energy is consumed in my household and making the necessary adjustments so I hope my tenants will be doing the same as me. My big fear is the projected rise in Council Tax which will be announced in January. Councils are already making noises about not enough money from central government to cover the massive expenditure they have to provide for local social services to asylum seekers, Ukrainian refugees, unaccompanied children, the elderly and those that have long term health requirements so stand by for a big percentage rise in CT.

I'm with RL on this. I do not provide washing machines or dishwashers but the space and easy link up plumbing connects are all there for anybody wanting to install one. I stopped providing w/machines years ago due to tenant neglect mainly and I went through too many machines which was costly to me. It has never been a problem to me by not providing these appliances. I've just remembered....... 😃 About 20 years ago I installed a brand new washing machine and a prospective tenant wanted the property but only if they could install their own washer dryer combined machine.

Yes it is........ but read the comments above from 2020

The property market is wavering with higher borrowing rates coming into effect. Having said that with the inflation figures creeping up to a very high figure investors are buying investment property but I would imagine it is for long term investment and a decent percentage return on that investment. Personally, would I buy right now. The answer for me is no I would not. Others would disagree I would imagine.

Plenty of cash buyers in my area. I keep an eye on everything that comes to the market. This was on the market for all of 6 hours and sold for cash to an out of town buyer. Not unusual I know. I know the LA well. Good location as well. I believe that investors looking for a short/long term investment are still piling their dosh into property. This flat will let for £750 to £800 pcm. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125785235#/?channel=RES_BUY

You will need a CO alarm in a bedroom as it is very advisable to do this if not already current regulations. I will ask my Son tomorrow morning as he is coming to do some work for me. I am aware that in many cases you would have no other option but to install a boiler in bedroom but it is something I would not like to have.

CO Alarm is probably more important than a smoke alarm in the bedroom. Where are the new regulations, where did you see them?

More Doom and Gloom from Wales. Family facing eviction from their home of 10 years refuse to leave (msn.com) The interesting paragraph in the article is: "Sarah Evans, general manager at the estate agent, said: "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. The increase in landlord taxation as well as regulations, such as the introduction of Rent Smart Wales and the Renting Homes Act has meant that renting is simply not viable any longer for some landlords". This is what happens when Labour Governments meddle in the private housing rental sector. They just can't leave it alone can they. Watch out COR they are coming for you. 😃

Hitting the news headlines this past 2 days is the announcement regarding the £400 Government cash hand-back to tenants where the rent being paid includes energy ( electric and gas). Tenant organisations are saying that tenants should receive this money and not the landlord. Now I could be missing the point here so help me out. If you are not paying for the gas and electric on your own independent energy account in the property you are renting how can you qualify for the rebate when the landlord is effectively paying for the energy used?

Short answer is no. You can claim £1,000 on the single rented property against expenses incurred and not how many owners it has. If you have multiple properties then it is just the one off tax allowance against a single property. Full details can be seen on the HMRC rental property website, or please read my opening comment on this topic,

From what you are saying it does look like he is halfway through removing his furniture from the property. You cannot enter the property just yet. It's a waiting game for at least 7 to 14 days. You could ask the neighbour to call you if he returns perhaps. The important point here is to get your property back with no hassle and no damage. Your tenant has their reasons for leaving which for some reason not clear to you he doesn't want to communicate anymore with you. When or if you see the bed and fridge freezer have gone (if they do go that is) send him a text saying that you assume he has gone and would he confirm this as a fact and if no reply within 48hrs. you can inform him that the property has now handed back to you as agreed. In any event what you must not do is enter the property before all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure he has vacated. There are many points in your original post where you have followed what many would say are not the correct procedures for taking a property back.......... but we can talk about that later.

All hatches battened down here. 😀 I have at least two rent reviews coming up in August and I am of a mind not to increase rents on my current tenants. I will set up a meeting though and talk it through with them. It's no good putting decent honest hard working people under unnecessary financial strain. 😇 We will see how that pans out over the next few months.