Melboy

Oh! Yes! It is absolutely essential to follow the guidelines of thoroughly referencing any prospective tenant. I am amazed that after all the publicity on TV shows about bad tenants newby landlords still fail to carry out the basic of checks on their future tenants and then they wonder why they are thousands of pounds out of of pocket when things go sour. I have to admit even an old dog like me is still learning and in recent years I follow Richlists comprehensive format when selecting any new tenant.

I think I paid around £10 for tenant referencing on my last tenant which was 18 months ago. I was happy to pay this as for me as it is built into the rental charge and is also a tax deductible expense. A small sum to pay for some peace of mind imo and more to the point it works for me. I also pay the £20 (or so) to protect the deposit with the DPS and I keep the tenants deposit money in a totally separate account.

I would have said it was tax free.

I'm praying Richlist. It is unbelievable listening to Labour Party election manifesto yesterday. It is just not economically possible to do what they are proposing to do. Where do they think the Companies will get the money from to pay these huge tax rises? By raising prices of course ! Then everyone will be affected. Hello 1975 because for four long Labour Government years this is what happened then and it near bankrupted the Country.

I thought I would put this news article up on the forum. Personally I am not surprised reading this news as this Tory government under Chancellor George Osborne has done his best to ensure that landlords face unwarranted and unecessary financial pressures that would lead to the outcome you are seeing today. Mind you I don't particularly think that the figures are that high to warrant outright panic because there can be many reasons why landlords sell up and move on. It won't affect me I have to say. Soldier on..... and I will have a £10 bet with anyone that Labour will not be in Government on December 13th. ( may I never have to eat those words. 😋 ) https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-7697243/Buy-let-repossessions-nearly-DOUBLE-just-one-year-official-figures-reveal.html

Aaaah! Screaming Lord Sutch Grampa............I saw him when he was touring the Country with his band waaaaaay back in time in Aylesbury, Bucks. I have put this up for anyone who cannot or do not know what a character he was. At least he use to brighten up dull elections and amazingly actually got people to vote for him. I had forgotten that he committed suicide back in 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screaming_Lord_Sutch To get back on topic (almost) I have virtually stopped watching political programs and the news on politics as it is all getting a bit ridiculous with their budgets and costings which are really in dreamland. Month to go thank goodness...........and by the way it is snowing here at the moment and laying something that I have not seen this early in the late autumn in the South West in my lifetime.

Not forgetting that HMRC now have virtually instant access to all personal bank accounts whereas before there was a fairly involved procedure to gain permission to gain access. I would think it's a fairly safe bet to say that LA's have these multi individual bank accounts of their landlords to make it easier for financial and personal status checks by government agencies. Big Brother is watching YOU. 😊

It's worth reading the comments on Letting Agent Today posted above. Explains a lot but of course. Lloyds seem to meddling in with an EU directive supported by Government and HMRC I would suspect. Fortunately I am not involved in this beaurocratic nightmare.

It is probably due to the new rulings on money laundering and immigration status of the tenant if necessary and of course HMRC are clamping down on landlords taxable income declaration.

The idea and plan you are proposing is sound enough but your friend has to have his heart in what you are suggesting he does. I have met many people who entered the letting landlord business and didn't stick at it and either sold up and took a small profit or in case a friend of mine sold up and lost nearly £20k in two years in spite of my advice to hold out. That was back in 2010. If they had listened to me they would be approximately £50,000 in pocket by now. I also made a mistake back then because I should have bought the property they were off loading at a bargain price.

What a question to ask Grampa. 😊 Everything that Richlist has said applies with my answer back to you. I am not so sure it would be worth doing it right now but having said that who knows when the time is right? I can go back to 1988 when I wanted to buy my 1st property to renovate and I could not find a mortgage lender and the one lender that was recommended to me the T&C's were outrageous and back in those days most lenders that I knew of wanted a percentage of any future selling price not to mention borrowing rates of between 6 and 7% Much easier now of course to get mortgage money if you have a good deposit to put down. But the question is would I do it again and would I advise another person to do it? Yes, of course but that person would have to know what they are doing by education of being a landlord and what it all entails.

It's the end of the tenancy contract if one person moves out of that contract on a permanent basis. At the very minimum you will need to start the tenancy documentation process again including the inventory.

Just to follow up my own topic............😊 My Son got to the property by 11am managing to fit me in (!) between jobs and he was not too far from the property. It was the gas valve and the electrical solenoid attached to it not operating. He managed to get one from the merchants which are not too far away. So £200 later including fitting VAT etc. and boiler was up and working. He and I believe this boiler is around 12 years old and a knackered gas valve would support this as they are usually very reliable. The boiler fan is also not looking too good either with a bit of a squeak from the fan bearings but he put 1 drop of bearing oil on it and the noise disappeared. He has a near new Worcester boiler fan which he has given me so my £200 invoice is looking to be a real bargain now. The classic situation has now been reached. Do you throw money at an old boiler to keep it going? or do you replace it? New Worcester boiler fitted at family rates to me is about £1,800 all in including a Magnaclean filter. For the time being I shall ignore my own advice that I always give out in situations like this which is: "Get that boiler replaced"! So I have a very happy tenant which is just as well as it has been a very cold night here with heavy frost on the ground, and to be fair to them they did not for one moment cause any fuss or bother about no heating or hot water. Mortitia: My Son does boiler / heating work for a letting agent and he could bore you all day long with stories of tenants not letting him in to the property to carry out essential work or certificates. The other one is that tenants will say.......I am at work and don't get back home till 5.30 can you come at 6.30...... and the answer is always a big fat NO. He gives them a day time appointment by email or text and if there is no one there then the landlord will be billed for a booked appointment no-show tenant if he can't get hold of them. Some of the tenant excuses for not being at home are pure fantasy as well.

Sure enough and with the first really cold night of the year this Autumn and then to receive the dreaded phone call from one of my tenants at 7pm to inform me that the Worcester combination boiler has locked out and will not reset. For me it's not so bad as my Son is a registered gas heating engineer, Worcester boiler factory trained as well which is a real bonus but this does not guarantee me priority service on the following day as I have no idea what his workload is like and whether he can fit me in. Threatening him with omission from my departing Will has never worked in the past either. 😀 I don't know how other landlords deal with the situation such as this but I always keep a selection of electric heaters for emergencies such as this so by 8pm I had delivered these to the property. Happy tenant and at least they can keep warm until my Son can get there to look and fix the boiler which hopefully doesn't need replacing. Yes, the boiler is serviced and certified every year but like a car MOT it's only as good as the condition it is tested and certified for..... on the day. I also tell my tenants, in writing, at the start of the tenancy that whilst I will do everything in my power to resolve issues like these boiler breakdowns as a Landlord I face the same problems as any other person in getting trades persons to the property to fix and repair. Fortunately I have good and understanding tenants.

Interesting. I am all for a new deal especially one that does not discriminate against landlords who are suffering from a tenant from hell. There has to be a fast track eviction system in place for tenants who literally destroy their landlords property and refuse to pay their rent and honour a written contract and then after many months just leave the property with no penalty.

My next door neighbour who has retired at an early age of around 55, no kids, has told me that if Corbyn is elected his house is on the market the following day and he is emigrating to Italy with his partner. I firmly believe him as well. Corbyn and his followers will ruin this country within 3 years and it is not just me saying this it is the respected financial institutions forecasting this as well. Already we are hearing of electioneering claims from Corbyn which could never be financed to the amount of public money that he is saying and for what he intends to do. To gain power at any cost?

I would have said it is the landlords responsibility to have the chimney swept annually. As Richlist has said it is mainly an insurance requirement for the buildings. My Daughter has a Grade 2 property and 2 fireplaces and it is a mandatory insurance requirement for her to have the chimneys swept and certified annually. I would imagine it is the same for non G2 properties bearing in mind how insurance companies will look for any reason not to pay out in the event of a claim.

If it cannot be proven beyond all reasonable doubt that your tenant was responsible for damaging the door then it is the landlord that has to repair this door and put the cost down to a tax allowable expense. Part of the joys of being a landlord is that from time to time you will be faced with situations such as this. annoying as they are.

It's all a Bugger's muddle as far as I am concerned. We can now look forward to 2 months of political clap-trap from all of the parties with election promises that would never be kept once in power. To sum it all they are all as bad as one another and they wonder why the Public have little respect for politicians. I believe not one single political party is actually landlord friendly with the Labour Party probably the worse of the bunch with their new proposals. The Tories have been very anti landlord in the past 10 years. I have also been reading about Lib Dems leader Jo Swinson's husband. Google Jo Swinson and her husband comes up a the second result.. He was a Lib. Dem. MP but got unelected, since then he's worked in the Eastern Development Fund, which is some EU Quango and is up to his neck in EU money and dividends. It is suggested that he might have drained 3m out of the system. No wonder the Lib. Dems. and Jo Swinson are so keen on the EU, the leaders are all being paid by them. https://nyebevannews.co.uk/swinson-fails-to-declare-family-company-was-given-3-5m-euro-by-the-european-union/

Personally I would advertise as soon as you can even though renovations are taking place. Most prospective tenants will accept the fact that you are carrying out this work and that won't put them off. Also tenants may need to give notice on their present property or are under notice to leave anyway. Make it clear that the property will be available on the future date you specify. If your rental is in a high demand area then re letting during renovations would not present a problem and not forgetting of course it does take time and effort to progress prospective tenants through the contract paperwork etc. as well.

I would also say that for me property capital growth has been very good since 2008. Certainly exceeds any other investments I may have. Labour election victory is looking a bit remote I have to say as the UK has never wanted to be ruled by those with a communist leaning as displayed by Comrade Corbyn and Commissar Mcdonald and the Momentum organisation. Mind you the Tories have not exactly been landlord friendly either over the past 8 years.

I see it as a positive move BUT only if the price paid is reasonable and you have a cushion against the small price drop which is happening right now.........but will recover. I bought 2 properties in the past year (the flat you know about Grampa 😉 ) I sold the flat back in June because after fully renovating it and a lot of hard work I accepted an offer I just could not refuse. I also bought a modern 2 bed semi and that was renovated by me and is currently let out. Probably paid slightly too much for that property but the location was 1st class and if you have the money then my policy is just do it but in a business like fashion. Interest rates remain low and % returns on cash held is not good and this will remain so imo for a long time yet.

I wouldn't go for a 3 year contract. Far too long imo. 12 months max. and then a rolling contract. Both tenant and landlord should be happy with that arrangement. If you can give a reasonable assurance that you as the landlord are very unlikely to be selling up in the near future that should satisfy any tenant looking for a long term let.

I have been with many insurance companies over the 30 years I have been in the rental property business. I too decided to tighten up on my landlord insurance a couple of years back and after a lot of research I went with Direct Line Landlords insurance as it offered everything I was looking for at an acceptable and reasonable price. It's worth a look at but like all insurances cheapest is not always bestest especially what you can buy from the online companies like Compare the Market etc.. A Guarantor is essential these days imo. Preferably a property home owning one.