Mortgage Free - so good they'll do it twice! Wynnvegas aiming for the big house

waughc01

Hi Billy,
EPC only needs done once every ten years.
Remember you will have to register with the council as a landlord think in our area it costs £55 every 3 years and £12 per property, so watch if you are buying in different areas, could become costly.
Louise

wynnvegas

Hi Gally,

That's even better. It's on the list of things to get done but I wonder if the one completed in the home report will suffice until a ten year period lapses. Not a massive issue in the grand scheme of things but I'm now questioning everything.

Cheers.

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning Waugh,

We really need to tidy that piece up. I've got the link to get it done so it's just a case of sorting that out. Another job for today!

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Afternoon All,

It's been an interesting few days to be sure. We've agreed the purchase of the Home Improvement business in principle although there are still a few bits there to be ironed out. We've bought our second house, we've arranged to see six more suitable places in the next 5 days and we've finished the initial draft of the business plan for the third "employability" Company. All three fronts are looking very good. A lot of what is going on at the moment is the waiting game around the offset being finalised, the lawyers assessing the title deeds of the BTL properties, the accountant getting fully involved in the setup / growth of the three Companies and the BTL places getting officially handed over to us so that we can get cracking with the grand plan. We've got the surveyor fully on board now as well as a web designer and graphic designer who will be all sorts of help to us going forward. It's an incredibly busy but massively fun time. I'm still confident of hitting our target of 5 places (and possibly 6) by Christmas although we'll only have agreements in principle for these but if none of the 7 that we're scheduled to see in the next few days are goers, then we'll need to wait until the turn of the year to start picking up more houses. Thus far, aside from costing a wee bit of money to set up the mortgages and paying the lawyer, it's going alarmingly well.

Hope everyone is grand. More later...

Cheers,

Billy

Peonie

gallygirl wrote: »

Do you actually need an EPC? I don't have any for mine and tbh I don't think my tenants would have a clue what one was.

I read an article that said a [non-domestic] landlord with a property in the lower EPC bands, F and G, will have to improve the energy performance of property to a higher band. I don't know when this change in legislation will come into effect but you may want to consider taking advantage of the energy efficiency grants, like cavity wall and loft insulation, while they are still available.

Have you got any plans to improve the efficiency of your properties?

wynnvegas

Evening All,

That's Chapter 1 of the book very nearly complete. All the things that are needed to get the show on the road are very nearly done. I've got the business plan, the funding in place, the incorporation to bottom out after Friday's meeting with the accountant, the web domains registered, the logos devised and the outsourced management agreed to the mutual benefit of all involved. Unless I've missed any glaring holes, we're now off to the races...glaring holes will foubtless be identified and captured in Chapter 2!! The book will tell the full story of the ten year period July 2011 - July 2021 and will make for a good record of what has gone on from the start. It may be most useful down the line for me suing people that annoy me in one form or another!

Had a fantastic meeting with the graphic/web designer this afternoon. The boy knows his stuff inside out and is someone I can happily work with. He'll work on a commission only basis doing 3D modelling for business number 2 to add a good bit of value there and he'll get paid for the web design and maintenance as and when it is necessary. Securing the domain names was an important first step. I've also, for future reference, secured the umbrella group name for my use down the line. All my companies will come under a single banner eventually so all will have a consistent theme running through them. Now that I've started, I'll be looking to buy up as much of my supply chain as quickly as possible or introduce a competitor Company into the mix.

Company number 1 is going great guns. I'm plenty optimistic that we'll have at least 5 properties by Christmas. We've got three to see tomorrow night (many thanks to WaughC for the leads on a couple of those! We've got a further three to see on Monday night with one still to be confirmed. As it stands, we should be in a position to pick up at least three of those six to meet our initial target. We can then schedule the various works that need doing in each property in line with the plan for Company 2.

Company 3 is getting there slowly but surely. The day job has gotten in the way of pushing that as hard as I had planned but the planning is certainly looking promising. The funding sources to reduce youth unemployment are fairly significant and plentiful so we'll be able to tap into that to a large extent and do some good to boot! I've got a chat with a couple of folk on Monday to really get that one going.

What this does mean, though (it's not all good news!), is that the target of a £10,000 slush fund won't be met by the end of this year after all. Mortgage arrangement fees, lawyer bills and intermediary fees have taken care of that. We'll probably fall £1,000 short but I'm not all that worried about it at all. Can't have everything!!

Hope everyone is grand and dandy.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi Peonie,

We've yet to see anything below an E but, with the links we have to the local insulation Company (and the availability of grants and such for our target market of housing benefit peeps), we'll certainly be looking to get the energy efficiency up to a decent level. Loft insulation and cavity wall insulations are very straightforward. Property number 2 is E50 currently and we think we can get it up to D60 without too much hassle at all. D68 is the best it can hope to achieve but we'll likely avoid the brand new heating system that is necessary to achieve that until it is absolutely needed.

Cheers,

Billy

Peonie

wynnvegas wrote: »

We've yet to see anything below an E but, with the links we have to the local insulation Company (and the availability of grants and such for our target market of housing benefit peeps), we'll certainly be looking to get the energy efficiency up to a decent level. Loft insulation and cavity wall insulations are very straightforward. Property number 2 is E50 currently and we think we can get it up to D60 without too much hassle at all. D68 is the best it can hope to achieve but we'll likely avoid the brand new heating system that is necessary to achieve that until it is absolutely needed.

I'm impressed and happy that you plan to improve the properties efficiency; I've heard about too many landlords that won't invest in them. :T

wynnvegas

Hi Peonie,

We've already said that we're going to do it properly. No half measures (for the most part). We're planning on being very responsible landlords with the hope that it will give us a wee bit of competitive advantage down the line!

Cheers,

Billy

waughc01

Hi Billy,
Regarding loft insulation B&Q do a large pack with 3 sections for £3 (so a pound a section). All my rental properties had loft insulation but we decided to top it up. I done all my rentals (myself) last winter when the winter was really bad here. Worked out at roughly £20 a house. And what was left over I used in my own loft to top it up. Simple things like changing the light bulbs to energy saving one's make a difference. Don't change the heating unless you have too. I have never had a tenant ask me for an EPC report, although they are all done for my properties.
Good luck
Louise