24 Feb

Landlords PLEASE RAED

I have completed reading an article stating that Buy-to-let lenders are not ready for new energy efficiency laws that may put the brakes on new business. The regulations – which come into force on April 1 – make it illegal for landlords to start new tenancies without the property having an Energy Performance Certificate rating of ‘E’, or higher. Read here https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/new-energy-laws-trip-buy-let-lenders/ Landlords who own older properties may have problems when ew tenancy need to be read more

23 Nov

Councils have the right to charge tax on empty properties

I have read an article stating that the Government have given local authorities the right to start changing council tax on empty properties. Philip Hammond stated "It can’t be right to leave property empty when so many are desperate for a place to live" We all know this is a load of crap. It is another way to generate money for a starving government. I don't know about the rest of the country but around here landlords want rent money and if a property is empty it is usually because it is going through read more

19 Sep

The face of Buy to Let Mortgages is changing

If you are a landlord you, most likely, have had to get a buy to let mortgage. Over the years these mortgage have been fairly easy to arrange through an experience mortgage broker. They usually required very little in documentation and the lender were mostly interested in the rental value. All this is about to change. Over the coming weeks the banks and building societies will require not only income verification but also verification from inland revenue, copy of leases, letters from letting agents and bank read more

19 Aug

New regulation on how much you can borrower on a mortgage

Such "reversion" rates are often the same as the lender's standard variable rate, or SVR. According to Ray Boulger of John Charcol, the broker, SVRs can currently be as high as 5.75pc. This could mean that some banks are forced to stress test at a very high rate of 8.75pc. Stringent new rules on mortgage affordability could force borrowers to prove that they could afford repayments almost twice as high as the expected monthly cost of their loan. The Bank of England announced the beefed-up rules on affordability or read more

19 Jun

If you are renting out you home without permission READ THIS!

Bank and building societies are taking a keener interest in whether borrowers are renting out properties without their permission, Telegraph Money has learned. This involves further quizzing of borrowers at the mortgage application stage as well as on-going scrutiny to check, for instance, whether borrowers continue to live in the mortgaged property. Several lenders are reported to be going even further and adopting data-sifting techniques like those used by HMRC to spot tax-evasion. This involves trawling the read more

6 Jun

UK rents fall for the first time in over 8 years

UK rents fell by -0.3% in the year to May – the first time there has been an annual reduction in eight years, HomeLet’s May Rental Index has found. Rents in London have fallen by -3% in that time, followed by the North East (-2.3%) and Scotland (-1.9%). Rents have risen by the most in the East Midlands (3.3%), North West (2.2%) and the South West (2.1%). London rents fall for first time in eight years Martin Totty, chief executive officer of HomeLet, said: “May 2017 saw average rents nationally fall for the read more

25 May

Stamp Duty increases causes house slump for April

There were further signs of a slowdown in the property market in April, as the number of sales fell significantly, while fewer people took out mortgages. The number of residential property transactions in the UK dropped by 22.5% between March and April, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Analysis by the data firm Equifax also suggests that mortgage sales declined by 16% over the same period. But the figures are skewed by a series of tax changes this year and last. In April 2016, landlords became read more

12 Apr

A welcome reprieve for BTL re-mortgage customers

Santander has amended its buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage prisoner rules to take advantage of the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) flexibilities. From 19 April, the bank will assess eligible buy to Let (BTL) remortgage applications, where no increase in borrowing is taking place. A minimum of 125% rental cover at a 5% affordability rate will be used. It said this aimed to prevent borrowers who already had a BTL mortgage before the new guidelines were implemented on 1 January from being adversely affected when read more