SOLD £100k for £535PCM - freehold house

I'm expecting this to become available in the next few days - a freehold 2 bed house in good internal order for £100,000. It will rent for £535.00 and as such represents a very good investment for someone.

It's on the Costa del Bellinge, and whilst you may choose not to holiday there(!), you'll be fine when it comes to quickly finding a tenant who will. It's actually a really nice little house as the pictures should show.

You can see example return on investment figures here (assuming you're buying with a 75% mortgage).

You can see full sales particulars here. 

Email me about this if interested richard.baker@belvoirlettings.com and I'll arrange a viewing. It may get formally advertised, but I rather suspect it will sell prior.

SOLD Two bed freehold house £105k - be quick!

This has just popped up - sale has fallen through and is available straight away at £105,000 - in the current market it is a straightforward buy and should rent for £550 PCM although I'm sure the agent will tell you more! It's going to sell very quickly if it hasn't done already, please contact me immediately for further details richard.baker@belvoirlettings.com.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42394966.html

Tenancy Deposits : Why Landlords Can't Win

An unfortunate tale here, but one in which all landlords should be interested. It shows the challenges we (landlords and their agents) face on a daily basis, and also demonstrates why some 'accidental' landlords become so fed up with the whole process so quickly. With my lettings agent hat on, this is the sort of thing we often get a lot of criticism for, when in reality it's completely outside our control.

At the end of the tenancy, there's often a dispute between landlord and tenant regarding the allocation of the deposit. We encourage both parties to negotatiate and ultimately encourage landlords to settle - for reasons that are clearly visible below. Since 2007 all deposits have to be registered (by law) and if landlord and tenant can't agree at the end there's an 'independent' adjudication process. Here's what happened recently to one of our landlords - I've tried to be as objective as I can.

• The tenant had taken on a modern 3 bed property in very good order. It was decorated magnolia throughout.
  
• During the course of the 18 month tenancy, he had painted the whole place white, despite there being a crystal clear clause in the tenancy agreement prohibiting this. There was no need to redecorate - just personal choice.
  
• The paint job was patchy in places (more coats required). And he had splashed emulsion on the woodwork in every room.
• There was a tenancy deposit of about £800. The landlord sought the whole deposit on the basis that 1) they'd breached the tenancy agreement and 2) they'd made a right mess in the process.
• The tenant disputed the landlord's entitlement to any of the deposit.
• The adjudicator gave just £150 to the landlord, leaving him to foot the rest of the bill himself. 
• The full adjudication (with personal details removed) is viewable here.

From the landlords perspective, this is an absolute nonsense - the property has been fundamentally damaged by the tenant, but the award against the tenant is only £150.00. For the record, the tenant didn't pay the rent either and whilst this was eventually recovered through the courts, the costs of the proceedings were practically the same as the amount awarded. Whilst it's quite right that a landlord shouldn't be able to run off with a tenant's deposit, we now appear have turned full circle and ended up in a situation where a tenant can do pretty much what he wants and get away with it! Organisations such as Shelter who argue tenants need more protection really should be treated with a degree of skepticism!

Market Update : Is it upwards from here?

I took a call from a landlord this morning who wanted to take both his properties off the market for sale. Not the best way to start the day from my perspective(!) but interesting that he thought the property market was on the up, so it was in his best interests to hang on. 

It certainly is on the up - bolstered by government intervention, low interest rates, and an increased willingness on the part of banks to lend. Confidence has returned, and whilst many are jumping at the opportunity to sell, many more are queued up to buy. Whether it's a short term blip, or the start of the next price drive, only time will tell. 

What should give us all more confidence are the comments of the chancellor, (see http://bit.ly/1g2TFdE) who's basically conceded that in 10 years time there will still be a massive housing shortage in the UK. At a simple supply and demand level this is good news for investors surely - it would be hard for something that's in short supply to depreciate in value over a prolonged period of time? Savills seem to agree, and are forecasting growth of about 30% in our region over the next 5 years (http://bit.ly/1aufFzO). It's a changed market from 12 months ago when prices were steady, and purchasers had time to make up their mind about what they were buying - anything half decent gets bid above asking price within 48 hours currently.