I thoroughly agree that there are landlords out there who abuse their powers over tenants and fail to fulfil their responsibilities. But the latest developments from the government feel more like an opportunity for tenants to ‘landlord bash’ than actually offer tenants better letting relationships…

Take this recent development.

Aside from giving tenants a Housing Hotline where they can seek advice against problematic landlords and the introduction of the National Landlord Register where tenants will be able to see how well prospective landlords maintain their properties. The government has also proposed launching a tenant dedicated website where tenants will be able to supply reviews on landlords and their property lettings – both positive and negative.

And it is here where everything becomes complicated…

Of course there will be genuine negative reviews from tenants against unscrupulous landlords who are at fault, but there will also be an influx of negative reviews from tenants who simply disagree with their landlords about issues which are actually law abiding.

All you need is to have one disagreement with your tenants and this website opens the doors to having your reputation tarnished for good! In some ways such a website could even make some landlords too scared to act on their legal rights in case their tenant tarnishes their name to the world.

It truly is a catch-22 where without the proper regulation this website could easily become a landlord bashing location which only works to drive bad landlords under ground whilst penalising law-abiding landlords instead…

May be it is just me and maybe I am viewing this all wrong, but I do strongly feel that this site could do more harm than good to the rental market where new tenants come to find a good landlord only to be painted a negative picture.

Wendy xx

I was reading an article by holidaylettings.co.uk the other day and in it they revealed that year on year UK holiday home enquiries have risen by 73%!

Even by recession standards that is a dramatic increase and one definitely worth taking note of if you are interested in breaking into the sector.

Yet according to their research, these enquiries have been global. South Africa, Turkey, Croatia… all have been witnessing similar increases in holiday letting queries too:

• South Africa – holiday enquiries have increased 13 times above their 2008 figures
• Croatia – enquiries for 2010 are up 113%
• Malta – enquiries for 2010 are up 94%
• Greece – enquiries for 2010 are up 74%

There is no disputing that 2010 is proving to be a profitable year for property investors and professional landlords alike.

In many ways holiday lettings is an incredible way to earn an extra income.

Not only will your ‘Tenants’ cover the entire cost of your mortgage whilst you are not occupying the property, but in many instances your second home will give you monthly bonus. Why? Because rental yields are notoriously higher than mortgage repayments.

Take this scenario for example.

Lets say you own a £120,000 property in Luton (3 bedroom) with a 25 year mortgage of 4.99%. Opt for an interest only mortgage and your repayments will be £499 a month. However choose to rent out this property and you can easily charge rental yields of £741 a month. Do the maths and that is an instant profit of £242.

Now I don’t know about you, but an additional income of £242 a month for simply renting out your second home is just too good to ignore, especially if you only use this property for 2-3 months out of the year. For the other 9 months you can easily earn £2,178.

Taking all these facts into consideration, owning a second home could definitely be a worthwhile venture if you have got the cash to invest.

PLEASE NOTE: rules surrounding ‘Furnished Holiday Lettings’ are changing in the new tax year, so make sure you familiarise yourself with this, before you consider joining the club.

Wendy xx

This week I will cover investing in property off plan from a property developer.  You can find a lot of opportunities when you find local property developments to invest in.

I have used this type of investment property a lot in the past.  My first property from a property development was an inner city apartment with two bedrooms and a parking space, I was hesitant at first as this was outside my comfort zone really as usually my preferred investment type is for a first time buyer or a small renovation project.  The apartment wasn’t built it was an off plan property when I decided to go ahead with it but I had spent a lot of time researching the area, it was near a large national company that was due to expand taking on more staff by the end of the year and fairly close to a major university.  This would mean I would either get an employed worker or a fairly well off student either were ok by me for the investment as I had worked out how much I would need in rent to cover my monthly mortgage payments.  I had negotiated the price down on the apartment as it was one of the last ones in that phase of the development. I contacted a couple of local agents and they gave me a guide price for the rent on the property.

I was all set I had my potential rental market in mind, the amount that I could charge in rent and the mortgage I needed.  I bought the apartment in the summer of 2004, I have a professional couple living there at the minute and have had no problems renting it out.

The most important thing I found out about this type of investment property is that you can be left with your flat empty, choosing in the right area can make all the difference and have a long term plan, at the end of your investment will you be able to sell the flat on.  I purchased this property with the intention to keep it for 5 years, I think by the time next summer comes round I will keep this investment as the couple that currently rent are happy with the arrangement.