In recent months the number of letting agencies has been on the increase. It is not surprising as property sales have been at the low end and there have been more accidental landlords entering the market.

However, be warned that being a letting agent is not another ‘get rich quick scheme’.

One of the leading Franchises has recently been terminating franchises because the franchise owners haven’t been playing by the rules.

The license of Rochdale franchisee has been terminated by Martin & Co for allegedly failing to make timely rental payments to landlord clients.

It happened when Martin & Co managing director Ian Wilson and a team of colleagues, visited the franchisee on October 1, which is when his license was terminated. It was claimed the  franchisee was taking longer than the seven working days which is the standard time the company requires franchisees to pay clients.

Before this was the license termination of the network’s Chester franchisee, who Wilson alleges is responsible for the removal of client funds.

So, in short, if you are thinking of becoming a letting agent or are thinking becoming a franchise then make sure that you know what your responsibilities will involve!

Britain’s buy-to-let sector is witnessing a great impact from the new phenomenon of weekday rentals.

The ongoing recession and high unemployment figures have forced citizens to take up any job that is available. People are travelling far for work and the commute can be quite agonising. So it makes perfect sense to rent an inexpensive and very modest room or flat during the week, and then spend each weekend at home.

The demand for weekday rentals outstrips the current supply of such properties. Here is a potential business opportunity in the buy-to-let sector, as it is one of the few areas that has not been oversaturated.

Some 30,000 Britons are looking for inexpensive weekday rentals at any given moment, whilst only around 10,000 residential landlords actually offer such properties. But landlords can benefit from such an arrangement, especially those who rent out a suite or floor of their own home.

Most weekday tenants spend very little time in the rented property. They tend to work long hours during the week and return at the end of the day to sleep and almost often return home at the weekends.

This is indeed a good proposition as the average landlord can easily earn around £4,250 per year when they rent a room or suite to weekday tenants.

The government is being urged to scrap the “anachronistic” Stamp Duty Land Tax by a property sector coalition. The ‘1808 Coalition’ feels that Stamp Duty should be reformed because its ‘slab’ structure tends to unfairly distort the UK’s property market. The stamp duty is like a “relic” belonging to another age that fails to recognize the modern British property market. 

The 1808 Coalition formed by the NAEA and ARLA addresses the issue of “modernizing” Stamp Duty in the run-up to the Pre-Budget Report. 

86 per cent of the UK’s estate agents feel that the tax is unfair. 81 per cent of agents believe that if the Government makes an announcement to reform Stamp Duty, there would be a very positive effect on the beleaguered property market. In fact, 91 per cent of estate agents surveyed feel that the current Stamp Duty “holiday” for properties worth £175,000 or lower which is due to expire imminently should be extended.

Stamp Duty prohibits entry of many first-time buyers and prevents those looking for a step up the property ladder. Those investing in buy-to-let portfolios are unfairly penalised and have to pay Stamp duty on bulk price whereas individual buy-to-let investors pay a lower rate on the individual unit price.

Would you have ever guessed that your tenant could be turning your property business into cannabis plantations? Privately-rented residential properties across the UK are facing this menace and an ever growing number of landlords simply are unaware of this nuisance that is taking place right under their nose. A nationwide campaign is underway to cut down on the growing instances of cannabis plantation operations

In Scotland, the problem is so serious, that it now turns a profit of over £100 million, which is much greater than the revenue of Scotland’s entire farming industry.

Every month around £500,000 worth of cannabis is uncovered by the Scottish police, and more than 1,900 plants are usually recovered during this period.

As landlords, we need to try to get to grips with this as it is our responsibility to ensure that tenants do not use the rented property for illegal purposes.

In fact a large number of tenants who take part in these illicit activities are illegal immigrants in the UK. One of the best ways to forestall any problems is to insist on a government-issued identification before any lease is agreed upon.

We must play a key role in stopping these operations, as failure to do so not only leads to very serious damage to our property, but also results in violence and unsafe neighborhoods.

GMAC, one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK who focused on residential property loans, now face the prospect of £10 million in fines. The property lender is being accused of overcharging its clients and now will have to make amends by returning a staggering £7.7 million in interest. According to the Financial Services Authority, the clients were forced to pay extra under unreasonable circumstances.

The FSA claims that GMAC went ahead with repossession procedures much before exhausting all alternative options. Some clients were charged unreasonable fees and interest despite of having successfully made payments on their loan. Those who were unable to pay their balance, their cases were forwarded to solicitors.

The FSA found that GMAC botched up the proper assessment of the financial situation of clients with outstanding debts, before looking for alternative payment solutions.

GMAC now has to pay £7.7 million to mortgage holders, apart from a separate fine amounting to £2.8 million. The mortgage provider will be required to also pay interest on the sum returned to consumers, so the £7.7 million amount will only end up being higher.

This ruling is sure to impact residential landlords and regular homeowners as GMAC has lent more than £12 billion each year to these two groups.

Landlords throughout the UK have faced a tough time over the past year, but those in Wales have been hit the hardest. Land Registry released figures showing the fall in the values of homes, which was around 5.6 percent in UK compared to Welsh towns and regions which suffered a 20 percent drop. A case in point is Neath, Port Talbot, where house prices fell by 18.7 percent. Homes in rural areas of Wales are commanding £20,000 lower than what it was just a year ago.

The rising unemployment has had a negative impact on the Welsh residential property sector as compared to other parts of UK. Port Talbot experienced severe recession with the closure of a major steel blast furnace.

Apart from these, other areas like Carmarthenshire also saw a decline of more than 11 percent, bringing about an average loss of £14,000 for landlords and homeowners. Houses in Wales that were going on sale also saw a 20 percent drop in their value. It will be some time before the property market gets back on its feet both in England and Wales!