Media Spotlight: Successful Property Letting
Share
By David Lawrenson
With buy-to-let regulation around the corner and lending in the sector pretty much at a standstill you might hope the days of every Tom, Dick or Harry thinking they can make their fortune in property are long gone.
That’s why David Lawrenson’s book, Successful Property Letting - How To Make Money In Buy-To-Let, can’t help but be met with a healthy dose of cynicism at first sight. Some might even accuse it of being as irresponsible as the television property shows that once preached that the buy-to-let road was paved with gold.
But if you imagine the book is called, say, How To Be A Landlord it’s a whole different ball game. And in fact, the title can be forgiven thanks to the quality of the content.
Successful Property Letting serves as a comprehensive guide to buy-to-let, ranging from basic to the complicated issues.
Lawrenson is an experienced landlord, with 21 years in the industry under his belt. His book is littered with personal anecdotes including his amusing method for dealing with the freeholder of one of his leasehold flats who annually contacts him to ask for £79.95 for approval for letting the flat out.
“My response letter reads as follows: ’Dear Mr Freeholder, I’d be grateful if you would kindly point out where in the lease terms and conditions it refers to the need for the leaseholder to pay £79.95 for this service. Please send me a cheque for £40.36, this being the cost of my time to write this letter and the price of a first class stamp’,” he says.
Some of the advice is a little obvious. For example, the fact that location is important when buying a property is hardly a revelation. You’d hope that if a wannabe landlord is not wise to this they should do everyone a favour and avoid getting into the market.
But much of the content is need-to-know stuff, including the chapter on how to get a tenancy agreement correct and the comprehensive section on taxation.
There are also useful tips when it comes to tenants, such as getting them to look out for problems on your behalf.
Lawrenson gives the example of a tenant who ignored a water pipe overflowing until the problem escalated and led to an angry neighbour and big fine for the landlord.
The author also outlines how to manage a tenancy agreement and provides useful appendices including a sample letter that potential landlords can use as a template. The chapter entitled ’When it’s time to sell’ specifies which month is most profitable - February, in case you’re wondering. But if the mooted increase in Capital Gains Tax becomes a reality this particular pearl of wisdom may soon go out the window.
There’s also a useful chapter on diversifying a portfolio by buying abroad.
Lawrenson’s style is accessible and friendly, and even the heavy-duty content is treated in a light-hearted fashion. Readers will undoubtedly find many points of interest in it.
Successful Property Letting makes for enjoyable as well as informative reading so take note - any client coming to you seeking a buy-to-let mortgage and clutching a copy of this book will be clued-up, even if the sight of anyone carrying a publication with the words ’how to make money in buy-to-let’ on it might be unnerving.
Book review by Christine toner
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Mortgage Strategy and Follow @mortgagestrat
