Property Investing

You may or may not already know this, but Google Maps has recently launched a new tool that now enables you to search for property listings directly on their maps. [...]

You may or may not have heard that the government are planning to scrap the new landlord regulations which the previous government set up. However I am still undecided about whether this is a good thing or not…

In Grant Shapps announcement, he revealed that he no longer planned to implement a national register for landlords; promote increased regulations for letting and managing agents, or make written tenancy agreements compulsory.

Instead he revealed plans to allow local councils to use their powers to remove ‘rogue landlords’; make landlords rectify hazards within their property investments and implement – and charge for – these changes should landlords resist.

Yet what has got me concerned is whether this is enough?

Sure I am pleased that they are increasing the annual rental threshold on assured shorthold tenancies from £25,000 to £100,000. But this still doesn’t prevent rogue letting agents from harming the industry.

At the moment anyone can become a letting agent. Absolutely anyone! They don’t need any specific qualifications etc to open a business. And herein lies the problem…

One of the few things I liked about the previous governments plans was their goal of regulating this sector and preventing unscrupulous letting agents from harming tenants.

But this regulation is now gone, which I feel is a big mistake.

Looking at the governments plans to remove the red tape, I seriously think that some sort of compromise needs to be met, where landlords are not penalised but there is enough protection for everyone – including property investors and tenants alike.

Yet I cannot see this happening, especially when you take into account the other ‘cuts’ the government are making, including funding reductions to social housing. With all signs pointing to less help being made available for the property market, the outlook is not looking great…

Wendy xx

One of the most frustrating aspects about the coming Emergency Budget is that no one seems to know how badly property investors will be affected.

Aside from the rumoured change of swapping the 18% Capital Gains Tax charge for 20%, 40% and 50% income tax fees for profits made from selling property, I personally have heard little else.

Luckily whilst I was rooting around, I came across an article which highlighted 5 key areas that the budget may cover: [...]

I simply love phone applications that make searching for property investments even easier, so the latest iPhone app to be released by HomesGoFast.com was exactly up my street. [...]

Now I don’t know about you but since the Housing Minister announced that they are abolishing HIPs I haven’t known how to react.

On the one side this is great news for homeowners as it means that they won’t have to pay at least £500 to create them, but on the other, this pack actually contained some really valuable information for property investors…

Sure Energy Performance Certificates will still be available – despite their terms of issuing being relaxed – but other important documentation will be lost.

Take these for instance:

• Sale statement – contains all your basic property info such as whether your potential property investment is a freehold, leasehold or commonhold and why it is being sold
• Evidence of Title – these are documents from the Land Registry pertaining to who actually owns the property
• Standard property search – planning decisions and road proposals, your properties drainage capabilities and water services etc

Admittedly, many of the optional HIP documents are also incredibly useful when homeowners decide to use them i.e. Home conditions report, legal summary, environmental hazards searches (flooding) etc, but just looking at these 3 alone, it is easy to see that they are not a complete waste of time.

After all, whilst a homeowner may not want to pay for these searches/surveys on their own properties; this doesn’t mean that when they come to buy they wouldn’t mind knowing if the property has got structural problems or is located on a flood plain. The only difference now is, they will have to pay for these searches themselves on every property they are interested in buying – meaning they could end up paying out thousands of pounds before they even buy!

Part of me is still hoping that a compromise will be found by the time the Emergency Budget arrives on the 22^nd June; however I highly doubt it… For instance, if Scottish Home Reports are still considered valuable, why hasn’t the Housing Minister made a move to adapt their system for property investment? Exactly! They have no intention to…

Wendy xx

If you are a female property investor, then you’ll be more than aware of the National Landlords Associations ‘Property Women Awards 2010’… [...]

It is rare that I ever go over the £1m benchmark on individual property investments, but the arrival of the 5% stamp duty fee has really got me thinking about what I am going to do in the future should I ever want to go down this road. [...]

You might remember me commenting the other week on the fact that there are now over 500,000 empty properties across the UK which are currently lying vacant due to councils not wanting to lose their government funds.

Well, the housing crisis just keeps on getting better and better… [...]

I read a really fascinating piece the other day about the amount of possessions homeowners take with them when they move… [...]

Considering that the government is meant to be all about cutting the social housing list, they are making a poor job of it. [...]