Hi
I am going to be renting out a property and would like as much information as possible as this is the first time I have done anything like this.
There is a university nearby and I believe that there is a shortage of accommodation so I shouldn't have much problem getting clients.
What about tax etc.
Any info would be gratefully received.
Tia
=================== Hi Chris,
You may have left things a little bit late, the academic year is due to begin shortly. It may be a good idea to contact the accommodation office at the university to see if they run any kind of "approved accommodation" scheme. If they do, and if your premises meet the appropriate standards, they may help to find you some tenants. You may well find that you need mains interlinked fire detectors/alarms,
5-lever locks on doors, lockable windows, and gas and electrical safety certificates. Other desirable items may include burglar alarms, hinge bolts on outward opening doors, door closers, central heating, shower etc.Cheers,
Ian
people take the batteries out of them, I guess. They have battery back-up in case of power failure, but that doesn't help if someone has borrowed the battery!
Yes, in this area a new NICEIC safety certificate is required every 5 years IIRC.
Cheers,
Ian
University accomodation officers often require the property to meet requirements in excess of current UK legislation.
The law says that a working smoke alarm must fitted within 3m of each room intended to be used as sleeping accomodation. The law says the electrical installation should be 'safe'.
In the end it comes down to a choice of do you want a ready supply of tenants for which you must provide above the baseline accomodation.
In London the Universities would not get very far with this approach since there are weathier and less demanding tenants readily available. Elsewhere the balance of the market is such that you may wish to take a different approach.
In the same vein; if you are in Finchley you can let to the Japanese (they huddle together around the N3/N12 area) but the place would have to approaching 'perfect' to meet their standards. The rents however are well above the going rate. [If your property is already very good then this is an option but it's probably not economic to get it good enough if it isn't].
HTH
Try this place, somebody posted it here for me a couple of weeks ago, they are very helpful and more importantly very knowledgeable!
Cheers
John
You might also want to try uk.finance - probably a better forum for this query as it's really investment-related (try a google search first, you'll find plenty of info already in the archives).
Also
HTH David
From what my boss told me when he was looking to rent out his flat (instead of selling it), if someone rents out a property, and doesn't live there themselves (ie. not their main place of residence), after 'a period' he would become liable for Capital Gains Tax at 40% of the increase in the property value over the period that he rented it.
This made him decide to try selling it again!
D
As Ian says this varies by area, I have a property rented out to the London Borough of Hillingdon and this needs a gas check every year and a 16th Reg Inspection of the Electrics every 5 years.
Another Property I have is rented to Peterborough Council, this only requires a Gas inspection every year no Electrical Inspection.
Having said that if you are looking at renting to Councils or Universities (or anyone really) IMHO it is worth getting the electrics done up to 16th Regs and certified as such. Costs a bit but reduces your risk if something goes wrong as you have paid a professional to take on an element of the risk.
Have no doubts if a tenant gets fried (or gassed) a lot of people will come after the landlord (You)
Hope this helps
Andy
The stuation is not as bad as it might first appear.
Allowance is made for the proportion of time that it was your main residence.
IIRC the CGT is chargeable at you highest maginal rate so if you only pay 22% tax then CGT is at 22% (or maybe even 20%). Although I think that it might be liable at 40% if you dispose of it within 10 years of purchase.
Costs of accquition, improvement and disposable are all allowable. Also there is a personal allowance of about 8k in the year of disposal (twice if jointly owned).
What is the tax position for someone who makes their living by buying property, doing it up and then selling on at profit? Does the profit count as taxable income, ie liable for income tax with the usual personal allowances, or does it count as a capital gain and is therefore liable to CGT after the first 7.5K? Or would such a person get clobbered for both taxes?
David
It's classed as trading, and therefore income rather than capital gain.
I asked the IR what happened, although this didn't involve renting out (which might change things). If you buy a second property without selling what was your main residence, you are allowed a 3 year overlap during which CGT won't be charged. However, what you must do is ensure you have notified the IR which property is your main residence withing 2 years of the overlap starting, or they get to choose which was your main residence for tax purposes. If the period of overlap extends past three years, you remain exempt from CGT for the gain in value during the first year and the last two years of overlap (or it might be the first two years and the last year -- I forget which way round).
In the case of a couple getting married and ending up with two properties because they each had their own, the rules are different; the 3 year period is reduced to 6 months, and I don't remember what rules apply if you exceed it.
Obviously, you should check this all out given your own circumstances. There may be issues with the advice they gave me which wouldn't apply in your circumances. Also, this info might now be out of date (it's
3 years old).In article , David writes
Not as far as I am aware. Trading is trading, thus profit is income. Presumably you could buy them in unequal shares and have different profits each, but this would only work if one of you is in a lower tax bracket.
The reason I am familiar with this is that I bought and sold some houses with a friend a few years ago and went into it quite deeply with my accountant, and got the answer we didnt really want.
Andrew, I think you are confusing a few rules. In the old days of Miras there was a concession that you could have Tax relief on two loans if you were having difficulty selling the first so that you could move into the second. (I think that you actually had to move into the second to get this, but it is irrelevent now anyway). This concession was only available if the property was kept empty, you lost it if you rented out the property (ypou could of course offset the interest against the rent but you lost Miras).
For CGT the final three years of ownership of a house that was at one time your PPR is always CGT free, so you can over-lap by three years and pay no CGT provided that the house that you rent out is the original one and not the new one.
You cannot nominate the property that is rented out as your PPR.
This is irrelevent. I gain is simply pro-rata-ed, 3 nths will be CGT excempt, it doesn't matter which three years they are (unless they are the same as the ones when you are living there).
tim
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