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It seems that there is still an under supply of rental property and rooms for Students within some university locations in the UK. 

It is reported that Lucy Roberts, commercial services manager for the Carlisle campuses, is urging buy to let property owners and landlords to consider renting to students.

To encourage landlords and homeowners she was keen to point out the financial benefits available. Lucy said that landlords can make between £50 and £60 per student, per week and can make hundreds of pounds a month.

Over a 100 undergraduates at Cumbria University have enquired having struggled to find property or rooms to rent after obtaining a place via Clearing.

The reputation of students as tenants is not viewed as overly positive by some landlords so Lucy was keen to point out some good practice and dispel the opinion of students being problems tenants.

Ms Roberts stated that: “As long as there is a good contract in place and deposits have been paid we have less reported problems than you might think.

Considering this point, deposits for each student at a property are usually very significant sums of money, especially if funded by the student themselves. If the parents have been kind and lent the student money, the likelihood of the them doing something silly and running the risk of losing that deposit is probably lower still.

Those interested should contact the university who will advise how to how to register with the county council.

If you rent to students you need to have in place specialist landlord insurance to cover your property.

A major supermarket has just released research to show that hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers travel abroad each year with invalid travel insurance policies.  The reason is people’s reluctance to advise their insurers about pre-existing medical conditions.

The research claims that as many as 245,000 people traveled last year without telling their travel insurance providers about chronic back pain and 110,000 people failed to notify respiratory problems.  If you have a recurrence of an existing medical problem on holiday you will probably not be covered unless your insurers were notified in advance and agreed. 

Many people were apparently too embarrassed to talk about their medical conditions to a travel insurance company and others did not realize that their problem was relevant to their insurance.

It is always worth being open and honest when obtaining holiday insurance quotations.  You may find that a pre-existing problem can be covered much more easily than you thought.

If you run a portfolio of let properties you probably have accountants looking after your tax affairs.  Landlords with just one or two rental houses often struggle to cope with the record keeping required of them.  It is not worth risking a tax investigation so it pays to keep detailed accounts and copies of all important documents.

Inexperienced property owners will find the Directgov.uk site helpful because it has a section aimed at helping landlords of let property to manage their tax records.  Basically you must keep copies of documents proving your income and expenditure- invoices, bank statements etc. Also keep copies of tenancy agreements so you can show when the tenancy started.  

Even experienced buy to let landlords often slip up when it comes to proving “allowable expenses”, ie what you can set against your rents to reduce your tax. Some of the main items are:

Agents’ and accountants’ fees

Loan interest

Buy to let insurance premiums for the building (and contents if appropriate)

Maintenance and repair (not improvements)

Utilities

Council tax

Advertising costs 

If in doubt speak to an accountant specialising in buy to let properties. If you visit the directgov.uk site search for “Record-keeping for landlords”

The Saturday Telegraph has published a list of the top fifteen reasons why you may not be covered by your travel insurance.  We have boiled it down to the top ten tips for travel insurance buyers:

1. Dangerous activities: have you told your insurers what you will be doing such as winter sports?

2. Do not drink excessively- there may be an alcohol exclusion

3. Make sure you get police reports and airline property irregularity reports if your property goes missing.

4. If your children are travelling alone they may not be covered under a family insurance policy.

5.  Keep your expenses to a reasonable minimum- travel insurance will not pay for luxuries.

6. Disclose any pre-existing medical condition- travel insurers need to decide whether they can cover you and if so on what terms.

7. Cancellation and delay cover only applies to specified events- make sure you understand your policy cover before you cancel a trip.

8. Do your best to keep you and your property safe.  Travel policies normally contain rules about keeping possessions locked up and using safety equipment when participating in sports.

9. Check the FCO website if you are planning a trip to a troubled part of the World.  Travel policies will not normally cover countries on the FCO danger list.

10. Excesses may be deducted from your claim- check the level in your policy.  They normally apply to each person claiming and each section you are claiming under.

A Middlesbrough man has been banned from acting as an estate agent but he can still run a property letting business.  He was banned under the Estate Agents Act because of an extensive criminal record involving 23 convictions and an ASBO.  The Office of Fair Trading have confirmed that the act only applies to selling property, it does not apply to running a letting agency or managing a portfolio of buy to let properties either as an agent or as an investor.

The man concerned is rumoured to control an empire of as many as two hundred let properties. There has long been criticism of the lack of regulation in the let property market.  Many feel that there should be controls over who can run lettings businesses.  Criminal convictions could affect a landlord’s ability to obtain let property insurance for his portfolio.  Any relevant circumstances should always be disclosed to the insurer.

If you need landlord insurance quote contact Click4quote.com for a quote over the phone or go online.

A father has fallen to his death in Turkey while parasailing with his daughter.  Emma Hudson was on her first flight when her father Glenn who was in tandem with her suddenly fell 150 ft to the beach.  Turkish police are investigating what went wrong and caused the death of an experienced parasailor.

Mr Hudson’s widow Linda has instructed a lawyer and is calling for tighter regulation of this type of holiday activity. Parasailing, water skiing and scuba diving are just some of the hazardous activities people often try on holiday and it is very difficult to judge in advance whether they are being properly run.

Make sure your travel insurance covers you for all the activities you may want to try.  It is much better to contact your insurer before you travel rather than leave it until you are on holiday and decide to try something new.  It may then be too late  to arrange the cover you need.

Click4quote standard policy includes a variety of activities as standard and we also sell specialist polices and additional cover sections such as golf travel insurance, sailing travel insurance and ski travel insurance. Get a quote for full details.

If you own an unoccupied property you might find the local council seeking to take it over so that it can be let out.  They cannot take away your legal ownership but they could take possession; and land you with a bill.

Empty Dwellings Management Orders (EDMOs) were introduced to encourage owners to put their unoccupied property on the market, either as a let property or a sale.   The first you will probably know of the process is that the council will ask you for details of any plans you have to bring the unoccupied property into use.  If you are pursuing plans to do this, the matter will not go any further.  If not, the council can apply to the Residential Property Tribunal for an EDMO.  The order allows the council to manage the house, possibly recovering its expenses from you.

EDMOs do not apply to all empty properties.  For example, the following are exempt:

• Those empty for less than six months
• Holiday homes and second homes
• Houses being sold
• Properties going through probate.

If you own an unoccupied property that has been empty for some time you will find useful information on: www.communities.gov.uk

You will also need good insurance cover.  Some policies are not suitable unoccupied property so make sure you have specialist unoccupied property insurance cover.

A study has revealed the enormous number of times luggage goes missing at airports. The 2010 Air Transport Industry Baggage Report reveals that one out of every hundred people passing through major airports finds that their bags are lost or delayed.  In all, 25 million pieces of baggage were mishandled.

Half of the problems occur during transfers between flights and in 16% of cases the bags never arrived on the aircraft.

Often, the luggage is eventually found and re-united with its owner but sadly many people never see their personal possessions again.  Make sure you have good travel insurance and understand any limitations on the cover.  For example there may be excesses and limits on the value of some items.

Some insurers have special policies to suit different types of traveling such as – golf travel insurance, sailing travel insurance and so on.  Annual travel insurance will save you money if you make a few trips a year.  Otherwise you will have to buy single trip insurance each time.

A Birmingham buy to let landlord has been ordered to repay £7,500 of rent he collected from tenants on housing benefit.  The reason was that he had failed to obtain a House in Multiple Occupation Licence.  The order was made by the Residential Property Tribunal who decided that the council should receive a refund of the housing benefit rent they had paid while the let property was unlicenced. 

The Tribunal is empowered to order landlords to repay up to twelve months rent.  If a tenant is not on housing benefit the rent is repaid direct to the tenant.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said “We have shown time and again we will not hesitate to prosecute landlords who do not have HMO Licences and fines can be up to £20,000.  In this case we are the first local authority in the West Midlands to secure a rent repayment order”.

Landlords of let property need to make sure their let property insurance is suitable for the type of tenant and letting they are engaged in, and that they have disclosed all the circumstances to the insurer. Landlord insurance is different to normal homeowner insurance so you should seek specialist cover or else you may find yourself not covered.

Buy to let landlords will be very encouraged by news from Countrywide Residential Lettings.  The nationwide agency saw a record 50,000 people register with them in the quarter to the end of June 2010.These are all people seeking rental accommodation and is the highest figure the company  has ever seen. 

Countrywide say there are now more than five potential tenants for every let property on their books with the average rent for a four bedroom house now £1,090.

People with unoccupied property might be tempted to try letting it out rather then see it stand empty or offer it for sale.  If so, make sure your property insurance is suitable because a policy that was set up for an unoccupied house may not be appropriate for a let property and vice versa.

If you need unoccupied property insurance, buy to let insurance or landlord insurance make sure you contact click4quote.com.