Property Blog [ Page 4 ]

Cashback Credit Cards- A Great Way To Spend

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 06 Jan 2009, and filed in the Personal Finances section

Has anyone got a cashback credit card? If so, which one, and what kind of deal do you have?
I’m not entirely sure how popular cashback cards are, or how long they have been knocking around for, but I’ve only recently discovered the fruit. They seem like a neat idea to me.
What is a cashback credit [...]

House Price Crash Idiot Attacks Again

25 Comments Comments / Article written on 30 Dec 2008, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

Low and behold, another House Price Crash idiot tries to please the mob on the forums by tossing a banana into the circle.
This particular idiot put together an inaccurately sculptured story of my landlord life. It seemed to have gone down a threat; the crowd blissfully cheered. I guess when a monkey farts the [...]

Which Council Tax Band Is My House In?

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 26 Dec 2008, and filed in the Tax And Property section

I got an email earlier from someone asking me what Council Tax Band their property is in. I imagine a lot of people have no idea what council tax band they’re in. I bet there’s even a few lost souls out there that didn’t even know there were different bands.
Why should I care which council [...]

I Hate My Fucking Landlord

22 Comments Comments / Article written on 22 Dec 2008, and filed in the Tenant Advice section

Do you hate your landlord? One of my readers’ certainly does. This was a rather amusing email I received from a chap called Clive, in response to my Things I Hate About Being A Landlord post.

what a pile of shit. i hat emy fucking landlord. Landlords have it easy compared to tenants. fuck you and [...]

Northern Rock Seem Desperate To Get Me To Remortgage

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 17 Dec 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Ever since Northern Rock butt-fucked their entire company, resulting in them being nationalised, they have been sending me letters every month advising me to remortgage. As already mentioned in numerous articles, they want to recover as much money as possible, hence the need to sell their debt.
I started getting the letters approximately 4 months before [...]

Switching To A Repayment Mortgage From Interest-Only While Debt is Cheap

1 Comment Comments / Article written on 15 Dec 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

A few days ago I wrote an article on why I think Making Mortgage Overpayments While Debt Is Cheap is a sound idea.
A few moments after publishing the article I remembered that switching to a repayment mortgage (for those on interest-only plans) may also be a good option. At the time I was too lazy [...]

Making Overpayments While Debt Is Cheap

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 11 Dec 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

For the last few years I’ve been repaying my mortgage while borrowing has been uncomfortably expensive. I imagine it’s been the same for most people. However, now that interest rates have come tumbling down, like your Nan’s breasts on her 60th Birthday, debt is starting to get a little bit cheaper.
Example
The interest rate on my [...]

Which Lenders Are Passing On The 1% Interest Rate Cut?

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 05 Dec 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

There’s a lot of speculation; a lot of anxious people, and I imagine many frustrated people scratching their heads wondering if they’re going to benefit from the 1% interest rate cut announced yesterday.
I’m eagerly, with an aggressive swagger, scraping through the web trying to dig out as much information as possible. Currently, my Birmigham Midshire [...]

Landlord Changes Locks To keep Scumbag Tenants Out

13 Comments Comments / Article written on 04 Dec 2008, and filed in the Landlord Legal Obligations/Issues section

One of the most active and interesting articles (in my opinion) on this website is the I’m evicting my tenants post. The post is basically about me throwing my toys out of the pram and having a gutless whinge about my tenant, and how I want to evict her stupid ass. For the record, if [...]

My Tenant Is Starting To Get On My Tits

5 Comments Comments / Article written on 01 Dec 2008, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

I’m secretly getting increasingly frustrated and angered towards a longtime tenant of mine. I’m a whisker away from carrying the burden of hating her. Then again, “hate” is pretty extreme, and I don’t need the extra emotional baggage; perhaps I just want her to experience the wrath of Karma so she only gets what she [...]

Always Get Quotes- Otherwise The Skidmark Of Humanity Will Fuck You

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 26 Nov 2008, and filed in the Landlord Money & Saving Costs section

My heart always beats a little quicker when a tenant calls because silence is only broken when there’s a plate of shit to be served. I’m still waiting for the day when one of them calls impatiently to inform me that they fancy paying 3 months rent up front. In the mean time, i’ll keep [...]

Northern Rock Lowered Thier Standard Variable Rate (SVR), Which Saved Me A Small Fortune

24 Comments Comments / Article written on 23 Nov 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Oh man, the huge 1.5% base rate In November has been a blessing, very much like the existence of Sarah Beeny’s breasts. I’ve recently been discussing the impact of the 1.5% cut has had on my Birmingham Midshire mortgage, but I’ve yet to mention anything about my Northern Rock Mortgage. So, here goes…
When Northern Rock [...]

Birmingham Midshire Are 2 Months Behind Passing On Interest Rate Cuts

29 Comments Comments / Article written on 19 Nov 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

The other day I was pleading to my readers, asking the question, Are Birmingham Midshire Cutting Their Rates? This question was instigated after the massive 1.5% baserate cut was announced by the Bank of England earlier this month.
Thanks to a reader I was informed that they actually were going to pass on the entire 1.5% [...]

Kirsty Allsopp & Phil Spencer Give Property Buying Tips On The Chris Moyles Show

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 18 Nov 2008, and filed in the Buying Property Tips section

I’m a big fan of the Chris Moyles breakfast show on Radio 1- the light banter goes down a treat while driving to work. Unlike some, I get Chris’s humour (most of the time). From what I’m aware of, Chris Moyles is a bit like Marmite; you either love him, or absolutely hate him.
On Monday [...]

Being A Landlord Limits Your Lifestyle Options

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 14 Nov 2008, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

The other day I was having one of those, “I wish I could escape to a tropical haven, kick back and drown in the breasts of exotic women” kind of mood. I don’t really want to reflect and have a Ricky Lake moment because unfortunately, the source of me wanting to escape actually reads my [...]

Are Birmingham Midshire Cutting Their Rates?

6 Comments Comments / Article written on 10 Nov 2008, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Since the huge 1.5% drop in the base rate last week I’ve been getting a lot of traffic about Birmingham Midshire- to be specific, whether they’re going to pass on the cut to their variable rate borrowers. I honestly have no idea, but it’s a question I’d love to know the answer to. I have [...]

My Landlord Wants To Sell The Property I’m Renting

1 Comment Comments / Article written on 05 Nov 2008, and filed in the Tenant Advice section

Are you in a situation where you need to get the fuck out of your home because your landlord wants to sell up while you’re still in the middle of a tenancy agreement? Yeah, it happens.
I imagine it can be extremely frustrating for any tenant put into that situation. There are two ways the tenant [...]

How Estate Agents Can Save Money

1 Comment Comments / Article written on 31 Oct 2008, and filed in the I Dislike Estate Agents section

Just to put the record straight, I don’t think all estate agents are total worthless scumbags, I just think a vast majority of them are smiley snakes. To be honest, I don’t even think agents themselves can dispute that. Hell, I can even admit that the majority of landlords are fucking morons that have extremely [...]

Do You Feel Sorry For Estate Agents?

8 Comments Comments / Article written on 20 Oct 2008, and filed in the Property Comic Sketches section

I’m Bored Of Doom & Gloomers Chatting Shit To Me

40 Comments Comments / Article written on 14 Oct 2008, and filed in the I Get Hate Mail For Being A Landlord section

Since the property market started sagging like your Nan’s tits I’ve had an influx of smug shit-for-brains emailing me and leaving me comments about the unfortunate situation I must be in. While I appreciate everyones concern (as facetious as the concerns are), it’s genuinely starting to affect my work rate, which is not cool. I [...]

Section 8 Form- Evicting Tenants

29 Comments Comments / Article written on 12 Oct 2008, and filed in the Free Landlord Forms section

What is a section 8?
A section 8 is used to terminate an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement during the fixed term because a tenant has breached the tenancy agreement (e.g fallen into rent arrears).
In order for the section 8 to be valid, the landlord must rely on certain grounds set out in Schedule 2 to [...]

8 Ways A Landlord Can Save Money

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 06 Oct 2008, and filed in the Landlord Money & Saving Costs section

In this current financial climate everyone is feeling the warn urine falling from above, tainting our lives; every penny is actually starting to make a difference. Perhaps if we all actually assumed that every penny counted in the first place, instead of thinking it was just a figure of speech, we wouldn’t be in this [...]

How To Spot A Good Landlord

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 01 Oct 2008, and filed in the Tenant Advice section

A lot of my friends rent. In fact, the majority of them rent, so I’m always getting the inside scoop on how other Landlords operate. It’s always a fascinating topic for me; I never get tired of hearing about the dodgy dealings of an overweight pimple-faced greasy Landlord that cuts corners to save a few [...]

I’m Becoming Too Friendly With My Tenants- Good Or Bad Idea?

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 29 Sep 2008, and filed in the Good & Bad Landlord Practices section

Guilty! Unfortunately, I don’t mean sexually, I mean strictly platonically. Yes, a plain, old, boring platonic relationship with my tenants. Fingers crossed, one day I’ll be telling the tale of a sexual nature.
For those of you who keep up with my blog, you’ll know that I’ve recently had new tenants move into one of my [...]

Transferring Utility Services When New Tenants Move In

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 25 Sep 2008, and filed in the Good & Bad Landlord Practices section

Some times a landlord is so keen just to get tenants in they often neglect the responsibilities that come with being a landlord once a tenant has moved in. I wish being a landlord was as easy as, “Old tenants out, new tenants in”. It’s a trap I see a lot of landlords fall into, [...]

Rent Arrear Reminder Form

5 Comments Comments / Article written on 20 Sep 2008, and filed in the Free Landlord Forms section

errr….
Has your dumbass tenant fallen behind on payments?
Unfortunately, I have one particular tenant that does it all the time. Granted, it’s usually only by a week or so, but still, it’s frustrating. I feel like screaming at her:

What’s the f’ing point of consistantly paying 1 week late? Surely it would make my life easier if [...]

Start Your Own Property Blog

6 Comments Comments / Article written on 18 Sep 2008, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

I’ve been blogging for nearly 2 years now and uptil now I haven’t actually covered the topic of blogging. Hmm..odd. I wonder what held me back? And the only reason I’m covering the issue now is because I’ve recently been receiving a lot of emails from people asking me how they can set up their [...]

The Difference Between DSS Tenants on Housing Benefit (HB) And DSS Tenants On Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

57 Comments Comments / Article written on 16 Sep 2008, and filed in the DSS Tenants section

What’s the difference between Housing Benefit (HB) and Local Housing Allowance (LHA)?
Basically, a tenant receiving financial aid from the council is either on Housing Benefits (HB) or Local Housing Allowance (LHA). The difference can be somewhat crucial for a landlord.
Local Housing Allowance (LHA)
LHA was introduced in April, 2007. It’s is a new way of calculating [...]

The Positives Of DSS Tenants

23 Comments Comments / Article written on 16 Sep 2008, and filed in the DSS Tenants section

I know I’ve been a pretentious little shitbag about DSS tenants lately, but I swear, I’m also very well aware of the blooming fruit DSS tenants can bring to the yard. Yeah, sure, the Government has stratgeically put together a shitty little paper mache structure that topples over at every passing breeze. And sure, DSS [...]

Finding Tenants Without A Letting Agent- Mission Accomplished (Part 5)

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 11 Sep 2008, and filed in the Marketing & Finding Tenants section

Judging from the title of this blog entry, you can probably guess that I’ve managed to complete my objective of obtaining tenants, without the help of a Letting agent.
What does this ultimately mean? It means that you don’t need to waste 10-17% of your yearly rental income on a letting agent, when you’re more than [...]

Tips For Taking On DSS Tenants

49 Comments Comments / Article written on 08 Sep 2008, and filed in the DSS Tenants section

In the past I’ve made it completely transparent that I don’t like taking on DSS tenants. Obviously i’m not the only one either, because the amount of “DSS NOT ACCEPTED” disclaimers seem to be increasing by the day. And with landlords being spoiled for choice with the huge demand for rental properties, DSS tenants will [...]

HELP, I Can’t Get A Guarantor

24 Comments Comments / Article written on 04 Sep 2008, and filed in the Tenant Advice section

On various occasions I’ve had prospective tenants ask me what they should do if they’re unable to get a rental guarantor. Personally, as a Landlord, I would feel extremely uncomfortable about giving tenancy to someone that can’t get a guarantor. Why? Because if someone can’t get a guarantor it’s natural for me to think:

Why doesn’t [...]

Financial Costs Of Being A Landlord

7 Comments Comments / Article written on 01 Sep 2008, and filed in the Landlord Money & Saving Costs section

The other day I was mumbling about how the costs of being a Landlord is slowly escalating, as new shitty little schemes are slowly being introduced. The latest scam being the Energy Efficient Certificate, a mandatory document that a landlord must show their new and prospective tenants. That added another £100 onto the tally. For [...]

Section 21 – Notice of Possession Order Form

138 Comments Comments / Article written on 27 Aug 2008, and filed in the Free Landlord Forms section

Under the Housing Act 1988, a landlord who has granted an assured shorthold tenancy has a legal right to get his/her property back at the end of the tenancy. For this to happen, the landlord is required to follow the correct legal procedure which includes service of a notice (under section 21 of the Housing [...]

How To Advertise Your Buy-To-Let On Rightmove

11 Comments Comments / Article written on 22 Aug 2008, and filed in the Marketing & Finding Tenants section

A Landlord friend of mine asked me whether he could advertise a buy-to-let property on Rightmove, even though he’s a private landlord. Most people know that Rightmove only deals with Estate agents and Letting agents. While that is true, there is still a way for a private landlord to advertise on Rightmove for an extremely [...]

Most Expensive House In The World 2008

43 Comments Comments / Article written on 20 Aug 2008, and filed in the Architecture/Design section

One of the most popular articles on this website is actually Most Expensive House In The World, which briefly discusses 2 properties in London that were purchased for a staggering £70m, which set new world records. Unfortunately, that’s yesterday’s news; it’s now staler than the ciabatta I’m having for lunch.
So what’s the latest? Well, [...]

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

7 Comments Comments / Article written on 18 Aug 2008, and filed in the Landlord Legal Obligations/Issues section

Oh great, being a landlord just got even more expensive. Apparently the tenancy deposit scheme wasn’t draining enough money out of landlords, so now they’ve decided to throw in another mandatory pile of shit- an Energy performance certificate.
From the 1st of October 2008, Landlords must provide an Energy Performance Certificate to all new and prospective [...]

Calculating Which Property Is The Wiser Investment

4 Comments Comments / Article written on 15 Aug 2008, and filed in the Selling Property Tips section

As a landlord, or a wanna-be landlord, have you ever been torn between multiple properties? A landlord’s main concern should be buying the property which will get the best return. Because let’s face it, it’s all about the money!
Example scenerio
John wants to be a landlord, so he’s on the hunt to buy a property. John [...]

Interview With The Hippy (HIP Consultant)

4 Comments Comments / Article written on 13 Aug 2008, and filed in the Home Information Packs (HIP) section

It’s been a while since I’ve touched the whole Home Information Pack (HIP) saga. In fact, what’s the deal with those again? From what I remember, it’s just a ridiculous ploy for the rich to get richer, and the poor to get poorer by dishing out more money on the already expensive process of buying/selling [...]

Finding Tenants Without A Letting Agent- Just Received The Worst Tenant Application EVER (Part 4)

6 Comments Comments / Article written on 07 Aug 2008, and filed in the Marketing & Finding Tenants section

The other day I think I received, what I believe to be, the worst application to be a tenant, EVER. The process of finding a tenant is a very much two way thing. It’s not always the tenants that do the denying, it’s also quite common for Landlords to refuse applicants. And that’s exactly what [...]