The collapsing housing market might be making things difficult for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder by finding a mortgage lender willing to offer them a mortgage, but investors have been taking advantage of the low prices for buy-to-let investments. However the biggest mortgage lenders in the UK are to tighten the criteria on buy-to-let, making it more difficult for investors.
The Mortgage Works, owned buy Nationwide, announced that it will be refusing mortgage applications from property developers, which will make it more difficult for landlords to remortgage their properties in 2009. The mortgage lender said they wouldn’t accept any mortgage applications from people who own 25% (or more) of any property development company.

Buy to Let Landlords are more exposed to risk than other UK property owners and the Association Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) predicts that 2009 will be a tough year for investor landlords. ARLA is predicting that there will be an increase in landlords defaulting on their monthly mortgage payments over the coming months, and an increased rate of repossessions as a result.
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents was formed in 1981 as the professional and regulatory body for letting agents in the UK. One of the main areas of concern for ARLA is that the the Mortgage Support Scheme recently announced by the Government will not cover buy-to-let landlords, tenants will also be at greater risk of homelessness into 2009.

With almost £2m of rental properties in their portfolio, Geoff and Jane Morris were looking forward to a comfortable retirement.
It was the beginning of the golden age of the buy-to-let property boom and, like more than 1m other British investors, the couple thought they could build a nest egg on the profits of their investments in tenanted properties.

Three- and four-bedroom homes - until recently seen as the safest bet in the market - have been hit particularly hard because of the glut of properties available.
Rents are down 15 to 20 per cent in “cold-spots” such as Kensington and Chelsea as thousands of would-be sellers become “forced landlords” because they cannot find buyers.

Around 40% of home owners owe more than £90,000 in secured debt, reveals a survey carried out for the Bank of England.
NMG Research carried out a survey of nearly 2,500 households on behalf of the BoE looking at the financial position of British households.

A year after calls for investment warnings on all Buy to Let mortgages, the FSA has taken no action, claims solicitors and repossessions specialists Moore Blatch.
The firms warns that with the number of loans in arrears approaching 2 percent and repossessions now standing at 0.22 percent the scale of the problem calls for immediate regulation.

The national approval rate for Scotland’s Landlord Registration Scheme has risen to 85 percent, up from only 15 percent in April 2007. But the Scottish National Landlords Association (NLA) still urges local authorities to focus on tackling those rogue landlords who are ‘playing’ the system and not working within it.
Figures show 131,706 landlords and agents have now applied for the scheme which aims to ensure Scotland’s private landlords meet minimum legal requirements.

The Government’s recent announcement that it is increasing Home Information Pack (HIPs) regulation has attracted criticism from members of the property industry who say it will increase the costs on people trying to sell their home at a time when the housing market needs a boost.
Others believe HIPs still don’t go far enough when it comes to environmental matters such as flood risks.

A Residential Landlord who failed to comply with a notice to rectify hazards at a shared house that was divided in to bed-sits has been fined £2,000.
Mark Neale prosecuting told Nuneaton Magistrates Court that the Council’ s Environmental Housing Section had advised the owner of the house in Marlborough Road, Nuneaton, that there were several defects at the house, including a faulty fire alarm system.

Buy to let investors who are trying to attract new tenants may want to take heed of a recent annual survey which lists home seekers’ most hated eye-sores.
With Christmas just around the corner it’s interesting to note that festive lights have slipped down the rankings of home seekers’ most hated eye-sores, according to the latest research by propertyfinder.com.