Posts with tag: London

Greenwich Offers Highest Rental Yields in Inner London

Published On: August 18, 2016 at 9:19 am

Tags: buy to let investment,Greenwich,HMO's,London

Landlords looking for the highest rental yields in inner London should buy a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in Greenwich, according to Multi-Let London.

According to data from London estate agent Portico, Greenwich offers the highest returns for landlords and the most affordable monthly rents for tenants.

Landlords can achieve a 6% annual rental yield around the north Greenwich station, on Pelton Road, Bellot Street, Blackwall Lane, Armitage Road and Millennium Way. The average monthly rent in the area is £1,477.

Greenwich Offers Highest Rental Yields in Inner London

Room rents in Greenwich are cheaper than many parts of inner London. The average monthly room rent in the borough between April-June was £805, up by 12% over the year.

Room rents in Abbey Wood, which is within the boroughs of Greenwich and Bexley, have experienced the greatest increases over the year, up by 21% to £564 per month.

However, the area boasts some of the lowest room rents in inner London, including £554 a month in Charlton and £557 in Plumstead and Woolwich.

The Head of Multi-Let London, Mattias Sandvall, says: “Greenwich borough gives landlords excellent yields and is a great place to invest. It is very popular amongst families, commuters and young professionals. Many are attracted to the borough’s parks and outdoor attractions, including Greenwich Park, Blackheath Common, the large, open, paved area where the Cutty Sark is dry-docked by the river, the Observatory and the National Maritime Museum.

“It also has a thriving student population with Greenwich University, and rooms in HMOs are very popular amongst students and professionals. Many tenants choose shared accommodation for both financial and social reasons.”

He believes that landlords can achieve higher rental yields by investing in an HMO.

“A more demanding, but rewarding way for landlords to achieve higher yields than traditional single let is multi-let the property,” he believes. “In fact, landlords can increase their rental yields by switching from single let accommodation to HMOs.”

He explains: “For example, a three-bedroomed, single let property in the Greenwich borough may typically achieve a gross rent of £1,800 per month for a family. If it is converted into an HMO, the gross rent on the same property could exceed £4,000 per month. This represents a significant profit opportunity for buy-to-let investors who have the required expertise to generate sustainable returns in this increasingly competitive market.

“Many standard properties can be successfully converted to HMOs with the introduction of C4 building regulations. If a high quality refurbishment is undertaken, the property can attract working professionals in the right location, who are prepared to pay more for a shared property with a superior finish. Luxury ensuites, large TVs, premium kitchen appliances and furnishings are the type of features that help to generate a high yielding HMO, where the market conditions accommodate.”

Do you fancy an HMO investment in Greenwich?

Rogue Landlord Fined £40k for Cramming 24 Tenants into House

Published On: August 18, 2016 at 8:36 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: fire safety,HMO,London,overcrowding,rogue landlords,Wembley

A rogue landlord in Wembley has been fined almost £40,000 for cramming 24 tenants into his House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

Willesden Magistrates’ Court was told that Tilak Raj Sarna, of George V Avenue in Pinner, initially claimed innocence, but then admitted his guilt after two days of cross examination.

Brent Council granted Sarna a license to house seven tenants at his HMO on Bowrons Avenue, but discovered that 24 people, including seven families with ten young children, were living in the property when housing enforcement officers made an unannounced visit in January 2016.

The squalid conditions discovered at the house include:

A cockroach infestation
Rogue Landlord Fined £40k for Cramming 24 Tenants into House

Disregard of basic fire safety measures, such as missing smoke alarms, overloaded electrical sockets and inadequate fire doors
Cold and damp rooms
Overflowing bins outside the property

Six of the tenants lived in an unheated shed in the house’s back garden until it burnt down in October last year, in a fire caused by a portable heater. The sheer number of people living in the small space exacerbated the blaze, which started while a child was sleeping in the shed.

The court fined Sarna £33,000 for his overcrowding and fire safety offences. He was also ordered to pay costs of £6,420 and a £120 victim surcharge, making a total of £39,540.

Anila Patel, who collected £3,700 in rent each month from the tenants on the landlord’s behalf, was also prosecuted during the case. She was convicted of two offences, fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a £90 victim surcharge.

All of the tenants living in the property have now found alternative accommodation.

Councillor Harbi Farah, Brent Council’s Lead Member for Housing, says: “This case underlines the necessity of our commitment to ensuring private tenants in our borough have safe, high quality accommodation. In situations like this, unscrupulous landlords are not only taking financial advantage of vulnerable tenants; they’re also placing tenants’ lives in danger.

“We are improving standards in Brent’s private rented properties by working with landlords through our property licensing regime, which helps ensure that tenants do not have to live in filthy, dangerous accommodation.”

The council’s Deputy Leader, Councillor Margaret McLennan, also comments: “Where we find serious breaches of the law like this, we will always take landlords and their agents to court. Mr. Sarna had housed a family in the garden shed and had grossly overcrowded the two-storey property, leaving tenants in an unsafe, damp and cockroach-infested house, while taking £3,700 off them each month for the privilege.

“As he had been granted a license, Mr. Sarna knew exactly what was required of him, so we are very pleased that the court shared our view of the seriousness of the offences and imposed such severe penalties.”

Most private landlords in Brent are legally required to obtain a license from the council. Find out more here: www.brent.gov.uk/prslicensing

£500 a Month Room Rents in London Now Extinct

Published On: August 17, 2016 at 10:38 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: average rent,London,rent prices,renting in london,room rents

£500 a Month Room Rents in London Now Extinct

It is now impossible to find £500 per month room rents in London, according to estate agent Portico.

The London estate agent found that although average rents dropped by 1.7% in London following the Brexit (between May to July), rents of £500 a month for a two-bedroom property in the capital are now extinct.

Portico’s data found that Bexley is the cheapest borough in London to rent a room, with the average rent price for a two-bedroom property in July standing at £1,108 a month, or £554 per room.

And tenants will pay even more if they live alone: Even in the most affordable borough, the average rent on a one-bed property in Bexley is £847.

On the other end of the scale, if you’re looking to live in the exclusive borough of Kensington and Chelsea, you’ll have to fork out a huge £3,989 a month in rent on a two-bed home, or £1,995 per room.

Across the capital as a whole, the average monthly rent on a two-bed property is £1,756, or £878 per room.

Average monthly rent for a two-bed property in all London boroughs

[table id=23 /]

The Managing Director of Portico, Robert Nichols, comments: “Many Londoners now consider renting as a long-term norm, as a result of rising property prices. It’s therefore good to know where you can find the most affordable rent – and our data lists the London boroughs’ two-bedroom rental prices from the cheapest to the most expensive.

“Bexley in southeast (£1,108) and Havering (£1,156) in the east offer the capital’s cheapest rents, and they’re soon to become well connected too, with stations planned on the eastern edge of the Elizabeth line. If you want to live in inner London, Lewisham offers the most affordable rent (£1,430).”

The latest figures from the estate agent further highlight the problem of sky-high rents in London.

UK Property Market Resilient to Brexit Jitters, Reports ONS

Published On: August 16, 2016 at 10:45 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: average house price,Brexit,house price growth,house prices,London,property market

The UK property market proved resilient to Brexit jitters in the month of the vote, according to the latest House Price Index from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The average UK house price rose by 8.7% in the year to June 2016, up from 8.5% in the 12 months to May, continuing the strong growth recorded since the end of 2013, found the study.

The report, compiled using Land Registry data, reveals that the average UK house price in June – for which the most recent figures are available – was £214,000, up by £17,000 on June 2015 and £2,100 higher than the previous month.

UK Property Market Resilient to Brexit Jitters, Reports ONS

The main contributor to the increase in UK property prices was England, where values rose by 9.3% in the 12 months to June. The average house price in England is now £229,000, compared to £145,000 in Wales, which saw an annual increase of 4.9%, and £143,000 in Scotland, where prices were up by 4.6% over the year. The average property value in Northern Ireland was just £123,000 in June.

Regionally, London continues to boast the highest average house price in England, at £472,000. Behind are the South East, at £309,000, and the East of England, at £270,000. The lowest average house price in England continues to be found in the North East, at £124,000.

However, the East of England has replaced London as the region with the highest annual house price growth, with values rising by 14.3% in the year to June. Despite this, growth in London remains high, at 12.6%, followed by the South East, at 12.3%. The lowest annual growth was seen in the North East, where prices were up by just 1.5% in the past year.

The most expensive place to live in England as of June was Kensington and Chelsea, where the average home costs a whopping £1.2m. Contrastingly, the cheapest area to buy a property was Burnley, at just £75,000.

The Senior Economist at PwC, Richard Snook, comments on the data: “These figures only capture one week of market activity after the vote to leave the EU on 23^rd June, so it is too early to draw any firm conclusions from this set of data.

“Nevertheless, we expect that the vote to leave the EU will have a significant impact on the housing market. In our main scenario, average UK house price growth will decelerate to around 3% this year and around 1% in 2017. Cumulatively, our estimates suggest average UK house prices in 2018 could be 8% lower than if the UK had voted to stay in the EU.”

The founder and CEO of eMoov.co.uk, Russell Quirk, also looks at how the Brexit will affect the UK property market: “The latest data from the blended ONS and Land Registry indices shows no Brexit impact in June to the UK property market.

“Nationally, house prices are £17,000 higher than in June of last year and up more than £2,000 when compared to pre-Brexit. However, the two-month reporting lag of this particular indices means the drop in prices reported by Halifax at the start of the month is unlikely to come to the surface until July’s indices.

“Regionally, the capital is still king of UK house prices, at £472,204 on average, but it’s interesting to see the East of England has overtaken London with the highest rate of annual growth, of 14.3%, 1.7% higher than London.”

Quirk believes: “This could be an early indicator of foreign investment fleeing the capital pre and post-referendum result, although, that said, we’ve seen property demand in prime central London plummet to record lows over the last year. This is evidently becoming clear now in terms of property values, with both Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham in the top five for the poorest performance in terms of annual growth, with values down 6.2% and 3.2% respectively.

“Newham still flies the flag for London as the fourth highest local authority district in terms of annual growth, up 21.4% over the year. So the capital and the UK as a whole are still looking rather robust where the state of the property market is concerned.”

First Drop in London Rents for Six Years, Reports Countrywide

Published On: August 15, 2016 at 9:25 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: average rent price,London,rent price growth,rent prices

Rent price growth has slowed in every region of the UK, with the first drop in London rents for six years recorded in July, according to the latest Countrywide Lettings Index.

First Drop in London Rents for Six Years, Reports Countrywide

Rents in the capital dropped by 0.5% over the last 12 months, making the average London rent £7 cheaper per month than in 2015. Countrywide found that the last time rents in the capital dropped annually was in November 2010, when the average monthly rent in London was £923 – 39% less than today.

Across the UK, rents rose by just 1.5% in the year to July, marking the slowest rate of growth since 2012.

Although tenant demand has increased nationally, the number of rental homes coming onto the market has slowed, or in some cases, reversed price growth. In July, there were 23% more homes available to rent in the UK than in July 2015, while the capital recorded a 33% increase.

Countrywide believes that part of this rise was driven by landlords rushing to beat the Stamp Duty deadline in April, however, it adds that the number of homes available to rent has continuously risen in recent months, particularly in London and the South East.

The report concludes that an increase in the number of homes on the market has meant that fewer deals were agreed above the asking rent. In July last year, 16% of tenants paid more than the asking price to secure a home, compared to 7% in July 2016. In London, the fall was greater – down from 32% last year to 11% this year.

Last month, the average rent price in the UK was £951 per month, up by 1.5% over the year, but rising half as fast as in July 2015.

Rents in London (-0.5%), the South East (-1.1%), Wales (-2.0%) and Scotland (-1.0%), are all down on last year.

Contrastingly, the rate of rent price growth across the north of England and the Midlands reached the highest level for two years.

Average rents across the UK

[table id=22 /]

The Director of Research at Countrywide, Johnny Morris, comments: “The large rise in numbers of homes available to rent has certainly slowed rental growth, even with tenant numbers increasing. Stock levels were already running higher than usual, due to investors bringing forward purchases in the rush to beat the Stamp Duty deadline in April. Added to that, uncertainty in the sales market in the run up to and after the EU referendum has caused more discretionary sellers to turn to the rental market.

“While rental price growth has slowed, current market dynamics are likely to accelerate the growth of renting. It seems that with more stock and demand from tenants, we will see the number of households renting increase in 2016.”

Billion-Pound Property Portfolio Bequeathed to 25-Year-Old

Published On: August 12, 2016 at 10:56 am

Author: Em Morley

Categories: Property News

Tags: inheritance tax,London,property management,property portfolio

A multi billion-pound property portfolio and a £9 billion fortune has been bequeathed to the Duke of Westminster’s 25-year-old son after he died suddenly on Tuesday.

Billion-Pound Property Portfolio Bequeathed to 25-Year-Old

Hugh Grosvenor has now become the third wealthiest landowner in Britain and the 68^th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.

Grosvenor, the only son of the late Duke of Westminster, has become the 7^th Duke of Westminster and the owner of a significant share of the most exclusive parts of London. Added to his CV is the fact that he’s also the godfather to Prince George.

The Grosvenor property firm, which was formed in the 17^th-century, runs a huge portfolio of properties across the capital’s West End and is almost certainly the largest property management company in the UK by value.

The privately owned property business has £11.8 billion in assets under management. At its heart is the 300-year-old Grosvenor estate in London, which began in 1677 as 500 acres of land, including Mayfair and Belgravia.

Its holdings range from high-tech office space in Silicon Valley and a science park in Edinburgh, to the freehold on the current US embassy in Grosvenor Square. The jewel in the crown is Eaton Square, built close to Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament during the housing boom that followed the Napoleonic wars.

Run as a separate legal entity with its own chief executive, Grosvenor Group paid a huge £58m in tax on profits of £527m in 2015 and boasts 520 employees. Its holdings are largely expected to qualify for relief from inheritance tax periodic charges.

Had the Grosvenor estate inherited by the new Duke of Westminster been liable for 40% inheritance tax, the amount owed to the Treasury would have come close to the Government’s entire death duty take for the last financial year.

However, Hugh Grosvenor avoids a significant cut to his £9 billion inheritance, as the estate is held in a trust.