Rents ‘to rise by 15%’
A new report has forecast that rents will rise by between 10% and 15% in both 2008 and 2009.
The report for the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) is Part 1 of The Modern UK Housing Market — Origins and Prospects by Professor Michael Ball, Professor of Urban and Property Economics at Reading University.
It also reveals that the private rented sector is now worth more than £500 billion and is helping to stabilise housing because it accommodates those who, by this stage of the housing cycle, would otherwise be over-stretched borrowers with rising negative equity.
Ian Potter, ARLA’s Head of Operations, said: “It was as a result of the appalling effects on young owner occupiers last time that ARLA took the initiative and launched buy-to-let to rebuild and refinance the private rented sector and to mitigate the dreadful social consequences of housing boom and bust. It has proved remarkably successful.”
Get a little extra
To ensure that landlords can access the services they need beyond simple lending, Mortgage Express has teamed up with leading suppliers to provide solutions to some letting challenges at preferential rates.
Following enquiries from B2L readers, for example, we launched our Tax Advisory Service in conjunction with Irwin Mitchell to help landlords plan their tax affairs effectively. Inheritance Tax planning is also an important issue for landlords with thousands or even millions of pounds tied up in property. That’s why we provide a Will Writing Service, also with Irwin Mitchell.
And, of course, everything from property sales to conveyancing, surveys, management, maintenance and furnishing are essential. Our Landlord Services can help with all these things.
For more information about these services,
call 0870 024 0542* for the Tax Advisory Service
or 0870 902 5312* for the Will Writing Service,
or email Irwin Mitchell
* Calls to 0870 numbers provided by BT will be charged at 6 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up fee of 6 pence per call applies to calls
Working together
THE GOVERNmeNT HAS been focusing too much on home ownership and not enough on driving up the number and standard of homes to rent, according to new research for the Centre for Cities.
The independent urban policy unit says that, with long waiting lists for social housing and buying a property out of reach for most young people, the number seeking to rent is predicted to swell to more than three million by 2012. The Centre says that cities need to work more closely with developers, landlords and tenants.
In good company
Sometimes it makes sense for a landlord to set up a limited company to make the most of tax benefits, but this involves some specific requirements when applying for lending.
Mortgage Express has now simplified the process for lending to such landlords. For example, until recently we only provided funding to such companies for purchases in England and Wales. We have now extended this to include Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We are also accepting cross-border transactions in the UK for the first time so an English limited company can buy properties in, say, Scotland.
Previously, both the company and Mortgage Express had to appoint separate solicitors. Now the landlord can choose to let our solicitor represent both parties.
The situation in Northern Ireland is slightly different.
Another top author in B2L
One oF the country’s leading property authors has contributed to this issue of B2L. Liz Hodgkinson, who is a panellist on the TV series Ask the Property Experts, has just published The Complete Guide to Investing in Property.
She is also the author of The Complete Guide to Letting Property, The Complete Guide to to Buying Property Abroad and The Complete Guide to Renovating and Improving Your Property and writes for The Times.
Her contribution to B2L follows that of other experts, including former Bond actress Fiona Fullerton, author of Fiona Fullerton’s Guide to Buy-to-Let, who writes a regular column in the Mail on Sunday, and David Lawrenson, who wrote Successful Property letting.
