Category Archives: Property Insurance

Being an Accidental Landlord

Being an Accidental Landlord – Around half of the UK’s landlords only own one property. Many of them probably didn’t buy it with the intention of renting it out to others, but bought it as their own home. Perhaps they then found that they couldn’t sell a the price they needed, but wanted to move, and so ended up renting out one home in order to be able to rent out another. Others may be couples who want to live together, but each have a […]

PVC double glazing – Good or bad?

Double glazing has become a staple of properties since the 90’s, and in the 2000’s virtually every British home had double or even triple glazed windows installed amongst rising energy prices and concerns of global warming. These have traditionally come in white PVC and aluminium frames. Older white PVC windows can however suffer photodegradation and go yellow when exposed to exposed to sunlight and start to look very tatty indeed.
Wood alternatives
Double glazed windows can also be made out of wood and is generally considered the […]

Handing the keys to the right tenant

Handing the keys to the right tenant – For experienced landlords this is a common problem, for new ones however, a non-paying or disorderly tenant can seem pretty daunting. A tenant appears good on the face of it, moves in, then suddenly decides to be difficult and not pay. Here are a few tips to find a reliable tenant who will not trash your property.
Do your research
It is crucial to find a good tenant if you want to ensure a happy rental period. Do not […]

Living in Luxury?

Living in Luxury?
Landlords need to make a profit from their investment, but they can have other motivations too. For many, being a landlord can be way of indulging their own property dreams, renovating homes in style and buying luxury property to rent out to tenants who appreciate the finer things in life. From sumptuous holiday lets, to modern designer homes packed with gadgets, to grand Victorian property: there is always demand for luxury lets.
Expensive tastes
Buying and letting a luxury home can be lucrative, with homes […]

Invest in Spanish Property

Investing in Spanish Property – Spain’s financial difficulties have been numerous, with house prices falling by up to 40%, mortgage finance deficits and banks wading through a very deep ford. The economy has taken a hard hit since 2008 and the unemployment rate is extremely high. Furthermore, Moody’s is deliberating whether to downgrade Spain’s credit rating which was already downgraded earlier this year to BBB.
Good for landlords
All this may well spell bad news for Spain, but it may be good for British citizens looking to […]

Marketing your rental property

 
Marketing your rental property – With the property market in the UK booming, some landlords might be tempted to sit back and relax when it comes to property marketing. If you are one of them, think again: good marketing is vital to make sure you achieve top rents and get good quality tenants.
Knowing who to target
‘Targeting’ might sound like a rather involved process, but it doesn’t need to be. It does pay, however, to know what your target demographic is and to work towards meeting […]

How to Deal with Rent Arrears?

It is every landlord’s nightmare: a previously reliable tenant fails to pay their rent on time. This can leave landlords struggling to meet their mortgage repayments, and causes a huge amount of stress. Most landlords will have to deal with arrears at some stage, with around 9% of rent unpaid or late.
Rising rents are good news for landlords who want to grow their business, but combined with relatively high unemployment and growth in inflation outstripping growth in wages, they can mean that tenants struggle to […]

Tapping Pensions For Deposits

 
There’s been a lot of hot air this week: Yes, you guessed it, its Party conference season. Politicians have taken the week off to engage in their respective annual conferences and as per usual, there have been some crackers. Yesterday, Nick Clegg announced at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton of his audacious strategy to give the young a rung on the property ladder.
Rising costs
With the soaring price of property deposits and the average age of first-time-buyers rising to 35, Clegg has advocated releasing parent […]

Letting to Smokers

 
When choosing tenants for your next let it is essential that you evaluate all the risks but also consider each person as an individual instead of branding them with a label e.g. smoker. Tenants that smoke are often a group that is over looked by landlords because they are seen as too risky when it comes to causing damage to properties. However, there is no point ruling out a whole group of people because they are smokers, they could prove to be wonderful tenants.
Damage
There is […]

Retired Homeowners Living in Property Goldmine

 
Many retired homeowners are living in property that could make them substantial sums of money if sold. New figures out today from Retirement Solutions show that the over-65s are sitting on property with £757 billion of unrealised equity. Despite gloomy predictions in the housing market, the amount of equity per property has increased by almost £3000 over the last couple of years as the market has stabilised in many areas following the falls that came as a result of the credit crunch.
This has helped fuel […]