DC

I am currently searching for a home in the UK and I don't see any surge in properties coming to the market at all in the areas that I'm hoping to buy in. In fact, what I do see everyday, is many over priced properties being reduced or removed from the market, only for some of those to reappear weeks later at a slightly lower price.... Read More

If we believe in what Reform stands for, and I do, then not only should we vote Reform, we need to let as many people know about the party to encourage them to vote for Reform too.
It may mean that Labour get in this time, but as Steve O'Dell says, it prepares the field for what can happen further down the line.... Read More

"The Bill introduces a new duty on local authorities to tackle unlawful evictions and harassment of tenants."

This NEW DUTY has obviously been introduced because local authorities haven't been doing their jobs by using existing powers Mr Burnham!

It sounds like you need to get a grip of those Council officers that are on a nice little earner but are not actually doing their jobs!

Or is it that you and many others in your position are out of your depth and are unable to do the highly paid job of supervising and controlling your Council officers?

What an absolute waste of time and money, all round, yet again!... Read More

"They will have had 2 months at an average of 1/3 of the price of an Airbnb."
Yes, you make a good point, however, I imagine the majority of residential let's that us landlords provide are unfurnished, so the tenant that only intends to be there for 2 months is going to be really comfy rattling around in his empty house with just a sleeping bag and a suitcase of clothing.... Read More

"The report also paints a bleak picture of the UK housing market, with house prices continuing to fall and sales activity remaining weak."

Apart from those that went up by 1.1% in October!... Read More

Well said Mr Beadle!... Read More

For the past 12 years all of our properties have been inspected quarterly.... Read More

Correction to my post: The extension to the deadline does not apply to paper filed submissions.... Read More

The extension to the deadline does not apply to Landlords.... Read More

As it's rumoured that in his March budget Rishi Sunak is going to align CGT with income tax rates and do away with the £12300 allowance it might be a good time to try and sell asap.... Read More

CazT - I think you may have missed the point as the article states ....from the point of listing online to completion....
Similar to you though, we accepted an offer on one of our BTLs in mid September, within 2 days of instructing the agent and a day or so before it actually went online.
Unfortunately, the buyers allotted solicitor was placed on furlough and the case was not picked up for a further 4 weeks and then we were informed it was 2 more weeks before searches were applied for!
We are now expecting to complete in late January, which could be around the 160 day mark (in East of England - currently averaging 128 days according to the graph above).... Read More

I've unsubscribed from the MSE newsletter and indicated exactly why in the free text box!... Read More

"A first-time buyer is defined as anyone who does not own, or has previously owned, a property in Scotland or anywhere else in the world."

How about ........A first-time buyer is defined as anyone who does not own, or has NOT previously owned, a property in Scotland or anywhere else in the world.

This reflects the low standard of recent UK legislation and how it is constantly churned out by people who obviously have questionable levels of ability in their jobs.
We know what they are saying but it clearly hasn't been written correctly and badly written law leads to loopholes, misinterpretation and disputes.... Read More

And add me to the list! My intention was to build my portfolio for many years to come but after purchasing what was to be my last property in 2014 Osborne came along with his pathetic idea of taxing many BTL landlords into bankruptcy.
Just last week I sold properties 5 and 6 of my portfolio and intend to continue doing so until I'm out of this stupid game.
How many more thousands of landlords are doing the same I wonder?... Read More

Thanks for sharing your responses. I have made similar replies with the addition of mention of the mistakes I have found in my Accountants end of year reports and the time I spend going through this once a year let alone goodness knows how many more times a year if HMRC do go down the route of regular accounting.... Read More

I recently made a point concerning GDPR to the local County Council which is responsible for some of my properties. They actually misunderstood my point and responded with the below reply, which may answer your question Paul, although I must admit I haven't verified their comment with GDPR but it does make sense.

"Under the listed GDPR and article 34(1) and (4) of the GDPR (communication of personal date breach to the data subject), paragraph 2, schedule 2, do not apply to personal data processed for any of the following purposes:
Crime and taxation: general
(a)the prevention or detection of crime,
(b)the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, or
(c)the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or an imposition of a similar nature
Therefore we are, as a billing authority, able to request information from you regarding your tenants."... Read More

Hi Onslow
We recently had departing tenants dispute various matters after they initially agreed to rectify some things and gave permission to use their deposit to pay for the other items. Their tenancy ended on 5th December 2018 but by the 18th December they had decided they wanted to go to tribunal and dispute the lot.
The DPS were contacted and proceedings were initiated and to cut a long story short they had come to their decision by 24th January 2019.
So just over a month but with the Christmas & New Year period slap bang in the middle of it.
Just for your info you may be interested to hear as a tenant that 5 different items were disputed and there was no logic in how the DPS apportioned costings to both sides in their decision. The end result was a 60/40% approx. split on the costings award, favouring the tenant.
It's one we've put down to experience but in terms of how quickly it was dealt with we couldn't really complain.
I do suspect there must be some other problem lurking in the background with your dispute and would echo other advice and commence the complaints procedure with the DPS. It seems to have taken a ridiculous amount of time especially as you the tenant have produced all evidence for your side of the matter.... Read More

The Form 17 commences from the date that you sign the Form 17 if that helps.... Read More

1. 33%
2. 6
3. 0%
4. 0... Read More

As per your letter to the Council in which you highlight the Court of Appeal case between Leeds City Council and Stephen Broadley and your tenancy agreements' inclusion of a contractual periodic tenancy and that the tenant is liable to pay Council Tax up until the point that their tenancy agreement or notice date came to an end, you are correct and Telford & Wrekin Council are wrong.

As for comments about this only being for a small amount of money and that you should just pay it I totally disagree with that advice and I personally quote the above case and stick to my guns every time!... Read More