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Hi Everyone, I was very interested in an auction property in Salford. I got the legal pack from the agent and arranged for a solicitor to go through it. The next day the solicitor told me that everything was fine with the property except for their being a rent charge on the property. I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained that the rent charge was a remnant of an agreement between Landowners and property developers from hundreds of years ago. Just like we have ground rent on leasehold property, a rent charge was a charge that the land owner put on any property that was built on their land. Apparently, this is still in use mainly in Manchester and Bristol. I was worried that the rent charge would be a hefty sum that would eat into the amount I could charge any tenant and so diminish any profits I could make on the property. However, the some was only £4........... Per Year!! Happy that my the property was still financially viable, in my head I was excited and ready to make an offer. However,!! there was more. The solicitor continued to say that although a small amount of money, I needed to be careful. There is a scam going on with these Rent charges! Yes, a £4 rent charge! The scam is because it is such a small sum of money and paid every year rather than monthly, people forget to pay. Property owners that forget to pay the Rent Charge can find that the Rent Owner ( the person or company that owns the Rent Charge) is allowed to add a lease to their property in payment of their debt. Yes, even if this is just £4! Now, the scam is that to get the Lease off your freehold property, you have to pay whatever amount of money the rent owner suggests. I have not bought this property yet. I wrote this post mainly to find out if the information that I have is correct or if the people that I have spoken to have exaggerated the consequences. Would be interested if anyone here has any experience or advice as to whether I should buy the property or not. I have found out that the property has had a lease put onto it. Removing the rent charge permanently is very easy and not too costly. But you have to know who the Rent Owner is. Even though I have tried to find out who this is, I have reached dead ends. Thanks in advance for your help Chim

I saw a post a while back saying there would be a Bristol meetup today but I can't find it now. Please would someone tell me if this is happening and give me details if it is. Many thanks Rob

Hi all, Reaching out to the community as I am in need of a reliable Housekeeping Company for my Serviced Accommodation business based in Southmead/ Westbury-on-Trym area of Bristol. No one man bands please as I need flexibility and reliable cover if one person can't make it for whatever reason and needs to be able and willing to do bed changes, inventory checks etc.... Thanks in advance David

Hi All I am looking for recommendations for an architect in the Bristol area. I have a 3-bed end of terrace with large enough land for another, same size, property with parking. I'm looking for someone to produce plans and give me some direction/advice on what to build (e.g. flats/house etc). Any help would be very much appreciated. Paddy

Hi, I'm buying a BTL flat in Cardiff and looking for a Bristol based solicitor who has experience with buying through a Ltd Company. Can anyone offer a referral please? This is a first time purchase using a Ltd company for me. thanks!

Good morning all, I've just found out that my usual conveyancing solicitor is not on the panel for the lender on my latest BTL purchase, so am looking for suggestions; BTL, leasehold flat Purchase with my LTD Co SPV Lender is Vida Homeloans Can anyone offer a recommendation? Both myself and the BTL flat are in Bristol, so that location would offer some benefit, but solicitor location is not a big issue for me. Ideally not a call centre convencing factory though! With thanks, James.

Should I sell this property? One of my properties is a 2-bed terrace in Bristol. It's my former home which I converted to a buy to let a couple of years ago. It has had good capital growth and is now valued at around £320k. The rent is £1,100 per month. The capital growth means there is a good amount of equity in the property (£160k). As my property investment knowledge has grown over the last couple of years, I have been considering whether this money would be put to better use elsewhere. I have tried to pull money out by remortgaging to invest further in other locations. However, as it is not particularly high yielding, the property does not satisfy the rental stress tests to release any equity. Whilst the Bristol market was taking off in terms of capital growth, I was reluctant to sell despite the low rental yield. Now, with the flat Bristol market, I am really starting to wonder whether now is the time to get rid of this one. In the long term I am confident that this property will experience further capital growth – great area, lots of investment going in etc., but my concern is the lost opportunities that I might be missing out on by not investing in other areas/properties (e.g. with the £160k I might have enough for maybe 3 or 4 flats in one of the northern cities which are currently performing well). Another thing pointing towards selling is that a sale before April 2020 would incur no capital gains tax (as it's my former home, I would get a combination of PPR and lettings relief). The changes to PPR and lettings relief announced in last month's budget mean that, from April 2020, I estimate a CGT bill of around £7.5k (based on a sale at £320k). On the other hand, there's no CGT until you actually sell so if I hold the property for the very long term then that won't be an issue. I appreciate your answers to this might depend on what my strategy is. I'm 34 and aiming for looking to use property to fund retirement at around 50. I generally favour capital growth over rental yield, although as new parents both my wife and I are already working part time and a decent rental yield might help us further cut down our hours in the future. Grateful for any thoughts you can offer. Thanks Matt

Hi everyone, We are looking to sell a property in Bedminster and so far we are not convinced by our agent's efforts and might be looking to switch. Does anyone have any recommendations for a more proactive member of the species who has good local knowledge? TIA!

Hi My first BTL in Bristol (St Annes Park) is coming up for relet. My lovely long-standing tenant of 15 years is retiring and moving in with his family. Since it's so long since I've done anything down there (tenant has always been happy with flat and always declined the offer of decorating etc), I have no network and would really appreciate any recommendations for: painter and decorator carpet supplier (someone to measure up, remove old carpet and fit new ones) letting agent I did have a good letting agent in the area and they're still active but they 'lost' my tenant's deposit and never protected it after the legislation change since it was all so long ago. They eventually registered it when I proved they'd retained it! All advice gratefully received! Daryl

Hi All, I thought I would introduce myself. I am not a professional property developer but have a house in London that I am renting out - I am renting in Bristol so that I can get to know the area and where I would like to live...... However, I am looking at a mixed use commercial property to buy and set up my cookery school business. I am looking at a wreck at the moment and hoping to get some advice on the project as I have never renovated a property before....so I will be cruising the renovations and planning section Nice to meet you all..... Sam

Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a piece of land in Bristol via auction. Can anyone kindly recommend a good solicitor? Cheers.

Afternoon all, As the title suggests i'm a new member to the forum and have been really enjoying the various courses and podcasts that are available. I've been toying with the idea of investing in BTL for a while now and i think i'm almost there in terms access to funds, a strategy and goals. I have a strong idea of where i want to be in say 10 to 15 years time and also expectations in the short to medium term. I deal with commercial real estate as a 'day job', but of course wouldn't it be nice to grow a scalable business and retire early... I have subscribed to next weeks monthly meetup in Bristol, however it didn't appear that many others had subscribed on Eventbrite; am i going to be the only one there sat in the corner sipping my beer? I had also tried to look at the property hub forum for the Bristol meet however this is a private forum and is password protected; how do i get the password or is it more 'invite only'? Many thanks and i look forward to contributing much more as hopefully the portfolio snowballs.. Richard

I am looking to rent out my place for the first time. My place is in Clifton, Bristol a very sought after and desirable area for both residence and tourists. The decision I have been battling with and one that I was hoping to get some advice from you all on was whether to rent my house out residentially… I do like that it will be rented out all the time and turn over of tenants will only be once every 12 months max but have been advised that renting it out short term on airbnb can get you DOUBLE the revenue if managed well I have heard of a company called Air 360 based just around the corner who manage properties for you in this style For only 12% of the booking price which is much better value than any other airbnb property management service in the area. Does anyone have any advice/ horror stories/ success stories for me??

Have been investing in the area for 10 years, just interested to hear opinion from other users on the market, neighbourhoods/property types they are focused on, growth areas, impact on market of temple area re-development and development around Filton etc. Thoughts on the CJ Hole fiasco etc.