With Christmas less than a week away now, the latest rent figures released show a drop in the average rent across England and Wales for the first time since January 2012. In November the average monthly rent was £720, but in December, this fell to £717 per month. However, since inflation also dropped slightly, we probably shouldn’t complain too much.

Why have rents fallen in December?

One of the reasons why the average rent might have fallen this month is because many landlords are less aggressive with rental pricing in the run up to Christmas—nobody wants empty properties over the festive holiday and into the New Year, least of all me.

Interestingly though, some areas have bucked the trend and landlords in Yorkshire and Humber have been lucky enough to enjoy an increase in their property rents during December. Overall, however, rent prices continue to rise and London and the South East remains the fastest growing rental market in the UK—rents increased by 4.2% this year.

Are rents likely to continue rising in 2012?

If you are new to the buy to let market, you are probably hoping that your investment will continue to provide a good income for 2012 and beyond, and the goods news is that experts believe the continuing demand for rental properties will continue to push the average rent up throughout 2012. So if you are still on the fence about whether you should invest in a rental property, things are looking good for 2012 and the rental sector remains strong.

Following a debate on an amendment concerning direct payment of housing benefits to tenants, the government has decided to look at the issue in greater detail to see what the effects of direct payments would be.

Landlords supplying social housing normally receive the housing benefit a tenant is entitled to directly from the government, but many charities representing the rights of tenants, mortgage lenders, and social housing landlords believe that this system is wrong and tenants should be given direct responsibility for their finances and allowed to choose who receives their housing benefit payments. They argue that only tenants classed as “vulnerable” should have their housing benefit payment made directly to the landlord and that in all other cases, the universal credit should be paid directly to the tenant.

The government has commissioned a review of the payment process, which will be led by Professor Paul Hickman from Sheffield Hallam University. The review will evaluate the effect of a direct payment made to tenants in six test areas, and if the results are positive, the government will consider changing the current payment system to allow tenants to take responsibility for where their money is paid.

Personally I think this a good idea. It seems ridiculous that tenants entitled to housing benefit have no say on how their money is paid, and since the amendment apparently had support from Peers from all sides in the House of Lords, it appears that most people are of the same mindset.

What do you think?

If you are looking for a new niche in which to expand your property rental business, the holiday homes market is currently considered to be a sound investment for landlords. Many Britons are revising their future holiday plans to take into account the fact they have less money in the budget to pay for expensive holidays abroad, and with this in mind, there are many benefits to investing in holiday lets.

Experts believe that the holiday homes market could spike over the next decade because of several factors, largely because property prices have crashed and many families are looking at holiday lets as opposed to the more traditional package holiday in a hotel type trip.

I can see the benefits of investing in holiday let type properties: the long-term capital gains are very appealing and the domestic holiday let market is undoubtedly going to rise in popularity, plus you also have a nice holiday home you can use off-season when the urge to take a break strikes!

In the UK, tourist hotspots such as Newark near Sherwood Forest and Corfe Castle in Dorset are considered to be ripe for growth, and if you are interested in the idea of investing in a foreign holiday let property, check out countries such as Slovakia or Finland as there is plenty of potential for growth opportunities there. Alternatively, look at places where current demand far outstrips supply—popular foreign holiday destinations for Brits include Ibiza, Malta, Canary Islands, and all of these have a shortage of available holiday homes during the high season. In the UK, Brighton & Hove and Central London is a holiday let heaven for savvy investors.

The Valuation Office Agency are trying to encourage landlords to report their rental charges per property so that local authorities are able to draw an accurate picture on the what the average rent charge across the private rented sector is in their area.

In case you are wondering why the VOA needs this information, the figures are used to help determine the local housing allowance, otherwise known as housing benefit. The amount of money tenants on Housing Benefit receive is based on the average market rent in their area. Currently this figure is based on the 50th percentile of the average rent in the area, but the government is planning on making significant cuts to the amount paid to tenants and future housing benefit payments will be based on the 30th percentile of rent payments in the local area.

As we are all aware, the number of people living in private rented accommodation has been soaring of late. This has inevitably led to an increase in the average rent across the board and many local authorities are behind the times in terms of their figures. In order to help make sure tenants on housing benefit receive enough money, local authorities rely on up-to-date information and according to the VOA, it is very easy for landlords to report their rent figures: simply fill in a lettings information form and email/post/fax it back to the VOA. The VOA promise that all information will be kept confidential, but if you want to find out more about reporting rent charges on your properties, check out the VOA website.

Most landlords (including myself!) are legitimate businessmen and women who provide well-maintained accommodation and charge a fair rent. And then there are the rogue landlords. Rogue landlords operate in lots of different ways. Some try and save money by failing to keep their properties in a habitable condition; others threaten their tenants with violence.

Thankfully, the long arm of the law is there to help stamp out the rogue landlords who give the rest of us a bad name, and just to illustrate my point, I read a story this morning about how one rogue property agent from London has just been fined more than £20,000 for harassing and intimidating the tenants living in one of his properties over a period of more than thirty months.

According to the Evening Standard, tenants complained to the council after the landlord failed to carry out some routine repairs. The landlord took exception to this and sent builders round to the property to disconnect the electricity and water supplies and seal up the letterbox. One tenant also reported that he came home from work to find his belongings had been removed and the locks had been changed, after which he was forced to live in hostel accommodation for five months because he had no money for another deposit.

Kingston Crown Court in Wimbledon, London, took action against the landlord and his property company: he was found guilty of harassment and illegal eviction and fined £20,561. Following the successful prosecution, the local council have now issued a warning to other landlords that unlawful behaviour against innocent tenants will not be tolerated.

Nobody likes living in damp, squalid accommodation, but unfortunately, there are a large number of people out there who have very little choice because they are forced to take what they can get. The Channel 4 Dispatches programme on Monday night was a good illustration of the type of accommodation on offer at the lower end of the rental housing market, but a quick glance through the news this morning soon showed me that squalid accommodation is rife in many areas.

I take pride in my rental properties and always make sure they are well maintained. If a tenant informs me about a repair or problem, I do my best to have it fixed quickly. After all, if I don’t spend time and money maintaining my properties, eventually they will become devalued and my tenants will give me serious grief. But aside from that, a failure to provide a good standard of accommodation is also a breach of housing regulations, so as well as a devalued property and unhappy tenants, you could also end up subject to fines and convictions.

One landlord in London was recently fined £3,000 plus £2,030 in costs for failing to sort out extensive damp in a ground floor flat she rented out and, according to the news report, the flat sounded pretty grim and frankly I wouldn’t want to live in it!

As landlords, we have a duty of care to provide properties of a good standard, so if in doubt, ask yourself: “Would I want to spend the night in that flat/bedsit/house?”

If the answer is “no”, perhaps it is time to something about it.

Those of you who enjoyed the last Dispatches investigation into the private rental sector will probably be delighted to hear that the award winning team of undercover reporters from Channel 4’s Dispatches programme have decided go back into the property rental market to find out what happens to those who are desperate and homeless.

As you are probably aware, local authorities are supposed to find accommodation for families with nowhere to live, but with the numbers of homeless families far outstripping the numbers of available homes, many councils are turning to the private rented sector to plug the hole.

Tonight’s Dispatches programme promises to lift the lid of the realities of life for those poor unfortunate souls left at the mercy of rogue landlords seeking to line their pockets with taxpayer’s money. We can look forward to some hard-hitting scenes of desperate families with young children forced to live in squalid properties while their unrepentant landlords are raking in the cash. It does indeed sound a sorry tale!

Sadly, although the majority of landlords (including me) offer excellent accommodation and treat their tenants fairly, there are still many who do not and, unfortunately, many local authorities are failing to make adequate checks on the kind of properties they are sending vulnerable people to live in. The housing minister has been promising to sort out the current housing shortage by working with landlords in the private sector, but if tonight’s programme is anything to go by, the government needs to make a few changes to the landlord selection process…

Property Portfolio Software is thrilled to announce that it has been voted the winner of two awards at the prestigious Landlord & Letting Awards gala dinner held at Birmingham’s NEC on 16th November.

Gaining the accolade of awards in both the Software and Customer Service sections, Managing Director Amer Siddiq was delighted to accept the prizes on behalf of the Company. Siddiq said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win these awards. The competition was really tough, so this accolade really is testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone at Property Portfolio Software.  This achievement has really spurred us on and we will continue to build on our expertise and deliver high quality levels of service to the sector.”

The title of Software winner was retained by Property Portfolio Software after being won 12 months ago – this year the Company deservedly achieved a second award moving from second to first place in the Customer Service category.

Oliver Romain, editor of Landlord and Buy-to-Let magazine and lead judge for the Awards commented: “The Landlord & Letting Awards are the premier nationwide private rented sector awards in the UK, and it’s great to be able to recognise and reward the best in the industry.  This year’s response was phenomenal with over 1000 entries received, so Property Portfolio Software has done brilliantly to win in two categories.”

Amer Siddiq entered the world of property investment in 1999 and quickly realised that there was no existing suitable software available to help him manage his properties.  He therefore developed his own software tool – described as the ‘Landlord’s Property Manager’ to assist landlords in becoming better organised in terms of reducing paperwork, staying up to date with legal requirements, ensuring tenants obtain the information they need and importantly, maintaining and growing a positive cash-flow.

Siddiq states: “Improving customer feedback processes and developing software functionality according to customers’ requirements are just two of the areas where Property Portfolio Software has grown and developed in the past year, resulting in our success”.

He adds: “Looking to the future, we have two new product launches planned for 2012. ‘Letting Agent Manager’ is a tool for small agencies to run their lettings business, and ‘Landlords and Letting Agent Manager’ enables the roles of both a landlord and a letting agent to be combined in a single product.  The latter is ground-breaking and unrivalled in terms of the capabilities offered to the two markets in one piece of software.  Roll on 2012!”.

To find out more about Property Portfolio Software visit the website at http://www.propertyportfoliosoftware.co.uk

Experts are warning that although the current boom in the investor property market is pushing rents up to an all time high, the buy to let market may soon burst and annual returns for buy to let investment properties could fall quite dramatically.

All landlords know how good things are at the moment: first time buyers are really struggling to scrape together enough money for a deposit and those of us with cash to spare are cashing in on their misfortune by snapping up the properties at the cheaper end of the market. Even the banks are jumping on the buy to let bandwagon by relaxing their lending criteria for wannabe landlords, and if you take a quick look around, you will soon see that there is a lot of excellent buy to let mortgage products on offer at the moment.

However, always remember that the buy to let market is a long-term investment and it is sensible not to stretch your finances too far when buying a buy to let property. In time, the buy to let bubble will burst and rents will fall, and if interest rates rise you may see your profit margins significantly eroded.

Buy to let investment is not for everyone. It works for me and I enjoy a good income from my properties, but the key to success in the buy to let investment market is to do your homework and take into account the various costs involved, especially if you decide to use an agent to manage your properties.

With many high street lenders placing restrictive lending criteria on their mortgage products, increasing numbers of landlords are turning to less conventional forms of finance in order to take advantage of the thriving buy to let market. According to figures just released by a leading bridging finance lender, the gross lending figure is about to reach the unprecedented figure of £800 million and more than 82% of all loans made this year have been to residential property investors.

What is bridging finance and how can it help you?

Bridging loans are secured on a professional valuation of the property and unlike a traditional mortgage, there are very few background checks made on the person applying for the loan. They are typically a short-term finance solution and most loans are repaid after a few months, although they can last up to two years.

In my experience, bridging loans can be very useful, although you need to have a clear exit strategy, so if you are interested in buying a property, but cannot secure the funding in the short term, a loan of this nature can help you invest in a property when speed is of the essence. Bridging loans can also fund property purchases when substantial repairs are required prior to tenants moving in—once the work has been completed and your property is let, you can switch to a long-term mortgage.

However, although bridging loans can be very useful for landlords, it is a good idea to obtain specialist advice prior to signing on the dotted line to ensure this is the right product for you.