Many individuals invest in real estate to boost their income and gain greater financial security. But while the journey can be rewarding, it also requires committing a significant amount of your own time and money. So, how do you know if property investment is right for you?
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Expanding your property portfolio can help increase your financial security — but is now a good time to buy-to-let?

The Government this week has issued it’s long awaited white paper on reforming private landlord rental property rights. Some of the headline changes are:

• End of Section 21 – No fault eviction (although Eviction will be mandatory where a tenant has been in at least two months’ arrears three times within the previous three years)
• Pets are allowed
• End to fixed term tenancies – will affect the student market most
• Illegal to discriminate against Benefit tenants
• The right for tenants to received refunds for poor quality accommodation
• And much more

The Government has also issued a model tenancy agreement to support landlords and tenants to agree longer-term tenancies which can be found on our site and is free to use. You may need to seek legal advice to confirm it is appropriate for your intended use.

Soaring house prices coupled with certain thresholds being frozen in the most recent Budget have the potential to drag more estates into the inheritance tax net over the coming years.

Back in March 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the main inheritance tax thresholds will remain frozen at their 2021/22 levels “up to and including 2025/26”.

Earlier this year, a new rule requiring capital gains tax on UK residential property to be reported and paid to HMRC within 30 days kicked in.

This ushered in another change to tax rules affecting residential property owners, which seeks to raise more tax from the disposal of additional homes and to collect this tax quicker.

With property being one of the most reliable investments around in a period of historic low-interest, many money-savvy people these days end up owning additional properties.
They might rent them out, live in them or simply sit on them to sell on when the time is right.

Historically, landlords have enjoyed generous income and capital gains tax reliefs which helped make residential property an attractive investment for those looking to add to their monthly incomes or provide for retirement. But over the years the Treasury has eroded these reliefs, both income and capital.

As the global financial crisis began to bite in 2008, central banks in several nations took action, attempting to shock the world economy back to life by slashing base interest rates. (more…)

One of our clients contacted us to request assistance on a Private Residence Relief (PRR) case.

The client was a wealthy entrepreneur who had dabbled in the property development business and HMRC was now seeking to disallow PRR on the sale of their current home – not only because it was a substantially redeveloped property, but also because the property had an additional stretch of land attached to it which meant that the total area sold was over half a hectare. (more…)

Recent budgets have seen several significant changes to the taxation of income from letting out residential property. These changes are likely to impact on the taxation of all current property landlords, as well as future decisions as to whether to remain or become a landlord. (more…)

The pros and cons of letting furnished holiday accommodation.

When furnished holiday property is let on a commercial basis for short periods, the owner can benefit from tax reliefs which wouldn’t otherwise be available to residential landlords, providing certain conditions are met.

However, there are also several disadvantages associated with letting property as holiday accommodation whether or not the furnished holiday letting conditions are met.

Read the full article here.