According to a recent survey, 70% of UK landlords report seeing an increase in property prices in their area recently. This sounds like good news and in one way it certainly is. The property price increases will go a long way towards reversing the capital loses a lot of landlords experienced in the recent crash. There is also a less favorable side to this bit of news, however.

A lot of landlords who were in a strong financial position had been slowly and steadily increasing the amount of properties in their portfolio, something that is bound to be a financial boon for them in the future. The rise in the market is going to put the brakes on this activity.

One thing is for sure landlords have proven to not be behind the door in predicting the changing face of the property market with the same survey group reporting last month that only 28% of landlords expected to add another property to their portfolio in the next 12 months.

The fact that housing stocks remain low, however, is potentially more good news for the average landlord. Another property bubble could see many forced out of buying into renting ensuring the flow of tenants. 

I was astounded this week to hear that the figure for tenants at risk of a gas leak is as high as one in three. After all the publicity that we have had regarding the safety requirements for gas appliances it is almost beyond belief that this number is correct. However, according to a recent survey 36% of tenants are in properties with expired gas safety certificates and even more worryingly 26% inhabit a property that has never been checked for safety.

This is mind boggling to me. As we all know it is now a legal requirement that every rental property is checked for gas safety annually and the certificate provided to the tenant. Ignorance of this particular law is no longer any excuse either legally of morally as it has been in place long enough now for all landlords to be aware of it existence.

The figures from UK health and safety serve to emphasise the importance of following the regulations. In the last twelve months 18 people have died as the result of gas leaks and 310 more ere injured.  The idea of being the landlord responsible for one of these accidents is enough to chill the blood and personally I do everything I can to try and prevent that occurring.

Please join me in being responsible in regards gas safety. You owe it to your tenants and to the greater reputation of the private rented sector.

94% of residential landlords are certain that there will be significant interest rate rises but not until the beginning of 2011. This is in spite of the fact that the Bank Of England recently decided not to shift on its record breaking low rate of 0.5%.

In landlord circles the prediction is that there may be small rises in rates before the turn of the year but it is likely to be 2011 before we see anything that is really worth talking about. They are also putting a figure on things and coming in slightly higher that the average economic expert with a predicted rise of 1.25%. Others have been forecasting more like 1.1%.

Some landlords are displaying somewhat pessimistic tendencies with 10% predicting the rise to reach 2%. Only one in a hundred are pessimistic enough to predict anything as dire as a 3% rise though, so that is some comfort.

With all this in mind it seems that some landlords are still content to start looking for properties to expand their portfolios especially in the London area. Just under half of London landlords are looking to buy up. the rest of the country is slightly more reticent with the figure being more like a fifth.

A recently released report has finally acknowledged the serious contribution to the housing market made by the residential landlord. We have been going on about it for ages but it is nice to see the government catching on and giving praise where it is due. The most important factor in the government report is that the economic good being done by the private rent sector has also been noted.

This has lead to the treasury stating that it is considering making to the form of buy-to-let regulation it originally envisaged. This is great news. As we have said all along fair regulation is not an issue but there is no need for the everyone to be regulated as strongly. Some parts just do not need to have someone constantly looking over their shoulder.

It seems now that the treasury is leaning a little more towards our view which is that the residential BTL sector should be treated the same as the commercial one but with a few more safeguards in place. Well, at least we are hoping that is what all this means.

At the same time though some parts of society are trying to lay the blame for fewer first time buyers at the feet of landlords, but more about that tomorrow. 

Many people, rightly or wrongly, are now starting to believe that the residential property market is well on its way to recovery. That is great news in itself but even better is the fact that history shows us that once recovery starts it is unlikely we will take another spill for quite some time.

The last property market crisis was around twenty years ago. Therefore, those people who are now looking to get into property right now can consider themselves to be in a fairly strong position for the near future if they do buy. Experts predict that we can safely assume a decade of relative growth.

This is especially true of the rental sector as this change in attitude towards renting we have been discussing kicks in. Buy To Let looks like becoming a particularly exciting investment opportunity in the near future.

Everything is looking fairly rosy in our sector then, right at present. The only word of warning being sounded by some is for people getting involved in Buy To Let for the first time. Experts talk of the stability of having a fixed rate loan to set your self off so that you have consistency in your repayments.

If you are able to find one that suits you this does not sound like bad advice. It is always comforting to know exactly how much you are paying. 

Statistics from the Auction Results and Analysis System (ARAS) reveal that a new wave of wealthy private investor is rising in numbers in the property investment market.

James Cannon, of newly-launched Mayfair–based auctions firm Cannon Capital, has said: “I’ve noticed there are a lot more women in sales rooms nowadays. In residential auctions, buyers have always been mixed and you get a lot of owner-occupiers, but in the commercial market this is a new trend.”

It appears that these female investors have often made their money in other sectors but are keen to get involved in the property market with their investment money. Some experts are putting the trend down to popularity of property TV shows such as Homes Under The Hammer, Property ladder and Location, Location, Location. These shows have bought property investment into the mainstream and exposed it to a wider audience, including women from other work sectors who may never have considered its benefits.

It is important though,  whether you are male or female, you make sure that you are suited to the property market before you get involved. A lot of people took the leap during the last property boom only to find it was certainly not something they enjoyed.