It is good to see the concern for the environment is starting to reach into all parts of our economy and recent figures show that the property investment market is going to be part of this.

There is a lot of interest at the moment from investors who want to put their cash into energy efficient and environmentally friendly real estate. What is more is, that at the moment at least, the motivation is purely concern for the planet rather than profit. Thomas Beyerle of Aberdeen Property Investors that despite the lack of any evidence that going green will lead to any actual profit increase, many investors are still keen to get involved. 

Apart from selfless concern for the environment another reason investors may be keen to ‘go green’ is fear of future punitive measures being taken by the government as they attempt to reduce carbon emissions.

In other words a green building may not mean extra money in your pocket right now but it is very likely to reduce the amount the government wants to take away from you in the future. A lot of British buildings are old enough that they have totally escaped any legislation to clean up their act. That is likely to change as legislations takes into account buildings retrospectively. Certainly anyone buying a new building ought to choose green.

Investing in green real estate may prove a canny move for the future when legislations starts making inefficient buildings pay up. It could also be a way to get a step ahead of your competitors.

Regulation seems to be the call for the buy to let industry at the moment but a recent statement from the CML indicates that they feel that credit flow is the answer to our problems not the increase of regulation.

This statement has been prompted by figures showing that new buy to let lending had increased for the second consecutive quarter in the last three months of 2009. There were 25,800 new loans advanced, up from 23,700 in the previous quarter.

The head of the NLA or national landlords association seems to think that other recent figures showing the the decline in both repossessions and mortgage arrears showed that the BTL sector was far more robust than it was being given credit for. He says that this indicates that all the talk of regulation is a bit over the top and urges the government to have another think before they put wholesale changes in place.

He adds: “Rather than wasting effort on further legislation they should be encouraging lenders to get credit flowing again.”

I am rather in two minds about this. Some regulation may not be a bad think and may in fact take some pressure away from landlord’s by giving them a solid set of guidelines to follow. On the other hand over regulation can be a nightmare. And clearly i agree one hundred percent with Mr Gordon’s statement regarding lenders getting cash flowing into the market again.

It is great to get recognition and a statement released this week by a spokesperson for National Approved Letting Scheme has me feeling all warm and fuzzy. OK this group may have a vested interest but I believe that what they had to say is very accurate and bears thinking about.

In calling the landlords and letting sector the “white knight’ of housing the spokesperson was referring to the fact that without them many of Britain’s young people would be without any suitable accommodation. With the banks very reluctant to help this group out with affordable mortgage options the buy to let section of housing has been many Britons only option.

Evicting nonpaying tenants cans sometimes be the worst part of being a landlord especially when times get tough and previously good tenants become unable to meet the rent.

There has been an awful lot of that going on recently so it is relief that we see evidence that the eviction rate in Wales and England has fallen by 11% in the last twelve months. On the not so bright side this eviction rate has fallen despite the fact that 43 % of landlords report that they have experienced arrears in the same period.

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The Government is starting to show signs of recognizing that the property market has a major role to play in the recovery of the UK economy. This week we heard news that they are considering granting institutional investors a stamp duty concession in an attempt to lure them into being professional landlords.

This is clearly an attempt to revitalise the property market and is something to be applauded. Furthermore, the decision to try for this particular change came after discussion with property advisors so it is great to see the Government talking to those who really know how this sector works.

The way the proposed changes will work is that instead of the stamp duty being calculated based on bulk buying, it would be bought down to a singular stamp duty fee for each property. In other words, to simplify things, the landlord who buys properties in bulk would be paying the same amount of stamp duty as everyone else. There’s a thought!

This could be an excellent opportunity for landlords who are looking to rapidly expand their portfolio and to do so without attracting ridiculous amounts of stamp duty like they have in the past.

As previously reported on this blog, Nationwide recently released the results of a survey that clearly indicated we could expect a 10% to 15% rise in property prices in the UK in 2010. Quick as an eye blink, Halifax has taken the wind out of the sails of that good news by releasing their own survey that seems to say almost the opposite.

According to them, the growth we saw in January was around 0.6% down from a six monthly average of 1.1%. This leads them to get fairly gloomy and suggest that perhaps the increase in properties coming to the market will see pressure on prices stifling any rises.

It is true that houses are being bought to market fairly quickly as home owners are galvanized by what looks like a little light at the end of the tunnel. People have been stagnant for a long time now and many of them are desperate to take advantage of any improvement in property prices to sell up and move on.

The closure of the Bank of England’s quantitive easing program is likely to mean that UK base rate stays low for a further fairly prolonged period. The bottom line, however, is that if more properties become available but mortgage lending does not increase then we are likely to see a downward pressure on prices.

One of the many items on the long list of things that landlords must do to secure the safety of their tenants is a regular boiler check. It now seems that failing to make that check can have quite dire consequences.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a landlord was fined quite heavily after a boiler they failed to have checked flooded their tenanted property with carbon monoxide. Graham Barnes was ordered to pay nearly £10K in fines and costs for not having the gas appliances of his rental property properly checked.

HSE inspector Dozie Azubike said “the incident was a clear case of a property professional putting people at risk by ignoring his responsibilities. As a result of the boiler not being serviced, carbon monoxide leaked into the kitchen creating a very dangerous environment.”

Under UK law you are required as a landlord to have one gas appliance and boiler check carried out on each of your properties every twelve months. Not doing so can clearly cost you dearly as in the case of Mr Barnes.

I know I have said this before but it is not just the financial risks of ignoring safety legislation we have to worry about. If something did go wrong in one of your properties, causing severe injury or even death, then you would have to live with your conscience. For me, that is the scariest bit of all.

According to figures revealed in a recent survey taken by Rightmove Plc, Brits are confident that UK house prices will extend their gain over the next twelve months.

They say that 53 % of respondents predicted a rise in average house prices. This figure is most interesting when contrasted with figures for the same question a year ago. Only 10% indicated any confidence that there would be a rise in house prices.

There seems to be no doubt that we are on the rebound here in the UK property market, especially if consumer confidence is any measure (and as we know, with the economy, it is often the best measure).

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said in a recent statement:

“Given the looming election and the talk of pending austerity packages ahead, this consumer survey highlights a surprisingly positive property price outlook. Consumers have the impression that we are over the worst of the recent price falls and that there is likely to be upward pressure on prices.”

Let’s hope we are all correct to be so optimistic, though the figures do seem to indicate that the worst of the recession is behind us with unemployment falling at the fastest rate last month since April 2007.

This kind of thing, combined with the low interest rates, is giving people cause to look forward to the future.

I think all of us in the property game should be very interested in the goings on with Skipton Building Society this week, even if we do not have a mortgage with them. Just what the heck are they playing at?

It seems that the brains trust at Skipton has dreamed up a new clause for their SVR (Standard Variable Rate) loan. One that pretty much lets them do what they like under ‘exceptional circumstances’. The result is that they have decided to invoke this clause (not sure on what grounds) and bump up their rates on existing loans.

I am sure they have got very good lawyers who have been through this with a fine tooth comb but I am still somewhat incredulous. You have to wonder exactly how clear this tricky clause was made to the customer before they signed on the dotted line and what examples were given to illustrate ‘exceptional circumstances’.

It seems to me they could be treading a very fine legal line. If, however, it is ruled to be all above board, and surely someone must test it, then that is a deep concern. If they set a precedent with this, we could all face rate hikes.

It is certainly something that needs looking at very closely.

The boom in demand from student housing has landlords desperately trying to keep up. After a year or so of too many void properties it seems that landlords now cannot fill the demand, and in the student sector this is even more obvious.

In the current academic year, 2.4 million students enrolled in universities; that represents a 34% increase over 10 years.

This unprecedented figure has resulted in fewer voids and has seen an increase in rent. The estimated figure is a return on investment of 7%-10%

There are clearly benefits, then, of renting to a student market. Compared to other buy to let properties, the returns are much higher. It is said that the demand in these areas is only set to rise over the coming years which is another enticing element.

The added bonus is that the way student housing works, the property is tenanted for most of the year and landlords knows seven months in advance if the property is pre-let for the following year.

This kind of thing guarantees income and allows planning for the future which is often lacking in the regular buy to let market. It has to be said that student rentals have a lot going for them and are certainly something to consider, especially if you are interested in property in the big student cities of Manchester, London and Sheffield.