Is your property well looked after?

A couple of stories about London-based landlords have caught our eye this week: One talks about a landlord being fined over £12,000 for breach of fire safety laws in an unlicensed HMO property. The other features a landlord being jailed over the faulty installation of a boiler, leading to several leaks. The boiler eventually had to be disconnected and sealed off by the National Grid.

Whilst you may think these are stand-alone examples of rogue landlords, breaching regulation is easier than many private, self-managing landlords believe. In most cases, there is no malice behind the breach - it's a simple lack of information, both from the tenant and the landlord.

Letting and managing your own property may not be rocket science, but it does require time and the ability to stay on top of new laws and regulations. In Scotland, landlords need to be registered with the local council. The individual properties
require gas safety certificates and PAT tests, with HMO properties having to fulfill further criteria.

All of this comes before advertising a property, managing viewings, completing a tenancy agreement, collecting deposits and placing them into one of the tenancy deposit schemes approved by the Scottish Government. We're not keen on scaremongering, but with all the work involved, it's easy to see why using a professional lettings agent makes sense.

As a first-time - and maybe even a 'reluctant' - landlord, you may wonder about the costs, but the amount of hassle and time saved make up for it in the long run.

At the moment, our team manages around 400 properties across the city of Edinburgh, and our tenants are a mixture of students and professionals. Some of our landlords own one property, some rent out a larger number. All of our clients, landlords, tenants and investors, benefit from our industry knowledge, giving them the peace of mind to know they won't be the next landlord in the dock.

The only way is up for property in Q3 of 2013

A host of stories this week confirms that the property market is continuing its recovery and we thought, we'd share the good news.

Figures from both the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) are showing that - despite a seasonal dip in September - the last quarter has been the industry's strongest since 2007, well before the recession set in.

The CML reports that buy-to-let (BTL) lending is up 36% year on year with 43,900 loans compared to the same quarter last year. The value of these loans - £5.7 billion - even equals a rise of 43% compared to 2012.

Numbers for BTL house purchases and remortgaging also continue to grow at a healthy level.

Where the property market as a whole is concerned, house prices have risen 3.8% in the year to September, up from 3.7% in the 12 months to August.
It's a small rise, showing that the recovery continues - without a bubble.

Looking regionally, London continues to grow fastest, whilst Scotland as a whole still shows falling prices. Edinburgh itself has always enjoyed a microclimate when it came to the property industry and prices are starting to grow slowly with more growth forecast. Interesting times!

No property price bubble in sight as BTL yields grow

For a few weeks now, there has been talk about a property price bubble getting ready to burst. With prices on the up for a few months now, more properties coming onto the market and mortgage finance options increasing, it's easy to see where the concern comes from, although it does seem to be a little premature.

This week's Halifax House Price Index confirms that there is little or no threat of a bubble as house prices are rising more slowly. The latest quarterly increase was measured at 1.6%, the slowest since May. At the same time, mortgage approvals and home sales have risen sharply compared to the same time last year.

Part of this development may be the beginning of the seasonal slowdown in the property market, which may see activity remaining the same or dropping slightly as the colder weather sets in.

Looking at the buy-to-let market, London property specialists Assetz are seeing continued rental yields of around 7 to 8%. Those strong yields are connected to investors having bought when prices were relatively low. However, current price rises are not strong enough to lower rental yields.

Taking the maths one step further and considering combined capital and rental yields in Edinburgh, two current examples show that there are a number of very interesting properties for investors to consider. As prices are rising (and they are in selected areas of Scotland despite the quarterly average for the country), capital growth will follow, thus adding to rental yields.

These are exciting times for investors!