Moving City Estate and Letting Agents covering Aldgate, Whitechapel, Islington, Hackney and around East London
Some helpful information
Stamp Duty
This tax is payable to the Government on purchase of a property. At present the rates are:
0% on a property up to £125,000
1% between £125,000 and £250,000
3% between £250,000 and £500,000
As of 25th March 2010, exceptions apply:
0% for first time buyers on properties up to £250,000
As of 6th April 2011:
5% rate for all homes valued over £1,000,000
Transactions need to be completed by 6th April in order to avoid the increase in stamp duty.
Energy Performance Certificate
As of 21st May 2010 you will no longer be required to have a Home Inspection Pack (HIP) to market your property. You will however, still be required to have a Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and a basic property questionnaire in place before it can be marketed. Moving City will be unable to market the Property until we are in receipt of an EPC. Once you have the EPC it is valid for ten years.
What is an EPC?
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are needed when any building is sold, rented out, constructed or refurbished.
EPCs give information on a building's energy efficiency in a sliding scale from 'A' (very efficient) to 'G' (least efficient). Every EPC also has a recommendations report showing how the homeowner could improve the rating.
Only qualified, accredited domestic energy assessors and qualified, certified home inspectors can produce EPCs for domestic properties. They analyse how homes are constructed, insulated, heated and ventilated, and the type of fuel being used.
This guide gives an overview about EPCs for domestic properties. It sets out when EPCs are needed, who can produce them and the responsibilities of all parties involved in producing and providing them for domestic properties - including homeowners, landlords, estate agents and energy assessors. It also provides specific information for rented, newly built and existing homes.
HMO’s
For many, the area of Houses in Multiple Occupation is simply money or income. Some see it as “Easy Money”. The Student market is very lucrative in areas of the country that have Universities or Colleges of Higher Education – Properties being filled with tenants for guaranteed time, higher rental yield, knowing that students will be moving on, so less likely to have tenants not vacating at the end of the term.
However, all investments need to be sound and that includes the upkeep of the property. In order to attract new tenants each year, landlords must be prepared to plough back money into the property every so often, such as exterior painting, gardening, maintenance – both internal and external - and maintaining the quality of furniture and appliances. We all know that this type of property is hard on the pocket for both students and landlords.
Students are not exactly “well off” at this time of their life with study commitments and therefore there is a ceiling on the level of rents that students are able to pay.
For landlords there are times where a certain element of student does not keep the property in the desired condition and their behaviour does put landlords off this type of letting. This should not: the reason being that this type of letting is the building block of future landlords and investors.
Without the Investor landlord, students would not be able to afford single accommodation with current market rents being so high. Without the Investor landlord the main – first level – housing would not be sustained and the whole system of housing would collapse.
Definition of a House in Multiple Occupation
Read more: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/HMOs1.htm
