Richard Blanco

What could renting look like in a decade’s
time?  Shifts in attitude from government
and the Bank of England have jolted landlords and investors into taking a step
back and looking long into the future.  I
speak regularly at events across London and in 2016 and 2017 I witnessed a fog
of depression descend on many of my colleagues.   This was also reflected in the NLA’s index
of landlord optimism in their lettings business plummeting to an all time
low.  Worryingly still according to NLA
research only 49% of landlords fully understand the implications […]

The abolition of no fault eviction is back on the
agenda.  According to a recent BBC
Panaroma show ‘Evicted For No Reason,’ the Labour Party, spurred on by housing
charities and the entrenched convictions of Jeremy Corbyn, wants to end the use
of section 21. The programme presents three case studies of tenants facing no
fault evictions.  Lauren McGlashan has
fallen out with her landlord who subsequently served a section 21 notice.  She has two months to find a new home for her
husband, retired mother and five children. 
Julie Archer was offered a new tenancy […]

I’ve noticed that whilst building their portfolio, quite a lot of landlords and developers live in a modest home.  Whilst you’re building up your business, it’s difficult to justify putting all of your cash into a splendid house for yourself and your family.  I’ve reached a point where expanding doesn’t seem worthwhile, particularly with section 24 tax changes.  The Prudential Regulation Authority underwiting changes have also made it harder to refinance, the government’s way of applying the handbrake. Luckily I did some refinancing before the changes […]

We are seeing an increasing number of press reports about housing benefit where the landlord is cast as villain.  Today BBC London reported on a house that had been converted into an HMO housing five tenants on benefits. The tenants were receiving the one bed LHA rate and the story argued that the landlord was receiving housing benefit for five studio flats.  I’m not a great fan of converting houses into grim HMOs with lockable doors and austere communal areas and I don’t condone greedy […]

Here are my latest top ten tips for running a successful property business which I presented recently at The Property Investor Show at Excel in London.
1. Get The Right Structure
Section 24 tax changes have made purchasing and letting property as an individual less profitable.  This is because you will be taxed on your turnover – tax relief on mortgage interest at 40% is being phased out over the next 4 years.  So it may be more tax efficient to buy using a limited […]