NOW SOLD 6-7% yield - Good Area - Safe Bet - £85k purchase

Things keep popping up at the moment. This offers a decent yield, but is in a good area - you're not having to go into the poorer areas of town on this occasion. 

• It's a compact 'starter home' - small, but for type of thing for which there is always good rental demand.
• It seems to be in good order too - it's likely that the required spend to get it tenanted will be minimal.
• Just advertised with an agent at £85k - this isn't bad money, but clearly you'll be trying to get that down a little bit.
• Expect it to tenant for a minimum of £425PCM - in the current market I'd actually expect you to achieve £450PCM, but always do your figures on the worst case scenario. 
• This is a good bet for a long term rental property - it isn't one to 'flip' and make money out of. You're spending under £100k, AND getting a decent yield, AND getting a decent area.
• richard.baker@belvoirlettings.com if this interests you.

NOW SOLD. CANNY INVESTOR - £85k purchase.

• This is a repossessed property - not yet marketed, but about to hit the market at £89,995.
• Needs work, decent area, good bet for a long term rental. Fairly low risk.
• I'd buy this myself - can't say fairer than that! I'm not buying because I have other property transactions going on currently!
• 2 Bed House, FREEHOLD, Watermeadow Drive, NN3.
• Try to purchase for £85k quickly before it gets 'bid up'.
• Spend of £12k probably required. You may get away with less if you want to cut corners, but if it were me I'd just do the lot and be reassured that I won't have to spend anything else apart from minor repairs for the next decade.
• Property would sell in the current market for at least £105k - I'm happy that this is a realistic valuation - once all works done. 
• Hence you may be able to buy for £85k and re-mortgage at £105 in 6m - speak to your mortgage advisor.
• Will rent for £550PCM, so with an all in price of £97k, gives just short of 7% yield - about the best you'll get for a relatively low risk property.

NOW SOLD Yield @ 8.7% - 55k investment

This is a 1 bed flat on the outskirts of Northampton. What it lacks in looks, it makes up in terms of yield!


It will rent at £400PCM to a tenant in receipt of housing benefit.


Available to purchase at around £50k, it needs money spending on it. Let's assume you buy at £47.5k and spend £7.5k on the place - that's £55k in total, and an 8.7% yield.


My understanding is that this flat is mortgageable. As such whilst buying 'cash' will clearly help you tie up a deal, it's not 100% essential.


richard.baker@belvoirlettings.com for further information!

Important Legislation Changes - Water Bills

From 1st October 2011 landlords must give water companies their tenant’s contact details, as a result of changes made by the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. 
This is to prevent tenants leaving properties without providing water companies with appropriate forwarding addresses and leaving unpaid bills. Should the landlord fail to comply with this provision, he will become jointly and severally liable for the invoices for water usage at the rented property. 
These changes place a significant new obligation on landlords. They also give the water companies a substantial advantage over other utility providers who do not have the benefit of this kind of statutory protection. 

What is Belvoir doing regarding this issue?

• The actual impact of this at a local level should be quite small. At both Northampton and Rugby we have requested a forwarding address from tenants for some years, and in over 90% of cases they comply. As such if your tenant hasn't paid the water bill, we can advise the provider of a forwarding address, and you as landlord won't become liable.
• Going forward we have changed our tenancy agreement making it a contractual requirement for a tenant to provide a forwarding address. This will be linked to the return of their deposit, and is the solution suggested by ARLA and other professional bodies, so will be adopted by most agents. How it will stand up legally remains to be seen - there are strict rules regarding the time scales in which a tenants deposit must be returned, and whether the courts will allow landlords / agent to insert clauses that effectively amend those rules will be an interesting one to follow.
• This leaves a minority of tenants who already have a tenancy agreement that does not contain a clause insisting on a forwarding address. We will be contacting these individually and requesting a mutually agreed variance to their terms whereby they are obliged to supply a forwarding address when they leave. As this is a fairly minor point, we expect the vast majority of tenants to agree to this without any problem. If we do get a couple of 'tricky customers' we will contact their landlords directly to ascertain how they wish us to proceed.

I'm more than happy to answer any queries landlords may have about this issue - please email richard.baker@belvoirlettings.com as required.