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Hi everyone, I’m about to begin my property investing journey after saving like a madman for the past seven years. I have about 35k to invest. My focus in on capital growth as I enjoy my job and don’t have immediate plans to stop. As result I’ve been looking at flats in city centres as the podcast seems to suggest that city centre properties general outperform neighbourhoods further out in terms of capital growth. I began searching in Nottingham, but am really battling to find anything suitable. As a result, I am now turning my attention to Derby. I’d be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts/comments on this. Rob and Rob seem to rate the city highly and it’s not too far from where I live. With this in mind, I was hoping some lovely soul could offer some advice on the following: 1) streets/areas/developments in the city centre to focus on/avoid 2) agents worth using in my search 3) If I’m being silly by only considering the city centre Any advice would be hugely beneficial!

Lenders are already steering away from certain flats with cladding unless they have the required certificates - Most don't. Even one of our most accommodating specialist lenders today made it clear that they will be unable to lend on: "Flats with cladding and/or balconies that stack vertically above each other containing combustible materials or the balconies are directly linked by combustible materials where the EWS1 form identifies that remediation work is needed and has not been carried out" Read the article for more background. https://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/market-news/surveying/blog-cladding-crisis-forward-06-09-2021/ Steve Walker www.promisemoney.co.uk

I’m due to complete on my second BTL flat. My first made me an accidental landlord and I’ve had the same tenant in there for the ten years since I rented it. This new purchase is the start of me becoming intentional. It’s a 2 bed flat in an area near town in Newcastle that is popular with both students and young professionals. It’s a nice flat with a great layout, double fronted and a huge private garden. My question is what level of furnishing is advised? I often read to furnish with as little as possible but I want to get this rented out quickly and for it to be desirable. Any advice gratefully received.

Hi all, I am looking at a property that has a retail unit on the ground floor and a few flats/maisonettes above and behind. It also has a small 1 bed cottage at the rear. My question is... Could I buy this property using a BTL mortgage or do I need a commercial mortgage? Could I buy the whole lot under the one mortgage or would I require separate mortgages? This is virgin territory for me and I would really appreciate some advice. I hope you can help?? Thanks in advance, Steve.

Hi, As a new investor I'm after some advice. My husband and I have bought a house for rental. We were unable to obtain a HMO license as there was a local limit in the area. However we have obtained full planning permission to convert the property into two flats. My husband is now working flat out to achieve this. Do we need to legally spilt the flats into two leaseholds with the freehold in a separate limited company? We are keen to avoid these costs but are concerned that even if the physical split complies with building regs, not legally splitting the property will break the HMO laws. Any advice would be gratefully received, Suzi

Hi all, Hoping I can get a little help here on my first post. As I don’t have a great deal of capital for my first investment I am looking to do a BRR on a flat locally first. In people’s experience have you been able to add enough value for the refinancing? I am looking at £100k purchase price, £7-10k refurb (Bathroom, Kitchen, Carpets & Redecoration throughout). Aiming for a £130k valuation (running the numbers of a worst case scenario at £115-120k). Recently sold comparables at £127-132k and a couple of outliers at £145k. Obviously these are sold prices though not a surveyors valuation. Any thoughts on this? In general do people think it’s harder to add value to a flat than it is a house e.g. 2 bed flat vs 2 bed terraced house? Any thoughts or advice would be great to hear. Thanks Dan

Hi. I'm a Brit based overseas looking to start my property investment portfolio in Sheffield. (My retirement rescue plan - I'm also enjoying the research process). I'm looking to buy flats or terraced houses at between £135 to £150K to let out to young professionals or possibly students. I should be in a position to purchase 2 or 3 of these in the next 12 months. The investments will need to be hands off as I'm based overseas for the next 3-5 years. I've found Rob Dix's excel spreadsheet very useful - Thanks Rob. My current stumbling block is the viewings. I can't physically view the properties I've shortlisted. Although, it might be possible to buy without viewing I am a little apprehensive about doing so. I don't know anyone who could view them for me using facetime or whatsapp; or simply report back to me. I'd be interested to hear others' experience using third parties to view on their behalf. Has anyone used Upwork, for example? Any advice or tips would be welcome.

Hello all, I've never invested in property before but I'm keen to start doing so and generating passive income to top up my salary, with the eventual goal of working only two-three days a week over the next coming years. I did run a holiday let in Norfolk for 18 months after I inherited a bungalow from my late mother in January 2016, but it was a lot of hassle to manage it living far away and my girlfriend and I were still in rented accommodation at the time, so I sold that property last year to free up the capital. With that capital, I've put a large deposit down on a residential house with my partner, and I want to invest the remaining capital. I've currently got a purchase going through on a 3-bedroom semi-detached house, which will be my first investment. I'm not particularly good at DIY, so I won't be making any improvements to the house (or future properties) myself, but I do have some good connections who can help with the work. I've been debating whether to go down the house or flat route, and I'm still unsure about investing in flats, even though they seem to give better net yields over the short-term. I'm unsure of the financial implications of dwindling leases etc. Open to any advice to avoid the many pitfalls! Thanks in advance, James.

I'm just wondering how once i've purchased my first flat for £70,000 max and am renting it out to someone for a bit of extra money, how could I afford to get another property at £70,000 to then also rent out? I am doing this so that when I have children in future I can give them everything they need. I don't really want to have this be very time consuming. I intend to save up a deposit for the first property and move into it as I pay off the mortgage, which may be several years.

I was the preferred buyer on a probate property last year that fell through because the sellers fell out. I've just been told it's available again and I have first refusal for the next few days. What follows is bit of ramble with some questions interspersed. The property is currently use class A1 and has been for several decades at least but would have originally been a house. The property on the left door is still a house; the property on right and subsequent properties are offices & shops. The shop currently fronts directly onto the pavement. There is on street parking although it is already busy. It is on bus routes and within 800m of the town centre. As I understand, it would normally be within PDR to convert this to C4 residential. But it is within a conservation area of the town which means full planning is required. I have spoken with one group of planning "experts" who say that it is reasonable to apply for and expect to get permission for a C4. I have asked the council who said I need to apply for planning to find out. Other buildings within 100m have been converted from office/shop to residential - both flat and HMO. The internal floor space is 49.5m2 per floor and there are two floors. It is likely that the attic could be converted too (although currently there is no separation between the houses in the attics). I understand that 50m2 is required for a one-double bed flat. But I do not know if that allows for stairs to get up to the 2nd floor flat etc. In other words, is the 50m2 required for the internal area of each flat? Am I likely to get planning to convert to residential and is flats viable? The property is essentially a shell or would be after a little gutting. Ideally all chimney breasts and stacks would be removed to make more space. What would the baseline costs be for converting it into a house, flats or HMO? Having recently refurbed a terraced house in a similar state (which required, full gut and full refit - bathroom, kitchen, electrics, heating, some roof replacement, plastering, decorate, flooring, garden, new water mains, fuse board upgrade, doors & windows etc. ) I have quite a bit of experience and that cost about £40K managing myself and filling in the gaps between the trades. So I think that this would cost a similar amount to convert to a house. But how much to convert to flats if I could get planning or even an HMO. Currently we are not in an Article 4 area although I need planning to convert it to any residential use. So for a house conversion the numbers would be approximately - purchase £150K, refurb £50K, end value £250K. How much would it cost to turn it into 2 flats or even 3 if I put studio flat in the attic space. Would an HMO conversion with multiple en-suites be less than flats? I realise I am not going to get all my ducks lined up before proceeding but the questions at this stage revolve around whether I would get planning or not, how to mitigate my risk and the likely costs of conversion to make sure the finances add up. Many thanks for any advice. Jeremy

Hi - i'm new to the property game. I'm looking for properties (flats initially) to refurb and sell on... i think it's called flipping !?! Can't afford anything close to London unless I'm extremely lucky Looking at areas like the NW, Nottinghamshire and the Midlands.. I'm a cash buyer with a fair budget to make a modest start hopefully with a decent profit. I have a really good builder but he's based in London where I am so to keep costs down I will have to find reputable builders in the areas that I buy in... Basically any advice and info will be gratefully received

Hello All,I have bought a piece of land 1 acre land last month. and approached with the local council with pre-application to build 50 flats in a block there. I received affirmative response from the council.Now, I am trying to find out the building cost to check if my numbers stacks up well.Does anybody got an idea about what is the build up cost per sq. meter in West Midland area?

Hi Everyone, I am a full time investor and landlord with a portfolio of HMO's in Luton & Bedford and single let's in Manchester. I even got a mention in the propertyhub magazine, thanks Rob and Rob! I am currently expanding my Manchester portfolio and am viewing dozens of properties within 20 mins walk the city centre and Salford Quays as well as some other key areas with good fundamentals. I work in a very systemised way, generating extensive data and building relationships with estate agents. I am always happy to chat with and help other investors at all experience levels and look to find smart ways of working together. Thanks, Nick nikork900@hotmail.com

To answer this ongoing question I created a video answer - enjoy

Slightly odd situation - I'd be grateful for Hubbers' views: A friend has inherited the freehold to a block of flats which his father built. The leases are all 999 years from the early 1970s and provide for an annual ground rent of £15 per flat. With 24 flats this totals £360 per year. There is no provision in the lease for increasing the ground rent, so as things stand it will just continue at that level. Not sure who manages the block, but it is not something my friend is interested in taking on. He has asked whether there is anything he can do. Over time he sees the income as more trouble than it's worth and, unless something can be done to increase the ground rent, he would rather just get rid of the freehold. Any thoughts?

Hello All, I am very new to this group and I am so happy to find a property investment hub based in the UK! My name is Margaret Boukadia and my aim is to invest in a property portfolio with very little cash. I aim to make a lucrative career out of property investment and would therefore welcome any experienced advise people have on building a property portfolio. My focus is on purpose built flats in the London/Croydon area and I am aiming for couples and small families. Apart from gaining useful information/guides/tips from this group, I also expect to build great working relationships with other investors, private financiers, surveyors and other professions related to this field. Please drop me a line and introduce yourself Kind regards, Margaret Boukadia

Hi All I thought I'd share this - just got an email from an auction house. Fancy 102 flats in a tower block? Asking £2.6m. You gotta be braver than I am. Stamp duty alone would be mouthwatering. (Maybe open a forum thread as to the maximum number any one landlord offloads?) Property DescriptionA 17 storey tower block consisting of studio and one bedroom apartments. There are two lifts, communal lobby, security office and secondary office. There is a tarmac surfaced car parking area to the front of the building. The building has 24 hour CCTV and has electric heating to reduce costs. FeaturesA superb portfolio of 102 flats in total, consisting of 52 studio flats and 50 one bedroom flats An ideal-buy-to let investment with 75 flats currently let, generating an income of approximately £340,000 per annum, with a further 27 vacant Potential when fully let to generate approximately £465,000 per annum A 17 storey tower block built in 1965 The site has a total area of approximately 0.045 hectares (0.112 acres) LocationCaradoc Hall is located in Coventry which is approximately 20 miles east of Birmingham and 25 miles south west of Leicester. Coventry City Centre is 3 miles to the south west of the property. For the commuter the A4600 leads to the M6 at junction 2. Located within a residential neighbourhood with Henley Green Primary School close by, the local area benefits from open amenity space including a children's play area as well as shops and recreational facilities. The University of Coventry and Warwickshire lies around 3 1/2 miles to the south west. http://www.countrywidepropertyauctions.co.uk/property_details.php?current=1&lot_number=103&id=53724

Hello, Regarding leasehold flats there are two systems: RTM by the leaseholders themselves, or by a company; or management by the building owner. I note that in the case of RTM that leaseholders still pay fees; although they may be able to negotiate better and cheaper services, but then they may not. I am wondering if those involved in a RTM scheme are any better off compared with those outside of such a scheme. Thanks

Hi! I was wondering if anyone had heard anything good or bad about Cutlass Court in Birmingham City Centre on Granville Street? Apparently it can be quite loud there as it is close to Broad Street. I had just heard actually that it might be dangerous there due to vagrants and drugs! Would anyone have an idea? Thanks!

Hi All, Quick question, I have identified a couple of guest houses that would convert into 2 and 3 bed flats in a nice part of town, does anyone know off hand what liklihood there would be in change of use from C1 to C4 (I'm in York) is it generally difficult? I see from the planning Portal this does not fall under permitted development. What are your experiences ??

Hello all, Would really appreciate any suggestions from anyone who has used a builder for conversions or something comparable before and can recommend. The builder I was set on using has been delayed on another job due to subsidence discovery and has a undefined delay as a result. The property is in Coalville, Leicestershire. Any suggestions would be great. Ta, Glen