The Clapham Property Blog

Tenancy deposits, and the adherence to the rules thereof, remains a headline topic these days. It can be a minefield! Anyone who’s heard someone talk sensibly will have heard of the “Superstrike vs Rodrigues” Case. What? Ah yes, that one… In a nutshell if the tenancy started before April 2007 (when all these laws came into force) so the deposit wasn't protected. What happened was the court ruled the deposit should have been protected when the tenancy renewed. The court had, at the time, interpreted this as a new tenancy. Rightly or wrongly at the time, this had massive implications on every tenancy that was holding over or renewed by means of fixed term extension in the whole country! Every landlord for every running tenancy would have had to reserve the “prescribed information” (set of particulars to confirm certain details like who the landlord is and where the deposit is kept etc) upon each renewal. So every 6 or 12 months, however long the extension was for, or upon the

If you're new to the investment arena you will have more acronyms thrown at you than you can count. Difficult of course to make sense of it all. The acronyms you'll be dealing with will be largely related to your strategy - Buy to Sell or Buy to let. Single let (letting as one unit to one (set of) tenant(s)) or multi-let (letting individual rooms), which can be classed as a House in multiple Occupation (think lots of bedsits - but realistically these have drastically improved now). Buying Below Market Value is always preferred but difficult in London of course where demand is so high. And ultimately your leverage will determine your Loan to Value %. Banks reward lower LTVs with a better interest rate, although the flipside is that "leaving a lot of money in a property" means you aren't investing it elsewhere. You are paying 4% interest - can you get a better return if you borrow that money and invest in another project? I would hope so! So... have you thought a

For those of you who follow the blog closely will have notice that more and more topics are being addressed thanks to the beauty of interaction. Those not keen to comment publicly can always reply to me via email and receive a personal response. After all, why not make use of my years of knowledge to help you build your property portfolio? Which leads me to the next thing which is even better – a meeting in person. You may be an aspiring landlord, you may be a seasoned developer. All the same you will value the face to face contact. So let’s meet! An old colleague and good friend of mine Suzanne Vincent has asked me to speak at her Property Masterclass at the end of this month and  I'd  like to invite you to come along. There will be a free drink on arrival and a reduced table menu. Whether you are a seasoned investor looking to network with local professionals or whether you just want to find out more about investing in property and saving on inheritance tax for your children

So, when was the last time you did a portfolio review? I’ll bet it’s been a while. Landlords are long-term strategists after all. I spoke to a landlord who lets properties in Brixton over the weekend and he was keen to hear more about my thoughts on the market. He had read an article or two on the blog in which I mention that it’s “trendy” to live further from the station and cycle to work or get a bus to the station. Train station of course, tubes are so passé… I had found a few properties which would suit his newly found love for Outer Brixton (Or Streatham Hill – sorry I still speak like an estate agent!) but he said they’d be too expensive as the deposit he had saved up wasn’t enough. Property prices had gone up more than he thought. I said “that’s a good thing!” and he looked at me curiously. You see here’s the thing: if property prices are going up and you already have a portfolio it means the loan amounts you have stay static whilst the value of your assets is goi