July, 2010
Half a million unoccupied homes
Research by the Guardian newspaper suggests that there are as many as 500,000 unoccupied houses in the UK; sufficient to accommodate 25% of the families on council waiting lists. The paper reckons that 450,00 of the total properties have been unoccupied for six months or more.
Housing charities would love to see these vacant houses renovated and placed on the let property market. In theory it should be much easier to improve existing properties than build new ones. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggests that VAT should be reduced on costs incurred in refurbishing a derelict unoccupied property in order to encourage the owner to put it into a habitable condition.
If you own an unoccupied property you need suitable insurance. Make sure you are covered for your liability if a visitor is injured or someone’s property is damaged and they claim against you.
If you need unoccupied property insurance contact click4quote on 01206 771 755 or get a quote online.
Let Property Rents increase in second quarter
A shortage of rental property has been responsible for increases in the rents being demanded by landlords. According to the FindaProperty.com Rental Index the quarter to the end of June 2010 saw rents rising by 2.3% with the biggest gains being seen in Yorkshire and Humberside. In London the average rent is now £1,729 while across the whole country the average is £838- up from £804 in January.
A spokesman for FindaProperty.com said:
“Rents have gone from strength to strength during the first quarter of 2010. The resurgence of the selling market has left tenants short of options and the result has been increasing rental prices. We are beginning to creep towards the equilibrium between stock levels and prices at which the market is perfectly balanced and neither party- landlord or tenant can claim bargaining rights. Demand for property will remain strong as long as the lending market remains off colour”.
Landlords can save money on their let property insurance by shopping around.
Changes to Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme
The idea behind the scheme is to help homeowners stay in their homes despite financial problems like redundancy. The lender reduces the monthly payment and the deferred amount is settled later, perhaps when the borrower finds a new job. The lender has the benefit of a partial guarantee, funded by the tax payer if there is a default.
At present the scheme pays at 6.08% but the Government has decided to change this from October 2010 to a rate linked to the Bank of England Average Mortgage Rate. The Chancellor said that he wanted to put the scheme “on a more sustainable footing and to better reflect mortgage costs”
It seems certain that more people will lose their homes if the support is less generous than before. This may have an effect on buy to let property landlords who may see an increased demand from people who can no longer afford mortgages. Some of these tenants may need local authority support with their rent payments. Landlords often find it more difficult to find property insurance for houses rented to local authority tenants.
Have you experienced problems obtaining insurance cover for DSS tenants?
If you have DSS tenants’ click4quote.com landlord insurance should cater for your needs. The policy can cater for families, couples and up to 5 individuals. Always make sure you have buy to let insurance to protect your assets.
HIPs go but EPCs stay
The government has suspended Home Information Packs but Energy Performance Certificates remain. This means that landlords need to obtain or at least commission an EPC before putting a rental property on the market. You do not actually need to have the certificate available when you start marketing but you do need to make it available as soon as you have it. At the latest it must be made available to the prospective tenants before the date of the tenancy agreement. The EPC lasts for ten years.
If you do not follow the rules you run the risk of being pursued by your local trading standards department and having to pay a fine.
Home Information Packs contained a great deal of information about the property and were supposed to bring more certainty to house selling because buyers would have answers to most of their questions at an early stage. In fact they gained a reputation for holding back the market by deterring people from putting their homes on the market because of the costs of the pack. It is hard to see any government abolishing Energy Performance Certificates because energy efficiency is high on the political agenda.
If you are a property owner then remember that you should buy landlord insurance for your property. Landlord insurance is available to buy online from click4quote so get a quote today.
Reprieve for furnished holiday home lettings?
Owners of furnished holiday lettings have enjoyed tax advantages over other property investors. The rules mean that if your holiday home let makes a loss you can offset it against other income to reduce your tax bill. When you come to sell it you can sometimes take advantage of capital gains tax relief.
The previous government announced in the 2009 budget that these concessions were to be withdrawn, much to the disappointment of many people who had bought holiday homes in the hope of enjoying family holidays and tax breaks as well. In the recent budget the Chancellor scrapped the repeal of the furnished holiday letting rules but he said he would consult on changes to come in to effect in April 2011. Experts think he might tighten the rules so for example the property may have to be let for more of the year.
Few people go into the property or holiday home market for tax reasons so changes to the tax regime may not make too much difference to prices.
Some holiday owners may not realise that a standard home policy is not suitable for a holiday home that is let out to tenants. It is best to purchase specialist holiday home insurance for your property as it will cater for property located in the uk or overseas.
So for UK holiday home insurance or for overseas holiday home insurance contact Click4quote.com for a quote.