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Hi! My partner is considering a job in China. We have one property in the UK where we live. It's on a residential mortgage and currently 3 years into a 5-year deal. We need to run the numbers to understand where we will stand if we go ahead with the move. I'd appreciate any feedback on the initial checklist I have... Speak to our mortgage broker about options to switch to a buy to let or getting permission to let. Speak to an accountant about the income tax that will be due on the property given my our circumstances (working/paying tax in China). Check-in with a few agents to see if our rental expectations are realistic. I've been an accidental landlord in the past so got a good handle on maintenance/management etc. My main concern is that was a long time go without the complexity of being an expat, joint property owner and when tax on interest payments was deductible. Would also be great to hear from anyone who's been in a similar situation Cheers!

Hi My name is James. Bit of a back story; My dad bought a 2 bed flat near where I grew up in `97 after reading rich dad poor dad. He was terrified of making a loss and its turned into a gold mine. When he died in `04 my mum used the money from his life insurance to buy more property and now has a small portfolio. Two flats in South East London near where we live, a flat in Preston and a student pod in Loughborough. She built this up as her pension. It has had fantastic capital growth and great cash flow with a very low loan to book value. A little over a year ago my mum was diagnosed with dementia. She's still early stages but I it seems that she had not been managing will with her property's and finances in general for some time. She had always been quite secretive about her finances. But after a frank discussion she agreed to let my sister and I look after her finances for her to ensure that she is looked after. The properties need tending to and her taxes and accounts were a mess. It took me forever to search the whole house and find all the bits of paper and still don't have it any any real kind of order but i am working on it. We took financial advice from a tax adviser and decided to transfer the ownership into an LLP with my mum my sister and myself as members. This has the benefit of helping with inheritance tax but also means that my sister an I can manage the portfolio without having to use LPA all the time (which i have found to be frustrating and limiting.) a mum can still have all of the income. The process of transferring the properties into the LLP has taken a lot longer than i expected with lots of details I didn't know to expect. We need to refinance to cover the existing lending on the portfolio, i had to get a business bank account which Barclays made a nightmare [i might write a post about this] found out that the property bought in `97 had a short lease and needed extending. We want to draw capital out of the properties at the point of refinancing with the aim of having cash to be able invest further. Turns out lenders want to know exactly what we want to spend the money on. Ive felt like there has been a lot of hoops to jump through and i have been put through the ringer. much of it is a result of inexperience. And during this time i have changed jobs and got married. so have had a lot on my plate. I started listening to the property pod cast and found Rob and Rob kept saying "we talked about that in episode..." and so i thought i would start from the beginning and am just getting to the point where they are introducing the property hub and i heeded their advice to get on here and chat. My aim ultimately is to grow the portfolio and the cash flow so that if and when my mum needs more intensive care we can afford the best available. She currently lives a good life, has a great social life, plays tennis several times as week and goes on at least two cruises a year with her partner. but unfortunately she has a degenerative disease an i want to be prepared for the worst and provide the best. My first priority is my mum but I'm hoping that there might be some surplus for my sister, my wife an I to enjoy. I love the idea of the dream line and want to sit down with everyone and work out how to forfill everyone's dreams. I've yet to do this and want to work out how. In the short term i need to shaw up what we currently have. some of the properties are quite tired and need work to bring them up to a high standard, and things like extending leases. fighting with management companies ensure all service charges are paid and upto date, working out what has been spent in the past few years and see if i can get mum a rebate as im sure she overpaid. While the cash flow is good i feel that everything that comes in goes out on some unexpected debt or charge or tax bill. I like rob and rob's mentality of outsourcing and want to get a good team of solicitors and accountants in place. I feel like I've picked up a ball of sting with lots knots and ends sticking out everywhere and i need to weave it into a beautiful quilt. generally turning chaos into order. To this end i am really interested in finding processes that make everything run smoothly. The flat bought in `97 needs a complete refurb. Like I said my dad was scared of loosing money and spent the bare minimum at the time to bring it up to a rentable standard and has had no money spent on it since. now needs a new bathroom, kitchen, rewire, floors boards, carpets, boiler and more. Currently my wife and i rent it off my mum as nobody else would. slightly longer term i want to expand the portfolio and like i said the cash flow. I have followed the markets for years tried to invest myself and have several thousand saved up in sliver. i feel the property market might be in for a bit of a slow down with increasing interest rates and a slowing turnover environment i feel there could be a killing to be made with foreclosures and probate and distressed sellers in the next 18 months. I want to be in a position to pounce. While my mum mainly went for two bed flats im open to many options, considering shop's with flats above, airb'n'b property , im also interested in agricultural land. but as with everything i know little and want to learn. I look forward to learning lots in this forum and joining the community. I've already signed up for the meeting in Waterloo on the 6th September (august was fully booked) if there are any posts or threads that people can point me to relating to inheriting a disorganised portfolio or from someone with dementia. how to plan for dementia care. or regarding the process of transferring into an LLP. also i will soon be undertaking the large refurbish (i have to) and any threads relating to the process to get everything done as quickly as possible will be great. speak soon

Hi all, I bought a 2-bed flat in Edinburgh, lived in it for a few years then moved-in with the better half who I've now married; so we're living together at hers and I'm renting my place out. Since doing this I've become slightly obsessed with the idea and am looking to build more capital and thus buy more properties. The end goal is to quit my dull accounting job and renovate & let-out property full-time across the UK (and possibly further afield if it really goes well). What I'd love to know from anyone out there who has walked the walk, is how you built up the capital initially. I don't particularly want to have to sell my flat to finance a refurb project and then flip for a profit, but if that's the only reasonable way forward then so be it. I've read the article on the website regarding start-up capital and don't have a bank of mum & dad (or anyone else for that matter) to fall back on. Has anyone tried and tested another route to build up funds? All the best, Rob

Hello I'm Matt, I'm currently reading the '100 Property Investment Tips' book and thought I would give this forum a whirl. I'm from the Greater Manchester area and first became an 'Accidental Landlord' in 2007 when I left the country to work abroad. Initially I was just happy to have a tenant pay my mortgage, (in fact I never even considered profit) whilst I worked away however I was naive and made some mistakes as I literally rented out my 'Home' cheaply complete with top of the range furnishings and products. Yes how very stupid of me because when I arrived home 4 years later and after a few Tenants had come and gone through agents, the place was absolutely filthy and many of my prize possessions broken or missing. I was just too much of a nice guy and even let one Tenant off his final months rent because he was broke. I can sense your disbelief! Fast forward a few more years and I now consider myself a 'Professional Landlord with 3 Properties', I manage them myself (the agents were useless), and cover every single legal aspect of the properties which I have learn't from reading many property books and from more experienced Landlords. And you will be pleased to know I hardly leave a thing in the properties, I also man manage the Tenants and if any of them step out of line I have a firm word before I bring out the legal documents. I will be starting a Limited company very soon and plan to buy 3 more properties a year to begin with. I look forward to talking and sharing ideas with you. Thank You.

Hi everyone, I'm an accidental landlady of 2 years - renting out my former family home after losing my husband. What I learnt during that process was what works for your own home (huge garden, complicated eco heating system and vintage kitchen) certainly does not work for a rental...finding tenants was tricky, keeping them over the cold winter months even harder. Despite that I enjoyed the income in provided, I enjoyed the management, dealing with with people and the contrast it provided to my day job (self-employed designer and brand consultant) so over those two years I decided that when the time was right I would sell the house, and reinvest this equity into a more serious buy-to-let business, and eventually making this my main or sole source of income. Thats where I am right now - the house is under offer due to complete next week. Unless something hideous happens (touching wood right now) then in several weeks I will have £300 000 to invest. This is enough money to be really exciting and terrifying in equal measure. It is my children's inheritance so I don't want to mess up. I have been reading non-stop, listened to most of the Property Hub Podcasts, worked out some of my goals and have started thinking strategies. I have booked into the next Berkshire Property networking meetup and I've started to build my team - namely I have a solicitor that I trust, a builder on hand, and have spoken to a couple of mortgage brokers. Also made an appointment with RMP. I think my strategy will involve LHA,and some mixed use commercial property. I need moderate income to start whilst I start to shift from design to property over the next 5 years. In 5 years, I would like to be earning £6000 per month from property. Possible, outlandish or conservative?! My concerns are how competitive the market already is in my area (Reading-Maidenhead). How to I find my niche when there are some big players out there. How to source BMV - I read the advice but the reality will clearly be a challenge. If I work outside my area how can I find the time to travel around the country viewing properties, meeting potential tenants, when I have 2 kids in school. Right thats it for now, off to walk the dog! Lisa