Joe Brown

Personally, I’d say no. The only upside to you is having a tenant from day one, but realistically you could have a tenant in within 2-3 weeks if you wanted anyway. Those 3 weeks are probably only worrh hundreds to you, most of which in lost profit and very little in direct costs. The massive downsides in return are everything you’ve already said above. And to me, after you get the keys you’ll likely want to go in and make sure you’re happy with everything anyway, something you can’t do properly if its pre-tenanted. Personally, I have a btl which was pre-tenanted (still the

Hi everyone, I'm in the early stages of my property journey and trying to scale up as quickly as possible really. I own three self-managed (no agency fees taken out) buy-to-lets with 75% mortgages on them already and I plan to buy a 4th this time next year, before a 5th sometime after that (as soon as I can save enough really!). Depending on the situation then, I plan to probably stop buying, continue saving a good sized emergency fund, diversify my investing into more liquid investments like shares, and focus on other things. I should also add that I'm currently 24 with no dependent

Hi everyone, Due to an increasing self-employed profit and owning three personal buy to lets already, I'm considering taking my self-employed business limited this summer in order to keep my business earnings separate in the ltd company, and to keep my personally owned property income taxed at just 20%. However, I'm also planning on buying another 4th buy to let next winter, maybe February 2022. Would I be able to get a personal buy to let mortgage just 6 months after taking my business limited, stopping being a sole-trade and becoming a director paid a small wage and dividen

Rod, Anything you buy in a ltd company is completely seperate, so will not cause you to pay any additional stamp duty on your own personal home move. However, this is mostly irrelevant and I wouldn’t base buying a buy to let in a ltd company on this reasoning anyway. Even if you purchased a buy to let in your own personal name and then moved house to a bigger house, as long as you sold your current primary residence within 3 years i think it is, then you would get a refund of any additional sdlt charged. Basically, regardless of any second homes, you don’t get charged the sdlt surch

Hi David, thanks so much for your thoughts! My original plan was to buy another around next April (2022) and perhaps a 5th and final (at least for a while!) a year or so after that. I really wanted to avoid ltd’s for the property stuff to begin with though due to the remarkably higher interest rates charged to ltd companies and avoiding ltd co accountancy costs for just a couple of properties. My idea was to get 5 personal btl’s, taxed personally at 20% only in the UK, then either move and work abroad where you pay income tax abroad unaffected by uk income (guernsey charge a flat

Hi Julia, thanks for putting it into perspective about the knee jerk reaction and accepting it for a few years for the long term good! The suggestion on doing any expensive maintenance is a good one, however the first house is in ok condition with good tenants, the second is only 15 years old and has just been refurbished (decorated, carpets etc) and let out to new tenants, and my own house is only 6 years old so in a practically brand new condition! Not sure I could find much maintenance to do right now (touch wood!) Thanks for your time and thoughts, Joe Hi mate,

My properties are temporarily (2-3 yrs) putting me in the higher bands - please review my ideas on how to minimise it and maximise my gains towards my goals!? Hi everyone, My current situation is that I'm a self-employed plasterer working for a contractor, I have earnt approx £45k the last few years. However, this year with the fact that I've just personally brought two properties to let out, my profits this year are going to be either right on the edge of the 40% bracket or a few grand over, so £50k up to £54k. This march I also plan to move into my partners house and rent out my h

Hi everyone, Just interested to hear your thoughts and (I hope, reassurance ) on my position/plans going forward. I'm 23, have been saving, reading and learning for years, and last year brought my own home for £165k. Then in March just gone, I had an offer of £131k accepted on a property with tenants in situ paying £670pcm, which is due to complete in the next few weeks. I've also today had another offer accepted on another property of £114k with rent expected between £575 & 600. I'm hoping to have both these through, up and running by the end of September, giving me a prof

Hi everyone, I know this question is being asked all over at the moment, but, should I attempt to re-negotiate? The house was on for £140k, agreed at £132.500 originally and then reduced this to £131.000 after a survey brought up some issues. The property is already being let by tenants at £670p/m who I intend to keep (however, they are both self-employed, one in catering and one in theatre... not great with everything at the moment! However, I assume they'll be getting universal credit to help them) At the moment, I've paid for my survey and I've instructed my solicitors, but

Hi everyone, I'm a self-employed plasterer getting the SEISS for the last 3 months off work (I work on new builds which have been closed) but I'm considering applying for the Bounce Back Loan of £12k as it's interest free for a year, and only 2.5% interest for the remainder. It seems like a no-brainer and while not used towards directly towards a property deposit, it would in essence replace my emergency fund, therefore freeing up my own funds towards a new property deposit. However, how does a loan like this affect mortgability? I've got a BTL loan mortgage going through the

Oh yeah, ofcourse - old habits and all that Maybe a picnic instead??

Also, just a tip, you can usually get good condition but second hand older books like the millionaire next door cheap off ebay for a couple of pound.

I'm South Staffordshire and would be interested too. Maybe we could setup an informal meet-up group for a pint after things have relaxed a bit

I've heard "How to Save Property Tax 2019/20" is good, it's kind of property tax/accountancy. Also, the millionaire next door

Hi everyone, Just setup my spreadsheet for the new tax year to monitor my income, expenses, savings, net worth etc. I'm sad I know But since this year I'll be buying my first BTL (it's currently going through) I've came across a decision I've not had to make before... how to deal with the 6/7k in costs of buying each investment property on my net worth spreadsheet... For example, I'm buying a property with a £33k deposit but it's going to cost me a further 7k in SD/Costs, so £40k in total. My cash will therefore go down by 40k, but strictly speaking the equity in the investme