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Posts Tagged ‘buy to let property insurance’

Excellent rental yields drawing new investors into private sector

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

As yet another letting agency reveals that clients are achieving record rental incomes, it appears that news of the burgeoning profits in the private letting sector is spreading. The same report by findaproperty.com also reveals that private investors are snapping up the cheapest landlord insurance in their droves as they look to get a good return on their savings.

Property a better bet than banks

According to the online letting agency, landlords are now achieving rental yields on average of 4.75%, this is much better than the returns investors can make on traditional bank saving accounts and almost double the average returns on ISA’s. The fall in share prices and the uncertainty in the money markets caused by the troubles of the Euro and the American dollar have not gone unnoticed by investors and the report shows an increase of 10% in the number of prospective homes tenants now have to choose from. The UK letting sector is experiencing a boom like never before.

London Leads

Of course it is the capital that is leading the way and this is because most overseas investors looking for a safe place for their money are being sucked into the London property market. However, in the short term this should have a ripple effect as some UK landlords look to purchase buy to let property insurance on homes in the suburbs as they are being forced out of the capital by inflated property prices. The report certainly seems to suggest that this may be the case.

Regions cashing in as well

Landlords in London are setting records month by month and according to findaproperty.com the average is now just £21 short of £2000 per calendar month. This is more than 3 times the rent a landlord in the North East can expect from his property, where the average rate for the last quarter came in at £582. This was still an increase though and in fact, according to the report the only region of the country not to have reflected increases in rent was the West Midlands where landlords experienced a 0.03% fall in rents.

Golden years

On the whole the survey found the average rent across the UK to be £876, easily a record and the only question for excited landlords is this; will the influx of homes coming onto the market put the brakes on this golden period of rental bliss?

Tags: buy to let property insurance, Landlord Insurance, rental incomes, tenants
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Uncertainty over timing of Green Deal upsetting landlords

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

As landlords across the country get accustomed to banking record rental earnings, a warning from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) may make them consider their future. They may well be incurring more bills than just buy to let property insurance in the near future if concerns by RICS are manifested.

Green Deal set to go live in 2012

The governments “Green Deal” initiative is due to be launched late next year and it will try and revolutionise the amount of CO2 emissions that emanate from the buildings in which we live. In a bid to cut emissions by a massive 80% householders and landlords across the country will be encouraged to update their properties by installing energy efficient systems.

Compliance date questioned

The Government is trying to get Big Business involved in providing loans to finance the scheme but property investors who typically have rented property insurance have been warned that they must bring the energy rating of tenanted properties they own to a minimum of B and E by 2018. RICS are concerned about the wording and have asked the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to clarify exactly what the time frame is. They point out that by 2018 could actually mean 2015.

Clarification of requirements needed

The Green Deal is certainly a worry for landlords. There are conflicting reports coming out of the DECC as to what landlords will have to do to comply. It has been confirmed that tenants will have the power to request landlords bring their properties up to standards set by the DECC but they are not sure whether they will qualify for up front loans as seems to be the case for private homeowners. The DECC have said that landlords who own a small number of properties will be fully informed in good time what exactly will be required from them, but it has not reassured some.

Landlords won’t be bullied

Irrespective of where the money will come from, a number of landlords have said if the cost is too prohibitive then they will evict tenants rather than become bankrupted by Government legislation. There is certainly more negotiating to be done with private landlords, as the last thing the Government needs right now is a shortage of housing when demand for rented accommodation is at its highest for many years.

Tags: buy to let property insurance, environment, Green Deal, landlords, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
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Landlords must be beyond reproach

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

As the UK begins to come to terms with the words “Generation Rent” the onus on those private investors who look to cover their properties with landlord insurance grows. In the coming months their businesses will come under scrutiny from the press and the public as the welfare reforms make their presence felt on the nation.

Never had it so good!

It is no secret that property owned by private and social landlords is in more demand now than at any time since the end of the Second World War. The record levels of rent achieved by landlords across the country bears testimony to this while those property owners letting out homes in London are in the midst of what can only be termed as a golden period. Their rental earnings are shooting up and at the same time the properties they own are also growing in value, it is this that puts the London residential landlord in such a strong financial position.

In the public eye

It is worth noting though that the public awareness of the situation is growing each day as the austerity measures bite deeper, and landlords who have never been the country’s favourite public servants will now be in the spotlight more and more. Homeless charities that have always been less than impressed with landlords are now on the lookout for rogue landlords to bring to the public’s attention. Shelter one of the leading charities in the UK have openly criticised the Governments Welfare Reform Bill saying it will create thousands more homeless people who in turn could fall into the clutches of ruthless property owners who will illegally rent out homes that are squalid and without the appropriate licensing.

Keep your home in order

It is for sure that this will happen and it is key that good landlords and landlord associations not only expose these criminals for what they are but publicise the work of the vast majority of landlords who will have more social responsibility in the coming years than they ever expected. Of course landlords have their fair share of bad tenants which is reflected in the number of property owners who take malicious damage cover in their buy to let property insurance, but this is not going to be what the public wants to hear about. Landlords need to be scrupulous not only in the way they present a property but also in their business dealings and their accountancy as the spotlight falls upon their industry.

Tags: buy to let property insurance, generation rent, landlords, tenants
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