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Christopher Housden

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my expertise in the industry

Christopher's Recent Activity

I have just instructed my agent to start the ball rolling on selling another house with the tenancy ending in November. We will probably sell another one next tax year and the two years after that. I will then be 65 and free of worrying about EPC's, electrical certificates, gas certificates, pets and filling out tax returns every two minutes. Hopefully we can do this without asking any tenants to leave, which we have never done in the past, but one tenant has been in for 8 years so it will be hard to tell her to move on.

From: Christopher Housden 08 August 2022 12:22 PM

So my wife and I as joint owners of our rentals each submit tax returns annually. In future we will have to submit 10 returns, all be it produced by some brilliant bit of software. To do this we will now have to subscribe to one of the approved software providers (is this two subscriptions?). Instead of just one deadline per year we will have at least 4 or maybe 5 deadlines to hit, in the interest of simplifying our tax submission! This is yet another reason to take our money and run. When the mad media frenzy about the rising cost of living has died down we will start to increase our rents on existing tenants (something we have not done in the past). Agreements that are on fixed terms will be ended and we will sell. Eventually we will get out and leave 7 people to find alternative accommodation.

From: Christopher Housden 31 July 2022 22:51 PM

I just don't get the principle of buying at a discount. Tesco don't give me a discount because I have been going there for years. I wonder what the public would say if all pension funds were raided and made to pay a substantial percentage to fund benefits payments. If you want tenants to be able to buy the property they are renting, don't charge Capital Gains Tax on the Landlord. No agent's fees, no CGT, I can afford to give a discount of my choice.

From: Christopher Housden 29 July 2022 09:16 AM

I don't believe 60% of rental properties will be C by 2028 I think it will be far less. We have a couple of what I would describe as modern houses, but they fall just short of a C. The recommended remedy is to insulate the party walls or to insulate the floor. How you would go about insulating the floor on a house with a concrete slab god knows. And why insulate a party wall, do they assume that the neighbours don't have any heating. The savings in monetary terms and CO2 terms are negligible, but the alteration work would have a carbon footprint that could outweigh the savings. I think I calculated the pay back period (ignoring inflation) was something like 200 years.

From: Christopher Housden 27 July 2022 10:24 AM

And would the tenants then have a right to buy at a discount, and then ultimately sell on the open market.

From: Christopher Housden 20 July 2022 08:23 AM

I think regions differ. We used to have a two bed holiday cottage on the coast at Old Hunstanton, which was at least twice the price of a two bed house down the road in Kings Lynn. This was many years ago, but prices just a couple of miles inland would not have the coastal premium and would be a normal price. Norfolk has traditionally been cheaper out of hot spot areas than neighbouring counties. My impression is that perhaps Wales and Cornwall are hotter overall where Norfolk hot spots could be more localised and Norfolk doesn't appear on so many people's radar.

From: Christopher Housden 19 July 2022 09:33 AM

We are being properly stitched up. Additional tax and costs if you stay, right to buy when Labour get in, but if you want to sell up you have to do it over a number of years because of the unjust way CGT is levied. And when Labour get in how high will CGT be then. The whole thing is madness with everyone losing. Landlords lose income (often their pension), tenants can't find somewhere to live and government lose income from taxation on rental profits and tax emanating from letting agents.

From: Christopher Housden 15 July 2022 08:40 AM

"buy to let properties will have to meet the current Decent Homes Standard, the BPF writes on its website: “Naturally, BTR continues to exceed these by some margin.”" Well of course you do because you are all new builds meeting current building Regs. So give yourselves a pat on the back for complying with the law.

From: Christopher Housden 30 June 2022 10:38 AM

Agree, " three quarters of private renters in England “have endured poor or dangerous conditions in their home, such as mould, broken boilers, and electrical hazards, in the last year". Broken boilers, yes my tenants have endured broken boilers, but only for a matter of days, after which time they have a brand new boiler. In fact three quarters of my tenants have boilers that are less than 3 years old, but they broke before they were replaced.

From: Christopher Housden 17 June 2022 11:04 AM

Also with the property price boom you might be able to sell up and reinvest in equities earning a similar amount per month. This is our strategy as we are in our sixties and want to go hassle free as we head into our 70's

From: Christopher Housden 07 June 2022 10:48 AM

I just use a series of spreadsheets that then merge all the results for each. All our properties are 50/50 so just half the numbers before going onto the tax form, but you could split on the spreadsheets. Each property has a sheet recording all transactions and numbers put in the appropriate column so they are already split to suit the tax form. I don't need any landlord specific software that I will have to pay for. If the government want everything done on software they should provide it. We are probably going the way of Portugal. There all our utility bills and rental income is uploaded direct to the revenue from the utility companies and letting agents, I guess this is so that they can check against tax submissions.

From: Christopher Housden 01 June 2022 11:36 AM

I suggest landlords complete the survey. "Would you find it helpful to complete your tax return quarterly?" Are you insane? of course not, so that is a big fat NO. Would it be better if letting agents and the like submitted data direct to HMRC? How does that simplify things? NO. Are you prepared for 2024 when tax goes digital? No, maybe you should tell me how to prepare. Do you wish to make any comments on property taxation? Extra stamp duty, treatment of mortgage interest, if quarterly taxation comes in and specialist software will be required costs will be passed on until my tenants are evicted and I exit the rental market.

From: Christopher Housden 01 June 2022 09:58 AM

"stop renters in arrears automatically getting evicted". Why not let people shop at Tesco and walk out without paying or let people not pay their taxes without imposing interest charges or sending them to jail. The PRS fills a gap in the market, if it was easier to buy houses or there were more social housing the demand for private rentals would diminish to an insignificant size. One way of reducing people's reliance on renting would be to take account of a track record of paying rent when looking at mortgage affordability. It is crazy that someone who has been paying £800 per month in rent for years cannot get a mortgage costing £600 per month on affordability grounds. Do this and I can exit the market by selling to my tenants, a win win.

From: Christopher Housden 27 April 2022 11:15 AM

And why should only private landlords be on the register, a bigger proportion of social tenants are dissatisfied than private tenants. Arguably social tenants are more important as they don't have the resources to make choices.

From: Christopher Housden 31 March 2022 10:07 AM

Over a twelve year period with up to 5 houses rented out I think we have only put up rent on an existing tenant twice and withheld a deposit once. That said, if the digital tax system means I will incur additional costs, and maybe extra mortgage costs, these will be passed on. EPC C will only cost me in capital gains tax when we sell up, which we have now started to do.

From: Christopher Housden 25 March 2022 11:10 AM

So when we go digital will the government provide free software or will I have to subscribe to a software provider? All associated costs will be passed on to our tenants.

From: Christopher Housden 20 March 2022 17:56 PM

One of the most worrying things about the article is the fact that half the population of a country are on benefits, just shows how screwed our society is.

From: Christopher Housden 11 March 2022 10:59 AM

"The Valuation Office told him that his six-bed property let to six individual tenants has now been reclassified as six different dwellings". To be habitable doesn't a dwelling need a kitchen. So one shared kitchen between six bedrooms would be one dwelling. Six bedrooms each with a kitchen and bathroom would be six dwellings.

From: Christopher Housden 02 March 2022 09:29 AM

I thought this government was supposed to be cutting down on red tape and making life easier for businesses. I have a series of linked spreadsheets the totals from which get uploaded onto my tax return once every year. Will I have to buy special software? I will also have to sit down 4 times a year and update everything. I very rarely increase rent for existing tenants, but if I incur additional costs for this they will receive a letter explaining why there rent has been increased, a direct consequence of government policy.

From: Christopher Housden 21 February 2022 21:26 PM

At £65 a time how do you expect to get a sensible thorough EPC. The whole system is a joke. EPCs are still weighted towards gas due to cost, and against electric which comes from renewables, mad!

From: Christopher Housden 11 January 2022 18:01 PM

It is very rare for us to increase rents for existing tenants, but I can see a time when they will get a letter phrased along the lines of 'Sorry, but as a direct consequence of government policy we have had to increase your rent to cover our additional costs' or even give them notice 'as a direct consequence of government policy'

From: Christopher Housden 11 September 2021 16:57 PM

he will say, leave "a private landlord renting out multiple properties not paying a penny more in tax, and their hard-working tenants to pick up the burden". The more profit I make the more tax I pay. If I make a capital gain I pay tax on it. This is no different to any other business, although if I was selling baked beans I wouldn't pay stamp duty on the raw materials. I provide something people want for a market price, take some profit and give some to the government. So why are landlords public enemy number one?

From: Christopher Housden 11 September 2021 12:06 PM

"Alongside financial costs, 44 per cent reported having to move further away from friends or family, 15 per cent were further from a hospital, and five per cent had to move their children’s school." So put another way 56% moved closer to friends, 85% moved closer to a hospital and 95% didn't have to move their children's school.

From: Christopher Housden 31 August 2021 09:45 AM

“It’s outrageous that landlords and lettings agents are trying to price people out of a place to live." - Yes, that's right I am trying to increase my rent until it is un-affordable so that I will have no income. What a ludicrous statement. The reality is If I have a good tenant, which so far all of them have been, I do not increase the rent. When the tenant moves on (mostly to buy their own house) I charge just under the going rate and house a new tenant within a couple of weeks. If only the politician had a grasp of the real world and market forces.

From: Christopher Housden 29 July 2021 10:36 AM

You would think that the government would want a fairly large PRS. What revenue is generated from private ownership? PRS produces tax on profits, higher stamp duty, VAT on agent and mortgage broker fees, creates jobs for agents, brokers, maintenance companies etc.

From: Christopher Housden 17 June 2021 17:31 PM

We had an EPC done recently with similar recommendations, another suggestion was insulating the party wall. Some of the suggestions had a pay back period of 200 years. The EPC, I assume, does not take account of the carbon cost of the remedial work. What is the carbon saving of insulating a party wall in a two bed end of terrace compared with the carbon used to make the insulation, plasterboard and paint as well as transport for the workforce. Saving per year £25 for this lot.

From: Christopher Housden 04 June 2021 10:55 AM

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