Richlist

Tenants usually take the meter readings when they move in and when they move out......they have an incentive to do that. However water meters are sometimes beyond their capability if they are 3 ft down a manhole cover in the public footpath. It makes perfect sense for landlords to record readings when tenants move in and move out as there is usually a void period that landlords are responsible for......so landlords also have an incentive to ensure readings are allocated to the correct person(s). Making something law or mandatory or writing it in a contract doesn't guarantee it's going to happen. The old saying .....' If you want something doing and doing right, do it yourself'. ......definitely applies in this case.

But the cost of re letting a property is not just the agents fee......Let's break it down ..... Agents set up fee. References. Tenancy Agreement. Deposit protection. Homelet rent guarantee insurance. VAT. Inventory and schedule of condition. Setting up standing order. Arranging EPC. Supplying 'How to Rent' booklet. Legionella information sheet. Smoke alarm check sheet. Template for reporting repairs. Supplying instruction books. Supplying list of leasehold restrictions. etc etc. rents in my area have risen by around £75 a month to compensate for increased agent set up fees.

If you buy then let the property and later carry out repairs or like for like replacement that can be claimed against income tax.

This may be an unusual situation but anyone who has sold or tried to sell property will recognise what's driving this request from the seller. It's almost as though the seller wants similar timings and assurances that exist in an auction sale without them meeting the buyers need for them to supply a comprehensive pack of information up front. Your solicitor is right that you should only agree to this requirement if the seller provides that info pack. Unless the property is being made available to you at way below market value or has some attractive development potential i wouldn't proceed under this requirement. I'd feel quite nervous that the seller knows of some defect in the structure or defective title that would block a normal sale.

I think you will find that is an unfair clause and won't stand up in court. The law says, I believe, that tenants have a right to change energy suppliers.......so don't be suprised if the tenants ignore that requirement.

Am I the only landlord who is appalled at how inept some energy suppliers are ? Apparently there are 7 million private rented properties in the Uk. The mechanism for landlords to report a change of tenants to those energy companies either doesn't exist or is woefully inadequate & designed by idiots with little or no knowledge of the PRS. Like others I used to email the energy suppliers with the details. Many of those suppliers no longer accept or action emails and have provided badly designed forms to complete. One company continually ignores my supplied meter readings, providing instead an inflated bill based on estimated readings. They ignore the photos I send them of the actual meter and it's readings.

What I'm suggesting is that I don't think tenants with a poor credit history or poor references are any more likely to apply now than they were before June 1st. But......those tenants who were just not prepared to pay the agents fees.......and I see a lot of them......may well now use an agent in the future.

In general I agree with your summary but, I'd go a little further. It's good to know you are making a bit more profit out of this change and that your admin workload is reduced. Some landlords, at least those with a business head, will recognise as I do that it's only right that agents pass on some of the tenants fees. You have a right to make a profit like everyone else and we should recognise that we need each other for the business to work. But there's more to it than that....... I also think you may find business volume will increase. There are tenants who won't go through an agent because they know they won't pass credit & reference checks.....but there are also those tenants who, in the past, wouldn't go through an agent because they didn't want to pay the fees. Now there aren't any fees for them there seems little point in them looking on Gumtree et al. Going with an agent gives the tenant much more security, peace of mind, avoids the landlords that don't care, don't comply with legislation and don't do any of the stuff that they should do. Once that message gets out, more tenants will use an agent.

Well, June 1st has been and gone and I have just relet a property last Saturday. No fees now for the tenants so my bill from my agents went up by a few hundred pounds......ouch. However, I did manage to increase the rent by £900 a year.......which makes me quids in. Perhaps this new ' no tenant fees' is a blessing in disguise. Amazingly of the 12 or so applications i received from my own advertising not a single person knew of the rule changes.

Yes good points. I agree that if the repair cost is small or you can fix it yourself and the tenant is worth keeping sweet then it's worth not passing on the (tax deductable) cost. The problem is that if your property is managed by lettings agents &/or a locksmith becomes involved it can easily be over £100 to repair.

My immediate/ first thoughts were that it's the tenants responsibility to pay......but, then I thought, this sounds like a trick question. So, I thought a bit more and decided there is a better answer. I think it's the landlords responsibility to arrange for a new lock to be fitted and to provide a new key for each of the tenants and any other key holders. The cost should be recovered from the tenants......who are unlikely to be happy when they see the size of the bill.

Legal Owner = person(s) who own the property. i.e. the registered owner on the land certificate held at the land registry. This can be different to the...... Beneficial Owner = person(s) who receives benefit/income from the property. Q1. Your wife can own as many 2nd homes as she wants to. Providing there is no tax liability the tax man will not be interested. However, keep in mind that there may be CGT or inheritance tax liability at some point in the future. Q2. Don't know. I have only ever heard of 99:1 .......However, whatever split you eventually use......you don't need a deed of trust for a 50:50 split. On joint ownership, without a deed of trust the tax man assumes 50:50 automatically. So, you would just need to cancel the deed of trust to revert to a 50:50 split. Q3. Presumably it's a joint mortgage. It won't matter what account it's paid from. The mortgage is associated with the legal ownership not the beneficial ownership. People usually find a separate account useful to help with completing tax returns at the end of the year. With the introduction of section 24 mortgage interest will become less of an allowable expense. Q4. The deposit is associated with buying the property i.e. legal ownership......not beneficial ownership. So it has no bearing on the deed of trust. Q5. The purchase deposit has nothing to do with beneficial ownership. It's probably best if you get a solicitor (perhaps the same one who is handling your conveyancing) to arrange the beneficial ownership split. It usually costs a couple of hundred pounds. Don't forget to keep a record of your buying costs and split the expense appropriately between CGT and income tax.

Capital growth differs by location, size, type etc, it's not a level % across the country. Some areas are seeing strong growth and others are not. Whilst historical data is no guarantee of future growth, the property market has peaks and troughs like any other investment. As for revenue growth....virtually everyone in the PRS has seen staggering increases in rents over the last decade. All that along with the lowest interest rates in a generation and increase in demand have made many of us very wealthy. It's easy to criticise increased taxes whilst forgetting the tax breaks that have been gained such as increased & new personal allowances & the lowering of CGT etc. Your post reminds me of the elderly people in my street who complain that they can't get any interest on their savings. I tell them that they have to be proactive and spend time looking because nobody else is going to do it for them. There are accounts out there that will pay more than they currently get.....they just have to put the effort in.I It's the same with property.......can you say that you are claiming all of your tax allowances or that you have structured your business to produce maximum income and minimal outgoings etc. What's probably best is to stop complaining and use your time & effort to maximise your potential. There is no such thing as a problem when you can approach it as an opportunity to improve your business. Rant over. Post made whilst still under the effects of an anaesthetic to have a tooth removed. I hate dentists but we would struggle to live without them !

I know you have just bought the property. The costs associated with buying that property can ONLY be offset against capital gains when you eventually sell at some point in the future.

Yes that's correct......capital gains tax. You offset the cost against CGT when you sell the property. You can't offset SDLT or any of the other CGT items I listed against income tax. That's the rules. It's not stamp duty any more, it's called SDLT.....stamp duty land tax. No I don't have a link. I'm sure if you search the web you'll find something. Property tax is complex.....it's a big learning curve or get an expert to deal with it for you.

The following purchase costs can usually be claimed against CGT......legal fees, searches, land registry costs, stamp duty land tax, costs associated with raising finance to purchase. Probably best to use an accountant for the tax return in the first year at least or you run the risk of under claiming allowable costs for CGT and income tax.

I don't know if the big players are still investing, I suspect they are. After all, where else would they put their money for capital gain ? I'm very disappointed at the direction Labour is going. Many years ago I was a Labour supporter, voter, a union member and a union official. But Labour have become so left wing i couldn't possibly support them now. The post from Grampa lays out the Labour vision for the future.......it's awful. It's almost as bad as the vision for driver less cars. I don't want either but I suspect some kind of compromise version will be coming......albeit some years in the future. Change and progress can't be stopped. Remember some of valuable sound bites that often make sense..... Don't put all your eggs in one basket, don't stretch yourself to far financially, roll with the punches, stay abreast of political matters, remain as flexible as possible, always do your homework/ due diligence, make wise choices, don't view everything with a cynical eye, make sure you have an exit plan, be prepared to pull out, have a long term plan etc. etc.

My understanding is that the case is being held in the USA, specifically in the state of Pennsylvania because the law in the USA differs to that in the UK. In the US a manufacturer can be held liable even if it has complied with building/safety regulations......something which I'm led to believe is not the case in the UK.

The Grenfell Tower group are taking 3 companies to court in the USA because they feel their products contributed to the fire.....Whirlpool, Cellotex, and the aluminium cladding supplier. Many of us have Cellotex in our properties so you might like to follow the progress of the court case.

???????? What's this about ? No link, nothing.

On the basis that you presumably pay service charges to the freeholder or their managing agent. ...... 1. Do the service charges include buildings insurance ? If so, damage to the structure of your flat can be claimed (ceilings, decor etc). 2. Normally contents insurance is the responsibility of the landlord or their tenant. If you have none then you could claim contents costs from the tenant above in the small claims court. On the overall situation regarding no buildings maintenance for 25 years........if you pay service charges there are rules which the freeholder must comply with. Producing annual audited accounts to fee payers is one of those rules. You need to provide more information for a more detailed reply.

The date of June 1st rapidly approaches. From that date landlords.....who use Lettings Agents......will either be increasing rents on new lettings or paying increases fees. Rents are about to rise significantly from. June 1st. I'm in the process of advertising a1 bed flat to rent......in a week's time, if we do not find a tenant the rent asked will go up.

If the UK doesn't leave the EU there is like!y to be civil war, major unrest, violent demonstrations, a total collapse of life as we know it. Not leaving is NOT an option.

I'll give you a prediction...... If we do not leave the EU in a manner that the majority of leave voters expect ie out of the customs union, out of the single market etc etc AND there is a general election.......the Brexit Party will field 650 candidates and will win. Nigel Farage will be Prime Minister and it will certainly be good by to Europe then. Remember you heard it here first.

I often complain, not only on this forum but, to anyone else who will listen about the problems of being a landlord. However, along with a few other things I've been involved in, i feel extremely fortunate to have had the foresight to have made an awful lot of money out of property. It looks like that is not going to change anytime soon. OK, so the taxman takes takes lots and new legislation is introduced which cuts into profits but I just roll with the punches and still make enormous amounts of money. Where else are you going to put your money? Unless you have an alternative business that's guaranteed to return considerably more than the 1.5% you might get on deposit. There is the potential for bigger returns but that comes with bigger risks. Long term property investment has always been a good bet. Follow some of the recommendations here to maximise your income. Property prices are only going one way........there aren't enough of them.......so the rules of supply & demand dictate the outcome.