The Clapham Property Blog

I trust you've read a blog post or two that have been coming through to your inbox and perhaps it's wet your appetite to invest in property yourself, or with a fellow professional. Are you interested in learning more about property, investment and otherwise? Do you want to be inspired by experienced investors that can help you get better results from the outset? You would like to avoid expensive mistakes, you say? Great! Come on down to the Clapham Property Meet on Wednesday evening and join my colleagues and me. We'll be discussing the ins and outs of property letting and how to maximise your returns. The evening will be as follows: 6-7pm           Arrival and Networking 7-715pm Trevor and Jeroen welcome fellow investors and provide market update 7:15-7:45pm Jenny Fenton 7:45-8:15pm Trevor & Jeroen's individual slots 8:15-8:30pm Question Time! 8:30-8:40  I ntroduce yourself to your fellow investors 8:45pm Close and

Well here we are, another bold move by the government for "Generation Rent." It seems you can't go a day without a picture of some poor tenant on the news saying "I paid thousands to move in to a property." To everyone who doesn't understand the concept, let me put the record straight. It is perfectly normal to have to pay a deposit (normally 6 weeks' rent), a month's rent in advance and then a fee to the agent to sort out all the paperwork. So in London where the average rent is £1500ish this would break down as £2100 deposit, £1500 and then say £350 for the agent. Yes, it's thousands of pounds, but this wasn't all for the agent was it? No... only about the equivalent of week's rent was for the agent. As people are renting for 2 years on average nowadays I don't think that's a big cost. Why this draconian measure then? <sarcasm> Well the government was clearly so pleased with the results achieved in Scotland. All

I trust you've felt the cold already, November has been a chilly one! Cold does bring some problems when it comes to maintenance, so be sure to cover yourself for the cold eventualities. Do you know your property? Always a bonus of course if you have lived in the property prior to renting it out; do you know how the heating controls work? Do you know what to do if a radiator doesn't work? Tenants often times don't especially if they are used to a different type of heating system (electric radiators don't need bleeding of course). Be sure that when you do get the call that they've tried all the obvious things, and speaking from experience YouTube is a saviour! What's that expression, a picture says 1000 words but a video...)?? Condensation.  A big bug bear of course. If the property is not properly heated and ventilated then condensation will build up and eventually lead to mould. Over the years I have found that tenants don't want to spend money

Wow what a year it's been. We've had so many changes on the playing field (property market), stamp duty, increased taxation, more regulations, Brexit, and now.... TRUMP! But what will the last change mean for homeowners and investors in South London? Let's go over a few factors which will influence the housing market, be it purchasing or rental demand: Immigration - Trump has been rather outspoken on his immigration views; practically wanting to stop Muslim immigrants at the border and deport Mexicans en masse. Result, lower demand in the lower end of the market, but increasing domestic wages. Inflation - This will go up if imports are reduced and Americans are forced to spend more on goods produced locally rather than manufactured for less in the Far East. Taxes - Trump promises to cut taxes in general, especially for corporations, thus increasing rewards for entrepreneurs domestically. Markets always react to change. Normally investors head for cove

For those of you who managed to make it down to the Clapham Property Meet and heard my eviction talk you will know that there is plenty of regulation to comply with when renting out your property. Get caught out and it could spell disaster. Literally! If you do spell things wrong on a notice then it could mean the invalidity of an important move-out date that you sought, and/or whether a judge will throw out your request for possession, if it does get that far. But what does all this regulation really mean for renters and landlords in Clapham? Well for starters it will increase barriers to entry. More regulation (or red tape as some people refer to this as) means that it is more difficult for the average man to just start letting out their property. They are made to comply with a myriad of safety checks, and should they not comply the penalties are severe.  This is a good thing! The private rental sector has improved vastly over the last 50 years, what with the Protection