Saturday 29 August 2009

The Nationwide says that house prices rise for 4th month in a row

Figures released by the Nationwide Building Society this week claim that house prices have now risen for the fourth month in a row. Does this signal the end of the property crash and that good times are just around the corner?

What the figures don't mention is that in the period from September 2007 to the start of 2009 house prices fell by over 25%. They also fail to acknowledge that getting a mortgage is still difficult and even more so when it comes to Buy-to-Let. From a height of over 3,000 different Buy-to-Let mortgages we are now left with under 200. Every major BTL lender has either stopped lending altogether or cut their lending back severely. The only ray of good news in the BTL mortgage market recently has been the decision by the Bank of China to enter the BTL market.

So why aren't the lenders lending? Why aren't banking groups like HBOS and Bradford & Bingley using the money that we, the taxpayers, have poured into them to help us, their customers? Why are there so few BTL mortgages and why are such large deposits demanded for the few mortgages that are available?

There is no doubt that a significant number of landlords would buy property if only they could get mortgages. There is also little doubt that many first time buyers would also like to get onto the housing ladder. The rise in 'reluctant landlords' proves that there are many thousands of home owners who would like to sell and buy. The problem is that the banks won't lend. The irony is that they won't lend the money we have lent them. The worry is that the Government still cannot or will not make them lend - even though the Government now owns so much of the banking sector.

Maybe we need to spend less time hoping for someone to wave a magic wand and more time waving the big stick at the banks that got us into the mess in the first place.


Tuesday 11 August 2009

NetRent.co.uk launch a major website upgrade and a brand new Landlord Resource Centre

NetRent.co.uk are delighted to announce the launch of a major upgrade to our website and in particular the launch of The Landlord Resource Centre.

The Landlord Resource Centre is a major new source of information and help for landlords in the UK with a huge amount of information, advice and links to help you run your business safely and profitably. Best of all The Landlord Resource Centre is completely free.

Included within The Landlord Resource Centre are special sections on Working with Local Authorities and a Find a Letting Agent Service.

NetRent.co.uk will add to the already impressive amount of information available through The Landlord Resource Centre and we encourage landlords to contact us with suggestions about how we can make The Landlord Resource Centre even better.

We hope you like the changes we have made to our website and especially we hope that you will make full use of The Landlord Resource Centre. If you have any comments or suggestions please email us at enquiries@netrent.co.uk

Monday 10 August 2009

Is the Government racing to register landlords to boost tax receipts?


John Denham, the Communities Secretary (pictured), wants to fast track the proposed database of private landlords by introducing legislation as early as this autumn. The stated aim is to crackdown on rogue landlords who fail to maintain their properties or fail to manage tenant deposits correctly.

However, according to an article in The Times the real reason could be to allow HMRC (the Taxman) to have access to the database. In particular HMRC are interested in people who rent out rooms in their own homes.

According to the Abbey homeowners taking in lodgers now earn £3.5 billion a year, with each household receiving an average of £6,412. HMRC admitted that it has few details about tax income from private landlords, as it is split between personal self-assessment forms and corporate returns. Nor does it have any idea how many evade payments.

Officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government said that the measures were not intended as a tax crackdown but to strengthen local authorities in tackling bad landlords with a record of exploiting vulnerable tenants. In our experience Local Authorities are so badly stretched that they struggle to deal with their current workload and we seriously doubt that many could cope with an increase if the Government were to introduce such a crackdown.

So we are left to wonder what is the real purpose of Mr Denham's race to bring in legislation that most of the industry is against. In our opinion it is simply a way of raising Tax. Whilst we have no problem with HMRC raising what is due it would be nice for the Government to be honest and tell us why this Minister is in such a desperate rush.

Read The Times article here.

Wednesday 5 August 2009

New Rights for Tenants Facing Eviction

Housing Minister John Healey today set out plans to give new legal protection to tenants vulnerable to being thrown out on the street with little or no notice if their private landlord is repossessed.

John Healey said "It is wrong that through no fault of their own these families can find themselves out on the street with little prior warning. That's why I want to change the law to give new protection to those tenants who have no rights when the property they live in is repossessed.

"This will give them much needed breathing space to find another home. But I also want to see more lenders use alternatives to repossession, such as appointing Receivers of Rent to collect rent."

The Government expect that between 2000-3000 households could be affected this year.

Read the full statement here Communities Website

Saturday 1 August 2009

Government Ignores Landlord Petition

The Government has made it clear that it intends to ignore a Landlord petition to reinstate direct payments of Housing Benefit.

The petition on the Number 10 website called for the Government to revert to direct payments of Housing Benefits. Two things stand out, first a shockingly low total of just 1,318 landlords actually signed the Petition and second is the way that the Government have totally dismissed the reality faced by many landlords who accept Housing Benefit.

NetRent attend many landlord events and forums. We have heard time and again landlords complain that tenants are abusing the new system and not paying landlords. Many landlords have decided to stop offering their properties to people on Housing Benefit. And yet when given an opportunity to register their concerns only 1,318 bothered to take the time to add their names to the Petition. Is it any wonder that the Government take no notice of landlords?

We have to ask why landlords did not sign this Petition in significant numbers. We would also question what landlord associations at both national and local levels have actually done about this situation. If landlords and landlord associations cannot be bothered to campaign vigorously then Government will continue to ignore their legitimate concerns.

In their reply to the Petition the Government state that they are happy that the current system works "We are satisfied that these safeguards will ensure that vulnerable customers do not fall into unmanageable difficulties and that their rental payments will be met." We are sure that many landlords will disagree.

Click here to read the full response Reply to the Petition