Category: Buy-to-Let Insurance

Property prices in Ireland see a fall in 2012

Posted on 23rd January 2013

Despite housing prices rising at their fastest pace in more than six years in November, property prices in Ireland fell slightly towards the end of last year.
Official figures released today by the Central Statistics Office showed a 0.5% drop in December across the country, leading to an overall decrease of 4.5% over the course of 2012.
Comparatively, in the twelve months leading up to December 2011 figures showed an annual slump of 16.7%.
Looking at Dublin specifically, residential property prices fell by 1.3% in December which is […]

Council to get tough on Liverpool’s empty properties

Posted on 5th December 2012

Liverpool City Council has come up with a list of 1,000 empty properties in the city and they have made a pledge to take action on the frustrating problem. The council has this week started contacting the owners to encourage them to bring the properties back into use as quickly as possible.
The clampdown is part of the city’s three-year ‘Bringing Empty Homes Back into Use’ programme and they are warning the owners that enforcement action will be taken if contact is ignored. As well […]

Rent returns in Central London beginning to slip

Posted on 30th November 2012

As landlords in the rest of the country continue to see rental achievements go through the roof, landlords in London are being advised to be realistic about their charges as the property pendulum starts to swing the other way.
Throughout the last five years of continued growth in the private rental market property investors have been falling over themselves purchasing buy-to-let insurance on appropriate properties in Central London. Earlier this year rents were higher than they have ever been before and most residential landlords in the […]

New problem for renters to worry about

Posted on 27th November 2012

Vulnerable tenants in Ireland who are happily living in rented properties are being evicted by sheriffs when their landlords fall into arrears.
Housing charity Threshold has revealed that they are receiving two or three calls each week from desperate renters who are in the middle of crossfire between private landlords and financial institutions. The charity warns that with one in three buy-to-let properties in mortgage default a large number of tenants are at serious risk of losing their home. It is becoming a huge issue that […]

Buy-to-let proving to be a favourite pension plan

Posted on 13th November 2012

As figures from a report by a group of lenders illustrates that buy-to-let investment is still expanding, a leading landlord organisation survey shows that the great majority of holders of landlord insurance policies regard their property as a pension plan.
The third quarter report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) shows that almost £12 billion of loans were directed in the way of buy-to-let investment during the first nine months of 2012. It is an amazing figure and up 19% on 2011 and it clearly […]

Council hope fine will act as a deterrent to all private landlords

Posted on 30th October 2012

A private landlord is facing a hefty bill when he was successfully prosecuted after he failed to carry out important improvements to one of his properties. Barrow Borough Council decided to launch proceedings after their requests to improve a property, which had fallen below legal standards, were totally ignored.
Landlord Wayne Moffat was found to have failed to comply with two improvement notices issued to him and the 51-year-old from Barrow was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £998.76. The council first contacted […]

Are landlords tax dodgers?

Posted on 20th September 2012

A UK investigative website that specialises in exposing tax loopholes used by the wealthier echelons of society believes buy-to-let landlords are avoiding up to £2 billion of tax each year by swapping mortgage loans from their own homes to those they are letting out to tenants.
Exaro claim that the tax bonus enjoyed by buy-to-let investors is roughly the same amount the Government intends to whittle away from Housing Benefit claimants and accuse millionaire property owners of using the tax loophole to avoid paying taxes. Their […]

New mobile phone app for landlords and tenants

Posted on 5th September 2012

A well known charity that supports the homeless hopes the introduction of a new mobile phone app will reduce the disputes between landlords and their tenants. Housing charity, Shelter Scotland, has created the free Housemate app for the iPhone in a bid to help both prevent and resolve rows over tenancy deposits.
Shelter Director, Graeme Brown, has described the device as a simple but highly effective application. It is sponsored by the property services group Orchard and Shipman and all interested parties believe the app could […]

Tenant arrears increase while rent levels make new records

Posted on 20th August 2012

The latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services shows the average national rent now stands at £725 per month. This figure is up slightly (1%) on June and has now surpassed the previous record high of £721 per month that was set in October 2011.
The index also shows that rents rose in eight out of ten regions in England and Wales with rents in the South-East climbing the most at 2.2%. The West Midlands saw the next largest increase, rising by 1.8% with several regions […]

Thirteen year forecast looks good for buy to let landlords

Posted on 15th August 2012

Two separate reports have been carried out that point to private landlords making steady returns over the next 13 years. The good news is down to rising rents and a house price recovery that will boost the sector.
Rents have already gone up by 4.5% over the last year and they are likely to be driven up further by the scarcity of mortgages being handed out by lenders, along with a shortage of good quality properties. The RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) predict that rents […]