David Coughlin

I thought I'd also share this from my HIGHLY REPUTABLE & COMPETENT FCCA accountant (Stephen Hennessey) who assessed at least 6 incorporation companies/schemes before we selected Property118 solution.

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Hi Dave,

This message from tax advisors (forbesdawson.co.uk) that I have used shows that the Cotswold Barristers Bridging Loan planning is not thrown together as some have said in the press. It is based on sound use of existing tax reliefs.

The weakness is the reliance on an Extra statutory concession which HMRC could withdraw or deny.

However, I hope this gives you some comfort that Cotswold and 118 are not the bad guys here.

https://forbesdawson.co.uk/articles/2024/07/26/whats-so-bad-about-bridging-loans-in-a-section-162-incorporation/

Kind Regards,

Stephen Hennessey – FCCA... Read More

Agreed

For example, Trusts are set up for landlords to defer tax and pass property to children etc. Are they also 'getting away with it'?

Obviously not! And that's because 'they' are using (tried and tested and ingrained) 'Trust' mechanisms that are in place to allow them to make the most of rules available to save/defer tax.

Maybe this (incorporation procedure) is simply not as tried and tested (as Trusts are) for property specifically (but has been used for other business incorporations for decades - or longer?) because property portfolio landlords are simply using procedures now (and not before) and that might be very annoying HMRC but that's their tough luck?!

In my opinion... Read More

Hi Mark and Neil
I wanted to to just say I hope you guys are both doing OK. I’ve had – and still have – ongoing run-ins with HMRC since 2004 and I’m always involved with small-scale litigation cases so I know the stress, money and time it consumes.
Your stuff here is on whole another level and I really feel for you guys! Its plain and simple that you guys have simply helped landlords out by following the tax rules to help them incorporate and all the ‘bottom feeders’ (as Mark put it) are feeding off this.
I have nothing but admiration for you guys. I loved working with TMC and we both did well out of that. Every grey-haired portfolio landlord in the UK owes you a lifetime for beating West Bromwich as if you didn’t all the other lenders would have likely jumped on the band waggon and hiked their tracker rates and we would have all been screwed 15 years ago! And Property118 has been and remains a CLASS-ACT; the ONLY reputable and high-quality business supporting landlords and fighting for landlords that I give two-hoots about!
You both going out on a limb and giving it your best shot and consistently delivering top quality work and for all our benefit. All we want to do is make money from doing a great job and retire and UL-PLC / HMRC do their level best to make that unnecessary bloody difficult. Mark is especially formidable and thick skinned but this latest battle will take its toll
I’m behind you all the way guys for all these reasons. And will continue to support you and do whatever I can to help you win this latest unfair (David and Goliath) fight! My team will continue driving completions to get the money in and if there’s anything else I can do – I’ll do it.

Many thanks and good luck!

David Coughlin - Director/Founder
National Residential and Landlord Sales agency... Read More

I cannot find your lead record Ian - did you complete a form online as we do not have your details in our CRM system? Can you email myself: david.coughlin@national-residential.co.uk and I can get it resolved this morning. Thanks... Read More

Hi Ian - apologies for the delay but our sales team were out of the office on a training day yesterday and all calls were answered by Miss Moneypenny who are our call answering service. One of the team will give you a call this mornng. If I can help in any way, please drop me a direct main.

Thanks, David... Read More

Hi "Investor" - that doesn't seem right at all. Can you please email details to me personally - david.coughlin@national-residential.co.uk so I can look into this for you. We run a modern auction and we set Reserve Prices that are keener than estate agency valuations to sell quickler- but not usually around 90% market value - not 60%? so I want to check this out for you asap. Thanks, David... Read More

Hi Mick, yes all those costs you mention quickly add. However, some professional landlords are really in control of their portfolios and have great tenants who keep paying rents and agree to leave with standard notice and they also have the builders/resources to take their time and refurbish and sell when empty for top price.

However, times have changed for most landlords. Tenants do not play ball unless you really win them over and selling with tenants is too challenging for many landlords. We go all out to get tenanted properties sold for best prices and completed fast. Saves costs and stressful headaches for most landlords for sure.... Read More

Hi, this really depends on the property but as a rule: where estate agents are listing properties at say £160,000 but are in fact selling for £150,000 in 3-6 months, we are achieving £140-145K in 28 days. We achieve on average 95% estate agent prices. Some HMO's of high standard we well for higher prices than Bricks and Mortar valuations based on yield - but that really depends on the condition and rental income being really very good. Happy to discuss anytime - hope that helps - David... Read More

yes - david.coughlin@national-residential.co.uk... Read More

Lots for landlords to think about: (i) will CGT go up in budget so better sell now? (ii) will end of stamp duty holiday - now extended till June - dampen sale prices - again so better sell now?; (iii) Section24 and tax bills need paying - so better sell now.
It's decision time for lots investors and we are getting stuck in to help those who decide they want to sell.... Read More

Hi RL - happy to take any feedback on Mellors?
They have just completed on a sale for another Property-118 member in just 25 days (sold in 6 days; completed in 25 days - £15K over guide) - so the can deliver amazing results with our team.
Please let me know what issues/expereince you have had so we can fix and improve :-)... Read More

Lol 🙂 my bad - we would all become tenants in a flash :-)... Read More

Hi Clair, (and thanks Neil for a plug)

In my experience you will get the best price if you sell the property vacant and fix it up before selling with the best local agent over a 3-6 month timescale.

However, if you have to sell with a tenant in place, or need to sell it quickly (eg tax deadlines/bills or for other reasons), then you need to choose wisely.

Most local agents will ONLY market to other landlords who will usually offer less then owner-occupiers, whereas we have found that we can achieve higher prices from landlords by putting landlords and owner-occupiers in competition with each other to drive up their offers. In the end we get the best prices from both owner-occupiers and from landlords and we work hard at getting the best deal for the landlord and a win-win for the tenant.

For example, if the owner-occupier offers £120K and a landlord £110K - you have £10K extra and you could offer the tenant £203K to leave voluntarily and end their tenancy sooner than the current S21 notice (via a Deed of Surrender) - leaving you £7-8K better off.

We do this all the time. However, we secure the sale with the buyer first by taking a deposit so it does not leave the landlord at risk of being out of pocket.

Finally, the purpose of marketing tenanted sales to landlords and owner-occupiers is that the best offer from a landlord might have been just £100K and the higher bids from owner-occupiers pushed landlords' bids up to £110K (the whole point of the auction) - and estate agents simply do not engage this strategy - we do.

If you would like a free valuation and any help, I would be very happy to get one of my team to look at it for you.... Read More

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Hi RL - happy to look at the property for you and see if this is our bag and if we can help. We do sell HMO's and commercial but our niche is residential BTL and HMO's and other agents might have more experience and a bigger database of would-be buyers so do a better job than us - but let me have a look. Drop me an email... Read More

Hi Jonathan - I will take a look at the wording on the website with my marketing team and take on board comments to make content more clear. We are an auction that ask clients to give us an 8 week contract - but our average selling time is just 28 days and has been for many years so we use that at the marketing 'hook' - and we make no apologies for that. We also do buy properties for cash but only about 5-10% clients take the cash offer as we can get them a much higher price and still very quickly and as we also offer clients cash advances so they do not need to sell quickly for a big discount for the sakes of just needing £10-50K to sort out some financial matters - most clients do not take the 75-80% cash offers. I will look again at how we write the content to make this even clearer so thanks again. David... Read More

Hi Dale - we have massive challenges trying to help clients sell with these dreaded EWS1 and cladding issues. It's usually the case that to sell now 'as is' with the cladding issues still present; only cash buyers will buy and the prices are too low for owners. The best solution it to wait until issues are fully resolved and an EWS1 report is provided to enable sales to go through with mortgage lenders. However, in London or university towns we do have cash investors who will 'take a view' - so if you want a 2nd opinion I'm happy to look into it for you any time. Drop me an email or call me.
Thanks - David... Read More

Hi Jonathan, yes - Trev has kind of covered it but I would go a step further as say because we sell some properties several times in the same year (buyers can pull out for various reasons so we resell through our 28 day auction) - we get different sale prices every time. the best we can do - same as every other auction - is to discuss a potential sale price and set a reserve price.

when we purchase as a company we are only able to afford to pay 75%-80% of what we believe we can resell it for - depending on the Stamp Duty Rate - to make a profit and cover risks. We have paid more for HMO's with 20-30% yields.

hope this helps?... Read More

Hi Mick, I've been a landlord for 17 years and been through the lot personally. I've got 2 tenants not paying from a portfolio of 100. It's tough to get much better than that. But it used to be allot worse - this result is hard graft, living and learning - looking after good tenants especially. When it comes to selling - the best way is for the tenants to move out; refurb; sell for the best price with an agent (or something like Doorstep). However, if you hit a snag - we will be over the moon to help :-)... Read More