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Hi, I would be very grateful for some experienced advice on an apartment purchase, which has hit a problem at the lenders survey stage. The property was purchased off-plan - terms of the contract were 5% upfront, then remaining 5% upon completion. I am pleased with the build quality, however, i have now hit a snag in that the lender will not lend on the property citing "high risk" and "unsuitable security". In fact, after discussion with my broker, it appears a number of lenders are not willing to lend on the building. I'm trying to locate the exact problem, but understand it may be down to the concrete construction (this was originally an office block built in 1980s and now converted to residential). I'm put off the fact i'm having difficulties obtaining a mortgage, which could mean refinancing and/or selling issues in future. If i pull out, could i recover my 5% deposit? - and worse still, would i be required to pay the outstanding 5% since the contract is already signed 12months ago? I would argue i did not sign up to a development that would be very difficult (or even impossible) to obtain a mortgage on!! Many Thanks Lee

Hi Hubbers, This is probably an obvious question, but I'm going to go ahead and ask anyway... I plan on purchasing a BTL property via a Limited Company early next year. I'm just wondering when it comes to signing agreements/contracts with third parties (e.g. tenancy agreements, insurance agreements, letting agency agreements etc)- would it be myself or the limited company that is named on the paperwork? Really appreciate your help! Thanks, Anthony

Hello Everyone! I have secured a property which is a cash buy and have subsequently got some interest from investors. I offer investors 8-10% on their money for the time that their money is in the deal. For this particular property, the timeframe would be around 8 months as we are buying with cash, refurbishing the property and then we will mortgage it at 75% market value to enable us to pull our money (investors money too) out. My intention is to purchase the property (£60k) with my funds (£40k) as well as the investors funds (£20k), but only my name goes on the title deed. We then set up a declaration of trust between us. When it comes to financing the property 6-8 months later (after the refurbishment) at £80k with a 75% mortgage, we can pull all of our money out. We then pay the investor back his £20k plus interest, and we walk away with the rest to reinvest. So my question is: Can anyone assist with any sort of documentation templates which I can use to set up all the necessary contracts and paperwork required between me and the investor? Ideally the contracts should cover death, insolvency, how security is held, interest payments, etc etc. Thank so much!

Many go it alone landlords are starting to use online advertisers to give them access to the internet like Rightmove and Zoopla but may not realise the risks they are taking with the wording of their adverts. These portals do not check the legality of what is said and it can come back to bite the advert maker and cost lots of money in refunds and legally being able to break contracts. Also, writing your own contracts or adding extra terms from a bought, borrowed or plagiarised contract can also land the unwary in trouble and also be unenforceable. I have been shown a few howlers in my time provided by both landlords and companies purporting to be agents (and should know better) that are not worth the paper they're written on and even to my non-legal eye are clearly wrong. In these increasingly litigious times it is worth all investors who are going on to rent their property to pay as much due diligence to the agent they are choosing to use or to make sure they get good letting advice and access to facilities from organisations like the National Landlords Assoc (NLA) ro te Residential Landlords Assoc (RLA) so that they can obtain proper contracts, notices etc in order to protect themselves for when things go wrong. Read this blog page from the TDS website as it will inform the reader of areas that could be of concern to them as well as their agent if they choose to go down that route. https://www.tds.gb.com/news/blog/five-consumer-law-mistakes-that-could-cost-you-money/ The TDS site is also a really useful source of guidance on how to effectively manage deposit claims and disputes - the other deposit providers have similar areas but I tend to use the TDS the most - probably because that is where our deposits are registered day-to-day