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Robert Brown

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20 + years

Robert 's Recent Activity

Presumably some tenants read this too? If so, hopefully the experience of some Scottish Landlords enjoying 30% greater rental incomes since the SNP "reformed" the Scottish PRS in December 2017 might make them think again. I really believe those English landlords with the courage and the means to stick it out will reap rewards no matter what any colour of government throws at them. The losers will be the most vulnerable, whether landlords or tenants.

From: Robert Brown 22 November 2019 11:41 AM

We need 300,000 more homes per annum. Policies causing an 11% drop in btl acquisitions is hardly the way to provide more homes!

From: Robert Brown 21 November 2019 10:16 AM

So if the tenants aren't out of pocket when moving rental properties, it stands to reason that the landlord will be out of pocket until the deposit is transferred. Otherwise landlords will be unable to hang on to deposits to check the condition in which the property has been left. Again this means that landlords are out of pocket in getting compensated for properties left in poor condition. A poorly thought out policy - again!

From: Robert Brown 21 November 2019 10:14 AM

I wonder how much developers will be fined for building student residences with wooden frames and cardboard cladding? I bet £0 as they are apparently perfectly legal! I also bet they didn't tell the students or their parents about their building standards.

From: Robert Brown 18 November 2019 09:25 AM

Interesting that the SNP anti landlord legislation has resulted in Scottish rents rising at nearly double the UK average. My own experience is that this is an underestimate as my rents have gone up by around a third since the December 2017 legislation removed the right of both landlords and tenants to agree to a fixed term lease fair to both parties. Anti landlord measures always end up being anti tenant measures too. The bright side for English landlords is that any moves against landlords will result in fewer rental properties and significantly higher rents for those who stick it out.

From: Robert Brown 15 November 2019 14:00 PM

Interesting that the SNP anti landlord legislation has resulted in Scottish rents rising at nearly double the UK average. My own experience is that this is an underestimate as my rents have gone up by around a third since the December 2017 legislation removed the right of both landlords and tenants to agree to a fixed term lease fair to both parties. Anti landlord measures always end up being anti tenant measures too. The bright side for English landlords is that any moves against landlords will result in fewer rental properties and significantly higher rents for those who stick it out.

From: Robert Brown 15 November 2019 13:56 PM

Tom is right. There has been an unwelcome move recently to missives not being exchanged promptly and increasingly being exchanged just before the entry date - so no longer a much better system than South of the Border.

From: Robert Brown 08 November 2019 23:12 PM

I don't insure contents and have probably saved more than the replacement cost of my contents over the past 40 odd years that I have had house contents. I also have a £500 excess on my car insurance as I would never make a claim for a small loss. Insurance is good to avoid huge or life changing losses but too expensive to insulate against minor losses or inconveniences. Similarly most life insurance policies for older debt free property owners are a poor investment. Statistically it's a better bet to invest the premiums to provide the kind of pay out that such insurance policies might eventually pay out.

From: Robert Brown 08 November 2019 23:06 PM

Paul Add to your adjectives "reckless, hopeless and poorly educated". In the 13 years I spent in primary, secondary and tertiary education I never encountered the word "gotten" following "has". It just goes to show that not all Russell Group Universities deserve that accolade. Affordability has many more sides than just purchase to income ratios. I built up a property portfolio in the teeth of 15% mortgage rates and rents remaining unchanged for around 15 years or more. However small investments in a vacuum flask for hot drinks, Tupperware for packed lunches, a cheap fourth hand car and a tent allowed me to service my loans and avoid starvation and enjoy healthy holidays. The Snowflakes could still do likewise but I doubt many will do so.

From: Robert Brown 08 November 2019 22:52 PM

Guess what? Under the yoke of the SNP "government" Scotland already insists ALL landlords are registered. It's not that expensive per property but on checking the website, many properties are still rented out without the landlords being registered. It's very easy to check online, but does any Council or other official ever do so? I doubt it, but come any disaster involving an unregistered flat all decent landlords will be hit by more onerous legislation and rogue landlords will continue to flout the law.

From: Robert Brown 08 November 2019 22:38 PM

What a great idea! But why aren't the tenants responsible for their own utility bills anyway?

From: Robert Brown 06 November 2019 17:01 PM

I heard a radio programme recently saying this was the "next timeshare" and an investor rip off waiting to unfold due to the poor construction standards, potentially high ongoing maintenance costs and possible short life span of many of these developments. The investment expert warned private investors to stay clear and invest in traditional flats in University cities with a proven track record of student demand and a simple exit mechanism through resale to new buyers. Another programme suggested these buildings could still have Grenfell type cladding fitted quite legally as they are not classed as permanent dwellings.

From: Robert Brown 03 November 2019 14:02 PM

Many "emergency calls" could be dealt with as routine maintenance if tenants reported issues promptly before they needed an "emergency call". I wonder how the number of tenant evacuations compares to owner occupier evacuations for the same period? I suspect tenant percentages will be much higher.

From: Robert Brown 03 November 2019 13:53 PM

No deposit means no chance of renting any of my properties. Tenants need to get their priorities right and show landlords they can be financially responsible. Sacrificing 1 week's rent instead of saving up 4 to 6 weeks' rent as a refundable deposit is a mug's game and shows poor financial acumen.

From: Robert Brown 31 October 2019 21:39 PM

This is NOT free! It's paid for out of the interest confiscated from landlords who used to be able to earn interest on the deposits held by them, which now get held by expensive quangos dreaming up ways to spend money which rightfully belongs to the landlords.

From: Robert Brown 31 October 2019 21:31 PM

At the time of reading this, 100% of 778 readers back this move, but how many will contribute to the crowd funding appeal?

From: Robert Brown 28 October 2019 10:12 AM

Airbnb should be ashamed of themselves. As well as conniving with fraudsters and other law breakers, destroying the peace and quiet of many residential neighbourhoods, they are putting innocent property owners at risk of bankruptcy if their insurers refused to pay out in the event of airbnb subtenants causing a fire etc. This tenant should be jailed and Airbnb fined several millions to make them take their responsibilities more seriously.

From: Robert Brown 28 October 2019 10:09 AM

I agree. 8% yields achievable in good Glasgow West End properties. Another article in this group shows Scotland averaging 5.8% yields, ahead of the other three home nations, due principally to the SNP loony legislation which prevents fixed term tenancy agreements and makes it very difficult to get rid of nuisance tenants. Fewer properties to rent has pushed up rents significantly in Scotland over the last two years or so.

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2019 12:03 PM

The message is clear. Generation rent should buy a vacuum flask for cheap coffees, avoid fancy holidays and pcp cars and they too can become better off, but they had also better buy a tool kit and learn some basic diy and other money saving skills - then they can join the grown ups!

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2019 11:54 AM

These courses are not free. They are funded out of the interest on deposits which landlords used to be able to earn until the new totally unnecessary deposit schemes became law. Our lost deposits interest also funds a number of high salaries carrying out a totally unnecessary function which as this evidence shows has not eliminated disputes due to landlords trying to recoup the costs incurred when tenants leave properties needing substantial cleaning and refurbishment.

From: Robert Brown 15 October 2019 15:44 PM

We have had this in Scotland since December 2017 and getting rid of tenants who cause problems is now a nightmare. Two avenues still open to landlords are that tenants must move out if the landlord wants to sell or undertake major refurbishment. The first means that the property is no longer available for rent and the latter means that the rent charged is much higher. The latter also means we now postpone refurbishment as a potential means of getting rid of undesirable tenants so good tenants don't get their homes routinely upgraded as we did before. BTW market rents are now much higher and availability of properties much more restricted than before. No good news here for tenants but does the loony SNP care?

From: Robert Brown 14 October 2019 10:28 AM

This is the guy who is responsible for the draconian Scottish HMO legislation which demands expensive alterations and licensing costs before more than 2 unrelated adults can share a flat, irrespective of the number of bedrooms. Incidentally this legislation still doesn't apply to the flat where the two tenants died as it only applies for more than 2 tenants. This man has cost decent law abiding Scottish landlords and tenants a fortune whilst he continues to flout the law. He should have been jailed again!

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2019 11:00 AM

Kenneth. I think your logic is back to front. Investors in btr properties are only interested in them as investment vehicles (probably among many other investments) whereas small private landlords are keen to keep good tenants happy and their properties in good repair as each represents a significant proportion of their income and net worth.

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2019 10:52 AM

The real solution is more local authority housing so hard working private tenants paying their own way don't need to live alongside feckless benefit claimants and private landlords don't need to risk renting to them.

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2019 10:43 AM

This is a non story. Much longer periods need analysed to get the real picture. Scottish rents seem to have gone down £6 in the last quarter, but this is after a 250% rise over the last six years due to SNP anti tenant legislation. Other areas may have similar short term corrections but the longer term trend is upwards.

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2019 10:40 AM

A better headline would be that over 200 tenants can't be bothered to reclaim their deposits. These are securely held by a third party, not illegally retained by the landlord. I am often amazed how long some tenants take to reply to a simple email "agreeing" to my proposal to repay their deposit in full. If they are too feckless to ask for their own money back how can they be trusted to keep properties clean and tidy?

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2019 09:32 AM

Lower demand from landlords means better deals for those who stick with it.

From: Robert Brown 20 September 2019 09:00 AM

Fewer properties but not fewer tenants means higher demand means higher rents. Grateful thanks to SNP, Shelter etc. - the Landlords' friends.

From: Robert Brown 20 September 2019 08:58 AM

Just another symptom of the SNP war on landlords adversely affecting tenants as more Edinburgh landlords focus solely on more lucrative less risky short term rentals. UK Government should learn from problems in Scotland and Ireland but they won't.

From: Robert Brown 20 September 2019 08:56 AM

First time I've ever agreed with Generation Rent! Next step will be thinking Shelter helps the homeless! Nah.... That would be really stretching it.

From: Robert Brown 19 September 2019 09:18 AM

Gosh! Who would have thought that some benefit claimers couldn't be trusted to manage their money properly? However it's still no DSS for me no matter what other "incentives or good news" accompanies them. Enough hard working tenants around to keep me happy thanks to the growing shortage rental properties.

From: Robert Brown 18 September 2019 09:04 AM

I got so fed up with disputes over cleaning etc. that I then did it professionally and got the incoming tenants to confirm it had been done professionally and commit to use the same professional cleaners to bring the property back up to standard at their expense when they left. They know that the return of their deposit will at very least be delayed if they don't comply and I no longer have to do or pay for the cleaning.

From: Robert Brown 17 September 2019 10:00 AM

Too much of a risk to encourage more loony policies. A lot of the potential loony supporters can't be bothered to vote but give them really loony policies and they just might get out of bed! Alex Salmond (currently awaiting criminal trial) managed to get a lot of Scottish loonies voting for the first time in 2014. Throughout the UK there are many such dormant loonies who shouldn't be woken up.

From: Robert Brown 11 September 2019 21:02 PM

There are over 2 million private landlords but only a few hundred thousand labour party members and even fewer members of the other parties. We should all join ALL the parties and thus have a big say in who is elected to be leader, who is selected as candidates and by attending conference, influence the future manifestos. Think outside the (cardboard) box! After all, that's how Corbyn got elected leader. The Daily Telegraph even suggested their readers should join the Labour Party and vote for him, as they mistakenly thought he would cause the Labour vote to collapse at the last General Election.

From: Robert Brown 11 September 2019 15:33 PM

Everyone should fill in this survey. It's geared to getting support for monthly online tax returns with tax deducted at source by banks or letting agents - very dangerous if unchallenged!

From: Robert Brown 11 September 2019 15:17 PM

Why wait for two years? If we're bringing a sub standard property back into every day use we should get the same incentive.

From: Robert Brown 11 September 2019 15:12 PM

I get really annoyed about how BTL landlords pay far higher CGT than any other investors who can take their tax free gains every year. We should be able to roll up the unclaimed annual CGT allowances and set them against any eventual longer term gain. Our tax system favours those who take a short term view of investment and penalises those providing long term homes for those who won't or can't afford to buy their own homes.

From: Robert Brown 11 September 2019 10:03 AM

Your comments might apply where you are but they are not universal. Many local authorities apply much stricter rules but these drive up rents and discourage rogue landlords and tenants.

From: Robert Brown 10 September 2019 15:00 PM

Sorry Paul. Don't agree. Students usually make excellent tenants of relatively upmarket properties and as 4 unrelated sharers also avoid rtb issues. Only additional construction issues are fire doors as everything else like mains smoke alarms, annual PAT tests etc. make the property safer. Students renting down market properties are no worse than other down market tenants but such properties and tenants are best avoided.

From: Robert Brown 10 September 2019 14:56 PM

An HMO flat let to 4 students with 4 solvent guarantors on a joint and several liability basis is a much lower risk option than letting to a single household and gives much better yields with zero voids with properly planning. Regulations are mainly common sense safety things but tend to dissuade the rogues and those unable to understand some simple rules and fill in a couple of forms.

From: Robert Brown 10 September 2019 12:36 PM

Pity it's the council tax payer who will foot the bill and not the incompetent council pen pusher.

From: Robert Brown 10 September 2019 08:57 AM

Student HMO flats offer high yields and several solvent guarantors to spread the risk. I now focus entirely on this market.

From: Robert Brown 10 September 2019 08:54 AM

The Councillors and Officials should have to pay all the associated legal costs of this debacle but of course they'll get off scot free, keep their jobs and leave the council tax payers to pick up the tab!

From: Robert Brown 09 September 2019 13:40 PM

So there will be a boom in big cardboard boxes over 6.11 sq metres as the smaller rooms are deemed uninhabitable. Another loony idea to remove the availability of otherwise perfectly good rooms for occupation by those who can't afford anything better.

From: Robert Brown 09 September 2019 13:37 PM

PRS tenants should be even more worried than BTL landlords as they'll be made homeless. Who is going to lend these tenants the money to buy our properties, even if they're a "steal"? Like most loony leftie ideas, this will be totally counter productive, affecting every home owner ( as prices plummet due to the huge numbers of btl properties put up for sale). There will be NO winners if this crazy idea becomes a reality.

From: Robert Brown 09 September 2019 13:30 PM

Presumably the lights will all go out unless it's windy when it's dark? They'll still need conventional or nuclear power stations to keep the lights on on dark calm nights, so this is just yet more virtue signalling hypocrisy.

From: Robert Brown 06 September 2019 10:58 AM

Maybe they'll eventually turn them into the fatted calf? But that would mean planning ahead!

From: Robert Brown 05 September 2019 16:55 PM

If keeping pets is renters' number 1 priority, no wonder they can't save for a deposit to buy their own homes! Get priorities right - no pets, no costa lot coffees, no fancy (leased) cars, no foreign holidays - then deposit funds will grow surprisingly quickly. Keep a self-indulgent indolent lifestyle and keep renting - simples!

From: Robert Brown 05 September 2019 09:34 AM

This loony legislation has just recently led to a massive shortage of accommodation for Edinburgh Festival visitors as Student accommodation, usually available for the Festival, couldn't be advertised early enough as the sitting tenants now only need to give 4 weeks notice. The result is that Landlords need to recoup higher rents from the longer term tenants as the short term rentals couldn't be relied upon this summer. The SNP were warned about this but ignored it as they ignore all common sense financial arguments.

From: Robert Brown 28 August 2019 16:58 PM

Life insurance might cost a 25 year old upwards of £10 per month. That's almost 4 costa lot coffees. No wonder the uptake is low among GR. After all, insuring their profligate lifestyles must come before insuring their lives!

From: Robert Brown 27 August 2019 09:50 AM

A big thank you to the SNP for scaring off many prospective and previous landlords and thus reducing the competition and availability of rental properties. Market forces have therefore caused rents to soar for the best properties over the last 2 to 3 years, after staying almost static for the previous 15 years. Thanks Nicola - but I'll still never vote for you and your loony policies!

From: Robert Brown 27 August 2019 09:47 AM

Posted twice in error but seems impossible to remove second post!

From: Robert Brown 27 August 2019 09:36 AM

I agree with both posts. Decent landlords and tenants have always had good relationships as it's in both their interests. Both type of rogues ignore all the rules, so more regulation helps no one except the self interested "experts" who want to make self-management too complex for the average landlord.

From: Robert Brown 27 August 2019 09:32 AM

Zero Deposit means Zero chance of renting my properties. Pay your way if you want to stay.

From: Robert Brown 23 August 2019 09:27 AM

Yields if 8% are relatively easy to achieve in parts of Glasgow since the SNP prt legislation wounded some landlords and most decent tenants, potentially mortally in some cases. Corbyn will get better yields for surviving English landlords if he's ever voted in.

From: Robert Brown 21 August 2019 13:53 PM

I keep the full £14400 and pay most ongoing costs monthly out of that month's rental income. Periodic refurbishment is budgeted for. That's the best way to maximise cash flow. Surprised any savvy landlords would fall for such expensive scams.

From: Robert Brown 21 August 2019 13:38 PM

In Scotland we are now limited to one rental increase per annum after 3 months ' notice, so I now definitely increase rents annually by as much as the market will bear, whereas before I tended to do so only at tenant change overs. Another case of SNP hurting decent tenants with their crazy legislation that helps no one except the rogues on both sides of the fence.

From: Robert Brown 16 August 2019 10:31 AM

I agree but my main concern is that tenants who can't afford the deposit can't afford the rent. Alternatively they're not prepared to ensure that they take sufficient care of my property to justify full deposit return. Either way my response will be"next please".

From: Robert Brown 16 August 2019 10:23 AM

So 17 out of 15000 landlords flouted the law, which is less than 0.1%, meaning over 99.9% met their obligations. I haven't yet dealt with 1000 tenants but I have certainly had more than 1 tenant acting irresponsibly and illegally. I wonder what % of tenants act equally responsibly in meeting their obligations?

From: Robert Brown 16 August 2019 10:12 AM

Why force experienced landlords to attend an expensive course? We can read. Send us the course material and let us sit an online exam. If we pass, give us accreditation.BTW make the accreditation valid throughout the UK so we're not forced to pay over and over with different local authority schemes.

From: Robert Brown 15 August 2019 10:06 AM

I'm sorry but I have had more issues with tenants introduced by LA's than with tenants that I have interviewed and spoken with their property-owning guarantors. The only solution is to jail rogue tenants for theft ( of rent ) and any criminal damage. I accept people can get into unexpected financial difficulties but if they refuse to leave once two months in arrears with no means or intention of paying future rental payments then that is theft - deliberately and permanently depriving the landlord of rent legally due. Shelter and Councils are also implicated in assisting an offender by advising rent defaulters to stay put until forcibly evicted.

From: Robert Brown 15 August 2019 10:00 AM

Landlords would only contribute to homelessness if they deliberately kept their properties unoccupied, which is the direct opposite of what we want to do. We therefore contribute to reducing homelessness, unlike Shelter, BBC, politicians etc. However GR won't understand the simplicity of such logic.

From: Robert Brown 15 August 2019 09:11 AM

More nanny state stuff! I have lost count of how many tenant change overs I have done and there has never been any need for the tenants to be stressed. If I could trust outgoing tenants more or if there were easily applied significant sanctions then I wouldn't need to be stressed either. Actually I'm no longer stressed or surprised on hand over day, just sometimes annoyed at the lack of maturity and consideration shown by a minority of outgoing tenants.

From: Robert Brown 14 August 2019 10:16 AM

Are Landlords now going to be fined because Tenants won't mop up after showers, dry clothes outside and open the windows? Mould isn't spontaneous or inevitable. It needs damp conditions to thrive and can be easily avoided or eliminated. I can usually predict when I am going to have remedial work to do to eliminate mould by observing how tenants live, particularly whether they have the windows open whenever conditions permit. The same property can be handed back in totally different states depending on the tenants. Don't blame the Landlords!

From: Robert Brown 13 August 2019 15:25 PM

Grown ups pay much more in stamp duty on every move. Renters are getting a bargain!

From: Robert Brown 13 August 2019 12:37 PM

Highest yields are achieved when you don't pay a percentage to a third party.

From: Robert Brown 13 August 2019 12:35 PM

Totally agree. Banning us from stating this only wastes everyone's time. I always put "No Smokers" and that tends to be almost the same thing nowadays, so that is a possible work around.

From: Robert Brown 12 August 2019 19:28 PM

Totally agree. In Glasgow I had to spend £4k on fire doors, alarms etc. so I could rent a. 4 bed flat to 4 people, and pay £1900 for a licence and £900 every 3 years thereafter. Crazy!

From: Robert Brown 08 August 2019 18:42 PM

The SNP were warned of the consequences of not exempting student properties from the crazy prt legislation. This year many students had to take on new flats from 1st June because the final year students left on 31 May or earlier and landlords with nice properties could dictate the entry (but not leaving) dates. Many therefore were paying for two flats for 28 days in June if they hadn't given notice in time. Fixed lease terms are ideal for students and the prt "freedoms" do them no favours. Of course the SNP can't understand the economics of this or they wouldn't be advocating independence, which would be an even bigger economic disaster!

From: Robert Brown 08 August 2019 11:01 AM

The SNP were warned of the consequences of not exempting student properties from the crazy prt legislation. This year many students had to take on new flats from 1st June because the final year students left on 31 May or earlier and landlords with nice properties could dictate the entry (but not leaving) dates. Many therefore were paying for two flats for 28 days in June if they hadn't given notice in time. Fixed lease terms are ideal for students and the prt "freedoms" do them no favours. Of course the SNP can't understand the economics of this or they wouldn't be advocating independence, which would be an even bigger economic disaster!

From: Robert Brown 08 August 2019 10:59 AM

If the affordability ratio is 2.5, then even London at 3.3 is eminently affordable. Looks like time for all rents to rise or landlords will lose their reputations as those responsible for the continuing impoverishment of Generation Rent. Of course pcp car loans, costalot coffees and unaffordable lifestyles have nothing to do with affordability!

From: Robert Brown 08 August 2019 10:51 AM

If the affordability ratio is 2.5, then even London at 3.3 is eminently affordable. Looks like time for all rents to rise or landlords will lose their reputations as those responsible for the continuing impoverishment of Generation Rent. Of course pcp car loans, costalot coffees and unaffordable lifestyles have nothing to do with affordability!

From: Robert Brown 08 August 2019 10:51 AM

Manchester Council could get 3 or 4 properties for the £200k it's already got in fines and house 3 or 4 families.

From: Robert Brown 07 August 2019 11:18 AM

What happened to using common sense? If you don't like the look (or smell) of a property then rent another one!

From: Robert Brown 06 August 2019 10:27 AM

I don't agree with MP's claiming rent when they have another property within commuting distance of their place of "work" but quite happy for them to have btl income from further afield. After all, one of the biggest problems with MP's is general lack of real life experience in jobs, business, unemployment, homelessness etc. In fact, the only real life experience some have had is the inside of a prison cell!

From: Robert Brown 06 August 2019 10:23 AM

Accreditation should be granted on passing a test. There should be no need to attend a council- run course to be accredited. Rogue landlords will still ignore this putting the law abiding majority at a further disadvantage.

From: Robert Brown 05 August 2019 10:06 AM

Totally agree. When do rent defaulters who fraudulently claim housing benefit but don't pay their landlords get fined or jailed?

From: Robert Brown 05 August 2019 10:01 AM

The question should include the cost of aro. Everyone would accept free advance rental payments but not at the exorbitant costs probably associated with such schemes. Given costs such as mortgage payments, factors' fees and ongoing maintenance costs don't get paid annually, it makes sense to match the frequency of incomings and outgoings to even out cash flow.

From: Robert Brown 05 August 2019 09:58 AM

I agree. The only cost to decent tenants in lodging a deposit is the loss of interest. Once a tenant has moved 5 times he has lost the equivalent of the new 5 week deposit using these rip off schemes. I would never rent to someone who couldn't afford or get organised enough to save the normal deposit or who didn't intend to ensure they merited full deposit refund.

From: Robert Brown 02 August 2019 20:13 PM

Nick Duncan. I get the point. Someone wants me to spend money on something neither I nor my tenants need. I too have over 20 years' experience as a LL, building up a £4 million portfolio from an initial £10k deposit on a £60k flat, rented out for £600 per month (which stayed the same for about 12 years but is now £1440 due to SNP anti tenant legislation). During this time I have developed a tenant arrival/departure check list backed up by photos and signed by both parties. No disputes, no arguments, properties are handed back in more or less the same condition or the tenants pay for cleaning, refurbishment, repairs etc. I would rather budget a couple of hundred to fix or restore things than give it to a third party to record things, counting spoons etc.

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2019 22:47 PM

The condition of the property at the start and end of each tenancy is much more important than counting knives and plates. Landlords can easily do all of this themselves with a smart phone and email. No need to employ anyone at OUR expense.

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2019 11:36 AM

The beauty of this is ALL landlords can put up rents, even if they don't have additional costs due to the abolition of tenant fees. Perhaps the Tories and SNP are actually on the Landlords' side after all? If so, imagine how much market rents would rise under Corbyn? On second thoughts.......

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2019 11:30 AM

I'll lend you our SNP lot. They'll soon chase away many landlords and let you have a sellers' market. BTW the deal is that you keep them. It's a gift, not a loan!

From: Robert Brown 31 July 2019 13:19 PM

Andrew I'm also not planning to sell up, but if I were, I might spend a lot on vintage wine and non vintage women and then squander the rest! 😃

From: Robert Brown 29 July 2019 22:30 PM

These are probably the same people who think a broken clock is statistically more accurate than one running 5 minutes slow since it's totally accurate twice a day.

From: Robert Brown 29 July 2019 22:26 PM

This article forgets about the loss of the £40000 lettings relief, which means an additional CGT bill of nearly £12k in addition to the loss of 9 months relief from April 2020. Another fact not mentioned is that the capital gain is added to income which puts any basic income tax payer with a gain of around £40k or less into the higher tax bracket. I wish these writers would give the complete picture and not miss out important chunks of the impact of this sly tax grab.

From: Robert Brown 26 July 2019 10:36 AM

Lots of students move into their new pads in late August, which must distort the numbers massively.

From: Robert Brown 26 July 2019 10:24 AM

At last! An article that recognises that Landlords need their interests protected too, otherwise there will be unintended consequences. No need for a crystal ball. Scottish Landlords have had their right to determine the length of tenancies removed for over 18 months now, resulting in shorter (not longer) tenancies, unexpected voids and higher LA costs, some landlords selling up and thus large hikes in rents for the best properties ( up by around 40% compared to pre 2017 levels).

From: Robert Brown 26 July 2019 10:21 AM

Can't afford the deposit, can't afford the rent. Why forfeit one week's rent when you'll get back your full deposit if you behave yourself? Only someone with less sense than money would think this a good deal!

From: Robert Brown 23 July 2019 12:25 PM

Since the SNP's crazy new PRS legislation in December 2017, which abolished tenant fees and allowed them to leave on 28 days notice at any time, we have seen much shorter tenancies and had to pay higher LA fees more often - so much for their stated aim of letting tenants feel more secure in a long term home! The only saving grace is that now we're using LA's more and having a higher turnover of tenants, our rents have gone up much more much faster as the LA's have kept an eye on what the market will bear. Like all SNP policies it has backfired on the tenants. The same will happen shortly in England.

From: Robert Brown 19 July 2019 10:54 AM

The Darian Scheme was a very bad deal for Scotland and possibly caused much of the emigration which enriched the wider world and disadvantaged the remaining Scots. RBS is/was a global company which happened to have its brass plate in Scotland. This bail out was in the interests of banking world wide and of no direct subsidy to the Scottish people. The Barnett formula simply says that every part of the UK should be supported in proportion to its population, which I think is perfectly fair. Personally I would have preferred to see the four original nations cease to have any unique identity after the Acts of Union, like we no longer differentiate at the level of Mercia, Anglia, Wessex, Northumbria, Dalriada, Fife etc. which all used to be separate kingdoms. The French have the right approach where formerly independent regions are now simply Departments of France. Like them we should have one national government and one national team etc.

From: Robert Brown 18 July 2019 23:04 PM

Clr Corkey thinks it's ok for tenant councillors to protect their interests but would ban landlord councillors from protecting landlord interests. Why should I be surprised?

From: Robert Brown 17 July 2019 11:31 AM

I am no fan of the SNP but racist comments like this are fertile recruiting ammunition for them. Many Scots run British companies, pay English taxes and help improve the quality of the gene pool in England. The UK's richest man has made much of his fortune through Scottish based industries.

From: Robert Brown 17 July 2019 11:26 AM

I would go along with a compulsory exam to ensure landlords knew what they need to do, but not having to sit in a room or undertake an online course that goes at the speed of the slowest on the uptake - been on too many of these when I was an employee!

From: Robert Brown 17 July 2019 11:21 AM

This article explains when you need to make a payment by 31 July. This has been the case for as long as I can remember.

From: Robert Brown 17 July 2019 11:16 AM

The only technology we need is Word ( to produce documents and check lists), Online banking and Excel to ensure we don't go bust (despite the Government's best efforts) and the Internet to keep our knowledge up to date. We don't need fancy apps or scam merchants selling high tech snake oil.

From: Robert Brown 17 July 2019 11:13 AM

The biggest risk to tenants' health is their lifestyle. Smoking, poor diets, drying clothes indoors, not opening the windows and generally relatively inactive and indolent lifestyles. This is my experience over 20 plus years as a landlord.

From: Robert Brown 15 July 2019 09:22 AM

Airbnb, here we come! Higher rents and no problem repossessions. No brainer unless the Governments get a grip!

From: Robert Brown 15 July 2019 09:17 AM

Don't force landlords to attend useless courses. Give them a written test first and only attend a course if they fail.

From: Robert Brown 03 July 2019 15:37 PM

Not surprised. This guy can't even count up to 4, claiming he had only two ovens when pictured in front of the four ovens in his kitchen. He must have taken pr advice from Ed Miliband. He'll be eating bacon rolls next!

From: Robert Brown 01 July 2019 22:08 PM

The SNP war on landlords has led to massive increases in rents for the most sought after properties. UK Government should take note and English landlords take heart.

From: Robert Brown 01 July 2019 22:00 PM

When I was young, suspended meant hung. While that might be too harsh, a suspended sentence for a £50k fraud is far too light. Make the fraudsters repay the cash with punitive interest, like the rest of us have to do if we break current lending rules with banks etc.

From: Robert Brown 01 July 2019 18:09 PM

Mould and damp are usually caused by tenants' life styles, not mopping up after showers, drying clothes indoors, not opening windows or keeping properties adequately heated and ventilated. Faulty fire alarms should be reported, firstly to the landlords and if no luck then to council. Ignoring issues only makes them worse but many tenants do nothing other than moan and landlords get blamed for not fixing things that they know nothing about.

From: Robert Brown 27 June 2019 10:05 AM

Why not get the applicants to bring their own up to date Experian and another Credit Reference Agency report with them on their first viewing? No report - no viewing. Simple, and no need for landlords to waste their time and money.

From: Robert Brown 27 June 2019 10:00 AM

This is shocking but when will rogue tenants be fined for the misery they cause?

From: Robert Brown 27 June 2019 08:57 AM

Shelter and Councils advise tenants to stay put and not pay rent until evicted currently.

From: Robert Brown 21 June 2019 10:07 AM

So the police asked the landlord to take action! Unbelievable! Jail the scum for years!

From: Robert Brown 21 June 2019 09:17 AM

I've often despaired at the amount of waste in builders' skips - nearly full pieces of plaster board, brand new insulation panels, lengths of wood etc. Instead of Councils banning us from taking stuff away from their tips, they should be encouraging us to put excess materials carefully in easily accessible parts of their facility for others to take as required. IKEA are quite good at this, along with some B&Q outlets.

From: Robert Brown 19 June 2019 10:27 AM

Why didn't he let the property and make a tenant do it? I always make tenants responsible for keeping gardens tidy, windows clean and promptly reporting anything needing my attention. He can obviously afford the fine when he's turned away much more in potential rental income over the period. For once I'm on the. Council's side.

From: Robert Brown 19 June 2019 10:21 AM

This will just drive more landlords into moving to short term rentals and take thousands of homes out of the market. Councils will then need to house the homeless in the newly expanded short term rental sector, with no long term security of tenure and much higher rents charged. Governments need to understand that it's no point controlling the cost of something if that action makes the thing unavailable. The SNP did this in Scotland by abolishing hospital car park charges. It's now impossible to get parked at hospitals after about 8.00 am as local workers are hogging the free spaces for 10 hours a day. Affordable market rates balance supply and demand. Anything else just distorts the market and adversely affects those who need the things being interfered with.

From: Robert Brown 19 June 2019 10:15 AM

If wealth were evenly distributed, it would no longer be wealth. Look at the failure of Communism in the former Eastern bloc, Venezuela etc. The prospect of wealth drives hard work, enterprise and provides greater quality job opportunities. Equality can only be a race to the bottom.

From: Robert Brown 18 June 2019 15:07 PM

The current SNP war on landlords is really hurting the good tenants, who were always welcome to stay as long as they liked. Availability of good properties has plummeted, rents up 30% for the best properties, with up to 17 viewers begging to get them The SNP's latest wheeze is to push for rent controls, which will push more landlords into the short term rental arena and further reduce the availability of long term rentals. What the SNP and their loony pals in Shelter, Labour, Greens etc. are actually doing is REDUCING the chances of decent tenants getting long term homes. Such legislation only helps the rogue tenants, but that has long been the only group who might need "help" from Shelter and need any form of compulsion in the property letting market.

From: Robert Brown 18 June 2019 15:02 PM

Doesn't surprise me that the SNP government fails to recognise common sense when it sees it. However this still wouldn't persuade me to let to non working benefit scroungers.

From: Robert Brown 18 June 2019 10:04 AM

So we can't save our poorest no hopers time by saying No DSS. If we say No Smokers that's nearly the same thing and also stops the few working smokers from wasting everyone's time as well. Result!

From: Robert Brown 12 June 2019 17:07 PM

How can you legally avoid lodging Security Deposits with one of the designated organisations?

From: Robert Brown 12 June 2019 15:34 PM

Paul You talk a lot of sense but you forget that the source of the rental surge in Scotland is due to the SNP having abolished AST, so the landlord has NO say in when the tenancy ends, only the tenant can decide (unless they breach the terms of the Scottish Government drafted private rental tenancy (PRT) agreement. That is why many landlords have sold up or moved to holiday rentals. Incidentally the normal holiday rental market has also been screwed up by this legislation as many student flats in Edinburgh, St Andrews, Aberdeen etc. were used as holiday rentals over the summer, but these can't be advertised until the landlord is certain that the current tenants are leaving, and they only need to give 28 days notice. Another feature is landlords are now insisting next academic session's tenants sign up from 1st June, so depriving tourist areas of much needed short term rental accommodation and forcing students to pay over the summer for properties they don't want to occupy. Indeed the only way the SNP could screw things up worse would be by persuading 50.0001% of the Scottish electorate to vote for independence and they only need around 200,000 voters from September 2014 to switch in order to do so. Perhaps the English Brexiteers will nudge them over the line? What a coup that would be, not sending £350m a week to the EU AND saving the £14 billion or so subsidy sent to Scotland as it doesn't have enough Income Tax Payers paying a marginal rate of up to 61% ( and many believe UK Income Tax doesn't go above 45% !). Perhaps Nigel and Nicola have more in common than they imagine? A marriage made in Heaven, probably with Corbyn as the Church Minister!

From: Robert Brown 11 June 2019 22:58 PM

What a surprise? The SNP screw landlords by taking away their right to determine when a tenancy ends, landlords sell up, tenants can't find enough properties, rents go up due to market forces and greater risks borne by landlords - so what next? Rent controls make remaining landlords either sell up or move to short term holiday rentals. Thousands now clamour for the Council to home them. Huge shortage of temporary accommodation pushes up short term rental rates and former long term landlords offer their short term rentals to house the homeless, but at several times what they were getting for the same properties which used to be available for long term rentals. SNP should be careful what they wish for!

From: Robert Brown 11 June 2019 17:00 PM

Surely this can be done by the tenant simply printing off his Experian report and letting the landlord seeit?

From: Robert Brown 10 June 2019 09:07 AM

I agree. If a tenant can't or won't put his own money at risk to guarantee he will respect my properties ( and get all his money back) then I don't want him as a tenant.

From: Robert Brown 07 June 2019 14:05 PM

Landlords might think about selling, but won't unload at crazy low prices unless in real trouble. We're not lemmings!

From: Robert Brown 05 June 2019 10:47 AM

Why not do something really radical. Abolish Council Tax and charge every user 150% of the cost of the services provided, schools, bins, roads etc. The extra 50% would pay for those who genuinely couldn't afford the full 150% charge and every user could choose which School, which bin emptying company etc. to use. Council employees could compete with private sector managers for the jobs.

From: Robert Brown 05 June 2019 10:18 AM

I think these statistics are misleading as a Glasgow flat costing around £200,000 would command a rent of around £800 per month, so taking over20 years to pay back. An entry level flat costing under £130000 would probably only rent for around £500 per month, again taking over 20 years. These two statistics don't apply to the same properties as the purchase price and rental averages are based on completely different samples. Another example of sloppy journalism here.

From: Robert Brown 04 June 2019 16:03 PM

I can't understand why tenants would chose to lose one week's rent plus £26 per annum when the current deposit schemes cost them nothing, apart from a miniscule amount of lost interest. I would regard this as a potential black mark for any tenants wanting to use this scheme and veer towards tenants who are sufficiently organised to have a proper deposit and put this up as a guarantee that they will look after my properties properly in order to justify full return of their own money.

From: Robert Brown 03 June 2019 13:15 PM

Fewer rental properties means higher rents for those landlords who stick it out. Maybe the Tories are still the Landlords' friend after all, while pretending to support the tenants? Perhaps they got together with their very good friends in the SNP to establish how to compensate us for the tax robbery instigated by six-jobs Osborne? Perhaps I'm losing my mind with all the recent landlord -friendly actions by all parties throughout the UK?

From: Robert Brown 31 May 2019 08:56 AM

What a surprise! The final consumer (tenant) always ends up paying as no supplier is running a charity. If MP's had to have real jobs for 10 or 20 years before ruining ( not a typo) the country they might actually make a success of running it!

From: Robert Brown 30 May 2019 09:11 AM

I wonder if the rent-free listed building she lives in is energy efficient, or given she doesn't pay the bills, she won't be too bothered. If it were a PRs property on the other hand.......

From: Robert Brown 29 May 2019 13:21 PM

If Landlords providing homes are forced to pay more tax, why should the short term rental landlords be let off the hook, with £7500 tax free, no checks on fire safety, no "fit and proper" checks etc and potentially free from Council Tax if run as a separate small business.

From: Robert Brown 29 May 2019 09:36 AM

Short term rentals are destroying some residential neighbourhoods and harming properly regulated and safe hospitality businesses. Instead of giving them tax free £7500 they should have additional commercial property taxes imposed to fund proper scrutiny of their safety and compliance with all appropriate rules, including paying the appropriate income tax , commercial mortgage , insurance and local authority rates, instead of masquerading as normal domestic dwellings.

From: Robert Brown 28 May 2019 09:09 AM

If you can't afford a deposit - you can't afford the rent. If you won't risk your own money as assurance you'll respect my property - you won't be allowed to rent my property. Try the Council.

From: Robert Brown 28 May 2019 09:02 AM

Licensing landlords could get rid of the rogues if properly policed and Proceeds of Crime legislation applied to unlicensed rogue landlords. One benefit of the Glasgow HMO 3 year licence is that rents have trebled in the last 12 years since this came into force, and licensed flats are definitely safer, with annual safety checks, fire doors etc.

From: Robert Brown 24 May 2019 20:39 PM

Grateful thanks to the SNP for frightening away many landlords with their crazy December 2017 PRs legislation., allowing tenants to dictate when they leave. Market forces have since caused rents to soar with one flat now getting £2100 per month (about 10% yield) compared to £1500 just 2 years ago, others now getting £1500 compared to £900, again about 10% yield now, or 300% yield based on my original £6000 10% deposit about 20 years ago.

From: Robert Brown 24 May 2019 20:26 PM

If a tenant can't afford the deposit, why believe they'll be able to afford the rent?

From: Robert Brown 24 May 2019 20:18 PM

Property bonds - the new timeshare? You pay real money but don't actually own a real physical asset, although your investment yield will be reduced by maintenance costs over which you have no control.

From: Robert Brown 24 May 2019 20:17 PM

John. If the Welsh Government follow the SNP lunatic letting legislation, you can look forward to rents trebling over the following 5 years, as I have found after 15 years of rental stagnation, although reasonable capital growth occurred then which has now stalled.

From: Robert Brown 22 May 2019 18:39 PM

In total agreement with this post Paul. See what avoiding hyperbole and putting a cogent well reasoned argument can achieve? 😊

From: Robert Brown 22 May 2019 10:10 AM

Paul How is asking property owners to use their equity to prevent the general tax payer funding their care robbery? Surely the robbery is this equity being left untouched to benefit their descendants, whilst the hapless tax payer gets nothing back for having looked after the inheritors' parents in their hours of need?

From: Robert Brown 21 May 2019 15:29 PM

What about sentencing the rent defaulter to do enough unpaid work until he has worked off his debt? I trust the publicity of this case will prevent the rent dodger from defrauding more landlords.

From: Robert Brown 21 May 2019 15:10 PM

Why should Benefit claimants be insulated from the financial realities? Most WORKING people can't afford £1100 per month rent so what makes those on benefits feel entitled to rent expensive properties? I can't afford to fly first class and accept I need to go economy. Do I feel second class? No because I feel self respect for living within my means, paying my own way and contributing to society. If I had to take hand outs then I might feel second class, but would I have any right to feel equal to those who were working hard and helping to keep me? I don't think so!

From: Robert Brown 21 May 2019 15:06 PM

I totally agree but I am locked into the Scottish buy to let market with a huge CGT bill if I sold up. However the SNP war on landlords has hit tenants hard with one flat that 10 years ago got £700 per month now getting £2100 per month, with 17 groups viewing it recently. After about 15 years of reasonable capital growth but minimal rental increases, capital growth has stalled due to the huge LBTT (our stamp duty) bills but the shortage of rental properties has caused rents for the best properties to soar. I can't stand the SNP but love how well their loony policies have helped their most sworn enemies, the private landlords. I bet most of Generation Rent will still blindly vote for them oblivious to the real reasons why they can't get on the housing ladder.

From: Robert Brown 21 May 2019 14:54 PM

Paul I agree that fracking should be encouraged and renewables subjected to rigorous scrutiny, but man made climate change is a proven fact. It's a pity that the Greens don't understand enough science to realise that nuclear power and fracked hydrocarbons are actually greener than current renewable technologies.

From: Robert Brown 21 May 2019 14:44 PM

So if two chasing defines a shortage, how do you define 17 as I had recently?

From: Robert Brown 09 May 2019 09:44 AM

So it's illegal for the landlord to enter his own properties without the tenants' permission. What about tenants staying on without landlords' permission and not paying rent?

From: Robert Brown 09 May 2019 09:40 AM

This is illegal so the Council officials and Councillors should be jailed, like they threaten to do to landlords.

From: Robert Brown 09 May 2019 09:17 AM

Whilst having no sympathy for rogue landlords or tenants, I think this guy is being treated very harshly as it could have been quite dangerous to get heavy with these criminal tenants. How about jailing tenants who continue to occupy properties they reuse to pay rent on?

From: Robert Brown 09 May 2019 09:13 AM

It looks like different areas have different levels of availability or shortage of properties. In the SNP Socialist Republic of Scotland I recently had 17 groups chasing one flat and the rent is 250% of what is was between 5 and 20 years ago. I believe this is proof that screwing Landlords leads to hiked rents and shortage of rental properties.

From: Robert Brown 08 May 2019 13:16 PM

Sincere thanks to the SNP loonies for causing Glasgow room rent rates to be second only to London. A flat I bought nearly 20 years ago for under £60000 with a £6000 deposit now generates £1500 per month, so a yield of 300% on my initial investment. For the first 15 years the rent stayed at £600 per month, but the SNP's war on both landlords and tenants has helped rents to soar in recent years.

From: Robert Brown 03 May 2019 18:17 PM

Rents in Scotland have soared since the SNP war on landlords chased many out of the market causing a shortage in available properties and thus higher rents. However Landlords can no longer control how long tenants can stay or when they leave, with many student properties now empty from late May to early September as landlords can't insist on 12 months lease, hence rents have gone up as only 9 to 10 months rent to cover 12 months costs.

From: Robert Brown 02 May 2019 18:36 PM

In Scotland the SNP war on landlords has led to an upsurge on airbnb, so the SNP now plan to regulate it instead of recognising why this problem arose. Priceless!

From: Robert Brown 29 April 2019 09:33 AM

This is done by big business which is what the Tories are comfortable with. No party supports the small landlords, so this growth, along with grey built student ghettos is no surprise.

From: Robert Brown 29 April 2019 09:25 AM

This should be classed as criminal damage and the tenants prosecuted. Similarly rent arrears after 2 months should be theft. Perhaps Shelter will refund the landlord out of its resources collected in the pretence of providing homes?

From: Robert Brown 29 April 2019 09:21 AM

Why on earth did Osborne give £7500 tax relief to airbnb resident landlords whilst removing mortgage tax relief from genuine landlords providing real homes? Airbnb also causes problems with neighbours and undercuts genuine hotels which need fire regulations etc and provide local jobs.

From: Robert Brown 25 April 2019 10:33 AM

As I have said on previous articles, saying No DSS saves everyone time, hassle and embarrassment. Not being able to say so simply wastes everyone's time and puts even more pressure on benefits claimants as they will no longer have a quick and easy way to establish which properties they can rent.

From: Robert Brown 25 April 2019 10:28 AM

I don't disagree with accreditation provided it can be achieved by passing a written exam and not require or be awarded for attending a mickey mouse, egg sucking, costly course.

From: Robert Brown 25 April 2019 10:18 AM

Landlords shouldn't be afraid of licensing schemes but the most annoying thing is that councils don't go after the unlicensed rogues, even when they're reported to them. Rents do go up to reflect better properties but why should landlords fear that?

From: Robert Brown 24 April 2019 09:16 AM

There are more tenants than landlords and landlords are unlikely to vote Corbyn so both parties will chase tenant votes and stuff landlords.

From: Robert Brown 16 April 2019 09:25 AM

You might have noticed 55.3% of Scots who voted were against independence. Only around 1.6 million out of over 5 million Scots swallowed the SNP lies, unlike the 17 million duped into voting for the"easiest deal in history" promised by UKIP and the right wing tories.

From: Robert Brown 15 April 2019 18:28 PM

Watch them soar once S21abolished. After the new PRS legislation came in Scotland in December 2017 rents soared due to shortage of rental properties. Now the loony lefties are calling for rent caps instead of admitting the real reasons for such rent increases.

From: Robert Brown 15 April 2019 18:17 PM

In Scotland the onus is on the Landlord to establish (and have a written declaration) that unrelated adults are in a relationship before more than 2 unrelated adults can share a non HMO property. All the arguments about right to privacy, presumption of innocence etc. have been tried and failed.

From: Robert Brown 03 April 2019 13:09 PM

LLs don't need LAs to give outgoing tenants an incentive to find new tenants. I've often done this and tied the (modest) incentive in with the old tenant giving extensive notice, new tenant moving in on the day the other one moves out, leaving the flat ready for immediate occupation etc.

From: Robert Brown 03 April 2019 12:49 PM

The wording of this survey question is stupid. Governments should do more to make homes energy efficient but NOT by simply passing the buck on to landlords. I agree with Paul that buyers are unlikely to consider the EPC ratings and neither do tenants in my experience.

From: Robert Brown 03 April 2019 12:42 PM

If a tenant can't afford the deposit, it doesn't bode well for being able to pay the rent regularly without any problems.

From: Robert Brown 02 April 2019 10:26 AM

I usually agree with your posts but cannot accept any denial of our responsibility for climate change. I don't however support the drives to renewables and demonising gas and diesel consumers. Nuclear power is the best way forward for sustainable controllable power generation and can't understand the greens' opposition to this zero emission power source.

From: Robert Brown 01 April 2019 19:05 PM

I don't believe these figures. A&E would be even busier if they are anything like the figures claimed. Most problems are of the tenants' own making in not fixing minor issues and not adequately heating and ventilating properties.

From: Robert Brown 01 April 2019 17:45 PM

Mop up after baths or showers. Don't dry clothes inside and keep properties well heated and ventilated - hey presto - no damp or mould!

From: Robert Brown 20 March 2019 10:36 AM

In Glasgow, a 3 year HMO licence for 4 sharing costs over £1900 and over £900 every three years thereafter. Rents achieved for 4 bed HMO properties have risen from around £1500 per month to over £2000 in the last 2-3 years - thanks to the SNP's 2017 anti landlord legislation and the Council's high licensing charges. Tenants however still think these loony lefties are on their side!

From: Robert Brown 20 March 2019 10:35 AM

I usually sand and varnish the floor boards. I also avoid families but sometimes nature takes its course, resulting in broken beds, stained walls and furniture. Perhaps single beds are the way ahead?

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 10:19 AM

I started with 90% ltv mortgages and exploited gearing to grow my portfolio pretty quickly and now have about £1 million outstanding on a portfolio of £3 to £4 million. Using only cash would have been much less effective, especially with mortgage rates under 2% for much of the last 10 years and gross yields between 7 and 10%.

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 10:12 AM

Short term rental landlords get much better income tax and council tax treatment than landlords providing homes. Crazy!

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 09:56 AM

Only the most undesirable tenants would move into a property with existing problems. Most problems are caused by tenants' life styles. I have a clause in my leases about adequate heating and ventilation, which prevents damp and mould. Another clause is about promptly reporting problems for early resolution.

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 09:53 AM

This is ridiculous. Much of employment law hinges on ludicrous technicalities and now it's spreading into property law.

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 09:45 AM

The Wilsons would sell to sitting tenants if they wanted to buy at the market price. Surely the tenants should be thanking the Wilsons for letting them stay in a nice house that otherwise they couldn't afford. Perhaps Shelter could lend them the cash and avoid them needing to leave?

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 09:39 AM

I agree. He let his arrogance take control and did a lot of harm to landlords who can't afford to sell up and retire. The SNP has ensured tenants now rule up here and Fergus has helped ensure our loony legislation will head south very soon. Typical BBC bias! The Channel 5 programme is much more balanced.

From: Robert Brown 19 March 2019 09:34 AM

I don't think it has a good enough EPC rating so could only be owner occupied. I wonder if only eating beef makes any other insulation unnecessary?

From: Robert Brown 15 March 2019 12:10 PM

Another loony lefty touchy feely load of nonsense. Agree totally with Andrew. Pay rent- get loved. Don't pay rent - get evicted. Simples.

From: Robert Brown 15 March 2019 10:38 AM

We should all now book appointments to view any mansions advertised on Zoopla as they clearly don't believe affordability is a consideration in deciding where to live. I think there's a big house at the top of the Mall that's unoccupied quite a lot, and an even bigger one in Windsor - but not sure about the EPC's.

From: Robert Brown 15 March 2019 10:33 AM

Totally agree. This ban only wastes everyone's time and will demoralise DSS tenants facing multiple rejections whereas before they knew what properties to avoid. Now they'll not know what decent properties might have been available to them. Like all loony lefty ideas this is another race to the bottom.

From: Robert Brown 15 March 2019 10:26 AM

Insurers should trawl short let sites and charge huge additional premiums on this too lightly taxed group of landlords, especially since proper home-providing landlords are taxed into oblivion and charged higher insurance premiums and mortgage rates.

From: Robert Brown 14 March 2019 19:19 PM

The problem with all such schemes is they add to the costs of decent landlords and thus tenants, but rogues will ignore them. Councils should be forced to use all the revenue to go after rogue landlords and fine them so licence fees can be kept very low. An unintended consequence of licenced properties is many btl mortgages are not available for any properties needing a licence from the LA.

From: Robert Brown 28 February 2019 10:31 AM

This question is a bit like "Are you still beating up your wife?". The question should be " Should it be down to us etc.?" Not the "Is it...... "

From: Robert Brown 27 February 2019 11:31 AM

I have grown a £12000 deposit on a £50000 flat to approaching £3 million equity in a £4 million portfolio over 20 years. In the early days I did this by continually remortgaging based on growing property values to get the deposit for a further property. Pensions can't possibly have the leverage effect that property offers, although with slower capital growths and reduced tax reliefs, highly leveraged portfolios are much riskier in the current anti prs environment.

From: Robert Brown 25 February 2019 11:31 AM

A lot of cash sales are for properties which wouldn't get a mortgage and are heavily discounted, so skewing the statistics. It's a bit like highlighting the fact that more than half of all workers earn under the average wage, because some earn so much more thus skewing the figures.

From: Robert Brown 25 February 2019 10:52 AM

By Scottish they mean Edinburgh where airbnb is a scourge in many residential areas. Glasgow has introduced licences for short term rentals in flats but not houses which is missing the point a bit. Insurance companies should be trawling online adverts and penalising clients who breach their policy terms. Osborne's idiotic £7500 rent a room tax break has also allowed short term landlords to evade tax as they will mostly claim they take in less than this. Many of these properties are also exempt from Council Tax whereas landlords providing homes are liable for paying this during void periods.

From: Robert Brown 25 February 2019 10:44 AM

The Scottish Landlords' Association is also very helpful but sadly had no effect on the December 2017 legislation which removed the right to no fault eviction and fixed term leases from Scottish landlords. Now someone has set up a petition on 38 degrees calling for Scottish rent controls, completely missing the reasons why rents have soared due a shortage of rental properties with many landlords selling up.

From: Robert Brown 25 February 2019 10:31 AM

Not when there is a shortage of good quality rental properties. Poor quality landlords might suffer but not those who have several prospective tenants after their properties.

From: Robert Brown 15 February 2019 11:28 AM

Smoke and CO alarms are only required because tenants can't be trusted to act responsibly. Avoidance beats detection so: 1. Don't risk setting fire to my property by NOT smoking, making chips when drunk, lighting candles or anything else. 2. Ensure everything is switched off when not in use. 3. Remember you'll be homeless if you disregard 1 and 2.

From: Robert Brown 15 February 2019 09:01 AM

No doubt we'll soon be inundated with messages of gratitude from GR for taking this risk off their shoulders.

From: Robert Brown 12 February 2019 12:15 PM

Well, pulses, lentils and other budgie foods favoured by GR are cheap, although a major fire hazard during digestion!

From: Robert Brown 11 February 2019 14:25 PM

Surely this article is disagreeing with the first article on how unaffordable London rents are claimed to be?

From: Robert Brown 11 February 2019 10:35 AM

Whilst I hate rogue landlords, surely most sub standard properties are still better than cardboard boxes?

From: Robert Brown 11 February 2019 10:33 AM

This article assumes only 1 wage earner per property. In my early renting days we lived (frugally) on my salary and saved my wife's entire salary towards the mandatory 10% deposit on our first home which was an hour's travel from work. With cheap 100% mortgages becoming more available, purchasing a property is not beyond those GR types who are paying high rents, but perhaps not in the bright lights whilst running leased cars and drinking £3 coffees. They can even get £7500 pa tax free from their spare room towards the mortgage.

From: Robert Brown 11 February 2019 10:29 AM

I record everything on a spreadsheet as it happens so it's done by mid April and in mid January get the 8 or 10 numbers from it to copy directly into my online tax return. It's easy enough to work out what tax reliefs are available without paying an accountant. However this January the online system suggested my repairs etc were too high, so HMRC prefer us to pay more tax rather than keep our properties well maintained!

From: Robert Brown 08 February 2019 10:37 AM

Paul. If you're using your real name, sharing your ideas on how you'll evade various laws and persuade tenants to comply could come back to bite you. A tenant with evidence of your law breaking could become a life long rent free boarder!

From: Robert Brown 08 February 2019 10:03 AM

Or create a simple spreadsheet to do this and more, and save £24 every year.

From: Robert Brown 07 February 2019 22:31 PM

Disgruntled neighbours can help authorities target those abusing the scheme and dodging taxes. Airbnb is a scourge, hurting the homeless, the proper hospitality industry, neighbours and tax paying landlords - and often putting the guests' safety at risk due to lack of adequate fire safety, hygiene training etc.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 22:23 PM

I would rather pay the £2k HMO licence and pocket the extra £600 per month that I can now get due to a shortage of HMO properties. I would also report anyone renting to 3 or more adults without an HMO licence and believe most local landlords would also do so to protect their exclusivity and livelihoods.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 21:01 PM

The one sane thing Glasgow City Council has done is to have mandatory licences for airbnb in city tenements, not that all airbnb landlords will comply! Why they get a £7500 tax free income is beyond me when those providing permanent homes get taxed on turnover.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 15:14 PM

Paul. Be careful! I argued that I couldn't pry to confirm if 4 tenants were actually 2 couples but was warned I (not they) risked criminal prosecution if they weren't able to prove to a court that they were couples. They would only be prosecuted if they committed perjury, not for duping me into thinking they were couples.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 15:00 PM

Paul The crazy thing is that allowing 3 unrelated adults to occupy any 3 room flat would allow around 20,000 students to occupy under 7000 flats instead of 10,000 - releasing over 3000 for occupation by others, including families. However the SNP "government" and local council are currently "consulting" on the "overprovision" of HMO properties when all the evidence is of underprovision!

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 14:49 PM

Funnily enough, I am actually quite happy with the consequences of the SNP in that my rents on a 4 bed flat let to 4 students (with a mandatory HMO licence for 3 or more) having risen from £1500 to £2100 per month over the last 2 years, with £2250 in the pipeline for this June onwards. Lots of LLs have sold up, so I had 17 groups chasing 1 flat last June because of SNP policies. The major risk is tenants leaving in May when graduating but new tenants not wanting in until September. Having high quality well positioned properties mitigates against this but marginal properties could be in trouble come May this year.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 13:04 PM

I agree. I would never again try to sell a property without immediate vacant possession. I have since bought a property with tenants in situ and got it for about 85% of market value because the landlord was in danger of repossession. I was lucky and could wait until my value- reducing tenants could be got rid of at the end of the lease. I had offered them one of my other flats if they co-operated and were astonished that I didn't regard co-operating to include keeping the flat as a tip when viewings were scheduled!

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 12:52 PM

Glasgow's various universities and colleges provide this service free to registered landlords. Possibly many other cities do likewise?

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 09:53 AM

I have tried to sell with sitting tenants but they do nothing to help present the property well. After about 8 months of trying, I let the lease lapse and got a much higher offer within a week of presenting the property as it should have been presented all along. As always, tenants have only themselves to blame if landlords choose to sell with vacant possession to the widest market available.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 09:50 AM

I would say this is very late data rather than the latest data. Scottish landlords have known this for over a year, ever since the SNP's war on landlords removed our right to set fixed term tenancies and allowed tenants to leave any time on 4 weeks' notice. Larger properties can't be let to more than 2 unrelated adults unless a licence costing around £2000 for the first 3 years is obtained. This also needs costly alterations and annual checks, hence over 10% rises. If the rest of the UK wants evidence of the effects of loony anti landlord legislation, it's in this article.

From: Robert Brown 06 February 2019 09:43 AM

I agree with everything said above, but as someone who spent 3 years of my early childhood with my parents living in one room as a sub tenant while on a council house waiting list I feel for the decent tenants denied homes hogged by rent dodgers defrauding the HB or UC systems. Why does Shelter not prioritise the decent homeless or over crowded over the feckless rent dodgers?

From: Robert Brown 04 February 2019 10:22 AM

Great idea Paul! First people to contact are the parents of the SNP First Minister (current female one - not her predecessor now facing various sexual harassment charges). Her parents still reside in the ex Council house they bought at a discount while she lives in a multi million town house mansion courtesy of the tax payer and National Trust.

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 17:43 PM

Another biased headline! It should read "Tenants might face inflation or cost based rent increases, but many won't as landlords decide to absorb these to keep good tenants" Somehow the truth makes less interesting headlines!

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 16:46 PM

So far, 710 people have viewed this, 73% say they support this petition but only 58 people have actually signed it! Come on, if you support it, sign it!

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 11:34 AM

If tenants can afford pets, they can afford to pay any necessary insurance against damage. Being a pet owner is not a disability, religion, race, sexual orientation etc - so discrimination against pet owners refusing to take full responsibility for them is not only legal but justified.

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 11:29 AM

There was another article a few days ago stating landlords got over £17 billions in "tax relief". If 50% of landlords pay 20% tax and 50% pay 40% tax, this means landlords have incurred annual expenses of around £50 billions in non capital expenditure as well as around £1 trillion in capital investment, all to provide homes for those who can't or won't afford to buy.

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 11:23 AM

In Scotland, 3 bedroom properties and bigger cannot be let to more than 2 unrelated adults unless the landlord gets an HMO licence which costs around £2000 for the first 3 years, along with expensive alterations etc. Allowing 3 adults to share any 3 bed property could reduce the cost per occupant by 33% and also save landlords thousands on unnecessary expense on licence fees.

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 11:08 AM

The key point in this article is decent tenants get rewarded with stable rents and long term occupation of good properties. Why then does Shelter etc want to deny decent tenants such opportunities by preventing landlords from getting rid of rogue tenants so their properties can be made available for the decent majority of tenants?

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 11:00 AM

Only recently there was an article on rents rising, which is my recent experience. The most telling point in this article is landlords want to keep decent tenants and so tend to keep rents the same. Why then does everyone want to deny decent tenants good properties by making it so difficult to get rid of rogue tenants? Shelter and the Corbunists are the biggest culprits in this crazy policy against decent tenants and landlords. .

From: Robert Brown 01 February 2019 10:55 AM

Since the average tax rate was probably around 30%, another way of presenting this info was that landlord paid almost £60 billions in revenue expenditure in providing homes for those who couldn't or wouldn't buy their own. This figure is probably an underestimate, given the proportion of properties own outright and ignores the actual capital investment made by landlords, which probably exceeds £1 trillion.

From: Robert Brown 31 January 2019 16:23 PM

Since the average tax rate was probably around 30%, another way of presenting this info was that landlord paid almost £60 billions in revenue expenditure in providing homes for those who couldn't or wouldn't buy their own. This figure is probably an underestimate, given the proportion of properties own outright and ignores the actual ca

From: Robert Brown 31 January 2019 16:21 PM

I get the figures ready between April and June but only submit them and pay the tax due in mid January. Incidentally I noticed that the HMRC system queried the level of my outgoings this year, although they were well in line with previous years' figures. Perhaps HMRC would prefer us to not maintain our properties so that we would pay more tax?

From: Robert Brown 31 January 2019 16:12 PM

Aren't you breaking the law by not depositing the deposit with a registered scheme? Not criticising, just interested in any legal way to avoid using these tenant-friendly schemes?

From: Robert Brown 31 January 2019 13:23 PM

In many blocks it's the owner occupiers who refuse to pay for common repairs, not the private landlords who want to present properties as pristine as possible to maximise rent values.

From: Robert Brown 23 January 2019 18:52 PM

About the only sensible thing the SNP have done in Scotland is to ban RTB so any remaining social housing cannot be sold to anyone, even at full market value. I suspect Thatcher's motivation was that Councils wouldn't evict strikers for rent arrears but banks wound for mortgage arrears.

From: Robert Brown 23 January 2019 18:47 PM

High enough fines could make this self funding (like parking fines etc.) but it's an easy life for most council employees who blame "austerity and cut backs" every time they fail to do what we're paying them for.

From: Robert Brown 23 January 2019 12:53 PM

In Scotland the Council doesn't even remind you when your licence is due to expire and seems to do nothing to track down rogue landlords. I had an unlicensed landlord in the same block who refused to pay his share of common repairs but the council don't seem interested. However, if I forgot to renew my licence........Good landlords are like drivers - easy pickings, but the rogues still get away with it every time!

From: Robert Brown 23 January 2019 12:49 PM

Reply to John: I have done well with property values growing strongly between 1998 and 2008, but minimal growth since. By contrast, rents remained pretty static until about 2014 but have grown by 50 to 70% since 2014. Both these things are largely due to the exodus of landlords who are afraid of weathering the storm created by the SNP which makes Osborne's attacks on the prs seem lightweight in comparison.

From: Robert Brown 11 January 2019 13:45 PM

I don't disagree but shudder at the thought of any alternative government's potential treatment of landlords. Look at the harm the SNP have done to landlords and tenants in Scotland!

From: Robert Brown 09 January 2019 09:29 AM

Northern England might be OK but beware of risking the wrath of the SNP by being a landlord in Scotland!

From: Robert Brown 08 January 2019 16:35 PM

These schemes miss the main point. Good tenants get back every penny of their deposit. Why trust any tenant who prefers the certainty of losing this insurance premium to the responsibility of taking care of our properties and putting their own money at risk? Yes another misguided plan to molly coddle the feckless and prevent them from taking responsibility for their own actions.

From: Robert Brown 08 January 2019 14:57 PM

Scottish prices seem to be holding up or even increasing in popular areas, despite SNP attempts to bankrupt the whole country with free University education for EU students, free prescriptions etc. Thank God for the Westminster subsidies under the Barnet formula!

From: Robert Brown 08 January 2019 14:50 PM

Rents are going up faster than inflation because so many landlords have sold up due to SNP attacks on landlords even exceeding those by Westminster, including 4% penalty on stamp duty and 41% income tax on earrings over around £44k and 61% marginal tax rate on incomes just over £100k. No one mentions the years when rents didn't go up at, between around 1988 and 2012, despite property costs more than doubling during this period.

From: Robert Brown 08 January 2019 14:44 PM

I'm sorry but I really don't know who or what David Price is blaming for homelessness. Please enlighten me.

From: Robert Brown 04 January 2019 22:36 PM

I can't understand why Westminster targets landlords who provide homes, taxing them on "income" they haven't actually earned by withdrawing mortgage tax relief, yet giving airbnb landlords £7500 tax free income as a reward for harming residential areas, removing homes from the market and screwing up genuine hotel businesses who pay taxes and employ staff.

From: Robert Brown 04 January 2019 11:16 AM

I would prefer taking all their money to providing free b&b. Wish this we're done more often.

From: Robert Brown 03 January 2019 17:53 PM

I have grown a £12000 initial deposit on a £48000 flat which generated £600 per month gross rent 20 years ago into over £2 million equity in a £3 million portfolio generating over £20000 per month gross rent. I doubt many stock market investors could claim to have turned £12000 into £2 million over the last 20 years and have £20k per month dividends. As long as we can get gearing through cheap mortgages I believe btl will beat the stock market. My worst investment was an Equitable Life pension scheme, so I'm done with"balanced" portfolio planning!

From: Robert Brown 03 January 2019 17:43 PM

Wow! Something done by Glasgow City Council that I approve of? I wish Edinburgh and Holyrood - and Westminster- would also act to control the scourge which removes quality homes from the market, gives £7500 tax free income to owner occupiers and free Council Tax relief to the rest, while normal landlords have to pay tax on earnings they haven't had!

From: Robert Brown 31 December 2018 18:18 PM

The clear advantages to landlords are so clear they're invisible! I predict many student tenants will leave at the end of May as they only need to give 28 days notice and many flats will remain empty over the summer vacation whereas we used to be able to get 12 month leases but can no longer insist on any minimum term.

From: Robert Brown 28 December 2018 15:41 PM

We saved our deposit by living on only one salary, not having Costa coffees, holidays and running a very old car. Come to think of it, that's also how we saved our first btl deposit whilst paying up to. 15% mortgage interest. IMHO property is no less affordable than it was in the 70's and 80's - just priorities and ambitions have changed with reluctance to make any sacrifices.

From: Robert Brown 28 December 2018 08:55 AM

I do my accounts early but don't submit them until mid January and pay the tax during the same log on. No point in giving HMRC information too early and inviting an enquiry when they've nothing better to do with their time.

From: Robert Brown 24 December 2018 09:55 AM

Why is it illegal for tenants to have smaller rooms than home owners? Does this mean small cardboard boxes can only be occupied by their owners? If so, does finders keepers imply full ownership, or can we look forward to many cardboard box evictions to comply with "tenant protection" legislation?

From: Robert Brown 24 December 2018 09:50 AM

Does this illustrate the advantages of being able to call in either the IRA or UVF depending on your allegiance?

From: Robert Brown 19 December 2018 13:04 PM

Ian. Your logic is impeccable - so Civil Servants will probably tell you that you can't do that!

From: Robert Brown 19 December 2018 12:59 PM

So we should only discriminate when the Home Office tells us to? If we don't do it then we're breaking the law. If we do it at any other time then we're breaking the law. That's nice and clear then!

From: Robert Brown 19 December 2018 09:26 AM

Happy to give safety advice - use your common sense and if you haven't any please move and burn down someone else's property!

From: Robert Brown 18 December 2018 09:19 AM

Don't disagree with targeting rogue landlords but what about helping decent landlords go after rogue tenants just as easily?

From: Robert Brown 18 December 2018 09:14 AM

Why did it take several years to get to this stage? Come to think of it, that's probably speed of light for a Council! For once I support a Council's actions but hope the money goes into the public purse and not repaid to tenants who willingly rented the properties. This article doesn't make this at all clear.

From: Robert Brown 17 December 2018 09:31 AM

In Scotland an HMO licence is needed if more than 2 unrelated adults share any property. However there is a severe shortage of quality HMO properties, resulting 17 groups wanting the last one I had vacant and a 25% increase in market rent compared with 2 years earlier. HMO properties are also safer with fire doors, alarms etc and annual electrical as well as gas safety checks.

From: Robert Brown 14 December 2018 10:19 AM

Terry. You made the same comment about Holyrood. Unfortunately in Scotland it's taken the title government and Westminster has given it carte blanche to screw everyone earning over £26k with a marginal effective tax rate of up to. 61%.

From: Robert Brown 13 December 2018 10:35 AM

I'm already getting around 10% yield in Glasgow flats. This latest SNP attack on tenants will probably push this up as the availability of good rental properties continues to fall.

From: Robert Brown 13 December 2018 10:29 AM

Many of these articles state the obvious but this one takes the biscuit!

From: Robert Brown 13 December 2018 10:25 AM

I agree. In PRS land no good turn goes unpunished!

From: Robert Brown 12 December 2018 12:28 PM

I agree but shudder at how much worse a loonier Corbyn government would make things!

From: Robert Brown 12 December 2018 12:25 PM

Rents have risen much faster in Scotland, where the SNP "government" is hell bent on attacking landlords, having removed all rights of the landlord to determine the length of leases and limited rent rises to maximum of one every 12 months, so that means they will definitely go up every 12 months. If anyone wants proof of how interference back fires on tenants then look at the Scottish PRS over the last year.

From: Robert Brown 11 December 2018 20:22 PM

Surprised, but heartened by this verdict. I wonder how much he would have been awarded if he hadn't wrecked their stuff? Maybe Shelter will start to advise rent dodgers to leave before this happens to them now?

From: Robert Brown 10 December 2018 12:01 PM

I won't take tenants who would prefer an insurance scheme to putting up their own money as a deposit. If they're not confident about taking care of my property and thus getting their full deposit returned then someone else can risk renting their property to them.

From: Robert Brown 10 December 2018 11:57 AM

It probably is and he's changed it to avoid the discrimination suffered by many white middle class males from all aspects of our public sector! Come to think of it, maybe that's why it was allowed to escalate to such a level?

From: Robert Brown 07 December 2018 10:56 AM

When there is a shortage of homes, it's crazy to ban otherwise perfectly habitable properties from being rented out to tenants willing to take them and the associated higher energy costs.

From: Robert Brown 07 December 2018 10:51 AM

Same in Glasgow. A gap of 1 to 2 months should be allowed to cover voids and refurbishment. I had an appeal disallowed because the Council claimed a trashed bathroom with no usable w.c. didn't mean the flat was "uninhabitable"!

From: Robert Brown 07 December 2018 10:47 AM

Andrew. I usually agree with your comments but don't on this occasion. I have always used the leverage of high LTV mortgages to increase my portfolio as I pay around 2% interest on them but get up to 10% yield on renting them out. Over the last 20 plus years they have grown in value by 300 to 400%, so an initial investment of around £12000 on a £50000 flat in 1997 would have grown to equity of over £150000 on a £200000 flat yielding £25000 per annum gross rent. However, by remortgaging, that same £12000 of my money has been augmented by around £1 million of mortgage finance to build up equity of around £2 million in a £3 million portfolio, yielding close on £250000 gross rental income. I therefore believe it's better to use the money saved by the over cautious risk averse savers to multiply the return on my own more sensibly invested funds.

From: Robert Brown 07 December 2018 10:35 AM

David. Join the real world and look at the evidence. Whilst there is a shortage of homes, rents will always rise to cover costs including taxes, so tenants end up worse off. The fact that 100% of respondents agree more homes need built proves most landlords are fair and decent. Many tenants live in rental properties they couldn't afford to buy, lease cars they couldn't afford to buy and spend all their spare cash on expensive holidays, coffees and nights out. They should thank God for sensible landlords subsidising their profligate lifestyles!

From: Robert Brown 07 December 2018 10:22 AM

Proves my point in an earlier post. The rogue landlords are obvious. Leave the decent ones alone, cut bureaucracy and screw the rogues with the resources diverted from bureaucracy.

From: Robert Brown 06 December 2018 09:30 AM

If he was so notorious, why was he not stopped much earlier. Councils should focus on scum like this instead of going after decent landlords who haven't been told a smoke alarm is broken or tenants have allowed mould to take hold.

From: Robert Brown 06 December 2018 09:27 AM

So we can confidently expect a huge thank you from tenants, councils and government for taking such a huge risk in such uncertain times?

From: Robert Brown 06 December 2018 09:21 AM

I totally agree. Pay monthly in advance direct to landlord, guarantee to cover any losses due to damage etc when tenants leave and make eviction easier and faster. - THEN we might consider helping out the Councils who can't do what they're already paid to do.

From: Robert Brown 04 December 2018 12:05 PM

Or another way of putting this would be to say Landlords save Generation Rent, Councils and Government up to £1000 billions in investing in affordable housing by doing it for them - but that would be too much like giving Landlords due credit for doing a vital but thankless job!

From: Robert Brown 04 December 2018 11:56 AM

Sincere thanks to the SNP whose anti landlord legislation has helped rents rocket for high demand properties.

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:37 PM

Good landlords sometimes get landed with bad tenants. I think it's rare that a good tenant will end up stuck with a bad landlord though.

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:34 PM

If mortgage rates go down, property prices go up and rents also go up. If mortgage rates go up, rents go up. If mortgage rates stay the same, rents go up with general inflation and market forces. I can't think of any scenario when rents would go down or when I would agree to a rent reduction.

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:30 PM

In Scotland it's now impossible for landlords to specify and end date for tenancies and tenants can leave after 28 days notice any time or stay for 28 years unless the landlord uses a limited number of reasons to evict. Too early to say what long term effects will be, but short term effect has been landlords selling up, shortage of good properties and rents rocketing - so no complaints so far!

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:19 PM

Glasgow's west end can generate yields of well over 10% since rents started to rocket following the SNP' s anti landlord (and thus anti tenant) legislation in December 2017.

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:12 PM

I didn't see anything about airbnb landlords spending some of their money on income tax. I suspect they are major players in the black economy, so they'll get on well with their construction contractors! It's time the Chancellor stopped stuffing landlords who provide homes and concentrated on those who are stuffing the regulated hotels and boarding houses.

From: Robert Brown 03 December 2018 12:07 PM

Until they can buy their own properties they shouldn't expect all the privileges that come with ownership. Until I can afford to fly 1st class I accept that I don't get free champagne.

From: Robert Brown 28 November 2018 10:18 AM

I tried to sell a property with tenants in situ. Disaster! Place never clean and tidy for viewing and only ludicrous offers. After the lease finished, we marketed the property as if we lived in it ourselves and sold it within 2 weeks at the top end of our expectations. I would never try to sell a property with tenants in situ, as any loss of rent is small compared to the difference in selling price achieved. I've also bought a property with sitting tenants and got a bargain then.

From: Robert Brown 27 November 2018 17:21 PM

I will treat everyone who can afford my properties out of earned income equally and accept them as tenants. Equally I will reject everyone who can't afford to rent them out of their own earned income. Surely that's observing equality?

From: Robert Brown 27 November 2018 09:13 AM

I do a lot of student lets and find the threat of a ccj concentrates the minds of relatively affluent parents in the rare occasions where they get stroppy. The only downside is having to go and change light bulbs, unblock loos and sinks, wash windows and weed gardens - but the higher rents and zero arrears compensate for any extra work. Also any damage tends to be due to irresponsibilty rather than malice.

From: Robert Brown 26 November 2018 10:39 AM

So we have these cumbersome Government sponsored deposit schemes to deal with under 1% of tenancy deposit issues! Why not allow Landlords who have never abused it to retain the deposit (as we used to do) and put the interest earned on it to remedy the inevitable (usually minor) damage at the end of every tenancy.

From: Robert Brown 26 November 2018 10:21 AM

I think this woman is despicable and one of the reasons Landlords are all vilified. However I take issue with the use of "forced" as these people were not locked in the premises and presumably preferred them to cardboard boxes?

From: Robert Brown 26 November 2018 10:16 AM

The Council or Government could GUARANTEE that Landlords be fully covered for all losses for providing HOMES for people they themselves CAN'T or WON'T help. Perhaps SHELTER could set up a fund to compensate out of pocket Landlords instead of encouraging rent dodgers to stay put and deny homes to tenants who would pay their way?

From: Robert Brown 26 November 2018 10:06 AM

I don't agree that this is landlord's behaviour can be defended or that this is just another case of landlord bashing. People like this landlord are the reason the rest of us who try our best are vilified.

From: Robert Brown 20 November 2018 19:47 PM

The council should confiscate her properties and make them into Council houses and Council tenants.

From: Robert Brown 19 November 2018 18:22 PM

Public sector officials and "representatives" should have to risk their OWN money and positions - like the hapless landlords - when they persecute the public they're supposed to serve. Only then will we have a level playing field. HMRC are also very guilty of this. If the council think tenants are"forced" to live in "sub standard" conditions they should build more homes. I've never seen a cardboard box that gives 8 square metres of floor space.

From: Robert Brown 19 November 2018 10:30 AM

In Glasgow, using the gearing of a 75% mortgage at 2% quadruples the gross yield on my own 25%. My best flat gets £2100 per month with mortgage interest of around £300. Without using mortgages my portfolio and gross yields would be only about 25% of what I currently achieve.

From: Robert Brown 16 November 2018 09:22 AM

Scotland already has this, which is the only potential benefit of last December's SNP legislation which obliterated almost all Landlords' rights over their own properties, but time will tell. The article talks of the rare times when landlords need court help but suggests tenants are often at the mercy of their landlords! My experience is only bad tenants need fear their landlords and even then poor practice is a rarity.

From: Robert Brown 14 November 2018 13:08 PM

The landlord should have sought legal advice but the Council should step in to pay the Landlord directly in such circumstances - cheaper than putting 10 people up in B&B as no sensible landlord will take this family on now. The benefits system needs an injection of common sense to avoid penalising landlords where tenants have failed to follow the rules. No sense in taking away his licence and making 15 other families homeless as I doubt he'll make the same mistake again.

From: Robert Brown 13 November 2018 11:19 AM

In Scotland, after the SNP's war on tenants (and therefore on tenants) a flat worth £250,000 can generate £2100 per month, so over 10% yield and zero voids due to supply and demand imbalances. If, like me you invest 25% and borrow 75% at around 2% interest only, then the gross yield on your own investment grows to over £21k pa on £63k invested, making around 33% before costs and taxes. Given my earliest properties were bought over 20 years ago for under £100k on 90% mortgages, these are delivering annual gross yields of over 200% on my initial deposits even before any capital growth is taken into account.

From: Robert Brown 13 November 2018 11:09 AM

Totally agree with both the above comments. Let's have a Rogue Tenants register!

From: Robert Brown 12 November 2018 13:57 PM

No doubt the Hungarian tenants knew enough English to claim all the benefits they feel"entitled" to? Did this £1000 get put towards the rent arrears? Today's BBC News reports that UC rent arrears are up by 260% in Council properties. Perhaps they'll now be a bit more sympathetic to Private Landlords? I think I already know the answers to both these questions!

From: Robert Brown 12 November 2018 13:50 PM

Thanks for your support. The removal of fixed term leases in Scotland only helps bad tenants hog good properties and prevents good tenants from getting them. Good tenants can virtually always rely on being able to stay long term but the new legislation means good neighbours being lumbered with bad neighbours who can't be easily removed. Landlords also can't rely on good tenants staying long term so need to maximise rents and minimise expenditure on improvements. Only bad tenants win!

From: Robert Brown 07 November 2018 09:49 AM

13.7% rise over 4 - 5 years is probably less than inflation over the same period. I would hope rents would outstrip inflation, especially with poor capital growth and punitive GGT imposed on any sales profit. Ironically Hammond's removal of Letting Relief will probably help retain properties in the rental market but reduce the availability for such properties to first time buyers and push up capital values.

From: Robert Brown 07 November 2018 09:40 AM

Big surprise! People who can't afford to buy their own property are twice as likely to be in fuel poverty than owner occupiers! Previous articles have pointed out the nonsense of taking less fuel efficient properties out of the rental market. How fuel efficient are cardboard boxes or doorways? Until the general housing shortage is fixed, the government should be helping and not penalising the prs who are at least providing homes instead of cardboard boxes!

From: Robert Brown 07 November 2018 09:28 AM

The SNP's war on private landlords has predictably backfired on tenants as landlords pull out of the market and those who are left ensure they reap the rewards of market forces whilst awaiting more draconian misconceived ideology driven measures. This article understates the rental increases in high demand properties, with rents for 4 bed student flats near Glasgow University growing from £1500 to £2100 per month over the last 18 months. Thanks Nicola. Keep your. "reforms" coming!

From: Robert Brown 06 November 2018 14:17 PM

Eliminating "draughts" means eliminating natural ventilation which leads to increased condensation which leads to mould which then gets the landlord labelled as "rogue". Tenants rarely keep properties adequately heated and ventilated, usually insist on drying clothes indoors but won't take responsibility for any mould that results. The government's intervention is as usual missing the point and counter productive as the above two posts clearly demonstrate.

From: Robert Brown 06 November 2018 14:03 PM

Good to see RLA doing something for a change!

From: Robert Brown 05 November 2018 13:26 PM

Surprised only 60% of readers favour a clamp down on airbnb. This activity changes the character of many residential areas in tourist hotspots, threatening viability of properly regulated hotels etc and giving owners additional £7500 tax free incomes without observing safety measures required by professional hoteliers and landlords providing proper homes.

From: Robert Brown 02 November 2018 09:42 AM

Oh dear! Join the real world! Owner occupiers have to source their own repairers AND pay for them, no matter when problems occur. In my experience, tenants often ignore warning signs or problems that could be nipped in the bud and repaired economically during normal working hours. They wait until it needs dealt with urgently. This service will only encourage this behaviour. Instead tenants need to learn responsibility if they ever hope to buy and maintain their own home.

From: Robert Brown 02 November 2018 09:30 AM

Airbnb is a much bigger threat than prs as airbnb takes permanent homes out of the system, whereas prs provides long term homes to good tenants. Government needs to get a grip and understand the benefits prs brings to society.

From: Robert Brown 30 October 2018 13:32 PM

Can't understand any landlord supporting a no deposit scheme. It's difficult enough to ensure tenants respect your property when they have a deposit to lose. If they leave my properties as found they get a prompt refund of the full deposit, so zero cost other than lost interest. These schemes add an unnecessary cost and raise questions over the tenants' commitment to look after my properties.

From: Robert Brown 19 October 2018 11:00 AM

This is the inevitable outcome of the SNP policy of protecting tenants against landlords in all circumstances. The rest of the UK should follow the damage done to the prs in Scotland by these idiots and ensure they don't allow their loony party and charities to repeat this debacle.

From: Robert Brown 19 October 2018 10:53 AM

If the Government regulations allowed in safe panels then private landlords should be compensated. If the suppliers fitted panels which were illegal then they should pay. As a backstop, building insurance should pay. To put the cost on already beleaugered landlords is unfair and will lead to even higher rents.

From: Robert Brown 19 October 2018 10:48 AM

If the Government or local council wants us to let to DSS tenants then they should guarantee that the landlord won't be out of pocket, with full rent and all remedial work paid in full, no quibble, for the entire length of the tenancy. We can get such guarantees from normal renters' guarantors so why should we settle for something worse from DSS tenants?

From: Robert Brown 19 October 2018 10:39 AM

So £1 million of deposits are "stolen" each year. What amount of unpaid rent or uncompensated damage is stolen from landlords each year?

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 19:29 PM

Why rent to someone who doesn't expect to leave the property as he found it and therefore get the full deposit back, no quibble?

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 19:26 PM

In Scotland the SNP have listened to idiots like this, ignored landlords and rents for the most popular properties are up 25 to 30%, with many chasing each property. This guy and his loony pals are ignoring the consequences because they are hell bent on pursuing their ideology whatever the real life outcomes.

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 19:21 PM

Both above posts raise valid points but living near this house must have been a nightmare, and the neighbours were certainly forced to do so, even if the tenants weren't. I think the fine is ludicrously small and not even a criminal conviction, just a civil penalty like a parking ticket.

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 17:53 PM

Can't understand why anyone thinks this is a bad idea, provided the info is genuine and verifiable. Now that the SNP "government" has taken away landlord's right to determine the length of the lease, some proof of stable rental history would be very useful information in Scotland especially.

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 17:47 PM

What a shame! I do hope oligarchs who have recently bought in this market don't lose any of their freshly laundered cash!

From: Robert Brown 18 October 2018 17:39 PM

Scotland's rents rising highest, even although our economy is lagging further and further behind the rest of the UK. Both factors due to SNP interference and incompetence. The big boys in the UK parliament should check out the harm done to Scottish tenants by meddling in the prs. My own rents for good high demand properties are up around 30% over their 2016 levels, with one 4 bed flat getting £2100 per month, compared to £1500 two years ago.

From: Robert Brown 14 October 2018 20:42 PM

Your calling us "idiots" tends to suggest you have not yet matured! Having rented to students for over 20 years, raised 3 former student offspring and been one myself, my experience is that any credit you give them for common sense is usually unwarranted. Only once they learn to study at the University of Life do they usually merit being treated like adults. All political parties know this and so will try to bribe them, Labour by promises to abolsh tuition fees and write off loans, Tories by pretending to help them with cheaper rents and help to buy schemes. The Banks have also been conning them with freebies for years. I hope you'll soon be mature enough able to understand and absorb this valuable information.

From: Robert Brown 13 October 2018 16:26 PM

I agree. Scottish landlords are the hardest hit by SNP meddling and our rents are up by 3 times the UK average at 5.6% annual increase, despite our economy lagging way behind - again due to SNP incompetence.

From: Robert Brown 13 October 2018 16:13 PM

Big surprise! SNP screw private landlords with crazy new prs legislation and Scottish rents up by over 3 times UK average! This 5.6% increase actually downplays the situation for many areas in Scotland. For good high demand properties, rents are actually up about 30% over 2016 levels. Thanks SNP. Keep this up you might win over Scottish Tories yet!

From: Robert Brown 13 October 2018 16:03 PM

All of these ideas are cr*p. Their only effect on me would be to ensure that I was always getting the maximum rent possible to mitigate against potential higher costs.

From: Robert Brown 13 October 2018 15:50 PM

Vindicates what many have said in earlier posts. Screw the Landlord and win the tenants' vote. Only problem is many tenants don't bother to go on the voters' roll or drag themselves along to the polling station. Build more properties and everyone wins!

From: Robert Brown 11 October 2018 09:19 AM

We should swamp this silly woman's email system demanding she backs up her assertions with evidence, or withdraws them and publicly apologises to our much maligned business community.

From: Robert Brown 10 October 2018 15:44 PM

I agree. Many tenants also have new cars on pcp leases and several fancy holidays each year, both things I can't do because I'm more responsible with my money and budget to meet my obligations.

From: Robert Brown 10 October 2018 10:08 AM

Tenants should read their lease and public domain information. There's nothing secret about their rights and obligations. Public money shouldn't be wasted on helping those who won't help themselves!

From: Robert Brown 10 October 2018 09:51 AM

So good prospective tenants will be denied properties being hogged by less deserving sitting tenants. Every landlord will know tenants who have had to move out of their previous property will have been at fault. Another case of shooting in the foot!

From: Robert Brown 10 October 2018 09:46 AM

I have just read this article again. Half the CGT relief is to go to the tenant. Who has taken the risk in investing in and maintaining a home for someone else? 100% the landlord! I really don't see why half the tax relief should go to the tenant or why a sitting tenant should get a better deal than anyone else who wants on the housing ladder. The £2000 scrappage deal put up the price of new cars. Help to Buy has made millions more for house builders. This would also put up prices. Governments might try but they can't defeat market forces.

From: Robert Brown 08 October 2018 10:50 AM

I agree. This has already happened in Scotland. In fact if the UK Government wants to see how loony ideas backfire on tenants they only need to look up here where rents are up 25 to 30% over last two years in high demand areas - so landlords shouldn't be too concerned but tenants should be very careful what they wish for!

From: Robert Brown 08 October 2018 10:40 AM

Everything seems to be focused on giving more rights to tenants. Good tenants can easily get long term tenancies. Why help bad tenants? Instead make it easier for landlords to get rid of bad tenants and then the good tenants can have greater choice with properties no longer hogged by bad tenants.

From: Robert Brown 08 October 2018 10:35 AM

All great comments above. Dodging rent, whether on benefits or not should count as theft. Unrepaired damage beyond wear and tear should be criminal damage.

From: Robert Brown 02 October 2018 12:27 PM

What this shows is that the vast majority of landlords do things correctly in all the areas surveyed above. The researchers should stress the positives and advise those tenants with bad landlords what remedies are open to them.

From: Robert Brown 02 October 2018 12:15 PM

Basic market economics. Don't see any flavour of government changing this for the better ( tenant eye view) any time soon. As a landlord with no need or intention to bail out, I'm quite happy for the current situation to continue improving (landlord eye view).

From: Robert Brown 01 October 2018 14:04 PM

I totally agree. If tenants paid £850 extra in a year, we would still be well out of pocket in removing all traces of their handywork once they have left. If they don't like the professionally decorated properties we supply, many more tenants are available who will be delighted with them.

From: Robert Brown 01 October 2018 13:57 PM

The Tories are set to lurch to the left to attract moderate labour and angry lib dem voters. Don't expect any landlord - friendly policies any time soon. I also don't see how reducing CGT for landlords who want to bail out can help the availability of rental property. Come to think of it, that probably means it will happen!

From: Robert Brown 01 October 2018 13:49 PM

In Glasgow, HMO licences have been needed for over 10 years whenever 3 or more unrelated adults live together, this applying to most student flats. It's largely been a good thing for reputable landlords with well maintained properties and has driven out most rogue landlords. During these 10 years I have seen rents in a 4 bed HMO flat grow from around £750 to £2100 per month - so basically good news for landlords with high quality in demand properties.

From: Robert Brown 01 October 2018 13:43 PM

My Glasgow properties have seen rents rise by around 30% since early 2016, mainly due to SNP jealousy on top of Tory madness driving cautious landlords out of the market. My sincere thanks to both parties!

From: Robert Brown 28 September 2018 17:25 PM

I agree. The Tories are not going to give Corbyn the opportunity of calling them the Landlords' friend and hoover up every Generation Rent vote. Aa the son of a miner who has nevertheless built up a nice property portfolio, I don't really like voting Tory, but I like the current alternatives even less!

From: Robert Brown 27 September 2018 19:43 PM

I rent to groups of 4 students, but only with joint and several liability guarantees from all 4 sets of parents. It's amazing how effective the other 3 sets of parents can be in dealing with one dodgy flatmate when their pocket and credit rating is threatened!

From: Robert Brown 27 September 2018 19:33 PM

Join the real world! Of course landlords want to keep good tenants, but also want to get rid of the dross as quickly, painlessly and cheaply as possible. As Andrew said above, if they get rid of no fault eviction, then every evicted tenant will have proven faulty and no decent landlord will want to touch them. This is already a reality in the SNP Republic of Scotland and has backfired on decent tenants with rents up 25% over last year.

From: Robert Brown 26 September 2018 18:31 PM

Please explain how a smart meter is an energy saving measure?

From: Robert Brown 25 September 2018 19:13 PM

I tried to sell a flat with a sitting tenant, but they wouldn't co-operate with keeping it tidy, being there to show buyers round or being out so agent could show buyers round. I got offered £20k less because it was a tip. Luckily I persuaded them to move to another property just vacated, spruced it up and got £30k more. I then didn't renew the lease on my other property to which they had moved, spruced it up and got £200 per month more from new better tenants! Sweet revenge! However our SNP lefty loonies are trying to stop Scottish landlords doing what they want with their own properties, so my timing was perhaps fortuitous. Bottom line? Take the hit on the lost rent. You'll get a much better price if you stay in control of its presentation rather than trust scruffy tenants.

From: Robert Brown 25 September 2018 19:07 PM

Landlords who stick it out will benefit from the faint hearted who bail out due to more tenants chasing fewer properties, resulting in higher rents. It's already happened in Scotland where we have a choice of two loony parties vying to outloon each other in our toy parliament.

From: Robert Brown 25 September 2018 14:08 PM

SNP have outawed fix term leases up here as part of recent legislation but still plenty of ways to ditch dodgy tenants, like major refurbishment required, property needed for own or family use, to be sold etc. Basically the most predictable effect will be fewer properties chased by more potential tenants and this higher rents.

From: Robert Brown 25 September 2018 14:00 PM

Look at Scotland's btl market, following SNP's new prs legislation last December which abolished fixed term leases, limited rent increases to once per year. Result is fewer properties to let and rents up 25% for the most desirable properties. English landlords should relax if their properties are in demand as this plan will backfire on tenants as it has in Scotland.

From: Robert Brown 25 September 2018 13:55 PM

Vote for Corbyn and his pals. After the cautious btl investors have sold up, rents will shoot up like they have in Scotland after the SNP's attempts to screw landlords have helped rents grow by 25 to 30% on new leases.

From: Robert Brown 23 September 2018 18:54 PM

Agreed. No need to force longer term leases as the norm. Good tenants can stay as long as they like. It's the dross we want out ASAP. Since in Scotland most dross vote SNP their heroes have tried (and failed) to remove our rights to get shot of them, but have helped us to increase rents by over 25% due to fewer decent properties available for rent. Sincere thanks Nicola and cronies!

From: Robert Brown 23 September 2018 18:48 PM

This understates the rent increases in Scotland on new rents following the SNP's crazy new PRS legislation last December. I now get £2100 per month for a. 4 bed student flat, which was £1650 last year and £1500 for several years earlier. SNP - sincere thanks! Just drop your crazy separist dreams and continue to find ways to help beleaguered landlords, then I might vote for you.

From: Robert Brown 23 September 2018 18:40 PM

Why not go the whole hog and suggest rent free properties? Wait a minute..... With housing benefits and not criminalalising rent dodging, rent free properties are already a reality in modern Britain!

From: Robert Brown 19 September 2018 16:32 PM

Or the tenant can simply ring or email the landlord or agent. In my experience many problems go unreported and then slow down the change over process when I finally discover them after the tenants have left.

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 17:30 PM

I like, but not sure this is legal nowadays?

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 11:10 AM

Best to budget for more blocked loos with these tenants?

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 10:56 AM

As long as the younger generation like expensive coffees, cars on pcp lease deals and clothes bought with store cards, they'll need to keep on renting as they don't think far enough ahead to raise the deposit needed to buy. BTL's future as a secure long term investment is safe in their hands!

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 10:52 AM

Last year I replaced some kitchens and bathrooms and incurred a lot of legal fees in remortgaging. Result? A tax loss. Response from tax man? An investigation - and lots of hassle! Lesson learned? Don't do anything that's not essential to improve your properties as the tax man would rather you spent less on maintenance and paid more tax!

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 10:20 AM

Councils and SNP need to realise that the more unattractive they try to make the prs, the higher will be their bills for the homeless and the higher the rents for the flats still available for rent! Rent control has never worked and never will. Stop meddling with people's lives, both landlords' and tenants'.

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 10:07 AM

In Glasgow, where the SNP "government" has added additional problems in removing all certainty in lease duration with its crazy new PRS legislation, rents for decent flats have gone up by 25% over the last 18 months. Heartfelt thanks to the SNP! Glad I'm a landlord and not a tenant!

From: Robert Brown 12 September 2018 10:00 AM

I like it but not sure it's legal to avoid the statutory deposit schemes?

From: Robert Brown 06 September 2018 20:19 PM

There are plenty of areas where too many tenants are chasing too few properties and this rents can go up to accommodate increased landlord costs. Why stick with areas where you have to subsidise tenants?

From: Robert Brown 06 September 2018 09:47 AM

Typically, landlords are very happy for good tenants to stay long term. Only a government as idiotic as the SNP one would risk forcing landlords to suffer bad tenants indefinitely or bail out of btl, causing a supply crisis and a huge increase in rents. Glad the UK government has shown more common sense - although I'm grateful to SNP for my recent 25% rise in my rents in Glasgow!

From: Robert Brown 06 September 2018 09:41 AM

Students make excellent tenants if parents sign joint and several liability guarantees as parents are usually solvent and sensible. Flats in Edinburgh and St Andrews can also be let as holiday lets in vacation times, although the SNP's recent removal of the landlord's right to determine lease periods threatens this opportunity which will lead to higher rents and reduced availability for these students. However, 4 bed student flats can now command £2100 per month, yielding 8 to 10% gross.

From: Robert Brown 15 August 2018 22:43 PM

Throughout our society, the "good" subsidise the bad. Much more use should be made of giving those who are "bad" or even rent defaulters etc. unpaid labour - picking up litter, painting public buildings etc to at least get some payback and act as a disincentive to the lazy and feckless and a possible way into paid work for the unfortunate or misled potentially "good" among them.

From: Robert Brown 15 August 2018 10:00 AM

I agree that's a real danger, which is why I'm putting my rents up as much as I can while I still can do so. Every attempt to control a market through legislation always backfires on the most vulnerable that the loony left claim they want to protect.

From: Robert Brown 14 August 2018 11:36 AM

This is already proving a disaster in Scotland. Tenants are moving in and then giving 4 weeks notice because they are only needing a short term let while on a short term contract. This along with the huge numbers of landlords selling up actually works against availability of long term let's. My letting agent advised me to ask for an extra 20% on properties recently vacated and I got it from the first viewers. My heartfelt thanks to the SNP and their fellow loony lefties in Holyrood.

From: Robert Brown 14 August 2018 09:21 AM

As I said in an earlier similar article, I wouldn't want to rent to tenants who aren't confident they will hand my properties back as they found them. As the article says, deposits are refundable. Insurance premiums aren't. These insurance schemes are the next generation ppi scams.

From: Robert Brown 14 August 2018 09:11 AM

My computer breaks. Do I blame computer engineers for not making better computers? No. I'm just happy they're available to fix it at high (if market) costs. My fancy new phone makes a huge profit for the world's richest company. Do I resent this? No. I'm actually perversely pleased to show other geeks I can afford this type of rip off. I need somewhere to live locally. Do I thank Landlords for providing high quality local accommodation at market rents? Anyone see the disconnected thinking here? BTW - the I here is not me but unfortunately is not just a figment of my imagination!

From: Robert Brown 07 August 2018 14:02 PM

All rogues - landlords or tenants - should be prosecuted. Pity it always seems to be one sided. A register of both lots would help both decent landlords and tenants.

From: Robert Brown 07 August 2018 10:55 AM

Sticks and stones! I know I'm a good landlord. More importantly my tenants know it too. Even more importantly I am now a rich landlord mainly due to market forces brought about by shortage of rental properties exacerbated by the lefties and gutter press. To both groups my heartfelt thanks. Keep it up!

From: Robert Brown 07 August 2018 10:48 AM

The directors should be held personally liable for all such things, especially the over paid plc directors of companies such as RBS, BHS, Carillion etc.

From: Robert Brown 06 August 2018 16:43 PM

If tenants aspire to be property owners they will surely welcome such a taster of the real world and being treated like actual owners! Next step is to make them pay for any repairs or replacement inventory items needed. After all that's what being a grown up property owner entails. Perhaps they'll have to cut back on new car pcp payments, fancy holidays and overpriced coffees. These things seem to be the priority spending for many tenants.

From: Robert Brown 06 August 2018 16:26 PM

There are still plenty of profitable btl opportunities around. In Glasgow a flat costing £80k can get over £6k in annual rent, yielding 7.5% gross. If fully mortgaged at around 2% Apr that still yields over 5%. Larger properties costing under £300k can get £25k annual rent or a gross yield of 8 to 9% and 10 or more groups chasing every such available rental opportunity. I don't like what Osborne has done but the squeeze on over extended landlords has helped my annual rental income grow by over 20% over the last 3 years without having to make any further Capital investment. More pain can mean more gain for those who can bear it.

From: Robert Brown 06 August 2018 16:17 PM

I have just paid £900 to a specialist letting agent in Glasgow for tenant find, but they are getting me £2100 per month for a 4 bedroom flat that I had only been getting £1500 per month for - so money well spent this time. Next time? We'll see what the benefit is then. Moral? If agents add value then I'm happy to use them, but not otherwise.

From: Robert Brown 05 August 2018 09:45 AM

If it were made a criminal offence and offenders properly prosecuted then it might deter some of them and at least the landlord would have the satisfaction of knowing that they hadn't got off scot free as currently happens.

From: Robert Brown 03 August 2018 17:26 PM

I tried to reply to the reply about Tory leeches. I'm not a great fan of them but they're infinitely preferable to the SNP zealots up here in Scotland and Corbyn's Loony Leftists. I think the base rate hike is due and will have a neglible effect on the prs, much less than the damage done by Osborne.

From: Robert Brown 03 August 2018 17:15 PM

This was done by the independent Bank of England and expected for long enough to get a longer term fix to avoid it. The Government is no friend of btl landlords but this is not their doing.

From: Robert Brown 03 August 2018 09:29 AM

Next story is about a rogue landlord being fined £15k - probably quite justifiably- but why are rogue tenants not fined for malicious damage? Why is continuing to live in a property with no intention of paying the rent not fraud or theft? Incidentally the charity shelter and student representative bodies also recommend staying put until the bailiffs come. The bailiffs should have the right to arrest those who have failed to comply with court orders and charge their fees to them and not the landlord victims.

From: Robert Brown 02 August 2018 12:25 PM

I don't know why someone would give up earning £4600 from a spare room just because they had to pay tax on the last £100 of that. The rent a room allowance has been hijacked by air BNB landlords avoiding tax and normal landlords providing homes are making up the shortfalls.

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2018 19:42 PM

This article is missing the real point which is that this relief was fair at around £4500 when landlords got tax relief on mortgage interest. It should have been withdrawn when the landlord tax relief was withdrawn and if kept should only apply where a room is let as a long term home, not as a holiday let. It's also crazy that all furnished holiday lets qualify for better mortgage tax and CGT relief than long term lets providing long term affordable homes.

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2018 11:23 AM

I don't agree that we need "independent" or professionally produced inventories, just accurate ones mutually agreed by landlord and tenants. This mob are just wanting to feather their own nests by pushing for yet another unnecessary cost to be borne by tenants (because they always pay in the end). What both landlords and tenants need is less bureaucracy, less unnecessary expense and more understanding of how vital the prs is in providing affordable homes to those with no other option.

From: Robert Brown 01 August 2018 11:09 AM

Effectively tenants are being charged a non returnable 1 week's extra rent because they don't think they can take sufficient care of other people's properly to ensure getting their full deposit back! Sorry but I prefer tenants who expect to take proper care of my flats and contents. So far, over 20 years and around 200 tenancies, while flats aren't handed back pristine, it's never seemed worth the effort in disputing refunding the deposit. Giving a good reference seems to be a better incentive than deductions from the deposits.

From: Robert Brown 28 July 2018 10:40 AM

The Association of Mouse Trap Suppliers, Purple Towel Washers and Yellow Bucket Purveyors have statistics to prove these items are essential in every flat. People die every day in flats with no clean purple towels! Why has Landlord Today not highlighted this indisputable fact? PS: I still have stocks of all such essentials at ludicrously high prices. Buy now before your local Council forces you to get them or evict your tenants if stocks run out!

From: Robert Brown 28 July 2018 10:25 AM

That probably makes all 3 of you happy as I doubt either would be keen to rent to you either! I wonder if the Ashford councillors would accept personal liability for such fines if their subsidised council tenants' boilers weren't fixed in 4 days.

From: Robert Brown 20 July 2018 10:04 AM

More potential tenants than available properties means market forces will allow rents to increase, even if landlords are unaffected by any of the increases cited above. Tenants might need to cut back on expensive coffees, holidays and pcp cars as finding money for a home has to come first. Tenants can forego a Crunchie or Morning Star some days if cash is short but rent needs paid for every day they live in a property. Happy Days!

From: Robert Brown 16 May 2018 09:41 AM

If tenants spent less on coffees, booze, eating out, holidays and leasing cars they would save up the purchase deposits much faster.

From: Robert Brown 27 April 2018 11:57 AM

So tenants are now having to submit sealed bids? Welcome to the real world! Landlords have had to do this for the best properties for decades.

From: Robert Brown 27 April 2018 11:19 AM

Surely the answer is to compel tenants to spend £15 or so on a CO alarm of their own? Teach them a bit of self sufficiency and to take some responsibility for their own lives instead of nicking the batteries out of the alarms that most landlords always fit?

From: Robert Brown 18 April 2018 16:02 PM

No need for us to lose heart as long as we can pass increased costs on to tenants. Only a drop in demand will stop this possibility and that's hardly likely given the millenial generation's preference for fancy cars and holidays, eating out and expensive coffee bars instead of saving for deposits.

From: Robert Brown 18 April 2018 15:56 PM

Things are a lot different than when Mary Barbour was alive. If she were a Glasgow councillor now she'd probably have a portfolio of her own to keep her until she got a safe seat in Holyrood beside Leonard and his out of date cronies.

From: Robert Brown 18 April 2018 15:48 PM

Lenders boycotting pensioners should realise that pensions are the safest from of income. High salaries stop when jobs are lost. Pensioners also tend to have more time and cash to keep properties maintained and tenants happy, further reducing the risk on rent losses due to voids.

From: Robert Brown 18 April 2018 15:40 PM

This man has cost decent Glasgow landlords (and therefore their tenants) thousands through Glasgow Council's over- reaction to that tragedy - and yet they have allowed him to continue his evil practices for the last 14 years! He should be jailed and Council officials fired.

From: Robert Brown 05 April 2018 09:03 AM

Many dampness issues are due to tenants failing to adequately heat or ventilate properties. Are landlords to be fined for tenants' indolence in such circumstances?

From: Robert Brown 24 January 2018 10:38 AM

Glad to hear of a landlord getting justice for a change. I hope this waster pays up and gets a real job actually working for a living, although I for one wouldn't employ him in any capacity however menial.

From: Robert Brown 16 January 2018 11:42 AM

Fined £1000 for not replacing light bulb and for not replacing a kitchen bin! Totally over the top. In any case surely Tenants should do these things themselves!

From: Robert Brown 10 January 2018 09:18 AM

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