As councils tighten HMO rules, property experts have revealed the pros and cons of HMO ownership and whether the proposed legislation set to increase regulations will mean the end for HMOs. Saif Derzi, Founder of Property Buyers Today, comments: “Due to the rise in the cost of living, including the rise […]
If you ask most HMO landlords what keeps them awake at night, they’ll usually mention fire safety, licensing, or anti-social behaviour. Yet when local authority inspectors visit properties today, many enforcement actions are being triggered by issues landlords didn’t realise had become priorities. The compliance landscape continues to evolve. Local […]
Profit margins are shrinking for landlords in smaller towns across England. Mortgage rates up. Maintenance costs up. Energy efficiency requirements tightening. Rental growth in secondary markets has not kept pace with any of it. Cash flow is under pressure for buy-to-let investors who built their models on steadier returns. Portfolio […]
One of the reasons property is such a popular asset choice for investors is that you don’t need to invest all the money yourself; you can leverage funds from the bank. Here’s a very simplistic example of how borrowing via a buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage allows you to multiply your returns […]
Professional property investors are largely undeterred by regulatory changes which some commentators predicted would accelerate a landlord exit – that’s according to Handelsbanken’s fifth annual Property Investor Report. The report, informed by a survey of 200 UK real estate investors, property management professionals and landlords, was carried out after the start […]
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), also referred to as multi-lets or room rentals, have come a long way in the past couple of decades. Once thought of as very much at the bottom of the accommodation pile, with a reputation for being sub-standard, many HMO properties are now just as […]
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that refurbishment projects often tell you quite a lot about themselves on the first day. Some start well. People arrive, know what they are doing, have what they need, and get on with it. The place feels reasonably organised from […]
One of the most tempting ideas in property refurbishment is this: do some of the work yourself, save the labour cost, and keep more of the profit. On the face of it, that sounds perfectly sensible. And sometimes, in a narrow sense, it is sensible. But very often it is […]
Somewhere along the line, after a few projects where things had become muddled and jobs had been done in the wrong order, I started writing things down before the work began. Not an elaborate project plan. Nothing involving software, spreadsheets or anything fancy. Just a list. What needed doing first. […]
One of the easiest mistakes to make with a refurbishment project is to assume that if finance is available, it must automatically be the right finance. It doesn’t work like that. A deal can look perfectly workable on paper, the lender can say yes, the money can arrive, and yet […]
