This weekend marks the end of January. How on earth did that happen? I can’t say I’m sad about it, with spring feeling that little bit closer, and the evenings gradually getting longer. But the speed of the passage of time also makes me feel a little anxious. Before we know it, it’s going to be April, and a number of new tax rules will be introduced. One of which is the increase in stamp duty for buy-to-let landlords.
Act now, stop procrastinating
Don’t get me wrong, I actually don’t think this new tax will do much to dampen the appetite of would-be landlords, especially those in London. A recent article published by Bloomberg claimed that London needs one million new homes in the next decade to meet demand. To put that into perspective, developers built just 21,350 new homes in Greater London in the year to September 2015, according to UK Government data. Someone somewhere is going to have to up their game.
In the meantime, landlords continue to reap the benefits with rapid house price growth, and demand pushing up rents. If you’re not already a London landlord, you’re probably thinking one of two things: “greedy b*stards are the ones causing all the problems in the first place” or “I so wish I had invested in a buy-to-let before now”.
If you’re the latter, the good news is that it’s not too late. There’s still time to avoid paying the extra stamp duty, but more importantly, the sooner you act, the sooner you can benefit from attractive capital gains.
I don’t have time
If I had a dollar for the number of people I’ve heard say that they don’t have the time to become a landlord, I could retire. And that’s exactly why I set up My Property Consultant; to help busy professionals who can do without the hassle realise their buy-to-let ambitions. By instructing us, we can:
• Source you a property with excellent rental demand
• Negotiate with the estate agent on your behalf
• Work with the mortgage company to re-mortgage your existing property (if that’s how you intend to finance the deposit), and find you a suitable buy-to-let mortgage
• Work with the solicitors to ensure a seamless sale
• Push you through to exchange and completion without you having to lift a finger (bar a few signatures and some decisions here and there)
• Find you tenants and provide ongoing property management if required.
Our fee is very reasonable, and we’re happy to give you a free personalised no-obligation proposal.
So why not act now? There’s no time like the present as they say, and if we manage to beat the April deadline, we could even save you money in the process.
Contact Eyeedul Haque on 020 3819 6070 or eh@myproperty-consultant.london