Helping landlords to minimise their worries

Posted under General by Alan

It is quite essential for the distressed buy-to-let landlords to get all the information about tax relief and allowances to which they are entitled and make their own life bit easier by availing those benefits at the earliest.

According to Melanie Bien at Savills Private Finance mortgage market was becoming less welcoming with lesser choice, tighter lending criteria and higher rates of mortgages. Lenders such as Woolwich and many others increased their lending rates up to 0.5 percentage points recently.

Under such circumstances landlords must keep few points in mind and make use of them without fail.
Avail relief on energy efficiency – Effective October1 every landlord is required to obtain Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and show it to potential tenant. A higher energy-efficient home would attract tenant more and help you in avoiding void period. You would also be entitled to tax relief on expenses up to £1,500 on energy efficiency measures including floor insulation and loft. An EPC costing about £100 would be valid for 10 years.

Boost your rental income by making alterations in your home, say by converting a living room into another bedroom and putting in some furniture. You would be able to get more rent and recover cost on room conversion within few months. However you don’t want to use expensive furniture as any damages or losses could get expensive. It’s better to use cheap furniture in letting to minimise the risk of you losing out, such as cheap ‘catalogue’ bedroom furniture or cheap cane furniture for the conservatory.

Bargain for higher rent. Rents in the UK are already on rise since many people are putting off buying and opting for renting. Rents were up by 9.3% in June 2008 compare with June 2007. According to Steven Bolton of Platinum Partners Group you are in stronger position to demand higher rents if your property was getting rented within record time without any objections on price.