Nev M

In reality, even though i agreed and had the contract drafted (in my favour in the end), it all went through so fast they just wasted effort for all requesting this. The solicitor made quite a water tight agreement on conditions and it worked both ways (if they pulled out they had to pay me 2k). Very none-standard but did secure a property purchase which was at a good discount. Worked out in the end though I agree with your comments.

Yes this was bought within weeks of the post here. I did place the deposit and get a solicitor to draw up a contract as stated above. There where no issues and tenants have been there happily for few years now.

Perhaps i should explain myself better. I have been in and out work for nearly 2 year now on health reasons and my earnings worked out below the minimum Tax threshold and receive no benefits due to my savings and assets. Advise I was given was that if you are in the 0% Tax threshold after income from all sources then there was no need to submit a Tax Return. The 1% yearly profit equalled around £50 at 0% tax and still below the starting Tax threshold. When I am back to work (very soon I hope) I fully expect to be back into the 20% tax bracket and definitely will again be filling returns and paying tax that would be due. I am to paranoid to avoid Tax man. Ref your point llarisaabramova, I do agree with you that the effort seems high for my situation (when back to work) as the maximum possible for me to owe the tax man with no repairs, tenant swaps or vacancies at 1% would be £80@20%=£16. But them are the laws of the land and i am fine with that but hate the time taken to file the return. I am sure it costs me and the tax man much more than that in time alone Doing my Wives at 99% is a much more costly matter however and happy to spend the time and accountancy costs on that side as the resulting billing is a much bigger impact.

That's the way we approached it in the end. My profits verses expenses was almost zero income so we just submitted my wife's 99% in the end.

Agreed, common sense says it would just add it to the rent and would be more expensive for tenants if there is an Agent fee added of 10%. I can't see how this benefits anyone to be honest. That said, how many people increased their rent with the recent tax changes of lose of 10% wear and tear, no claiming interest on mortgage etc. I didn't until the tenant changed in properties. But then it went up 15% on the tenant changes this year. The cost at some point will be passed on.

If you replace equipment like a boiler due to it not working then i think you can claim on yearly tax bill as long a it is classified as like for like e.g. not an improvement to the property. Interesting though as if you need the boiler replaced to meet the new EPC regs can you not argue the point that a replacement is necessary requirement as long as you don't upgrade its functionality.

Is it the landlords responsibility to to cover for locksmith costs if the tenant loses there keys or locks them selves out? That said i do have a spare and so does the agent just in case.

Just took our property back from the Council in Luton. We took 17% lower rent also for the void periods being covered and damage to property repaired guaranteed. Council used to pay us directly but then moved to an agent that forced us to pay 10% of rent to them as agent fees. The agent stopped paying us and 4 months later went bust on hundreds of landlords owed money and ran (made the national news). I even warned the council we where not being paid and they continued to pay the agents. We was reassigned a new agent with no compensation and stuck with them and they have been good for the most part. However every year we ended up with costs average £800 - £1200 in repairs, decoration and stolen good such as beds, fridge freezer, washing machine, wardrobes etc. Plus the council standards are also very high e.g. Fire Station wired smoke alarms, and fir for purpose basic furnishing, white appliances etc. The last council tenant that left did all the above plus vandalized the place kicking a hole in the front door, smashed down stairs double glassed windows, vents on the double glazing, some how managed to gunk up the new cooker and oven fitted a year ago, Damaged the wooded floor, cracked the bathroom sink leading to the bathroom floor all being lifted, and blew the downstairs electrics circuits some how. The council refused to do a visit to check how the tenant had left it and then refused to pay for any of the damages saying it was wear and tear and changing the contract not to cover void periods. Nearly 4k later out of pocket (to repair it all) needless to say I had no choice but to place it Private market at higher rate. Sad as I would like to keep doing my bit to help people in need but i just cant afford it anymore especially with all the recent regulations and Tax hikes on landlords.

My agent can normally get any work done cheaper than i can so tend to let them do this. I do check market price first though.

Ouch Melboy that timing is not the best I do take the landlord Rent Guarantee with them also even though i have with the agent (Just in case).

Thanks RL

Think ii found my own answer: Once an EPC has expired, a new one is only legally required when a new trigger point is reached i.e. before the property is next marketed for sale or for let. For clarity, a new EPC is not required simply because an EPC has expired. Fine is 12.5% of the rateable value or £750 where they can not work it own. How do they apply a rateable value to a none commercial let, maybe base it on the council tax?

Hmm just checked and the rental property we have to the local council is expired 2019 and was a rating C but nothing has changed since then. Is this a legal compliance of letting to have this and can we get fined?

Hi, Has anyone ever looked at or had any experience with P2P platform investing? I was browsing on ideas for how to invest smaller amounts of money rather than sitting in the bank at near zero% interest and came across and article on this that aims for returns of 7 to 8% via crowd funding in property projects. I found this site that does it and offers the option also to invest through a ISA option also, trust pilot also seems to rate it as a legitimate respected site: https://www.crowdproperty.com/ Any thoughts, advise or cautions?

Apologies i can see a Thread called "Mr" discussing similar thing

I don't think any government will be more sympathetic to LL and agree with Carryon Regardless. I fact i think they would be harder on us if that possible. I wonder if there would be a way, where say if you had a tenant that you could make an agreement for them to buy the house from you over a number of years and make more use of the CGT per year. Would be very situational but they could pay rent and a lump sum per year that graduated the rent down the more of house they purchased and place a limit on it of 12.5k / 25k per year (Or whatever CTG threshold exists)...

Hi all, Just interested in if you are using an agent and your thoughts on what is an acceptable percentage for them to take. I know this will be subjective to the service they deliver. My side I pay 10% fees for full management and rent protection guarantee included.

What if you reversed it and had a Good Tenants Register that Tenants voluntary register too with LL / Agents reference. Could do the same for LL & Agents.

Do you have to renew the EPC every so often? I thought it was just on purchase and sales?

Or an opportunity for the Tax man to Levey a Tax on working from home in some manner possibly.

My agent is quite good and offers the rent guarantee system and so is in there interest to get a good tenant(s). They do tell me about the family before they move in however. My top Grips : 1. Late invoicing for repairs and not always clear on what was done or sending me pictures as requested e.g. broken sink.. OK please repair but send me pics on how a sink gets cracked. 2. Concerns about their understanding of the Law just recently and grip on the yearly safety checks. One property no problems at all but its let through agent to council so think they keep agent in check. The other property is too the public and recent post here (Melboy I think) mentioning new electrical checks prompted me to ask them on to see the last safety Cert and they said it was still pending to be done and they rented it out over 2 years ago. They know what's required but maybe a miss but knocked my trust a little. Also have missed a Gas safety check on same property. Still waiting for explanation and have instructed them to get checks and works done. 3. I do not get to see copy of the signed contract when they rent to new tenements till after they rented it and have to request it. Its a bit late by then as want to make sure all points i have are covered in it also. That's my Grips but overall they have been a good agent through the years.

I use Direct Line for buildings insurance and my agent covers my Rental Guarantee part. Agee with Richlist if having trouble ask your agent.

I can't find a government site were they made this single change public. I wonder if there was more but not announced? You did well to find that one news article.

All those point are great but the last one would be the most important to me (point number 7) "Would you rent to this tenant again? YES / NO". Would be great if a DB existed for this. However I also suspect that legal may have a role to play against this. Even most employers also only give a reference to the extent of saying yes you worked for them from this date and finished on that date so there can be no legal come back.

I think it was a good call Melboy, your post definitely opened my eyes to what to expect also. I will also be getting it done for piece of mind and because that one i showed a picture of looks pre-Boar War even though it passed the last Cert I am not planning on selling any time soon but very interested also in the CGT statement to come as at some point closer to retirement I will be considering this option. All the best Nev