Monday weekly tax tips. Number 2

Very simple:  You can offset your Letting Agents Fees against your rental income.  Make sure you do!

Leigh on sea - £99,995K - 8.84% yield!! (yes, you have read this correctly...........)

Good afternoon everybody. On my morning check of the market, the following property    not only caught my eye, but made me look again to make sure the price was right!

 It’s a snip!!!!!!!!!!

It’s a one bed detached bungalow in the Rayleigh road in Leigh on sea and the asking price with is £99,995K its on the market with think property in Leigh on sea and As ever, these properties are in constant demand and will let out all day long for circa £725 per month. What’s more impressive,is that it’s been refurbished to a good standard, which again will make it very attractive for the rental market. Therefore, it's good to go from day one!

Now here comes the interesting part….. if we were to calculate the yield based upon a conservative £725 per month, the yield is over 8%, yes 8%! At £725 per month, we now get 8.84% which is a really serious yield!

Check this one out further at 

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/34975693?

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat re the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 477754  or call in and see me at 91 Broadway west in Leigh.

Monday's Weekly Tax Tips. Number 1.

Welcome to our new weekly Monday Tax Tips!

Number 1:  The wear and tear allowance

This is an allowance that HMRC offers landlords who have fully furnished properties to make it simpler to work out the cost of wear and tear in furnished properties.

Note: the word furnished is the key as it doesn't apply to part-furnished or un-furnished properties.

Under the wear and tear allowance you can offset 10% of the annual rental income against your property investment income tax.

It sounds great!  And simple! But there are a number of factors to take into account - including the cost of the furniture and how often you may need to replace it.

Letting Agents Leigh on sea are not qualified to give you tax advise so PLEASE seek qualified accountant to discuss the pro's and con's as there are always two sides to the coin. It's well worth asking about this one!

Leigh - 6% yield

Afternoon all, on this bright and sunny morning here in Leigh on sea! A bit of a chill in the air, but should warm up nicely!

Today, we are back into Leigh for today’s hot investment tip and this morning I have found a good property in an area that does not come onto the market that often.

It's been put on the market by Aspire Estate Agency in Rayleigh, and is being offered for a figure of just under £155K. I suspect that it's also quite likely that there is an offer to be made, so the purchasing price could drop a few more thousand.

From the agents photos, it looks in good condition and should be OK to rent upon completion.

As previously mentioned in other blogs, these two bed properties, in leigh, are in good demand and will rent out for circa £800 per month, all day long, with good quality tenants.

The above being the case, calculated on the above figures, this property should give you a yield of circa 6%, which again is above the benchmark 5%.

See further details at 

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36278068?s

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat re the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 477754 or call in and see me at 91 Broadway west in Leigh on sea.

October date for mandatory smoke alarms

The government has confirmed that letting agents and landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties from October. 

The move will help prevent up to 36 deaths and 1,375 injuries a year and, according to the government, comes with strong support after a consultation across the private rented sector.

England’s 46 fire and rescue authorities are expected to offer support to agents and landlords in their own areas to meet their new responsibilities with the provision of free alarms, with grant funding from government.

In 1988 just eight per cent of homes had a smoke alarm installed but now, even before the mandatory private rental sector measure, it is over 90 per cent according to government.

“The vast majority of landlords offer a good service and have installed smoke alarms in their homes, but I’m changing the law to ensure every tenant can be given this important protection” says housing minister Brandon Lewis.

Official data shows that people are at least four times more likely to die in a fire in the home if there’s no working smoke alarm

If you would like some advice about buying to let, be you a landlord with a portfolio or someone thinking of investing in the rental market for the first (second or third...) time, please pop in and see me at our office in Broadway west in Leigh or call me for a chat 01702 477754

Is there a buy-to-let bubble brewing in leigh?

In property you can’t escape the word ‘bubble’. It’s been commandeered as the word to describe any situation in the industry that’s about to blow up and tip people over the edge. So far, however, it’s largely been reserved for residential sales.

But for all our focus on unsustainable house prices, the plight of first-time buyers, Help to Buy and the unstoppable influx of oversees purchasers, we may have taken our eye off what’s brewing in buy-to-let.

Let’s look at the evidence. Supply and demand in the residential sector has yet to be addressed and the number of new homes being built – purported to be the key to affordability – has not increased to a point where everyone is able to move to homeowner status. This has a knock-on effect on rental demand, which is so strong that Connells Group says it intends to open no fewer than 75 lettings branches in 2015, coming off the back of 68 new lettings offices in 2014.

Then there’s buy-to-let finance. It seems not a day goes past when a new, better buy-to-let product is launched and the criteria borrowers have to meet is relaxing. Paragon Mortgages and the Council of Mortgage Lenders both reported significant uplift in buy-to-let lending in 2014, while Barclays has introduced a new approach to investor lending that permits personal income to be accepted when accessing affordability. There’s also a shift towards lending to older borrowers with longer term loan periods as well.

That brings me on to the pension changes planned for April 2015. Some 32% of people aged 45 to 64 with a private pension are considering using some or all of their pension pot to fund a buy-to-let, according to research by Direct Line for Business (DL4B). It’s predicted an influx of ‘silver’ investors could flood the market during 2015 and the effect this may have is unknown.

Throw into the mix rents, which, according to Mortgages for Business, rose across the whole of the UK by 1.7% during 2014; the threat of a mansion tax by some political parties ahead of the general election, (which is driving some high-end buyer towards premium rental properties), and the promise from the Conservative party that, if re-elected, it may impose new controls over the buy-to-let market should there be a risk to financial stability, and you may just have enough ingredients to cook up a lettings bubble.

Some of the indicators above are contradictory; many have been witnessed before while others may move the rental market into unchartered waters. The next few months will be nothing short of interesting but just how long will it be before newspaper front pages report the rental bubble is about to burst?

If you would like some advice about buying to let, be you a landlord with a portfolio or someone thinking of investing in the rental market for the first (second or third...) time, please pop in and see me at our office in Broadway west in Leigh or call me for a chat 01702 477754
 

Great Investment Opportunity in Leigh

I've spotted this 1 bed apartment come to the market on Cranleigh Drive, which is just off London Road, the only thing I would recommend is done to it, is replace the carpets with a nice neutral flooring, this will make it appeal to a much wider market.

Properties in this area have been renting for £695 for a 1 bed apartment, which when you do the calculations against the asking price of £135,00, could look to generate you a gross yield of 6.1%. 

This area is popular for tenants due to the location, not being too far from the city centre and they tend to offer decent sized accommodation. 

We are finding at the moment that there is not much property coming to the market, so when anything new comes on, it is going pretty quickly, it's not just me saying it, the results speak for themselves!

If I were you and I liked this property, I would get down to the selling agent today, Heres the Zoopla link for you 

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/33698315?

If you would like any advice on investing in property, in Leigh, feel free to come into our office on Broadway west