x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
STAY CONNECTED!
    
newsletter-button

Christopher's  Personal Profile View my company profile

icon
Christopher Housden
690  Profile Views

About Me

my expertise in the industry

Christopher's Recent Activity

Christopher Housden
Instructed an agent to serve notice on a tenant today, she has been in for 9 years, most of that time at below market rent. it's a shame and I hate to do it, never kicked a tenant out before.

From: Christopher Housden 18 April 2024 17:15 PM

Christopher Housden
Utter rubbish. I have an EPC D that says if I spend £600 to insulate the party wall it will generate a £25 per year saving, or if I spend £6000 to insulate the floor it will save £25 per year. Is £25 per year going to make anyone's rental decision any different, especially when there is a shortage. People will rent what they can get in a saturated market.

From: Christopher Housden 17 April 2024 10:26 AM

Christopher Housden
And when you can improve the EPC by removing electric heaters and replace with a gas boiler. Surely it is time that the EPC emphasis was shifted to CO2 rather than running cost. For me to spend money to get my EPC D houses to a C with a 200 year payback period is ridiculous. We will be selling another house this year probably followed by a coach house flat next year or when the tenant moves out, that leaves one more that our son might move into at which point we are out.

From: Christopher Housden 17 April 2024 10:15 AM

Christopher Housden
Tried to look at the level of rent for their various developments, but nothing quoted on their fancy web pages.

From: Christopher Housden 28 March 2024 11:20 AM

Christopher Housden
So spend £8,000 to save £400 - £500 per year. At first sight you would think this would be a 16 to 20 year payback period if you don't move house, but £8,000 invested at 5% is £400 per year. It just doesn't stack up financially. My dad invested in solar panels right at the start when feed-in tariffs were high and received £1200 per year. He broke even in year 7, which was the year he died.

From: Christopher Housden 22 March 2024 09:48 AM

Christopher Housden
We have a tenant in Kings Lynn that has now been with us for 9 years, 8 without a rent rise. A year ago we upped rent from £675 to £775, this year up to £875. The market rent is currently £950, but she asked if we could increase by only £25 to £800 (no way). We told her a year ago she could buy the house if she wants, we now aim to put it on the market in September so we will , for the first time, serve notice to vacate. All this due to inept government and class warfare.

From: Christopher Housden 15 March 2024 17:55 PM

Christopher Housden
We have recently decided that later this year we will serve notice on a tenant who has been in our house for 9 years, for us this is a first. In the past we have always waited for a tenant to decide to move out before selling. We can take the equity and stick it in a bank account for a better monthly return. Short term i don't care about the RRB the direction of travel is obvious, we are out. We currently have three left of the six properties we had.

From: Christopher Housden 07 March 2024 22:52 PM

Christopher Housden
What could possibly go wrong - "A committee of MPs has published new data showing that HMRC holds eight active contracts with Fujitsu with a combined value of £1.4bn, all of which were awarded after a High Court verdict that ruled the developer's software was responsible for misreported losses during the Post Office scandal."

From: Christopher Housden 22 February 2024 17:43 PM

Christopher Housden
Hopefully we can get our remaining properties sold before this becomes our problem. Probably going to serve notice on a tenant for the first time later this year, she has been our tenant for over 8 years, don't want to but had enough and can see things getting much worse.

From: Christopher Housden 22 February 2024 12:45 PM

Christopher Housden
" the average price among cash-only listings is 30.2 per cent lower" wouldn't these be properties that you would be unable to get a mortgage on, thus reducing the number of available buyers? If so this would dilute the average downwards. On a mortgageable property no one is going to discount that much.

From: Christopher Housden 28 December 2023 17:26 PM

Christopher Housden
Because the man that hit private landlords hard and thus benefited the corporate landlords ended up on £650,000 a year for a one day week working for a major corporate landlord.

From: Christopher Housden 02 December 2023 14:27 PM

Christopher Housden
We had a tenant give notice the other day so another property to sell. Hopefully that will be 4 down and two to go.

From: Christopher Housden 18 October 2023 10:05 AM

Christopher Housden
No mention of social housing, which I presume houses model tenants in good quality housing. I fail to see why landlords who manage housing that was handed over by the council to housing associations should be treated any differently to private portfolio landlords.

From: Christopher Housden 13 October 2023 10:04 AM

Christopher Housden
Not so sure about this one, you would think long term yes as lost income tax and VAT on agent fees. But where are LL going to reinvest their money tax free? Also a great short term gain (and we know government only think short term) - Capital Gains Tax, VAT on selling and buying fees and stamp duty paid by the new buyer

From: Christopher Housden 06 October 2023 10:31 AM

Christopher Housden
Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them.

From: Christopher Housden 06 October 2023 08:04 AM

Christopher Housden
The thing that surprises me is that 55% have NOT had an increase in rent

From: Christopher Housden 18 September 2023 07:31 AM

Christopher Housden
I don't think the cost of selling is as high as the article suggests even with paying early redemption fees. But in the scheme of things five grand isn't much. Our remaining houses have increased on average by £64k each and when (not if) we sell we will have £144k per house to play with before CGT.

From: Christopher Housden 17 September 2023 14:09 PM

Christopher Housden
He will probably come out with some patronising b*****ks telling us how we are doing such an important job and how much the new act will improve the housing sector. The man is of course a two faced, delusional cretin, but then these are the essentials for anyone wishing to join the cabinet these days.

From: Christopher Housden 25 August 2023 11:28 AM

Christopher Housden
Fiscal drag, just look at income tax thresholds, mileage allowances, Capital Gains Tax etc.. Why should an inheritance tax hit be a surprise. Depressingly things can only get worse, especially when Labour get in.

From: Christopher Housden 25 August 2023 11:16 AM

Christopher Housden
Repayment charges of a couple of grand are peanuts when you are talking about £90k gains. We are slowly switching to trackers now anyway with only 1% repayment charges.

From: Christopher Housden 14 August 2023 14:01 PM

Christopher Housden
Even the £94 k increase if stuck in a 5% account would give £391 per month (ignoring all taxes though). Most our properties have gone up enough for us to take the equity, stick it into a 4% account and it will match our rental income.

From: Christopher Housden 14 August 2023 11:31 AM

Christopher Housden
I never thought about NI, Capital Gains and Inheritance Tax are likely to rise I suspect. Younger landlords and those whose main business is in rental will have to work within a new system with less competition, probably with higher rents and hopefully it can be made to work. I am one of the older landlords (63 and retired at 59) and peaked at 6 properties as an additional side line, now down to 3. My life will be simpler without being a landlord and the financial benefits compared with alternatives are reduced so I am getting out.

From: Christopher Housden 11 August 2023 14:05 PM

Christopher Housden
When Labour get in we will see the politics of envy big time. If you are a landlord or live in the countryside you are a rich toff living off the backs of the poor downtrodden working class, and have no right to accumulate any wealth or be entitled to pass that wealth on to your kids. Sadly we have an urban based politics (even more so with Labour) and press with policy derived from the big urban cities.

From: Christopher Housden 11 August 2023 12:51 PM

Christopher Housden
The interest rates have just added to a perfect storm. In the past you could borrow at 1.2% and get a return of 5+% so there was profit in borrowing. Now that is not the case so you might as well take your equity out and stick it in a fixed interest account or other investment with no hassle, more so if like many landlords you are close to or at retirement age.

From: Christopher Housden 11 August 2023 10:36 AM

Christopher Housden
Is that the same George Osborne that got a job with a large corporate landlord earning £650,000pa for a one day week? I wonder why he wanted to restrict the supply of private rentals.

From: Christopher Housden 05 August 2023 11:36 AM

Christopher Housden
Wouldn't it make more sense to link the period of eviction protection and rent freeze to the payback period of the improvements. I have two houses, both EPC D. The payback period for any upgrades to C is 200 years. After 200 years the tenant would have gained the full benefit of their 'invested' grant, much fairer.

From: Christopher Housden 04 August 2023 11:19 AM

Christopher Housden
I think part of the problem is that EPC's were designed to consider running costs, but are now being used as a CO2 tool. So we get the absurd situation where electric (to a large extent from renewables) is scored worse than gas. Also we have a couple of decent modern houses that are only just an EPC D, to make them into a C would entail a load of work with a payback (if I was paying the bills) of 200 years and the tenants would have to move out anyway. Far easier to just save the hassle and sell when the tenants move out and put the money elsewhere. The houses are well maintained and comfortable (in fact I used to live in one of them), but just happen to be classified on an arbitrary scale as a D.

From: Christopher Housden 24 July 2023 10:31 AM

Christopher Housden
Extra stamp duty, income tax on rental income, income tax on mortgage costs, VAT on fees and repairs, Capital Gains Tax on inflation. "tax relief that goes with owning property you let out, a tax bonus to encourage investment", Christ I have obviously missed something, how do I claim this tax bonus? Why give money direct to a tenant who can afford to pay rent, better keep things as they are and pay the money to the government who provide good quality housing to those that can't afford to house themselves... oh hang on a sec. "buy to let market is dominated by what he calls “small fry” landlords with just one or two properties. He says that BTL has allowed “quite ordinary people to cash in on gaining wealth and property” . Yes ordinary hard working people who have had the foresight to look after their own future and not expected life to dump everything on a plate for them.

From: Christopher Housden 05 July 2023 12:53 PM

Christopher Housden
Starting to realise this is going to backfire on them when the real housing shortage hits? Dragging it out so the consequences are not too apparent at election time. Stories in the press are now just starting to turn from bad bad naughty landlords to where are all the landlords going.

From: Christopher Housden 04 July 2023 09:21 AM

Christopher Housden
So at long last the penny is starting to drop on what they have done to the PRS, but sorry pal it is too late to back peddle (not that he really cares anyway, just playing to the audience of the day). At long last there are starting to be news stories about landlords selling up. All much too late, the horse is bolting and heading for the hills

From: Christopher Housden 04 July 2023 09:13 AM

Christopher Housden
"If the Government break the housing market, it might get them to reconsider, however it will be too late by then." They have broken everything else in our society so why stop at housing. NHS, Justice system, law enforcement, care for the elderly, education, etc. Is there any aspect of state funded provision that is better than 12 hears ago? As they say ' there is no situation that cannot be made worse by government action'

From: Christopher Housden 09 June 2023 12:52 PM

Christopher Housden
Robert - Depends on your age and whether you want to carry on with the hassle. We always intended to get out later in life, but have decided to get out a few years earlier. We are lucky and retired. I have an untouched pension pot and savings, and we live well on my wife's pension and rent. Within three years our state pensions will replace a big chunk of the rental income anyway. I bet there are a lot of 55 + landlords who are thinking stuff it I will get out now and save the grief.

From: Christopher Housden 25 May 2023 12:52 PM

Christopher Housden
I suppose it depends how highly geared you are. We peaked at 6 houses all with 40% down payments and left it at that and let the equity grow. As of the other week we are now down to three remaining houses. Yes we have taken a capital gains hit, but if we reinvest the remaining equity and take just 4% our income won't be much different. And as we are now in our 60s we could probably survive on the cash alone.

From: Christopher Housden 25 May 2023 08:59 AM

Christopher Housden
We are being screwed either way. By reducing the CGT band more people are paying at the higher 28% rate, and doesn't the gain put many people into a higher income tax bracket as well when gains are added to income. So instead of many years of income tax on profits and VAT on fees, additional stamp duty and income tax on letting agents the government is taking a quick grab on CGT, which to a large extent is a tax on inflation.

From: Christopher Housden 11 May 2023 11:43 AM

Christopher Housden
Too late now, Landlords have been spooked and it would take a lot to turn around the sell sentiment. We completed on one sale yesterday, 3 down, 3 to go.

From: Christopher Housden 11 May 2023 11:30 AM

Christopher Housden
Two sold, awaiting exchange on a third, leaves three more to go. Hoping we don't have to serve notice on any tenants, but will probably have to on one tenant who has been in eight years (it would be great if she made us an offer to buy). Unlike previous years we are now intent on keeping rents close to market rather than leaving increases until vacant.

From: Christopher Housden 17 April 2023 10:28 AM

Christopher Housden
This. I have a D property that to make a C would mean removing the tenants to do the work. If I have turfed them out I might as well sell it and take the £200,000 equity as the work required is a stupid cost for the potential saving (currently a 200 year pay back period).

From: Christopher Housden 13 April 2023 10:09 AM

Christopher Housden
They can't if we sell it first

From: Christopher Housden 04 April 2023 10:44 AM

Christopher Housden
Clueless or dishonest, we expect nothing less of our politicians.

From: Christopher Housden 23 March 2023 10:31 AM

Christopher Housden
She probably has a criminal record now though

From: Christopher Housden 21 March 2023 08:48 AM

Christopher Housden
What we need is a housing minister. Someone whose job it is to house as many people as possible in decent housing. Oh hang on a minute....

From: Christopher Housden 17 March 2023 09:13 AM

Christopher Housden
I am working on the assumption that Labour will bring in rent controls, maybe right to buy and higher Capital Gains Tax. At 63 we are getting out and will take what equity we can get now. In the mean time we are going to try to keep rents as close to market as possible and increase rents on existing tenants.

From: Christopher Housden 16 March 2023 10:47 AM

Christopher Housden
“It is clear that many households in the private rented sector in particular continue to struggle, which is why we are capping in-tenancy rent increases in the private sector at 3.0 per cent from next month, " So where is natural justice? Hit landlords, but not mortgage providers, supermarkets, power companies, etc.

From: Christopher Housden 13 March 2023 10:15 AM

Christopher Housden
Edwin, We pay between 7.5 and 10% to agents. For this they do the whole thing; find tenants, check references, prepare a list for us to select tenants, deal with deposits, arrange gas certificates etc., compile six monthly inspection reports, arrange maintenance, inspect on departure. Anyway all this will be irrelevant hopefully as we have started the process of getting out.

From: Christopher Housden 10 March 2023 12:02 PM

Christopher Housden
We use a number of local independent agents to manage our 5 rentals. We don't pay more than 10% +VAT, but in return they are doing all the leg work and finding/dealing with tenants, carrying out interim inspections, finding tradesmen etc., we pay the tradesmen's bills with no mark up. I guess it depends how you value your time and whether you can find a decent or half decent agent. Up to 10% for someone else to manage my properties and give me an easier less hassle free life isn't a lot to me. And the fees are tax deductible, my time isn't.

From: Christopher Housden 10 March 2023 10:31 AM

Christopher Housden
"A statement from IKEA says that “with a shortage in social housing, some families are finding themselves living in temporary accommodation for years, and are very often asked to move several times with short notice.” This makes my blood boil, how many times when we are being scapegoated do we see the words shortage in social housing. We are not the problem (we could be the cure), government and the charities need to address the real problem. Typical politics at work, when you are failing at something look for someone to blame and send the hate their way.

From: Christopher Housden 09 March 2023 12:30 PM

Christopher Housden
"I don't know a single, well-informed domestic landlord who has not already improved their stock up to EPC Grade C." We have a property that is a D and a couple of points shy of a C, According to the EPC to get a C we have to rip the floor up and spend a load of cash, the payback period is about 200 years. When the tenant leaves we will sell and trouser the £200,000 equity, stuff the EPC.

From: Christopher Housden 06 March 2023 12:27 PM

Christopher Housden
It obviously goes without saying that anyone who has managed to organise their life so that they can purchase properties to rent out must be an evil, money grabbing scumbag sponging on the poor and unfortunate members of society. But how can generation rent be so thick as to not recognise that they are throwing the baby out with the bath water. Their constant (probably politically motivated) attacks on the private sector are resulting in the reduction in supply of good quality housing. Their battle should be with government, their ignorance has no bounds.

From: Christopher Housden 03 March 2023 11:02 AM

Christopher Housden
Our future strategy is to never put up rent and never evict a tenant, it's called the sell up strategy. They haven't seen anything yet, where will rents go when demand skyrockets due to lack of supply.

From: Christopher Housden 28 February 2023 13:01 PM

Christopher Housden
Why does the charity only want to be tough on private landlords? Are social tenants immune to mold spores?

From: Christopher Housden 23 February 2023 11:47 AM

Christopher Housden
Many years ago we had a holiday cottage on the North Norfolk coast. When we discovered that the income was the same for the holiday let as for a residential let, we switched to residential in order to vastly reduce overheads. If government really wanted to improve the housing situation they should stop kicking the residential landlords (and maybe incentivise them) and kick the holiday lets instead, market forces will do the rest. it's not rocket science.

From: Christopher Housden 23 February 2023 11:39 AM

Christopher Housden
If you are self employed and don't put a percentage away for pension and a rainy day you are an idiot. I put 14% of my turnover into a pension, aimed to have 12 months worth of living expenses in savings and eventually diversified into BTL. OK I was lucky as my wife had a good income as well, but people today seem to want all the goodies now and don't think of the future. I retired at 55 and I have drummed into my kids to consider if they want to still be working at age 72.

From: Christopher Housden 15 February 2023 11:00 AM

Christopher Housden
No intention to. We are selling rentals and reinvesting elsewhere for an easier life, my wife has a good pension and I have an untouched pension pot. reaping the benefits of hard work and no divorces. We have found that when you retire you need a bigger house, kids pair off and breed, the family gets bigger.

From: Christopher Housden 07 February 2023 10:37 AM

Christopher Housden
Agreed renting has its place, after all I am a landlord, but would you tell your kids not to buy but to rent long term? I am retired sitting in a mortgage free £650k house with just running costs to pay and the option to downsize. God knows what the rent would be on this house and I would be at the mercy of the landlord who may ask for his house back.

From: Christopher Housden 07 February 2023 10:16 AM

Christopher Housden
From my personal point of view taxation is the least of my worries, we are not highly geared, properties are jointly own and we are retired. I manage to get by without paying tax (just) and we live nicely on my wife's pension and rental income, my pension is on the back burner should we need it. EPC's and security of tenure are potentially bigger issues for us.

From: Christopher Housden 06 February 2023 11:16 AM

Christopher Housden
An MP who has actually realised that rented out houses earn revenue for the government whereas owned ones don't.

From: Christopher Housden 01 February 2023 09:09 AM

Christopher Housden
We are the same, apart from the fact that we are in the process of one sale going through and due to the CGT changes will probably speed up selling the rest. Sad that the next house to go will mean serving notice on a tenant who has been in for over eight years. How does the saying go? There isn't any situation that can't be made worse by government action.

From: Christopher Housden 31 January 2023 11:25 AM

Christopher Housden
So it is fair to charge some people at a higher percentage rate of tax than others, but not fair to give those same people tax relief at the higher rate. The answer as expected is total b******s

From: Christopher Housden 19 January 2023 09:03 AM

Christopher Housden
The article is a joke, but irrelevant anyway as in a couple of years, god help us, we will have a Labour government

From: Christopher Housden 12 January 2023 09:00 AM

Christopher Housden
After declaring an interest, both landlords and tenants should have been allowed to contribute to the debate as they have first hand knowledge, but neither should have been able to vote.

From: Christopher Housden 12 January 2023 08:55 AM

Christopher Housden
“The national shift from social housing to private rented over the last 40 years has seen houses turned from homes into investment vehicles. Umm whose job is it to provide social housing? Private landlords are filling a gap, like a private dentist when you cant find an NHS one. Houses turned into investment vehicles, disgusting, it's not like they are still housing people who are unable or don't want to buy, oh hang on a minute. Investment vehicles are obviously bad things, I mean it would be shocking to think that people would make money out of necessities such as housing people or growing food or selling food or making medicine or looking after old people or providing transport or making clothes etc. Anyone doing any of these things are obviously scum.

From: Christopher Housden 09 January 2023 09:14 AM

Christopher Housden
We have just fitted a new boiler and the tenant has asked if she can only pay half the rent next month for the inconvenience of being without heat for two weeks. I have just pointed out that her rent has gone up by only £25 in 8 years and she has been paying £245 per month below current market rate. I have also told her that our costs are increasing by £200 per month next year, but we are increasing rent by £100 per month. We have offered her £100 for inconvenience.

From: Christopher Housden 21 December 2022 08:17 AM

Christopher Housden
One of the main things I disagree with is the fact I will have to buy software to submit the return. When I was self employed I was under the VAT simplified scheme, all I had to do was go on the Gov web site insert no more than half a dozen numbers that I lifted from a spreadsheet. Surely for the majority of small time landlords all they need is rent received in quarter, allowable costs per quarter and interest on mortgage per quarter. This could be done direct to their web site without subscribing to third party software. At least now it would appear that they have upped the turnover requirements. If they bought it in on turnover exceeding £10,000 what would that be worth per quarter to them by the time allowable costs have been deducted, peanuts.

From: Christopher Housden 19 December 2022 18:19 PM

Christopher Housden
Great news, hopefully we will be able to sell up before then

From: Christopher Housden 19 December 2022 16:44 PM

Christopher Housden
Well I for one are trying to do my bit. I have a one bed ex-rental house on the market at the moment and more houses to follow

From: Christopher Housden 12 December 2022 10:28 AM

Christopher Housden
This, and most governments, are too stupid to turn things around, they just want short term sound bites. I think things can only get worse, under Labour CGT will probably go up and they may bring in right to buy at a discount on private rentals as previously proposed.

From: Christopher Housden 09 December 2022 10:19 AM

Christopher Housden
I don't see that much has changed. I left home in the early 80s to go rented. It wasn't until I met my now wife that I could afford to buy with a joint income. She had savings and I sold my car to get the deposit. Other people were jointly buying with friends to get a foot on the ladder back then as well. It may be that people are pairing off later in life so are buying at an older age.

From: Christopher Housden 07 December 2022 10:40 AM

Christopher Housden
If the allowance is now virtually irrelevant we may speed up selling off. We were going to sell one per year, but the cost of selling more is now not so high.

From: Christopher Housden 28 November 2022 08:11 AM

Christopher Housden
We have a house on the market at the moment as tenants are moving out any day. Perfectly bad timing, so if we don't get any interest it will be rented out again in the new year, and go on the market again at a later date followed by another three houses.

From: Christopher Housden 22 November 2022 20:59 PM

Christopher Housden
The thing that annoys me is that we have to purchase software and pay on going fees in order to submit our returns (tghis cost will be passed on). If government insist on a format requiring software they should provide it. I have all my income and expenses details on spreadsheets, once a year I sit down and lift the spreadsheet numbers out, divide by two (wife's share) and insert on my on line tax submission. I then repeat for my wife's return. My understanding is that we will have to submit quarterly returns and a final return, so 10 returns for me, and I can't pick and choose when to do my admin as each quarter will have to stand on its own. Another reason we are trying to sell and get out.

From: Christopher Housden 21 November 2022 12:09 PM

Christopher Housden
sad landlord. I don't think the government wants to stop us selling, but they know we are going to anyway. Like death duties it is their last chance to make a few quid. They are going to make things so bad an increase in CGT won't put us off selling.

From: Christopher Housden 18 October 2022 10:44 AM

Christopher Housden
Next will be a rise in capital gains tax to shaft the landlords that are selling.

From: Christopher Housden 18 October 2022 09:41 AM

Christopher Housden
Paul sadly for you the rules of supply and demand apply. Currently Landlords are spoiled for choice. Given a choice of possible tenants, assuming all incomes were equal, what do you think would be the order of preference between; a single person, a couple, a couple with kids and a person(s) with a dog or cat. Although I have allowed existing tenants to get a dog, a dog or cat would be a negative when making comparisons.

From: Christopher Housden 12 October 2022 10:51 AM

Christopher Housden
EPCs were bought in to reflect running costs, they need a complete overhaul to reflect CO2 emissions.

From: Christopher Housden 12 October 2022 10:27 AM

Christopher Housden
With a Labour government on the way who will probably bring in loads of protection for tenants and raise CGT to screw the evil Landlords even more I am not so sure. And they could even bring in a right to buy at a discount for tenants. I am on the way out, but it won't be quick enough unless I take a big CGT hit.

From: Christopher Housden 11 October 2022 21:32 PM

Christopher Housden
The laws of supply and demand, but to cancel existing bookings is a bit naughty.

From: Christopher Housden 11 October 2022 07:37 AM

Christopher Housden
I have just offered to sell to one of our tenants, but they can't manage it. We offered it at the price we would probably expect to sell at after any negotiations. When the tenancy ends in November it will go on the market. We have told them that we will release them early if they find somewhere in the mean time.

From: Christopher Housden 07 September 2022 10:15 AM

Christopher Housden
Jason you are either trolling or delusional. Landlords are already selling up, this will now accelerate unless the government back tracks and does something positive for Landlords. I have sold two properties in the past two years and one more is on the market. So far I have sold when tenancies end, but sadly this will probably change when I sell the remaining three. It may not be the total end to the PRS, but it will be very contracted and what is left will cost an arm and a leg to rent due to excess demand.

From: Christopher Housden 07 September 2022 08:21 AM

Christopher Housden
We tend not to put up rent for existing tenants, but we have recently realised a long standing tenant is paying about £250 pm below market, even so given the current situation we are going to delay an increase until all the major headlines and doom and gloom pass. We are already selling one house per year to get out of renting. Reports like this one do make us think we should be increasing rents more often. Again the tenants will be the losers.

From: Christopher Housden 02 September 2022 10:33 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 08 August 2022 12:22 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 31 July 2022 22:51 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 29 July 2022 09:16 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 27 July 2022 10:24 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 20 July 2022 08:23 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 19 July 2022 09:33 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 15 July 2022 08:40 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 30 June 2022 10:38 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 17 June 2022 11:04 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 07 June 2022 10:48 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 01 June 2022 11:36 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 01 June 2022 09:58 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 27 April 2022 11:15 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 31 March 2022 10:07 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 25 March 2022 11:10 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 20 March 2022 17:56 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 11 March 2022 10:59 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 02 March 2022 09:29 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 21 February 2022 21:26 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 11 January 2022 18:01 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 11 September 2021 16:57 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 11 September 2021 12:06 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 31 August 2021 09:45 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 29 July 2021 10:36 AM

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

From: Christopher Housden 17 June 2021 17:31 PM

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

From: Christopher Housden 04 June 2021 10:55 AM

Breaking News
MovePal MovePal MovePal