Mortgages

The term HMO stands for houses in multiple occupancy and by their nature are usually quite large and expensive structures that offer the experienced property investor the opportunity to obtain much high rental yields than would normally be expected from individual flats and houses. Investment attractions of HMO’s Student accommodation - Investors would seek out large properties in close proximity to universities and colleges where there is always a high demand for accommodation during term time. These are usually situated in City centres and are equally sought after out with term time as temporary visitor accommodation. Young Professionals - These properties will be of high standard and located in cities will where units contained in the building will be suitable for couples or small families. The Tenants will often be young professional types starting out in their careers. Bedsits - A bed sit is usually defined as a one room unit of accommodation Read more

For the sake of clarity, we will define a commercial mortgage in two distinct ways as described below. Commercial mortgages for businesses – Typical applications as below: Retail businesses – any public facing business found on any high street or in retail parks selling goods to the general public. Manufacturing businesses – Usually very high value factories but can start with small workshops through medium service outlets. Farms and land – farms and smallholdings to crofts and fish farms. Service businesses – these may range from small to large financial services companies, IT companies and internet retailing. Commercial mortgages for the property investor – these would suitable for investors purchasing property portfolios for the rental market as opposed to investors purchasing individual property which would normally be provided by high street lenders. Businesses do hold assets in property and equipment and stock but much of their on-going success comes down to the Read more

Investors are looking at transferring their investment portfolios into limited companies as a way of negating the new tax restrictions introduced by HMRC. There is no simple answer to establish if this is a good thing to do as every investors situation is different. Any investor considering such a move should talk to their accountant regarding the tax issues and possibly their wealth manager as there are often implications that could impact on inheritance further down the line. Advantages of using a limited company Tax on mortgage interest payments - between 2017 to 2020 tax relief on mortgage interest will be progressively cut from 45% to 20% for higher rate taxpayers. As Limited Companies pay corporation tax only on their gross profit margin the tax payable on property held by a limited company will usually be lower than if they were held by an individual investor. Tax on dividends – from April 2016 Read more

It will be important for any property investor and especially those with portfolios of investment property to be certain to ensure that they are obtaining the best financing rates they can. This generally means keeping check on your mortgage fixed rate ending dates and checking that the interest rates you are paying are as good as they can be. If you are not getting the best interest rates then you need to look at this and make the necessary arrangements. Keep in mind though that the lowest rates do not always give you the best deal when re-mortgaging your property as other costs such as lenders arrangement fees will come into play. Some things to consider. Interest Rate – Investors will want the lowest rates but their are other factors such as fixed rate periods that can affect your decision. For example, if you believe that interest rates will rise in future Read more