David Lawrenson - Successful Property Letting: How to Make Money in Buy-to-Let

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY
IN BUY-TO-LET

David Lawrenson

A How To Book

ROBINSON

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by Elliot Right Way Books.
This paperback edition published in Great Britain in 2015 by Robinson.

Copyright David Lawrenson, 2005, 2013, 2015

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-47211-994-0 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-47211-995-7 (ebook)

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Dedication

To Dagmar Svehlik, my partner, for her fantastic love and support, to Alex, our son, and to my parents.

Special Thanks

Thanks to all those who have taken time to comment on the good work that we try to do at Letting Focus and to all those who have shared their experiences of residential property investment and letting over the years.

Also, thanks to the Elliot brothers, who, in 2004 showed a unique and insightful faith in the original manuscript. I think their faith was fully rewarded.

Any useful comments on the script or suggestions for future editions are welcome.

After university and his MBA at Cass (formerly City University) Business School, David Lawrenson worked in the financial services industry as an internal consultant and project manager whilst moonlighting as a residential landlord.

In 2002, he left to become a full-time property investor. Then in 2005, the first edition of Successful Property Letting How to Make Money in Buy-to-Let came out and became the UKs top-selling property book.

Lawrensons views on the private rented sector are quoted regularly in national newspapers like The Times, Independent and Daily Telegraph and in many specialist property magazines and on buy-to-let websites.

He is a regular speaker at trade shows and for public and private organisations and trade associations and he runs a thriving consultancy business which helps banks, building societies, investment funds, letting agents, local authorities and housing associations develop and market their products and services for the buy-to-let and landlord markets.

He has advised the London Assembly and spoken at the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Lawrenson also has a low-cost seminar programme and a one-to-one consultancy service for people wishing to get into buy-to-let for the first time as well as for more experienced landlords and investors. His website and blog are at .

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Over the years, many journalists and commentators have consistently and rather laughably predicted the demise of the private rented sector and of landlords fortunes, yet the sector continues to defy such predictions. Today, almost a fifth of residential property is in the private rented sector and the proportion is far higher in places like London.

Private landlords, who comply with the myriad of laws and regulations, behave ethically and buy the right types of properties at the right prices and in the right areas, have continued to prosper.

In the future, there will be still more money to be made from letting private residential property and a lot of satisfaction to be gained from providing secure and comfortable accommodation for people to live in. And, of course, it is a great alternative or add-on to a traditional pension.

But as the government both local and national intervenes ever more in the private rented sector and as sharks and unethical operators continue to be attracted by the profits available from advising landlords, the risks for those landlords who dont know what they are doing have become ever greater. And with a swathe of new retirees making use of new rules to access more of their pension cash, there is likely to be more grey-haired folk becoming landlords for the first time.

In this new edition, I explain how anyone thinking of becoming a private landlord for the first time can make a success of it. But the book is also intended for established landlords too as well as new players such as institutional funds who are looking to expand into this sector. Even those with years of experience and big portfolios will find plenty of useful tips here.

The book has been updated throughout. The sections covering buying at auctions, buying repossessed property, how to get the best landlords insurance, mortgages, bridging finance deals and how to reference check potential tenants have all been revised once again, but there have been other changes on almost every page too adding more tips and common sense advice throughout.

Some of the major revisions cover the following areas:

The Mortgage Market Review has made getting a residential (non-buy to let) mortgage even harder, which may lead to more people continuing to rent for longer. For buy-to-let loans, lenders often odd criteria and strange likes and dislikes are still very much in place. I will explain how the financing landscape has changed and how landlords can still get great financing deals. New text has been added on bridging finance, commercial loans, private bank finance, development finance and how to maintain your credit rating.

Huge changes have happened around energy saving issues that landlords need to know about so that they can still legally let their properties once the Green Deal really kicks in.

More pan-borough licensing schemes will inevitably appear to follow Newham Councils blunderbuss and rather costly approach to rooting out rogue landlords, and new landlord accreditation schemes, including the London Rental Standard, are still trying to get off the ground. I will explain the latest changes.

More hurdles and more severe penalties have been introduced on tenancy deposit schemes to catch out the unwary and uninformed.

The Government seems to be trying to do their best to discourage the few remaining landlords who are still trying to let to those people whose housing options are fewest and the Universal Credit system (which is taking over from housing benefit) still continues to bed in. I show how it is still possible to make these types of lets work for you, but only if you know what you are doing.

All letting agents now have to belong to an ombudsman scheme and there are new rules covering letting adverts.