Buy to Let - How I made £100 @ month

Tassotti

The Tenancy Deposit scheme has been put back to April 07 as far as I am aware.

jordan_gibson

deemy2004 wrote:

Don't waste your breath on DSS tenants - AVOID at ALL costs !

Me and me now ex have just recently split and we are finding that the vast majority of landlords just simply say no DSS. Neither of us have ever claimed 1p in benefits before but my ex will now get housing benefits to pay her rent.

My question is...if an advert says no DSS is it worth calling any way to see if the landlord will change his/her mind?? As soon as a landlord sees my ex, me and our son they will know that we are not full of drugs and going to trash the place. Is there anything else I could do to show the landlord how genuine we are???

missk_ensington

Dont tell them you're DSS!!!! The money gets paid directly to you so they need never know and I'm not aware of any law that obligates you to volunteer this information.

My Mum doesn't rent to smokers, under 25, people with children, pets or DSS. However, a while back I begged her to rent my friends a flat- a young couple having a baby, they're only 18 and 21 and she said No. After much persuading she agreed, but said she's come gunning for me if they gave her problems. 18 months on, my Mum has had a murderer squatting in her flat (from the Kirkham street murder), a tenant so dirty she had to pay £300 in Industrial Cleaners, and two she's had to chase to court for unpaid rent.

All over 25, non smokers, working without children.

The couple I begged her to give flat have never missed payment, keep flat lovely and even paid to fix the washing machine themselves because 'they didn't want to disturb her at weekend'.

It just goes to show, you shouldn't judge!

jordan_gibson

missk_ensington wrote:

Dont tell them you're DSS!!!! The money gets paid directly to you so they need never know and I'm not aware of any law that obligates you to volunteer this information.

!

Problem is we will have to do one of these pre-tenancy agreements which will tell us how much HB my ex will get before she definately says yes. The landlord has to sign this form so could not really see a way round this!

missk_ensington

Ah, maybe things have changed since I claimed HB. You could just phone up with a posh voice and say that you appreciate his/her concerns, and that you would also be concerned in their position, but you are not like the stereotype and this is just a short term thing and that you've always worked, and that you'd like them to meet you before saying No altogether.

You never know, if you sound professional and civilised they may reconsider? Or you could just forge his/her signature :rotfl: ONLY JOKING before Fran closes the thread for advising illegal conduct! lol

jordan_gibson

Thanks - to be honest this was my next step. Ring everyone and see if they can be persuaded! They can only say no!!

whitevandriver

Seems odd to me how worked up some people are on this forum. My view is for people to use what they can and ignore what is not useful to them. Life is too short to get worked up about these things.

I referred to making £100 a month. By this I meant broadly gross income from rent less gross interest on the borrowings. My gross income on my investment is roughly £5,300 p.a, giving me a gross income yield of circa 8% pa.

Based on the sale price I have agreed I shall make a gross capital value profit of about £8,000 in slightly less than two years. I should pay little or no tax on this as I bought the house jointly with my wife. That makes, very roughly, a gross capital return of 6% pa.

Together a gross total return of 14% per annum. Rent paid to me directly by local government. I shall manage my tax liability legally to minimise its impact. I am no expert but it seems to be a fair result to me. Each to their own, though.

On the question of risk, sure, I make a "lucky punt" as someone refered to it as, on the market rising. But whether it be on shares, gilts, bonds, property, gold or anything else any equity investment pretty much depends on lucky punts.

This was no big deal - more an experiment to myself if it seems a good way still to make money. I guess we all have our own views.

To all, including the moaning meanies out there, best of luck with money saving or money making projects.

Voyager2002

jordan_gibson wrote:

Me and me now ex have just recently split and we are finding that the vast majority of landlords just simply say no DSS. Neither of us have ever claimed 1p in benefits before but my ex will now get housing benefits to pay her rent.

My question is...if an advert says no DSS is it worth calling any way to see if the landlord will change his/her mind?? As soon as a landlord sees my ex, me and our son they will know that we are not full of drugs and going to trash the place. Is there anything else I could do to show the landlord how genuine we are???

Sadly, many landlords will have BTL mortgages and/or buildings insurance policies that specify "no DSS". Additionally, letting agents will be hardline on this, and efficint about checking employment details. Perhaps the only way out is to put on a posh voice and claim to have "a private income" -- I have done this before now!

Voyager2002

missk_ensington wrote:

Yes, but I'm not suggesting that one rents out a property and doesn't declare it because I know full well this leads to disaster. I'm saying they live in their rental property for 2-3 years before selling to make it their main residence. I don't think HMRC would delve into this, I don't think they would ever become ware of it as it would just be a normal house sale.

If they did investigate, would it not be 'Yes I used to rent this house out a few years ago, of which I paid tax on and declared everything, but i decided I liked the house and moved into it, I lived there 3 years and now we're selling because I want to live in Devon by the sea' Whats the problem with that?

I am afraid that the rules have changed. It used to the be the case that this would work, but now you can only claim that a property is your main residence for CGT purposes if the total amount of time when you owned th house but did not live in it, for whatever reason, is less than five years.

silvercar

My tenant is claiming HB and I haven't signed anything. The letting agent sorted out the pre-tenancy agreement with the council and I wouldn't have known if she hadn't told me. (I guess she only told me because she knew from the letting agent I was happy to have a DSS tenant.)