Entries by Joanna Plane

The Success Of UK’s Largest Landlord Specialists

Landlord Specialists Are Leading The Way In The UK Legal 4 Landlords are an independent company based in the North West of England that has been built to be landlord specialists from the ground up! Started as a small business in 2008, the primary focus was on providing access to the necessary legal services for landlords and letting […]

Out Of Pocket Landlord Rues Not Having Landlord Insurance

Landlord Faces Massive Bill After Rental Property Gutted By Cannabis Farm Fire A buy-to-let landlord has been left kicking themselves as well as facing a massive financial headache after his rental property in Cardiff was completely gutted by fire. The rental property turned out to have been being used as a cannabis farm and the […]

Landlords Should Comply With Responsibilities

UK Landlords Unaware of Legal Obligations There have been several reports in the national media recently about UK landlords facing prosecution for ignoring their legal responsibilities. The press reports suggest that new, accidental or reluctant landlords are not aware of their full rental property and tenant care responsibilities. There are a number of aspects that […]

Advice For Landlords Dealing With Tenant Issues

UK landlords are considered to be service providers, offering their rental property assets as suitable homes for people looking to rent property in the private sector. However, there are times when being a landlord can appear to have a few drawbacks, so we would like to offer landlords a little advice on dealing with some […]

UK Buy To Let Mortgage Figures Reach New High

 Buy To Let Mortgages Continue To Lead The Way In UK Property Market Re-mortgaging activity in the first quarter of 2013 saw UK mortgage lending reach a new high, with more landlords trying to raise finance to buy more suitable residential properties with a view to letting them out to tenants, according to the latest […]

Smaller Buy To Let Properties Provide Best Yields

Smaller buy to let properties provide property investors and landlords with the best rental yields, says Countrywide Countrywide’s latest research is based on 50,000 buy to let properties across England, Scotland and Wales, and their survey found that the average PRS rental yield for a one bedroom property was 6.8% during the first quarter of 2013. This compares […]

Favourable Rental Market For Buy-To-Let Landlords

Results from the latest Quarterly Lettings Index survey by Countrywide have revealed a highly favourable rental market for UK buy-to-let landlords in the private rented sector. The Countrywide quarterly lettings index analyses all UK PRS rental prices, rent arrears and gross rental yields and is the UK’s largest national lettings index based on over 50,000 rental […]

Changes To Council Tax Rules Adds Costs For Landlords

UK Landlords are no doubt aware that local authorities have the discretion to charge full Council Tax on empty properties from 1st April 2013. The changes affect all rental properties that previously would have been automatically exempt from charges, including all empty furnished and unfurnished properties available for rent. Landlords with properties that are empty […]

Important Changes To Deposit Protection Schemes

There are now four authorised deposit protection schemes in the UK: The addition of a fourth deposit protection company could create even more confusion in the UK courts as there are different rules and regulations that must be followed for each provider. The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS) and mydeposits have been […]

The Importance Of Rent Guarantee Insurance

Tenant Referencing and Rent Guarantee Insurance are vital services for all UK landlords Ensuring a regular rental income is paramount to the survival of the rental business for all UK landlordsand rent guarantee insurance offers financial protection and peace of mind for landlords and their tenants. Regardless of a tenant’s financial and employment circumstances, it […]

Rent Arrears And Void Periods Improve

UK PRS void periods and rent arrears are falling steadily UK private rented sector landlords are reaping the rewards of the developments of specialist products and services designed to ease the burden for landlords and the UK lettings industry. Market leading companies, such as Legal 4 Landlords have spent a great deal of time, effort […]

Use Tenant Referencing To Avoid Housing Illegal Immigrants

Government want landlords to use tenant referencing to ensure tenants in the Private Rented Sector are not illegal Immigrants Government ministers want to use the comprehensive tenant referencing system used by good and honest landlords to ensure tenants in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) are not living in the UK illegally. The government are already working […]

How Landlords Can Avoid Bad Tenants

Landlords Must Carry Out Tenant Referencing To Avoid Bad Tenants 2012 wasn’t really a great year to be a landlord Almost 60% of landlords had problems with bad tenants in 2012 99,000 tenants didn’t pay rent for more than 2 months Tenant evictions increased 8% During 2012 some 59% of landlords were left out of pocket […]

Landlords Should Keep Better Inventory Records

  Inventory Needs To Record Condition of All Fixtures And Fittings To Avoid Deposit Disputes Increased demand for suitable rental properties in the UK Private Rental Sector (PRS) means there is an urgent need for landlords and tenants to develop and maintain an accurate inventory of all fixtures and fittings in order to avoid disputes […]

Fall In Renting Costs

The cost of renting in the UK private rented sector (PRS) fell in England and Wales during February, according to a recent report published by LSL property services. Recent figures showed that the cost of renting in the UK PRS during February was 0.1% less when compared to January 2013; however the overall price of […]

Debt And Rent Recovery From Absconded Tenants

  Many UK landlords admit that they fear tenants leaving in the middle of a tenancy, especially if the tenants are behind with the rent. Tracking down absconding or missing tenants can be a thankless, if not near-impossible task, and the process of extracting any owed rent from them is even harder. However, specialist landlord […]

Tenant Eviction Figures Increase Again

Landlord Possession Claims Soar Again   There has been a dramatic increase in the number of PRS landlords seeking to evict bad tenants and the volume of possession orders doesn’t look like abating any time soon according to data released by the UK Government. Government figures show that there were 103,329 landlord claims for tenant […]

Landlords Gas Safety Responsibilities

Landlords Warned To Obey Gas SafetyLaws Or Face Prosecution Landlords need a better understanding of the laws regarding the safety of tenants in private sector rental accommodation, or they may find that non compliance with any of the prescribed regulations can render their Landlord Insurance invalid. UK Landlords have a moral duty and legal responsibility […]

Landlords Fail To Conduct Periodic Inspections Miss Warning Signs

Periodic Inspections Save Landlords Money UK private rented sector (PRS) landlords are missing the tell tale warning signs of damage to their rental assets because they do not carry out regular periodic inspections of their rental properties and they have poor communication with their tenants. The result is that many landlords end up having to […]

Landlord Responsibilities

There are hundreds of pieces of Government legislation and local authority regulations that have to be adhered to by landlords before being allowed to rent out property in the Private Rented Sector (PRS). The onus is on the landlord to make sure that the rental property and tenancy agreement are in full compliance with all […]