ZED Property Solutions

09/01/2019

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/08/uk-house-prices-rise-halifax-brexit

Surprise increase after sluggish year comes despite uncertainty over Brexit

24/11/2017

No stamp duty for first time buyers up to 300k. Here is what people say.

How did Philip Hammond’s budget affect you? The Guardian talks to families, workers and businesses across Britain

26/10/2017

Great insights on what increases property values in London

Proximity to a station and a good school are among the key factors that determine home values in the UK capital

29/09/2017

The next event is coming up slowly

Learn about Joint Venture and Commercial Finance with Shimon Rudich and hear Greg Pope explaining how to build up your p***c figue and consolidate your property business.

26/09/2017

NEW HMO Reform Proposed! Important info:

Back in 2015 the Government published a technical discussion paper on extending the mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMO). Following, was a consultation which looked at the issues raised in more detail. The outcome of that was a proposal (published in 2016) to remove the requirement that HMO’s must be 3 or more storeys high in order to be licensed. The removal of the 3 storey requirement means any HMO that is occupied by 5 or more people, will require a mandatory licence.

Additionally the reforms also address the ever contentious issue of room sizes. The new compulsory condition states a minimum room space of 6.52sq-m for one person and 10.23sq-m for two persons. The new criteria will not apply to temporary visitors, but children will be counted as full adults for this condition.

When will the changes kick in?
As with most reforms, when they were announced it felt that implementation was a way away. But time ticks on and the changes are set to be brought in this year. So the impact will be felt imminently.

When the Government outlined the changes to the criteria, it was clear the impact would be far and wide. Not only are they removing the storey rule and changing the room size rules, they are also extending the mandatory licensing to flats above and below business premises.

License requirements
Just to be clear, if a license is granted your requirements as a landlord (as outlined by the Government) are:

the house is suitable for the number of occupants (eg size and facilities)
the manager of the house - you or an agent - is considered to be ‘fit and proper’, eg no criminal record, or breach of landlord laws or code of practice
You must also:

send the council an updated gas safety certificate every year
install and maintain smoke alarms
provide safety certificates for all electrical appliances when requested
The impact of the changes
It is estimated that the new measures will bring a further 174,000 HMOs into the scope of mandatory licensing.

The RLA (Residential Landlords Association) believes many of the changes are unnecessary and says they will put a huge strain on local authorities.

David Cox, managing director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, also made his feelings clear about the new proposals. “Councils don’t have the resources to undertake effective enforcement action. Imposing more burdens on councils will not mean improved standards and better conditions for tenants – it will merely mean more laws that are not being enforced. Further, we have to consider the unintended consequences of minimum room sizes. Some people are happy to take small rooms to keep their costs down. If these rooms are no longer available, where are people supposed to live?”

In our view, legal subletters such as the Rent to Rent landlords are, perhaps, worst affected. They suddenly find themselves in a very tricky position. These changes could impact their ability to rent their property. If they have a long term fixed guaranteed rental agreement in place with the property owner, they could struggle to cover their fees, let alone gain a yield.

What are the consequences for noncompliance?
HMO landlords will find themselves in very deep water if they are found not to comply. They risk civil penalties of up to £30,000 and potentially even criminal prosecutions. But there is a grace period. The order hasn’t yet come into force although it’s looking likely for October. After which there is likely to be around 6 months from when the changes are imposed, to allow landlords to apply for their licenses.

Let us know your thoughts and post your questions below.

21/08/2017

Really interesting comparison between London and New York!

We asked roommates in London and New York how they live to build up a fascinating head to head picture of how the cities really compare as places to live.

26/07/2017

Top Tips to find the ideal investment area for PASSIVE INCOME:

We all know, keeping your hard earn money in the bank isn’t generating a good interest. With the all time low interest and record high inflation rate, you are actually losing money if you don’t invest it smartly, so I have made this quick guide to determine the best area if you decided that you want to invest in Real Estate (which I think is the most secure strategy)

1. First list 10 areas that are within a commutable distance from where you live, whether that means driving, train, or bus. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

2. Go through each area an do the following research: Find the average house price and the average rent price for the given area. You can use Rightmove or Zoopla. Because prices can vary widely, I suggest you pick a particular area/zone within your chosen city, and try to find a house for sale and a house for rent on the same street. that will give you an idea of the house and rent values A.K.A Price to Rent Ratio. Obviously, we are looking for an area with the lowest prices, but with high rents. Write down these values on your list next to the areas you listed in step 1.

3. Check for levels of stock available in those areas. There is no point investing in an area, where only 2 houses are up for sale. The best is, if you have a good stock to buy from. The way I would do this, is to check the amount of listing in a given postcode. For example: if the area/zone you picked in step 2 was in the postcode of DN1 5AE, I would check how many properties are available for sale in DN1 postcode. If you’re happy with the stock levels, proceed to the next step. if not, I’d suggest cross the area out from your list.

4. Now, you have the values of both sales and rent for the 10 areas, you will need to calculate your potential profit, if you bought a house there. Please keep in mind, this calculation is only used to locate the best potential area, so I will use the same variables in all locations, to give a fair comparison amongst the areas. As I want to spend my time finding more and more of these deals, I will use a management agency to deal with the tenants. Such agencies take about 10% of the total rent. I will also factor in some monthly operating expense at the same rate (10% of monthly rent)
Let’s assume that the average purchase price in the area I came up with is £100000 and the average rent in the same area is £500/month. To make things simple we will use an interest only mortgage product with 2.5% interest. Most Buy to Let products require 25% deposit, so we will go with that.

First we will need to calculate the monthly mortgage amount. To do that:
We take the total amount of borrowing (which is 75% of the full purchase cost) 100000x0.75=£75000
Then we need to calculate the annual interest. Multiply the borrowed amount by the interest rate (75000x0.025=1875) so £1875 is the annual mortgage amount we need to pay. That equals to (1875/12)=£156.25 per month mortgage payment.
Now, we need to deduct the costs from out monthly rent to get our profit:
£500 (monthly rent) - £156.25 (monthly mortgage payments) – £50 (management fee) - £50 (Monthly operating expense) = £243.75 -» This is our monthly profit.
Annually, it’s (243.75x12)=£2925
This annual profit can then gives us the Return on Investment value (ROI) you can calculate that by dividing the annual profit by the initial amount you need to purchase the property (usually the 25% initial deposit which was 25000 in this case). That means (2925/25000=11.7%) Repeat the calculations for each area to find out the annual profit and the return on investment, to determine which area is the BEST for you!

You can see at this example, that this annual return beats any bank currently out there (I think the best ones barely reach 1% return on your money) so that has never been a better time to invest in property. If you’d like, I’ve made a simple to use excel spreadsheet, where you can just insert the number (the purchase price and the rental values) and it calculates all these numbers for you. Get in touch, and I email you the file. Please share and like this post if you found it useful! Thank you

19/06/2017

We have just finished with our latest bathroom project. Have a look at the before and after pictures

12/06/2017

Meet us at the next property meetup we are involved in!
There will be great speakers, and food at the venue

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holborn-property-meet-june-tickets-34598876170

Are you involved in properties or you would like to start and you want to improve your network? Do you like nice food and wine? do you want to listen the advice of some succesfull property investors and developers? Then don't miss the next Holborn Property Meet! This month we are extremely proud to…

27/05/2017

We have a fantastic 1 bed new build flat in Gillingham (Kent) to source on! It is 15% below market value and it's good for either a first time buyer or someone who is investing I'm capital Growth as Gillingham has excellent transport links to London for commuters. It can achieve a circa £250/month cashflow if rented! Please get in touch for more info. You can also comment below with contact info, and I will send the details to you.

23/05/2017

Please share you comments!

HOUSE prices in the UK fell by 0.4 per cent this month; is now the time to invest in property in Britain?

17/05/2017

This is what property can do!

A dysfunctional British housing market, propped up by housing benefit and public investment, is making a few people very, very rich.