Category Archives: Landlords Insurance

Top Tips for Preparing your Properties for Winter

Preparing your Properties for Winter – During the coldest months of the year temperatures can reach lows of -10⁰C at night in some parts on the UK, so it’s no wonder why you need to spend more time looking after your home during winter. As you increase the heat inside your home and cosy up in front of a warm fire you must not forget to think about other parts of your home and the potential damage that could be caused. In a previous blog […]

Landlords and the new Anti-Social Behaviour Act

Anti-social tenants can be a complete nightmare for landlords as not only do they cause issues in your properties but can also disrupt your business. Unfortunately, as a landlord you are somewhat responsible for your tenants’ behaviour, which means if they are upsetting those that live near them you will be expected to step in and help resolve the situation. However, this isn’t always easy due to the fact that tenants have certain rights and previously even if they were given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order […]

The new Refurbish-to-Let trend sweeping the UK

This week it was announced that if the Bank of England’s new proposals go forward landlords may soon have to come up with forty per cent deposits in order to be given buy to let mortgages. Landlords are already struggling to expand their property portfolios due to the rising cost of property and if the Bank of England’s plans go ahead they could make matters worse.
This is why so many landlords are taking part in a new trend: ‘refurbish-to-let’. The idea is pretty simple: buy […]

Should Landlords have Performance Reviews? Tenant Groups

Over the past few years a number of tenant groups have claimed that the private rental sector needs to be better regulated in order to tackle the issue of rogue landlords. However, it’s not just rogue landlords that tenant groups want more help managing, but also landlords who do not take their responsibilities seriously but are not bad enough to be considered ‘rogue’. In order to decipher whether landlords are looking after their tenants properly they need to be properly reviewed, but is this possible?

How can Landlords help Tenants save money?

How can Landlords help Tenants save money?
The above question may strike some landlords as a bit strange, as generally it is not their job to help tenants save money. However, as the property and private rental markets are currently so unstable, working with your tenants could actually help improve your business and secure your income. At the end of the day, if your tenant falls into rent arrears then you are going to take a cut to your earnings and may even have to start […]

Are Mortgage Approvals really Decreasing?

Are Mortgage Approvals really Decreasing? Right now it seems as though no-one can really agree on what the government, Bank of England or Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) should do to prevent another housing bubble. With the economy starting to improve and the government creating new schemes such as Help to Buy, the UK property market has been booming over the past six months. However, a number of industry experts are concerned that the market is unsustainable and could even return to the state it was […]

How Landlords can prepare for the next General Election

How Landlords can prepare for the next General Election – Over the past few weeks PropertyQuoteDirect has mentioned the next General Election in a number of our blog and news articles, mainly due to the fact that whatever happens in the next twelve months will have a huge impact on the private rental sector. Therefore, it is wise for landlords to start protecting their businesses now, however how can this be done and what changes do landlords realistically need to protect themselves against? Here, PropertyQuoteDirect […]

Landlord Regulation Under Scrutiny

Landlord Regulation Under Scrutiny – If you’re a landlord you probably feel like there’s quite enough regulation that you have to worry about at the moment. While a simple 2 bed property might be easy enough to run on a day-to-day basis, local and national regulation for HMOs can be an enormous burden for landlords. Couple this with things like council tax, landlord insurance and tenant management and it’s no surprise that many landlords find themselves having to give up other occupations to work full […]

The Growing Issue of Welfare Reforms and Landlords

The welfare reforms have been discussed at length in the news recently, mainly due to the fact that they are affecting thousands of people across the UK. The coalition government claim that the whole point of the welfare reforms is to make the benefit system fairer, however a number of schemes have already put some people in danger of losing their homes. Here, PropertyQuoteDirect looks at the issue in further detail:

Preparing your rental property for flooding

 
With the risk of flooding being very real for many at the moment, it is important as a landlord that you have done all you can to protect your investment as well as your tenants. This is why PropertyQuoteDirect has put together a guide on the best ways of ensuring you are as well prepared for the floods as possible.
Obviously, the main point of flood proofing is to keep water out or at least as much as you can. If your properties are flooded then […]