It pays to stay abreast of the news if you are a landlord. You never quite know if or when something maybe afoot that is going to impinge on your buy to let business.

So, here are a few of the latest snippets to help keep you in the picture.

Landlords reminded about Making Tax Digital

Are you prepared for the possibility of having to file an income tax return every quarter, together with a final declaration of your earnings each year?

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued a reminder that the requirements are on the cards sometime in the future, reported Accountancy Daily on the 11^th of February. If you want to prepare for the inevitable introduction of the new arrangements, you can sign up for the current trial – which has been running for two years now – if you own let property in the UK and your sole earnings are from that buy to let business.

The proposals are all part of the government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative which envisages landlords and others switching to digital record-keeping and the automatic, electronic completion of the necessary tax information. It means that you will not be making manual tax returns four times a year and the annual declaration – which replaces yearly self-assessments – will also be fed by the electronic data.

Landlords warned to be on the look-out for cannabis farms

A drug bust in an up-market six-bedroom house in North London has left the landlord with a huge bill for clearing up the mess and damage caused after the erstwhile tenants were arrested.

The website Junk Hunters described how the clean-up operation took four men 10 hours to complete as they carted away five skip-loads of rubbish – and that was before the landlord had even started on the extensive repairs required to the property.

Receiving regular payments of rent for the first six months of the tenancy, the landlord believed all was going well. The nightmare started when the Metropolitan Police telephoned to say that the cannabis farm in his let property had been raided and two men arrested.

The dire consequences for landlords who unwittingly let their properties to tenants who subsequently turn the property into an illegal cannabis farm are described in our Guide to landlords and cannabis farms, published last October.

Renewed interest in the residential property market

You have probably been waiting a long time to hear it, but there is finally some good news for landlords about rising confidence in the buy to let market, according to a report by Landlord Today on the 13^th of February.

Surveyed at the recent National Landlord Investment Show, some 60% of attendees said they were hoping to add to their portfolios of buy to let properties over the next 12 months. 71% of them said that their preference was for investment in residential property.

Despite a recent swing in favour of buy to let investment through specially created limited liability companies, some three-quarters of those questioned at the show, said they were individual, private individuals and currently owned no property through a company.

The principal reasons for investing in buy to let property were either to save for a pension (54% of respondents) or for financial assistance to their children in the future (27%).

UK homes losing too much heat

It’s cold outside – and according to an article in Property Wire on the 21^st of February, it could be almost as cold inside your home too.

Recent research has shown that the average home in the UK loses its heat much quicker than those in the rest of Europe. A home in the UK that has been heated to 20 degrees C loses an estimated 3 degrees over five hours, according to the study, while a European home heated to the same temperature loses only 1 degree over the same period.

Part of the explanation may lie in the age of the UK’s housing stock and the fact that only 2% of homes achieve the top energy rating. Improved insulation, through simple measures that can be made even in older houses, is the key to keeping the warmth where it belongs – inside your home.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced when carbon fuels, including coal, wood, gas and oil do not burn properly – typically because of a lack of air. CO is a highly toxic, odourless and colourless gas, so almost impossible to detect with your senses alone. That is why a professionally-made yet affordable carbon monoxide detector is essential.

Carbon monoxide detectors are essential because the gas is a potential killer. More than 50 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning, revealed the website Good to Know in a posting dated the 24^th of January 2020, and thousands more need hospital treatment because of its effects.

That is also why we have highlighted – in an earlier need to know posting – the importance for landlords to understand their obligations to install carbon monoxide detectors in their let property.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning

Not only is the gas itself invisible, colourless, tasteless, and odourless, the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are anything but easy to diagnose. Many symptoms are similar to the ‘flu, other viral infections, food poisoning, tiredness or even a hangover, suggests advice from the Gas Safe Register.

The advice goes on to describe the main symptoms victims are likely to experience – symptoms which may be shared by other occupants of the home and which might appear to get better once you go outside:

• nausea;

• dizziness;

• breathlessness;

• headaches;

• collapse; and

• eventual loss of consciousness.

What to do

If you, your family members or tenants are suffering from any of these symptoms and carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected, the following course of action should be taken:

Get the affected person outside into the fresh air as quickly as possible;

• turn off any gas or oil-fired appliance immediately and open doors and windows to let air in;

• go to the accident and emergency wing of your nearest hospital – where you may be given a blood or breath test to check whether you have CO poisoning; and

• if you smell gas, telephone the gas emergency helpline on 0800 111 999.

Spotting carbon monoxide leaks

You are not able to smell it, taste it, or see it, but there are a few tell-tale signs that might indicate a CO leak:

• the pilot light on a gas- or oil-fired boiler often goes out – or burns with a weak yellow flame rather than a bright blue one;

• there is a build-up of dark soot around the appliance or boiler; or

• there is an unusual amount of condensation on the windows of the room in which the appliance is installed.

Once again, if you suspect a CO leak or if anyone appears to have been affected by it, take immediate action.

As we move further into a new year, you’ll want to keep abreast of the news about buying to let. Here are a few of our latest snippets to help ensure you stay well informed and fully up to date.

Mandatory electrical safety regulations to be introduced in England

New legislation is making its way through parliament that requires private sector landlords to carry out electrical safety checks on let property, reported the Sun newspaper last month.

With effect from the 1^st of July 2020, an electrical safety certificate must be obtained before any new tenants move in and the requirement will be extended to all existing tenancies on the 1^st of July next year.

After the first such inspection by a qualified electrician, further checks must be made at least every five years.

The new legislation gives greater, specific force to general regulations which are already in place that impose a requirement on landlords to ensure that electrical equipment is safely installed and maintained in any let property.

Lets and pets

The government is amending its model tenancy agreement in a bid to persuade more landlords to welcome tenants with pets, revealed a story in Landlord Today recently.

Although some 40% of all UK households own a pet, only an estimated 7% of private sector landlords currently allow them. Designed to make renting easier for those many households who want to keep a pet, the government statement puts the emphasis on animals that are well-behaved and do not cause damage to a landlord’s property.

At least one sector of the private rental market appears to have taken heed of the government’s encouragement for landlords to accept pet-owning tenants, revealed Property Investor Today on the 10^th of January.

The story describes how many Build to Rent developments – which includes some 150,000 homes – not only allow pets but also provide onsite managers and amenity spaces for gyms and roof terraces.

BBC probe into quick home sales

On the 27^th of January, Estate Agent Today lifted the lid on the possible scam being run by so-called “quick sale” firms – which may be losing homeowners thousands of pounds when they sell their property.

Trading Standards officers are currently investigating a number of firms that promise to sell your home as quickly as within seven to 14 days – but at the cost of reducing the sale price by tens of thousands of pounds, sometimes without the vendor’s knowledge or authorisation.

Lawyers warn that actions such as this may amount to a breach of the law on Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading 2008 – which may be attract the penalty of up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine.

37% of UK property investors are planning on selling this year

More than a third of buy to let landlords are planning to sell one or more properties in their portfolios this year, revealed Luxurious Magazine on the 22^nd of January.

Giving their reasons for withdrawing from this investment market, 72% of respondents cited their belief that regulation of the private rented sector and an unfair tax regime tied the hands of landlords. 61% of those surveyed gave this as their reason for selling up.

69% also complained that the costs of running any buy to let operation had also increased significantly in recent years. A further 53% complained that they would not have invested in buy to let property at all if they had been aware how the private rented sector was to become so tightly regulated.

If you are a property owner or buy to let landlord, one of the important questions is likely to be what the recent general election means for you and your investment.

Certainty and stability …

Probably the best news about the election result – and such a large majority for the new government – is the economic stability it is likely to bring. The commitment is to “getting Brexit done”, there is a deal on the table, and that element of certainty is already lending a boost to the markets.

As far as property prices are concerned, that means some release for the pent-up demand that characterised the housing market while the future of Brexit looked in doubt. Certainty stimulates movement because property owners prefer to be doing something rather than staying put, asserted a story – citing accountants Price Waterhouse Coopers (pwc) – in the Telegraph newspaper on the 13^th of December.

… but there are other factors at play

Although markets may be breathing a sigh of relief about the passing shadow of Brexit, that is by no means the only factor affecting property prices.

The property market is fundamentally determined by affordability – what buyers can actually afford to pay. In the recent climate in which house prices have been rising faster than incomes, there are naturally fewer buyers capable of paying those prices.

Furthermore, (as at the time of writing) the imposition of a surcharge on the Stamp Duty Land Tax means that you must pay 3% above the standard rate if you are buying a second home or, more critically for landlords, a buy to let property. In its manifesto, it was also proposed that an additional 3% surcharge would be placed on residential properties bought by both individuals and corporations based overseas.

In recent years, the Bank of England has also looked to cool what it considered to be an overheated buy to let market. It has done so by imposing much tougher affordability rules on mortgages for buy to let property – so dampening the ability of potential landlords to invest.

What it means specifically for landlords

Although landlords might look forward to a revitalised housing market as an impetus for investment – especially since demand continues to outstrip supply – planned legislation will go ahead.

For example, plans for the abolition of Section 21 “no-fault” evictions are still proposed. This forces landlords to rely on the often more long-winded – and expensive – Section 8 eviction and the need to prove a tenant has breached the terms of their tenancy.

And, with effect from the 1^st of April 2020, any landlord must also ensure that the energy efficiency rating of any let property must achieve category E or above. It will become illegal to let properties achieving ratings of F or G.

2020 also marks the completion of a revised tax regime which completely removes any tax relief for landlords on the mortgage interest they pay, as a story in the financial pages of the Daily Mail reminded readers on the 13^th of December 2019.

This month, we round up some of the latest recent news and views relating to property. So, whether you are a landlord or an owner-occupier, read on.

Property hotspots for buy to let investors in 2020

If you are investing in buy to let property, you want to know where in the country you are likely to make the biggest returns.

An article in Landlord Today offers a few suggestions.

The latest research shows that Oxford and Manchester are practically neck and neck – with the former slightly edging it in a survey of 25 cities.

In Oxford, some 28% of residents occupy the private rented sector, which has some of the most rental properties available. There are few vacancies across the rental market here, where the average rate is around £596 a month for a single room.

Although property prices in Oxford have risen by an average of 4.8% a year during the past ten years, the highest yields on rental investment are obtained over the longer rather than shorter-term.

Second and third places in these rankings are occupied by Manchester and Edinburgh, with London quite closely on their heels.

Rogue landlord fined

A district judge in the West Midlands perhaps had the approaching Christmas in mind when he described the Dickensian character Scrooge as a philanthropist compared to the rogue landlord who appeared before him in court.

The 55 year-old landlord from Birmingham was fined a total of £20,000, according to a report in LocalGov on the 11^th of December.

The offences related to his failure to obtain a licence for the House in Multiple (HMO) he let, plus a string of health and safety infractions that breached HMO Management Regulations. The latter included the absence of smoke detectors, a lack of effective fire doors, blocked fire escapes, burnt electrical fittings, and a failure to obtain the necessary gas and electrical safety certificates.

Looking to improve your property?

On the 11^th of December, What Mortgage published a brief list of dos and don’ts for homeowners and landlords looking to renovate their property:

• check whether you need planning permission and, if so, apply for it in good time;

• get written quotes from more than one builder and interview each of them to choose the most reliable;

• if you are the leaseholder of the property, remember that you may need the permission of the freeholder;

• keep your neighbours full informed of your plans and intentions;

• when engaging professionals, do so before rather than after any problems have arisen; and

• make sure to arrange renovation insurance and to review the property’s level of insurance cover once the works are complete.

For more details, you might also want to review our Guide to Renovating.

North Lincolnshire the best place to raise children

For young families, North Lincoln seems to have it all, according to a story published by Property Wire last month.

86% of the local authority schools in the area were highly rated in Ofsted inspections, yet there were still plenty of vacancies for new entrants in the past year – one in seven, or 14%, of places remained unfilled.

North Lincoln is also an affordable place to live, with the average price of a home at £149,000 – which represents just 17% of the area’s average salary of £25,000 a year.

With the 12^th of December now firmly in politicians’ minds you might expect the whole of the country to be caught up in general election fever.

In these strangest of times, however, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Life – and other news in all its various forms – continues as normal.

If you are a homeowner or landlord, of course, that means any news on the property front. So, to help you keep up to date, here are a few of the latest snippets.

What do homebuyers search for online?

With the many resources available these days, it’s little wonder that many prospective property buyers search the internet for properties in which they might be interested.

But what are the most common search terms used by buyers when trawling the web for that purpose? An article in Landlord Today on the 21^st of November suggested a few answers.

It found that the following were the six most common search terms (ranked in this order):

1. garage;

• garden;

• parking;

• bungalow – reflecting the growing number of mainly older house-hunters who want single-storey accommodation;

• detached; and

• annexe – used by those who are looking for a multi-generational home or space for newly independent teenagers.

Homeowners call for a ban on gazumping

It’s the bane of any home buyer’s life – the risk of being gazumped. And now the overwhelming majority of buyers – four in every five – have had enough and are calling on the government to formally ban the practice.

An article in Property Reporter on the 21^st of November revealed the strength of home buyers’ feelings and pointed out that nearly a third of all property buyers had been gazumped in the past 10 years. Plus, out of these, almost 40% had wasted money on professional fees even though their purchase had fallen through.

Despite that strength of feeling, however, such is the competition in the market that 43% of house-hunters admitted they would think about gazumping a rival bidder.

Gazumping appears to be peculiar to England and Wales. It doesn’t happen so often in Scotland.

Landlords losing confidence

Landlords are more pessimistic than ever about running a buy to let business.

Figures released by the Residential Landlords’ Association (RLA) on the 20^th of November show a widening gap in just the past three months between those landlords looking to sell up and those planning to buy a property to let.

The RLA’s survey shows that more than 55% of landlords are less confident about the buy to let market in the third quarter of this year.

That declining confidence is underscored by the fact that 34% of landlords are looking to sell buy to let properties in the coming year (compared to just 22% two years previously), while only 13% are planning to buy at least one property (compared to 18% two years ago).

Subletting scams on the rise

It increases the risk of damage to your property, accelerates wear and tear, may contravene local authority licensing conditions, and may even invalidate your landlord’s insurance – but what can you do to prevent unauthorised or illegal subletting?

An article in Landlord News recently warns that illegal subletting is on the increase – especially with the growth of online accommodation-sharing platforms such as Airbnb.

But the article also suggests that regular inspections and visits to your let property may help to detect some of the more obvious signs – abnormal volumes of rubbish, for example, or the presence of individuals you have never named on the tenancy agreement.

Property renovation may be an attractive alternative to finding and moving into another home.

If you are the owner-occupier looking for more space for your growing family, renovation, a loft conversion or an extension is likely to be a cheaper solution than moving home. And the end result adds at least something to the capital value of your home.

If you are investing in buy to let property, renovation not only increases its capital value but may also boost your rental income. And a previously abandoned property, in need of renovation, is almost certain to be cheaper to buy.

As we explained in our Guide to Renovation in January 2019, however, there is a lot involved in any renovation project – not least of which is the need to keep your insurers fully in the picture.

Why is insurance important?

Your home insurance or buy to let insurance (if you are a landlord) is vital for protection against all manner of risks leading to loss or damage – even to the extent of the loss of the entire building and its contents.

But insurers attach conditions to the cover they provide and are especially concerned about the additional risks to which your property may be exposed while it is unoccupied during any renovation or building work.

For that reason, you need to inform your insurer before starting any renovation work on your property.

Renovation insurance

If the renovation works are substantial and involve any structural alterations to the property, your current insurers may increase your premiums or even remove the cover for any loss or damage caused by the building works. In the fine print of your insurance documents, you may find the particular clauses that relate to exclusions for any loss or damage resulting from structural alterations to your property.

But, of course, your home or let property continues to need building and contents cover while renovation works are in progress – and this is where purpose-designed renovation insurance steps in. The nature and scope of this standalone renovation insurance cover is described in greater detail on our website.

This ensures that you remain covered for any loss or damage resulting from the alterations that are made to your property and typically extends protection to the additional items likely to remain onsite during the works – machinery, plant, building materials and supplies, for example.

A further peril that is often overlooked is the risk of additional theft, loss or damage by virtue of your property being unoccupied for the duration of any renovation works.

A property that is left empty in this way for longer than a month or so is also likely to suffer a reduction in the scope and level of normal insurance cover (a property can still be classed as empty if there are tradespeople there during the day but no one actually living there). For that reason, renovation insurance typically incorporates an element of unoccupied property insurance to plug the gap.

While websites such as Real Homes may provide a detailed breakdown of the various costs likely to be incurred by different renovation projects, one element you might want to make sure you take into account is the need to keep your insurer fully informed.

The response may help you decide whether or not you also need the security and reassurance of specialist renovation insurance.

Buy to let landlords rarely have an easy time of it running their business in a difficult private rental sector.

If there is one thing that might help you keep on top of the current themes and issues, it is likely to be a regular update on the latest news.

Bearing that in mind, here is our pick of some of the topics making the headlines.

Social media is putting your home at risk of being burgled

Before you are tempted into using social media to showcase the property you want to let, spare a thought for the valuable secrets you might be disclosing by posting pictures to the world at large.

A story in the Daily Mail newspaper recently warned that pictures of home interiors maybe a giveaway to potential thieves and burglars of the valuable contents of the property. Even a seemingly innocent shot of the front door to the place might reveal the make, model and standard of the lock that is fitted – saving burglars precious time in breaking into and entering your let property.

You know that potential tenants might be looking for somewhere to rent that has access to a back garden. But think about how those carefully shot photos of the garden and the back of the property might also point the way to vulnerable entry points – windows and sliding doors, for instance, which might often be left ajar.

Professional Airbnb sub-letters exposed

Reporting on a BBC Inside Out documentary, a story in Property Reporter on the 28^th of October illustrated how things might go horribly wrong if your sub-letting tenants are acting to all intents and purposes as professional Airbnb hosts.

It relates the case of one landlord who suffered losses of around £10,000 after having told his tenants to stop using his let property as a commercial venture on Airbnb, only to discover that the same activities resumed after a brief pause.

Not only had the tenants breached their tenancy agreement – since the landlord had given no permission for the sub-letting arrangements – the property was also in breach of various local authority licensing requirements and material damage had been caused.

Landlord fined for not licencing HMO

In a separate story appearing in Letting Agent Today on the 28^th of October, it is clear that substantial penalties await those landlords who are in breach of local authority licensing regulations.

For failing to obtain the necessary licence to run a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) from South Holland Council in East Anglia, a landlord was fined £750 by Boston Magistrate’s Court and, together with other costs that were imposed, faced a total penalty of £1,205.

In pursuit of the prosecution, the local council insisted it would apply the law to ensure unlicensed and unsafe landlords were brought to justice.

Crisis looming in supply of rented homes

There is little doubt about the demand for private rented accommodation.

In the results of a survey published by the Residential Landlords’ Association recently, a quarter of all landlords had witnessed an increase in demand; 41% believed there has been no change; and, only 15% detected any fall in demand.

Despite that growing demand, landlords are continuing to sell up. 31% reported plans to sell at least one of their let properties during the coming year and only 13% said they planned to buy.

The widening gap between demand and supply of private rented accommodation heralds a looming crisis warned the RLA.

New opportunities open up, different challenges come along, and the business environment for the buy to let landlord is forever in flux.

So that you keep abreast of those changes, seize any new opportunities and rise to any challenges, it is important to stay tuned to the news. So, here are a few snippets as to what has been going on in the world of buy to let investors recently …

Latest changes to the How to Rent Guide

As a landlord, you probably know that you are required to give (or email) any new tenant a copy of the official How to Rent guide.

But had you considered that the version of the guide you provide to any new tenant must be the current version – and that the versions change on a fairly regular basis (updates were issued as recently as in June and again in July, for example)?

The Residential Landlords’ Association (RLA) issued a warning on the 13^th of August reminding landlords that you must give your tenants a copy of the latest version of the How to Rent guide for the date on which the tenancy started.

If you fail to do so, you are likely to find it difficult if you subsequently try to serve a Section 21 “no-fault” eviction notice to the tenants concerned.

Private rents rise by 1.3%

Landlord Today reports that average rents in the private sector have risen by just 1.3% in the year to the end of July.

This is the third month in a row that the average private sector rents have remained the same. It also means that rental income for landlords is effectively falling, relative to inflation.

Rents may have risen by 1.3% in the past year, but inflation has climbed more steeply over the same period – by 2.1% when measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and 2.8% in terms of the Retail Price Index (RPI).

Section 21 is not responsible for causing homelessness says NLA

The National Landlords’ Association (NLA) robustly challenges any suggestion by government that the use by landlords of so-called Section 21 – or “no-fault” eviction notices – has led to an increase in homelessness.

Research by the NLA instead suggests that the main reason for homelessness is the result of family or friends no longer being prepared to share their home with them.

Where former tenants have become homeless at the end of an assured shorthold private rented tenancy, this has been because of the landlord evoking Section 8 “fault” eviction notices, or the tenants have simply abandoned the let property or have fallen into rent arrears.

What constitutes the perfect home?

Online estate agents Zoopla – in a joint exercise with the Society of Garden Designers – have discovered the somewhat surprising premium which house hunters place on a well-groomed garden.

A pleasant outside space appears to be just as important to those looking for a new home as the latest in designer kitchens or bathrooms – and those looking to buy a property are prepared to pay an average of £15,000 for a home with a garden.

The priority given to that outside space is underlined by the finding that 74% of homeowners have already invested in improving their garden or are planning to do so soon – in the expectation of the investment increasing the capital value of their property.

A landlord’s work is never done. There is always some new development, it seems, that you might need to take into account for the smooth running of your business.

So, if the season of sunnier skies, warm weather and your hard-earned summer holidays might have taken your eye off the ball, here are a few snippets of news you might want to consider.

North-South divide: property prices are narrowing

Is it possible that the historic North-South prosperity divide in the UK is going into reverse?

New research – published in Landlord Today on the 30^th of July – shows that while property prices in cities such as Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Cardiff are surging ahead, those in the traditionally more wealthy South, such as London, Cambridge, and Southampton, are lagging behind.

Although there remains a gap in the value of property in the South compared to the North – and that gap has continued to widen in at least the past couple of years – it might soon be going into reverse. As at June of this year, property prices in the South grew by an annual average of just 0.7% whereas those in the North enjoyed an average growth of 3.6%, as demand pressed against the available supply of housing.

Across the country as a whole, property prices grew by only 1.7% in the past year, with those in the North consistently outpacing those in the South – property prices in Edinburgh, for example, recorded a high of 5.1%, while the majority of those cities showing an increase of less than 1% are all in southern England.

Home insurance claims spike in August

Summer holidays can play havoc with your home insurance.

When children are around indoors for rather longer than the rest of the year and when some of those days are edging towards boredom or frustration, more than the usual number of accidents happen and an increased number of insurance claims are the result, reports Yahoo Finance in the UK.

Home insurance claims jump by as much as a third in the months between June and August – when children who previously spent most of the day at school are then on their holidays.

Illustrating the damage that might be caused during the summer holidays, the study gives the example of television sets broken because toys were thrown at them, sofas and carpets indelibly stained by the “slime” some children love to play with, leather sofas accidentally cut to shreds through careless craftwork, and smartphones dropped down the toilet.

£100,000 fine for Airbnb sub-let

A tenant of Westminster City Council in central London has been fined £100,000 for sub-letting his flat to Airbnb guests, reported the Independent newspaper on the 30^th of July 2019.

Following on from this news, another local authority is to investigate whether its tenants are abusing the opportunities presented by Airbnb and other short-let internet platforms to make illegal income from subletting their accommodation – offences which may be likely to invalidate any Airbnb insurance, landlord or home insurance which might have been arranged.

Letting Agent Today on the 30^th of July reported that Belfast City Council has launched the investigation following a 40% increase in lettings in Northern Ireland inspired by these online platforms and in response to concerns about the impact on the housing stock in the Province.

Landlord fined £14,500 for unlicensed HMO

Wychavon District Council in Worcestershire has handed down fines totalling £14,500 to the landlord of an HMO who was illegally letting the premises without the necessary licence, reported Landlord Today on the 29^th of July.

Not only was the HMO unlicensed, but the landlord had also allowed it to become overcrowded – as the home to eleven individuals – the fire alarms barely worked, there were no fire doors, the kitchen had no oven and the general layout of the property was poor.