The Second Reading of the Energy Bill was delivered on 10 May, and it contains some interesting bits for landlords, and yes, even small landlords.
The Energy Bill is intended to be a change in the provision of energy efficiency measures to homes, and to encourage improvements to enable low carbon energy supplies.
Read more on Who would have thought that the Energy Bill would impact landlords…
It seems that the new range of buy-to-let products will be targeted at professional landlord investors. Paragon will apparently commence lending with immediate effect through a panel of brokers and will widen distribution over time. Paragon says it will also accept direct business.
A new BTL mortgage has been released which is apparently taking the market by storm. This product is ideal for investors buying property below market value as the lender will consider loans of 70% of the open market value to 85% of the purchase price!
For Example:
Read more on BTL New Funding Facility 85% Purchase Price or 70% of Valuation…
In their response to the Rugg Review of the Private Rented Sector the CLG clearly believe that landlordism is word that anyone involved in private lettings should be aware of!
Aside from made up words (?) there is quite a lot of good stuff in the response and I will try to summarise the main points as follows:
Housing Benefit has often been criticised as an overly complex benefit that does not promote self responsibility and can even act as a deterrent to working. So with a view to improving the current system the government is introducing some major changes.
Read more on Latest News About Housing Benefit For Landlords…
A letting salesperson is more than just a “sales person.” A good lettings agent will act on your behalf and offer suggestions and guidance making sure that you get the best rent for your property.
Although the majority of landlords will not accept tenants on Housing Benefit there are many landlords who will. This situation has the potential to change when the new rules affecting housing benefit take effect from April 2008.
Despite a few recent hiccups the UK economy is strong and in particular the UK property market generating excellent returns for investors. The UK property market is not only attractive to overseas institutional investors like banks, but also to individuals.
Some confusion exists as to what a buy to let commercial mortgage actually is. Some brokers and lenders used to regard residential buy to let mortgages as commercial propositions, leading to a mindset that all buy to let mortgages were commercial in their nature.
According to recent reports there are a number of landlords ignoring the [tag]Tenancy Deposit Scheme[/tag] (TDS). In figures released by the National Landlords Association (NLA) it is estimated that approximately 150,000 landlords have directly registered with an approved Tenancy Deposit Scheme. This means that there is a significant number who have not.
Read more on Landlords Under Fire Over Tenancy Deposit Scheme…