Good value Southampton 2 bed close to the river Itchen yielding in excess of 6.6% - tempting!!

This large(750sq.ft.) two bedroom ground floor purpose built apartment located in a development adjacent to the River Itchen has just come on the market at an attractive £140k. The property benefits from a large lounge, seperate kitchen and ensuite. Bedroom two is also a good size and the property has allocated parking. The property is conveniently located for access into Southampton City Centre over the Northam Bridge and is only half a mile to Bitterne train station. Rent wise she will easily let at £775pcm which will give a gross yield of 6.6%. She looks in good condition and requires little to be spent. A nice unit to add to a portfolio or to start your buy to let journey!

Interesting two bed unit close to Southampton Train Station yielding 8.1%

This 2 bed unit is a reasonable size of 620 sq ft. It is well located in Shirley and only have a mile from Southampton mainline station. It is up for auction in about 2 weeks time with a guide price of £90k, plan on spending £10k and it should rent for £675pcm, yielding 8.1% gross, a nice yielding investment.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/34164111?search_identifier=4604cd4c93347d5e64c8c2d26ea60844

What Makes a Good Buy to Let in Southampton?

What has the Help to Buy scheme done to the Southampton property market?

The Conservative’s and Liberal Democrats launched Help to Buy last year to give a boost to the housing market. The Help to Buy scheme involves the Government guaranteeing up to 15 per cent of a mortgage - acting as an indemnity for the banks and building societies who sign up. This means lenders can provide mortgages more confidently to borrowers with a 5 per cent deposit. It will apply to all types of properties, first-time buyers, home movers and re-mortgagers.

Quite interestingly, first timer buyers have had access to 95% mortgages since 2010 so I am not sure what it will do to the market, except highlight that property can be bought with a 5% deposit. Scheme or no scheme, Southampton continues to have a buoyant property market. Prices are rising, but not at the double digit level that was experienced in the early to mid 2000’s. If the scheme enables those who want to buy, to buy, then that can only be good for everyone in the town.

Over the last 2 or 3 years, it has mostly been landlords that have been buying property in Southampton to let out. Carrying out a quick search on one of the price comparison websites, I was able to find in seconds that landlords can get fixed rate buy to let mortgages from as low as 2.99% until the end of 2016. With rental yields in Southampton of around 5.4% per year (although they can reach up to 8% per year depending upon the type of property)  and the values increasing by 6.3% in Southampton the current overall yearly average return is the region of 11.7% per year.

However, buying a buy to let property is full of pitfalls. If you have a good tenant, in a good property and a good relationship between tenant and agent, then not much can go wrong, as long as the relationship between the landlord and agent is exceptional. I pride myself on exceptional relationships with my landlords and their continued business speaks for itself.

HMRC goes after Landlords for undeclared tax

HMRC turns up heat on landlords

The taxman will send 40,000 letters to landlords it suspects are not paying enough tax this year

Hundreds of thousands of landlords fail to file tax returns, it is estimated Photo: Getty Images

By Kyle Caldwell

8:20AM BST 03 Aug 2014

The tax office has stepped up its scrutiny of landlords, sending letters to thousands of buy-to-let investors it suspects of bending the rules in order to pay less tax.

The letters, which will be sent to 40,000 landlords over the next four months, ask the recipient to make contact to arrange their affairs – or run the risk of a large fine or a criminal investigation.

An estimated 5,000 landlords have been sent the letters, which provide a 30-day window to respond before action is taken.

While HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has targeted property owners for three years, accountants said the past year had seen its approach toughened. It is understood that additional manpower has been deployed to hunt down the £500m underpaid each year. Tens of thousands of landlords are believed to be paying little or no tax on rental income and capital gains made on second properties.

Last October the taxman began a campaign to encourage landlords to come clean. As well as those with undeclared rental earnings, HMRC is also targeting landlords who have filed inaccurate tax returns.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10999633/HMRC-turns-up-heat-on-landlords.html

Will Southampton property prices increase by 30% by 2019?

"30% house price hike by 2019" claim

Just as most commentators are warning of a possible slowdown in house price growth, so respected consultancy CBRE says it is revising its 2014 forecast upwards.

It says by the end of the year average prices across the UK will be 12 per cent higher than in the new year, although it too believes the rate of growth will slow towards Christmas.

More positively, it says the market will remain strong over the next five years, underpinned by an improving economy and an underlying lack of supply. It predicts that house price growth will continue across the UK from 2015 to 2019, rising 30 per cent on average, with London and southern England seeing the largest increases.

“The sharp house price growth over the last year is typical at the start of a recovery, due to the release of pent-up demand. This rapid rate tends to subside as recovery becomes established” says Jennet Siebrits, CBRE’s head of residential research. 

“Affordability is the key going forward and mortgage payments as a share of take home pay currently remain relatively favourable when compared with long-term trends. When interest rates start to rise, we expect it to be at slow and considered increments so the impact on mortgage affordability may be quite minor and contained” she says, striking a more optimistic note than many other analysts when it comes to base rate rises.

 http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1093:30-house-price-hike-by-2019-claim&Itemid=583

Landlord fined over no hot water

Landlord in hot water over boiler

A Stockton landlord has been fined £994.17 after leaving his tenant without heating last winter.

Teesside Magistrates Court heard that 47-year-old Vivender Nath Blaggan of Grange Avenue in Stockton left the house in Northcote Street in Stockton with a faulty boiler for three months during the coldest part of the year.

He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an abatement notice issued under section 80 the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and was fined £350, ordered to pay costs of £609.17 and a victim surcharge of £35.

The tenant contacted Stockton-on-Tees Council in January 2014 after repeatedly asking Blaggan to arrange for its repair, when the heating failed in November 2013.

The Council's Private Sector Housing Team carried out an inspection at the property which confirmed there was a problem with the gas boiler.

The Council served a notice served under Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which gave Blaggan a chance to carry out the necessary repairs. However he failed to comply with the notice so the boiler was repaired by the Council and legal action was taken.

In mitigation Blaggan said that he had put temporary measures in place and provided the tenant with a fan heater and offered to pay for the extra electricity it would cost to run it.  He also said that he had arranged for repairs to be carried out but that they only lasted one week. He had been advised he could obtain a free replacement boiler, but unfortunately the funding had been withdrawn before that could be arranged.

Stockton Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety, Councillor Steve Nelson said: “We are serious about tackling the problem of poor housing conditions in the private rented sector and we take the health and safety of private tenants very seriously, where conditions are not met then action will be taken.

“We hope that this case will send a clear message to private landlords that they have a responsibility to ensure their properties meet the necessary standards and failure to do so will not be tolerated.”

http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Landlord-in-hot-water-over-boiler