It has recently been reported that Shelter has launched a new campaign focussing on landlords and Letting Agents. This isn’t new; Shelter relies on charitable donations and government funding to pay for their activities, so they like to ensure they are in the public eye.  It is fundamental to their business plan to highlight to the public that some landlords and Letting Agents are operating illegally, and that Shelter is there on behalf of tenants to change […]

Back in the 70’s, when I first became a landlord, I didn’t tell anyone. There wasn’t the publicity that there is now and of course no social media, but it was generally  assumed that landlords were not “nice people”. In those days there was no Section 8 or Section 21, and legally removing a delinquent tenant was […]

It surprises me that, despite all the media stories, discussions on Facebook Property groups, blogs like this one and discussion fora, people still see becoming a landlord as “a bit on the side”. They come into the business with little or no knowledge of the legislation and regulation which surrounds the industry. They often consequently have […]

Since our distant ancestor searched for a cave in which to keep his family dry and safe we have known that the location of a place to call home is THE single most important consideration …. And yet mistakes happen because a T-Rex isn’t standing in the entrance and sometimes we don’t see the more subtle signs.   Great area, wrong road…  

I have probably made more mistakes than most landlords over the last 49 years, not least because back in the day there was no internet, landlord associations (that I was aware of) or property investor magazines. It occurred to me that admitting my mistakes will give other property investors the information that they need to […]

In my experience, most landlords who get things wrong do so because they didn’t know that they were doing the wrong thing. Arguably, a person shouldn’t go into a business as important as providing homes without understanding the legislation and regulation involved, but many of us got into the business in the days when it […]

The business of investing in property to let in the UK has always been divided in several ways.  The question is – Has the Pandemic caused further divisions or has it brought property investors closer together?

It’s not unusual for landlords of an HMO to be concerned about abuse of the utilities when the rent is inclusive of bills but the unusual circumstances of the past year has caused that concern to heighten as bills have risen and profits have reduced.

One of the biggest concerns for many landlords is rent arrears. Some tenants have fallen outside of various Governments schemes to support those who cannot earn at the moment and many landlords are working with them to avoid eviction and to agree payments which those tenants can afford.

Lockdown2 more worries for landlords with difficult tenants. I’m going to talk about two issues which are causing many landlords a great deal of stress at the moment. I acknowledge that the biggest issue is rent arrears, but I am not going to talk about that… 

(And a BIG Planning Problem) What are the Housing Space Standards Coming in 2021? Continuing the learning while we’re in lockdown I’m going to talk about an issue which I believe will grow next year and about which landlords know very little. But first a related issue: New space standards for permitted development of housing […]

Many people who are furloughed because of Covid19 are taking the opportunity to learn; from musical instruments to full blown university and college courses on line, this is a great way to keep yourself busy to avoid mental health issues and to actually turn a very negative thing into an extremely positive thing, especially if […]

Future proofing our rented properties is something which we should do constantly but it has never been more important than now. I see people investing thousands of pounds developing properties, mainly into HMO, although some people have realised that the market is saturated and are now developing studios or one bedroom flats; they look very […]

On Friday 28th August (bank holiday weekend) Government announced major changes to the eviction process for private landlords in England which have left many landlords asking: “Will I ever get rid of my bad tenant?”