Richlist

I agree. It's always been advisable to use an Agent, even seasoned landlords can benefit from professional advice & experience occasionally. But, let's face it, Labour Party plans for changes ( & this S21 change won't be the only one) is going to make life more difficult for anyone in the business. As the negative impact of successive adverse changes hits home, I suspect more smaller landlords to throw in the towel.......it's already started. I don't think there will be a total collapse in BTL although short term availability of property will get worse than it currently is. I think it will evolve and the business model will change over the next few years. I think there will be a move to larger landlords, with more standardisation and economy of scale........I'm thinking along the lines of what Travelodge & Premier Inn have done to the hotel industry.

This post is over 2 years old. I would hope the work on the roof is now completed and peace has been restored.

You could employ one of the eviction specialists. Landlord Action are one of the best......easy to find on the internet with a clear indication of fees & charges. That's likely to be the quickest but comes at a cost. You could try doing it yourself but run the risk of making a mistake and it taking longer. Your choice.

I think it's a good idea having fencing that is not timber in the USA. As their houses are mostly timber and they have lots of wildfires why do Americans persist in having trees very close to their property. We often see a forested area, a small clearing and a house built in the clearing completely surrounded. I've never understood it. We don't do that here very often and our houses are mainly brick. We make sure trees are away from the properties.

We are in the UK. * Here we don't normally like gaps under fence panels for criters to gain access to our gardens. * The panels look like ladders so anyone could climb up and over them. They don't appear to provide sufficient security for me.

Depends on the details. Presumably you don't get to choose who lives in your property ? Bills ? Maintenance ? Repairs ? Insurance ? Termination ? Legal stuff ? Probably cash buyers only as mortgage lenders won't like the set up. It raises far to many questions to give an answer but.......if it seems to good to be true.......then it probably is !

I agree. Most landlords who don't use Lettings Agents & who are NOT very switched on to updates/ law changes are new to the business.......so yes, they are probably foolish. There seems a never ending stream of people who think letting property is easy, they think anyone can do it until it goes wrong. Who is to blame ? Well I guess to some extent, the media are. At least all those new landlords who find themselves in trouble are keeping others employed and the rest of us mildly amused.

Perhaps a Labour Gov' that brings CGT rates in line with income tax rates might finally kill off any residual interest ?

It all began in the late 1970's when they started selling council houses at a discount. Now many, many hundreds of thousands of council properties have been sold. They have not been replaced and therefore the only rental properties available in most areas of the country are provided by the PRS (private rental sector). The PRS has become so large & widespread that the Gov' are worried that housing policy itself will be influenced & controlled by private landlords. The only weapon the Gov' have to fight this threat is adverse legislation. As there are more PRS tenants than landlords the tenants represent a far more important group of voters to keep happy. Consequently it seems fairly obvious that they will continue to turn the screw that introduces more advantages for tenants. It will continue for as long as the Gov' perceive that it will win them votes.

Keep in mind this is just a plan of the main legislation that Labour intend to pass on this parliament. The devil will be in the details and will need to pass through the House of Lords....which will likely be the main hold up if it makes things to onerous for landlords. Id hate to think that after letting your property, the only way you can regain possession from tenants who have not broken any rules, is if you want to sell it !

The Kings Speech today included : * Plans to ban so called 'no fault evictions' i.e. Section 21. * Plans to ban a landlord from refusing tenants with pets but they will be allowed to insist on insurance to cover damage.

There are numerous large managing agents around who deal with hundreds of thousands of service charge accounts on many developments & estates across the country. I suspect many of these large companies are very well run. The larger ones will have been through this situation many times, they will know how best to delay /or put off enquiries and when necessary how to deal with the legal aspects and administration of dealing with leaseholders who want to check the accounts. Trying to bend the rules to your advantage isn't going to work.....you need to play the game as the law requires. It has to be expected that however efficient a managing agent is, there will always be at least one leaseholder amongst the many who thinks they are being overcharged for sub standard work. Only the leaseholder can determine if it's worth their time, effort and expense. I personally wouldn't even consider it unless there was a very large expense which I had a reasonable chance of overturning. If you decide to go ahead, do let us know how you get on.

Answers 1. Your Managing Agent is following the legal requirements, they are not required to send you receipts. They are making their facilities available to you. As for charging you for copies......that is reasonable. They are a business and printers, paper & facilities carry a cost which you need to pay for. 2. You can involve your own accountant(s) if you want to but the accounts would normally already have been audited and signed off by independent accountants before issuing them to the leaseholders. So, unless you find something naughty you may be wasting your money. Obviously I don't know the details of the expenditure you are questioning but it's worth mentioning that many leaseholders around the country are experiencing increased costs. Higher costs for labour and materials feeds through to rises in service charges. It's annoying but virtually inevitable. Good luck.

With regard to your last sentence.......The answer is it's taken Rachel Reeves 4 days to announce things will take longer cos the previous Gov' haven't left enough money.

It's taken 24 hours for me to recover enough from the election results to be able to post anything sensible! Ok, Labour won but it wasnt all good news for them. The awful Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat and neither Diane Abbott nor Anneliese Dodds are in the Cabinet. Now Labour have to deliver on all those promises and I can see it unravelling quite quickly. The normal measure is what they have done after the first 100 days. I can see numbers of boats arriving on the Kent coast increasing (best weather of the year July & August), I can't see them making any appreciable difference to NHS waiting times or significant improvements anywhere else cos there ain't any money left.