Well we are in the fourth and last quarter of 2015 and I am happy to say it has been a good consistent year. The rental market is still going from strength to strength with the private rental sector being reported to account for 22% of U.K households.
We have seen manageable rent increases over the year on the majority of rental properties. The demand for rental properties still remains strong which reflects on the culture change within the U.K. The term I hear being bounded around is that it is now social acceptable to rent. We are becoming more European in our views in terms of renting versus purchasing our homes.
Mortgage lenders are also asking for slightly reduced deposits for buy to let mortgages now whilst keeping interest rates at a sensible level. This is only helping to fuel the sales market for investor landlords. A good tip to any investors out there would be to have a portfolio mortgage review as we go into the last quarter of 2015 as I am still staggered how many landlords can save money on the back of some good advice. Of course we would be happy to organise this for you.
The third quarter has also bought about some regulation changes for lettings. Without wanting to get to technical this mainly affects notices (section 21), smoke and CO2 detectors and legionella risk assessments. Unfortunately for private landlords out there, this has been badly implemented by the government with very little warning, literally with the government u turning on some regulations in the space of a week.
It is very important that all landlords understand these legislative changes as it could affect the notices being served to tenants to leave their property and also the tenants safety. I would recommend anyone who currently rents out their properties privately to look into these regulations straight away to make sure their properties conform. Even if you use a lettings agent for a tenant find only service they will make sure that you are working within government legislation to rent out your property safely.
In short the rental market still looks a good place to invest your money with a good rate of return and with the high possibility of capital growth. If you are interested in investing in property but you feel you would like some further advice then feel free to pop in or call any one of our lettings agents in Norwich.
