More Worries For Buy-To-Let Tenants As Landlords Default On Mortgage Repayments

Landlords are finding it tough and the last few months have seen 50 per cent more struggling with mortgages.Many people cannot buy at present and renting is popular again but anyone renting must be sure that their landlord is not having problems.

One couple, Chris and Siobhan Taylor, agreed to rent and paid 48,000 pounds, up-front, for a five-bedroom house in Loughton, Essex.By doing this they got a 6,000 pound discount but a few months down the line they learn that their landlord is behind on his mortgage repayments by tens of thousands of pounds.
Siobhan said, 'We are feeling very vulnerable.We had no idea when we rented the property that this could happen.We just assumed that everything was OK.We face losing all our money and our deposit, or having to go to court, should the lender want to repossess during our one-year tenancy.'

Unfortunately, the Taylors' have found the huge hole in the legislation protecting tenants.

When you pay rent above 25,000 pounds you have to sign a standard tenancy contract, not an assured shorthold tenancy contract; this would have protected them more in this case.

The deposit they paid of 7,850 pounds will have been given to the landlord directly and not to a third party as is recommended under the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme, so is gone and the same applies to anyone sharing a house or a flat and paying over 2,083 pounds monthly, if the lease is in joint names.

Head of operations at the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA), Ian Potter, says, 'The whole subject of the private rented sector is under review in a Housing Green Paper.It is acknowledged that the current system is not satisfactory.'

The problem is, there are no regulations for letting agents.

Members of ARLA do have to follow their codes of conduct but this does not include ensuring that a landlord has informed his lender that he is renting the property and produce proof that they have, it simply says that they must inform them.Therein, is a loop hole that prevents the letting agent from being deemed negligent.

Sue Anderson, from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, advises, 'A bank or building society will eventually send a letter to "the occupier" of a property.We advise tenants to open any letter addressed this way.The letter will give them a minimum of 14 days' notice of any court hearing to repossess the house.

'If the court does repossess, they will have a further minimum 28 days before the lender takes possession.As soon as a tenant realises there is a problem, they should get advice from Citizens' Advice or a solicitor, and make contact with their landlord's lender.'

If a property is to be let, the lender, once they know, will usually switch the existing loan to a 'buy-to-let' mortgage.

'If you have paid all the rent up front, then if the house is repossessed you need to put in a claim against the landlord for the outstanding rent and deposit.This would be paid out of any surplus once the property is sold.' says Mario Economides, at solicitors Lorrells Georgiou Nicholas LLP.

'Tenants falling outside the assured shorthold tenancy rules should insist that the landlord has his lender's consent and that any deposit is paid into an escrow account held by a solicitor or the letting agent'.

'I would not advise clients to pay rent up front as a year is a long time and you don't know what will happen.'

About the Author

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How to Work with Realtors

Working with real estate agents can be a challenge if the agent youve selected isnt aware of your needs in acquiring property. Theyre accustomed to selling at retail and any deviation from what they consider normal can jeopardize what could otherwise be a great working relationship. The good news is that you have the power to provide the education, if youre willing to take the time. Heres how you can do your part.

If youre trying to work with a real estate agent that has never seen, much less worked with, a real estate investor, the first thing you need to do is have a sit-down meeting to explain your goals, your investing strategy, and your needs.

But dont overlook that your actual estate originator similarly has demand.

The right facts and figures is that todays advertise conditions variety this a apposite time to forge whatsoever could be a mutually fulfilling lengthy-period relationship. Unless youve been living not up to a rock youre gorgeous anyhow aware that retail purchasers go through disappeared. For of this, and low prices, valid estate investors are on a buying extravaganza. You can work joined and rotate marvelous profits also the help of a factual estate cause that gets it.

You may be an investor that commonly avoids real estate agents every time imaginable as you dont demanded to covenant as well as valid estate commissions. Thats first-class and dude, but in a couple sites you may not have a choice.
Added and more states are enacting rules made to protect customers loves those who may take reward of each other. As a result, states such as Oregon submit to occurred laws requiring that genuine estate agents be occupied in any transaction that causes homeowner equity to be transferred to an additional get-together. Assorted states such as California could trail have room for.

Instead of arguing the merits of the rules, own up to themselves and swing on. You can likewise use a true estate originator comfortably as a mediation apparatus each time operating shortest sales. If youre new to short sales or are functioning along furthermore a lender also whom youve certainly not worked in advance, you may not be aware of the specific steps tied up. In addition, one or two lender loss mitigation departments have their own rules, policies, and recipes. If you violate protocol your give will be belatedly-or rejected.

A true estate agent is a got wind commodity to the friendly banker. Banks textbook accurately as well as authentic estate agents on traditional purchases, so theres an institutional bias that favors the factual estate agent.
The bank is further probable to accept as true that an offer that makes detect if its displayed by any person who speaks their language. Heres an additional mind to accept as true that: If a correct valid estate origin can support grease the wheels and get your bestow in front of a lender, you can get an way out extra rapidly, and perhaps obtainable further deals.

There can still be other perks to performing plus a valid estate originator: exploration. As soon as you find out a compact operating relationship, a authentic estate originator will be willing to share concentration also you that would hold a good deal of longer for you to do yourself. Comps and varied MLS data is available by means of a actual estate agent; although, you dont want to know to filth the relationship.
Solid love affairs along furthermore a actual estate originator will open doors for you that may have been securely closed in the past.

It makes notice to craft romances that will more your goals, beef up your line of business, and add true analyze to your under line. A true estate agent can help you as a great deal of as you can abet each other and repeat business and granting the means to stock creating cash notwithstanding the detail that the retail residential real estate publicize has close to completely dried up.
Near to the Architect

Peter Vekselman has been successfully investing in real estate because 1996. He has made ready higher than 1000 valid estate deals, owned a construction firm, been a private lender, and owned a real estate administration
firm. To grasp spare just about Peter gratify see

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Contests as a Retail Marketing Strategy

Contests are an excellent retail marketing tactic for generating buzz and increasing foot traffic to a retail store. Contests are also a method by which to collect contact data from customers, to be used for direct mail and e-mail marketing campaigns.

The types of contests a retailer can plan are as limitless as his imagination. The objective of any contest should be to create the best possible incentive to get customers into the store, and to motivate them to place their contact information into the drawing box. Usually the incentive is a valuable grand prize, but can also take the form of a small gift given just for entering.

One example of a contest idea might be to ask customers to help name a mascot or character associated with the business. A retailer can create an entry form providing space for a contest entrants name, address, phone number, e-mail address and mascot name suggestion. If the retailer has a website, customers can enter the contest via an online entry form as well. The retailer can set dates associated with the contest such as an entry deadline, a first round selection of three finalists, and finally the date to announce the grand prize winner. The contest rules and progress can be included in all advertising and marketing campaigns within the contest timeframe, including the stores voicemail greeting, flyers, media advertising and website.

The grand prize for this contest might be an opportunity for the winner to appear in a series of local advertisements with the mascot and to have her name and photo appear on the air, in the press, and on the website. In addition, a prize basket could be offered to the winner and to the two semi-finalists.

Another tactic to collect additional contact data and to add longevity to the event might be to conduct the contest in two parts: once the three finalists have been selected, customers can be called back into the store or to the website to vote for their favorite of the three possible choices. In addition to being a fun idea, this type of contest can create great word-of-mouth advertising and a great deal of foot traffic.

Contests with media tie-ins are particularly good traffic builders, as the reach for potential entrants is greater than usual. An example of this type of contest might involve a retail store owner inviting customers to come into the store to obtain a lottery-type ticket of numbers, in exchange for entering the contest via the entry form providing their contact information. Customers would be instructed to listen to a particular radio station at a particular time, or to purchase the local newspaper on a particular date to obtain the winning numbers drawn and compare them to her ticket. The customer holding the winning ticket is the grand prize winner.

The publication or station printing or airing your ads benefits from a tie-in contest, as it receives an increase in listeners and newspaper sales on a particular day. A radio station may provide a discounted advertising rate to motivate a retailer to direct listeners to a show in need of a ratings boost, or to a particular section of the newspaper in need of readers.

Contests are great opportunities to obtain contact information, generate foot traffic, and inspire word-of-mouth advertising for a retail store. Include a series of contests in your annual retail marketing plan.


About the Author

Jim ODonnell of Jaguar Consulting, Inc. in Kingston, NH provides marketing and business development services for small business and has developed a series of

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