The incident took place shortly after 1:30 a.m., police said, when the flashlight-bearing intruder entered the home’s master bedroom where the residents were sleeping.

After the residents were jolted awake, the intruder fled on foot toward the Longshore Golf Course, which borders the home’s property.

The homeowner told police the suspect was about 6 feet, 3 inches tall and wearing a white or light polo-type shirt and dark pants. However, the homeowner was unable to determine the intruder’s gender or race during the fleeting encounter in the dark.

Police, assisted by a K-9 dog called to the scene from Monroe, searched the area for the suspect. The dog followed a scent through the golf course, but the track ended in a parking area near the Longshore Marina.

Westport police, who alerted police in area communities about the incident, continue to investigate the incident.

Griffith said various budget line items for special legal services are already more than $1 million overbudget, and he wants to avoid a budget deficit at the end of the year. Griffith said the county commissioners’ administration has to transfer funds in the budget when line items run out of money.

Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said a meeting is planned Monday with Solicitor Vito DeLuca to discuss Griffith’s stance on the budget. Urban said the county is not in jeopardy of running a deficit at year’s year end.

County commissioners in April agreed to sell delinquent tax liens to boost revenue in this year’s budget by about $3 million. The county needed additional revenue because it was not able to sell the former Valley Crest Nursing Home property in Plains Township.

This year’s budget included $4.4 million in revenue from selling that property.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s housing market is “in transition” and resale and pricing will cool over the next year in a significant slowing from the boom years in the previous decade, Royal Bank of Canada said.

Robert Hogue, senior economist at Royal Bank, forecast in a report that resales in Canada would rise just 0.9 percent in 2011 to 451,200 homes, and remain unchanged in 2012.

“Flat resales trends would contrast starkly with average annual increases of 6.6 percent in the seven years that preceded the 2008 market downturn and recession,” the report said.

The national average home price is expected to increase by 4.4 percent to C$341,600 ($359,600), and then another 0.4 percent the year after, Hogue predicted.

“Going forward, we’re more likely to see very modest kind of growth in resales following an exceptional period between 2002 to just about 2007, 2008,” said Hogue.

“We’re more likely to see at least over the next couple of years, very flat activity and fairly subdued growth.”

Industry data showed second quarter overall sales fell 4.7 percent from the first quarter, partly because of a rush to buy in the first quarter ahead of tougher mortgage rules implemented in the spring.

Higher mortgage rates in April and May also pushed some homebuyers to the sidelines, while expectations of higher rates to come have also cooled the market.

TD Bank last week said resale activity and prices were poised for a “moderate correction” over the next two years, with prices and resales due to slow because of subdued household income growth and rising interest rates.

(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Janet Guttsman)

Posted on July 21, 2011

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By CHRISTOPHER BUTLER

Nashville-Davidson County resident Pat Raynor is a widow who wants nothing more than to make an honest living running her own hair salon — where she would serve clients out of her home.

To establish such a home-based business, Raynor remodeled her garage and prepared her new business for an official inspection from the Tennessee State Board of Cosmetology.

Raynor eventually had to give up her ambitions, because of a Nashville ordinance.

“All I wanted to do was establish a legitimate business for myself and follow the rules and regulations that a beauty shop owner is supposed to follow, so I could keep my profession professional — but I couldn’t do that because I was afraid that somebody was going to turn me in,” Raynor said.

According to a Metro Nashville ordinance, many people who already operate a home-based business — whether they are music studio owners, piano teachers, or people who engage in any other legitimate business — could be breaking the law by having clients inside. They are also at risk of having code enforcement shut down their businesses.

That is because Metro Nashville’s Code of Ordinances specifies that no one may serve clients or other patrons on their home property.

There are currently 13,000 individuals in the county who operate a home-based business. Many of those people do not realize that county officials consider them unlawful if they invite patrons or clients into their homes. Furthermore, Nashville is one of the few cities in the nation with ordinances that restrict home-based business owners that have clients, customers and patrons into their homes, according to officials with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

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Prices are making it difficult to get into the property market – but it’s not impossible, writes Anneli Knight.

Housing affordability has hit first-home buyers hard but with a pull back in interest rates and a slowing of property price growth, now is a good time to put a plan in place to get your foot in the door. And it helps if you’re willing to be creative.

Angie Zigomanis from research and forecasting group BIS Shrapnel says three years ago, Australia experienced record housing unaffordability, which has eased this year with lower rates and property prices. But the median house price is still an eye popping $600,000

”Affordability is pretty stretched, however it is not necessarily as bad as it was in 2008, when interest rates peaked at 9.5 per cent,” Zigomanis says.

James Rice, 28, and Bronwyn Morgan, 32, recently bought their own two-bedroom apartment on Sydney’s northern beaches. Photo: Fiona Morris

The new levels of unaffordability have meant first-home buyers have needed to adjust their expectations to meet the market. ”Rather than getting the same house in the suburb they are already renting in, they may get something smaller like the townhouse or move to a more affordable suburb, an outer suburb,” he says.

With a hiatus in house pricing and interest rates expected in the next 12 months, it is time to get organised. Zigomanis says: ”It is a good time to save up a bigger deposit without prices getting ahead of you.”

Last week Westpac’s chief economist, Bill Evans, went against the consensus view of most economists, predicting rates would fall 1 percentage point by September next year.

Bec Steward outside her one-bedroom apartment in inner-city Melbourne suburb, Prahran.

And with three-year fixed rates at about 7 per cent – similar to variable rates – first-home buyers may be encouraged to take the plunge.

EXPECTATIONS

Property and finance author Peter Cerexhe says young people have always had to compromise when it comes to purchasing their first home but says recent record unaffordability levels have been occurring at a time when people have higher expectations for how they would like to live.

”Twenty, 30 years ago, a young person buying a house was happy to have anything they could get and one day hoped to have a home like their parents,” he says. ”Ten or 15 years ago people wanted the type of home their parents might be in when they retired. We’re now in a period where expectations have been raised higher and first-home buyers want something better than their parents had.”

Cerexhe says these desires are being driven by the materialistic culture and renovation shows, and first-home buyers can make bad decisions if they’re on the lookout for a new kitchen and bathroom.

”The danger is that – particularly inexperienced people – if they want something shiny and new they’ll be tempted to buy in a place with poor capital growth, a place that will not be a good investment,” he says.

LAUNCHPAD

Cerexhe says first-home buyers in particular should approach their purchase as an investment, even if they plan to live in the property.

”The first property is almost always a stepping stone to something you truly could live in longer term. If you don’t get a good investment then you won’t be able to make the leap to a bigger home,” Cerexhe says. ”Wherever you buy, it’s not going to be where you end up, that’s the dilemma that faces first-home buyers. Indeed, they need to be looking to later steps and choose a first property that will give them a bigger deposit when they are older and earning more money. They will still need a whopping deposit to buy a house they’d really be happy with. The danger is to not look to the future,” Cerexhe says.

”Location remains the No.1 rule of real estate, not to be tempted to buy a shiny new property in a bad area. Do your research, find what the growth is like in certain areas and how that compares to other suburbs.”

James Rice, 28, and Bronwyn Morgan, 32, have recently purchased their first home: a two-bedroom apartment in Freshwater, a suburb in Sydney’s northern beaches. Rice says they kept the No.1 rule of real estate in mind.

”Location was crucial. The main concern was to live where we want to live and not be too far from work but also be close to the beaches. All the suburbs near the beach – they never seem to go down.”

Rice says the mortgage is costing the couple $200 more each week than rent in the same area and they’ve found it easy to cover this by curbing their spending on pubs and restaurants. ”We were spending at least $300 a weekend going out before,” he says.

”It really makes sense [to buy], we should have probably done it earlier,” Rice says. ”Our aim for the next three years is to pay as much off as we can, then we’ll reassess and try to buy a bigger apartment and keep this as an investment.”

Bec Steward is another first-time home-buyer with her mind to the future with her recent purchase of a one-bedroom apartment in Melbourne’s fashionable inner-city suburb, Prahran.

Steward researched a variety of options before making her decision.

”I had always planned to buy an apartment in the inner south-east but during the process I was just feeling a little disheartened by some of the prices of apartments so I did look at a house further out,” she says. ”But ideally, in five to seven years, I’d like to buy my second property and keep this as an investment – and with the inner-city location, I’ll get a really great rental return on that.”

Steward, 26, has been putting money into a savings account for four years since starting her job as an account executive in an advertising agency and has been living at home to boost her savings. ”Of my group of friends I’m the last to move out of home but the first to buy my own home. My family has really helped with that, I know that some of my friends couldn’t live at home with their family,” Steward says.

Steward managed to save a 10 per cent deposit for her apartment and her mother is acting as guarantor for a further 15 per cent of the purchase price.

”The deposit is all mine and she doesn’t have to give me any money for it. If I default on that they’ll knock on mum’s door but I’m really comfortable with the size of my repayments and, worst case scenario, if I do need to move out of the apartment then back home, just to get ahead, she’s happy with that as well,” Steward says.

PARENTAL ASSISTANCE

Mortgage broker Paul McCombe from McCombe Finance says parental assistance has become increasingly common. ”It’s getting harder for first-home buyers to get a deposit together with the rental market increasing and the cost of living going up as well. We’re seeing a lot of them using parental guarantees or non-refundable gifts from parents. It’s very rare you see someone who is a first-home buyer who has sufficient genuine savings.”

McCombe says parental gifts and guarantees help first-home buyers avoid the high costs of lenders’ mortgage insurance, which is paid on loans if the deposit is less than 20 per cent, and it also helps them secure a loan.

”It’s a hell of a lot harder for a first-home buyer to get a loan. The assessment criteria the banks are using is a lot tighter. The main reason for that is because there was an increased amount of defaults of first-home buyers after the global financial crisis,” McCombe says.

In the past 18 months, the banks have introduced a points-scoring system to assess home-loan eligibility.

”We’ve had applications in the past 12 months that have looked good on paper, met the bank’s published credit policy and yet the point-scoring system has caused it to fail,” he says.

In addition to being able to show regular savings and having a decent deposit amount, McCombe’s tips for improving your eligibility on the point-scoring criteria are to keep a clean credit report by paying bills on time and not applying for a number of credit cards; pay off personal loans; and always pay rent on time because lenders might request a rental statement.

ANTICIPATE THE EXTRA COSTS

Financial planner Sunshine Estivo from Omniwealth says first-home buyers should be aware of all the associated costs of buying a home, which can be as high as 10 per cent of the price.

”Because they’ve never had the experience of buying property, first-home buyers don’t know and real-estate agents don’t tell you, ‘By the way, have you got the extra 5 per cent for the stamp duty?’, and so forth.”

After stamp duty, the highest cost is generally lenders’ mortgage insurance, Estivo says.

”It’s an exponential scale, if you’re borrowing at 80 per cent [of the price of the property] it’s zero, at 85 per cent it might be 1 per cent of the purchase price, if you go to 90 per cent, it might be 3 per cent of purchase price. This is where it might be quite expensive to get into your first home,” Estivo says.

”Some banks will add the mortgage insurance to your loan as opposed to you having to have the cash upfront – it’s problematic because you end up paying a lot more for it [in interest over the life of the loan] but it’s beneficial because you don’t have to have that $5000 or $8000 upfront to get your property,” she says.

IDEAL DEPOSIT SIZE

”The ideal would be to have the 20 per cent deposit plus 5 per cent of costs but if you overlay that across the median house price of $600,000 then you’re asking the first-home buyer to have $150,000 cash, which is a lot of money.”

Estivo says the most important part of your financial plan is knowing you can afford the mortgage.

”It’s not just about having enough of a deposit. In the instance of having a $600,000 home, if you have a 5 per cent deposit you’ll have a $540,000 mortgage and can the person afford that?”

INVESTMENT PROPERTY SOLUTION

Property author and adviser Margaret Lomas says sometimes the best way to own your own home is to become a property investor first. Lomas says the earlier in your life you get your foot into the property door the better.

”These days if we choose to live in cities, property is going to be unaffordable at least into your 30s, maybe into your 40s. If you wait that long until you buy property you will be behind the eight-ball,” Lomas says.

”The dream of becoming a property owner is still alive but it needs to be tweaked a little. First-time property buyers need to understand it’s about getting on the property ladder in some way but it doesn’t have to be as an owner-occupier,” Lomas says.

”It’s much cheaper to rent than buy, so why not rent where you want to live, save the difference with what you would have paid for a mortgage, and become a landlord? You get a tenant to pay the mortgage for you where you get to benefit from the growth on that capital asset.”

Whether you buy your first home as a launchpad to your next one, or you start with an investment property, Lomas reiterates the importance of researching to find a good location.

”The best advice is don’t make it about the property. Make it about the area first and do that research, which uncovers whether or not potential growth exists.”

By

ROBERT BOYER

| Highlands Today

Published: July 18, 2011

SEBRING – When it comes to using force to protect your home, property, life or the lives of others, Florida law appears fairly straightforward.

Nevertheless, state law isn’t as definitive as it might seem to be at first glance, Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin says.

Here is a summary of several state statutes that cover the use of force:

Non-deadly force is allowed “against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another person against the imminent us of unlawful force,” according to state statute 776.012.

The statute goes on the say that deadly force is justified when a person “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony …”

Another Sunshine State statute, known as the “Stand Your Ground” law, was passed in 2005 and expands the conditions under which deadly force can be used.

The law, which falls under Chapter 776.013, allows the use of deadly force when someone is unlawfully and forcefully entering or has entered a “dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against the person’s will from” such locations.

The person using the force must know or have “reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful or forcible act was occurring or had occurred.”

The law lists the following exceptions barring force against:

•A person “who has the right to be in or is a lawful resident” of a dwelling or vehicle such as owners, lessees or titleholders.

•”The person or persons sought to be removed is a child or grandchild, or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful guardianship of the person against whom the defensive force is being used.”

•The person using force “is engaged in unlawful activity” or using the property in question “to further unlawful activity.”

•Law enforcement officers engaged in “official duties” who identify themselves as lawmen.

Another law, 776.031, allows someone to use force “to prevent or terminate” another person who is trespassing or criminally interfering with “either real property other than a dwelling or personal property, lawfully in his or her possession or in the possession of another who is a member of his or her immediate family or household or of a person whose property he or she has a legal duty to protect.”

The statute allows for deadly force only if a person “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

“A person does not have a duty to retreat if the person is in a place where he or she has the right to be,” the law concludes.

Statute 776.032 states that a person who lawfully uses force “is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action” unless the force was used against a law enforcement officer.

Despite these and other laws governing force, Houchin said “there is a lot of gray” when it comes to the lawful use of force “because it depends on which version of the facts (in a case) you believe,” he said. “It’s all fact-driven.”

The key words in the statutes are “reasonably” and “necessary,” Houchin said. “From time to time, you get into a gray area as to what is reasonable and what it is necessary.”

The Stand Your Ground law also applies to shootings and other force that take place on public areas like streets and sidewalks, Houchin said.

Over his 31-year career, Houchin has tried dozens of cases where deadly force was a factor and many more where the use of non-lethal force was at issue.

Juries in those cases have ruled for and against those using force. Generally-speaking, though, “juries like a self-defense argument,” Houchin said.

Such shootings haven’t been a big issue for his department, said Sebring Police Commander Steve Carr. “We haven’t had any cases that I recall where it was used as a defense in a criminal trial against a citizen,” he said.

One recent case Houchin prosecuted involved Donald Alfonso Henry, who pleaded no contest to a second-degree murder charge after shooting Hugh Andrew Marks to death on Jan. 7, 2008 “in broad daylight” in Avon Park, Houchin said.

Henry, who will turn 40 on Aug. 14, received a life sentence.

After he was charged and turned himself in to authorities in Orlando, Henry tried to claim immunity from prosecution under the Stand Your Ground law, first during a hearing in Highlands County Circuit Court, then in an appeal to the Florida Court of Appeals. The appellate court has ruled on parts of the appeal but not on all of it, Houchin said.

The Florida Supreme Court refused to review the appeal, Houchin said.

In an April 30, 2010, pre-hearing conference with Houchin and Highlands County Judge Peter Estrada, defense attorney David Carmichael said witnesses claimed the two men were firing at each other near Garrett Road and Alabama Avenue, but a gun was not found on Marks’ body.

“Eyewitnesses say that he (Marks) was shooting at my client,” Carmichael said. “We know he came to the scene where my client was at. We know he made numerous threats to my client against his life previously. He even attacked him with a machete days before.”

“We’re treading on new ground,” said Highlands County Judge Peter Estrada during the pre-hearing conference. “There are only three cases on point in the state of Florida and as of right now, they’re in conflict with each other.”

Highlands Today reporter Robert Boyer can be reached at 386-5838 or rboyer@highlandstoday.com

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Passing Go will never be the same again.

While for years avoiding a heavily housed or hoteled Mayfair has been the aim of every pseudo-property tycoon charging around the streets of London from the comfort of their living room, a new edition of Monopoly sees that staple of British board game life gone forever, replaced by an upstart. Mayfair has lost its monopoly in Monopoly.

A new edition of the game sees the £400 location gazumped by Kensington Palace Gardens, which is listed for a whopping £4m. In real-life London, the Gardens run up the western side of Kensington Gardens and are home to a number of embassies and mega-mega-rich tycoons like Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

The Monopoly move reflects a westward shift in prestige in the non-board game capital. Andrew Weir, central area director at estate agents Foxtons, believes this shift in property power is entirely warranted: “This street [Kensington Palace Gardens] boasts sensational period buildings, many with movie-like features such as underground swimming pools and marble pillars made from the same quarry as the Taj Mahal.

“With the average price of a property fetching a staggering £19m, this street has become one of the most sought-after in the world.”

Although Monopoly is constantly launching new editions with various gimmicks, the basics of the game have changed very little since Charles Darrow invented it in 1933. The prototype was based on Atlantic City and mocked up with materials lying around Darrow’s home.

The game was launched two years later in the US and in the UK when a sample was sent to game maker Waddingtons. Crucially, the firm’s chairman Victor Watson realised that the place names needed to be altered for a British audience and London was the obvious choice. Victor and his secretary, Marjory Phillips, went to London and chose the place names based on their trip around the city’s streets. The Angel, Islington is the area where the pair lunched on the day of their tour.

Since Monopoly’s small beginnings, more than 20 million sets have been sold in Britain. So why change key components of the original game?

A spokesperson for Hasbro, the company that acquired Monopoly from Waddingtons in 1994, believes changes make sense: “Monopoly’s enduring appeal comes from the game’s ability to evolve to fit any platform. The new Monopoly Millionaires Facebook game launched earlier this year and now has more than four million active users.”

With online game play increasingly popular (there are also iPhone apps galore), does this mean that it’s the end of the original Monopoly game? Of course not. Indeed, old traditions die hard for Monopoly fans and those living in Mayfair in particular. Pol Ferguson-Thompson, membership secretary on the committee of the Residents’ Society of Mayfair and St James’s and a local for 11 years, thinks the only way is W1: “Although Kensington Palace Gardens is home to Britain’s richest clan, there are many more millionaires in Mayfair. “Mayfair is unlikely to ever be usurped in the original game, as Monopoly’s bluest buy by Ken Pally Alley, which is not a community, but merely a row of guarded and gated Gormenghastic garages with houses attached.” Quite.

My news for Investors

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MALVERN, Pa., July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HME) today announced the completion of a company-wide Resident Appreciation Week at its apartment communities, including those in the Philadelphia area. The week was filled with activities to express appreciation to residents of Home Properties‘ apartment communities.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101026/NY89070LOGO )

The inaugural Resident Appreciation Week in the Philadelphia area was held June 5 through June 11. At Castle Club Apartments in Morrisville, PA, the staff hosted daily events that celebrated the residents who make this Home Properties apartment community a true home.

Property Manager Christina Yeager said one of the highlights of the week involved a Philadelphia- area favorite – the water ice social. The delicious Italian ice cream had to be re-stocked due to what Yeager described as “an amazing turnout.” “The social happened to be on an extremely hot day, so residents were particularly thankful for the water ice treats,” said Yeager. “What made that day even more special was the fellowship time for residents. We have a fairly small community here with 158 apartments, and our residents really just enjoy socializing and being together. This week allowed several opportunities for them to do just that,” remarked Yeager.

The week at Trexler Park Apartments in Allentown, PA, was also enthusiastically received by residents. Property Manager Sarah Weighknecht remarked on the camaraderie shared among residents. “This event made it easy for residents to get to know each other even better. Our team is personally invested in presenting activities like this that add to the wonderful lifestyle here,” she said. Events including breakfast-on-the-go and make-your-own-sundae proved to be overwhelmingly popular during the week-long celebration at Trexler Park.

Home Properties is a publicly traded apartment real estate investment trust that owns, operates, develops, acquires and rehabilitates apartment communities primarily in selected Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.  Currently, Home Properties owns and operates 116 communities containing 38,972 apartment units.  For more information, visit Home Properties’ website at homeproperties.com.

SOURCE Home Properties, Inc.

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Kamal Chowdhury may not know it but he is a symbol of a new trend in today’s lacklustre housing market – a trend in which owners leave their own homes, let them out and rent a new base for themselves and their families instead of continuing up the traditional property ladder.

He is not so much an “Accidental Landlord”, cited as a symbol of
market torpor, as an “Intentional Landlord”: an owner with no
prior experience as a landlord but who believes one of the few ways to make
money from property today is by renting out his home.

“I had a plan to sell and move to a new catchment area for my children.
But uncertainty over the sales market – and the strength of the rental
market for landlords – meant I chose to let. This seems more profitable for
the next year or two,” explains Chowdhury, a freight company director.

So he let out his three-bedroom house in Milton Keynes and moved a few miles
away to a larger, five bedroom house, which he rents with his wife and two
children, aged 10 and 17. He is in no rush to buy – at least for himself. “I
will rent out my owned home for two or three years and see what happens. If
I buy something soon it’s likely to be another house for letting out,”
he says.

It is unsurprising that people are letting. Average rents across the UK have
risen for five months, according to LSL Property Services, owners of Your
Move, Reeds Rains and several other High Street agencies.

Rents rose 0.5 per cent in May alone, the most recent figures available,
taking the average UK rent to 696 per month. Rents have risen fastest in
London, where they are 7.8 per cent higher than a year ago, but the lettings
market is good for landlords almost everywhere: the north-east has seen a
6.4 per cent increase and the East Midlands a 6.2 per cent rise, according
to LSL’s monthly Buy To Let index.

“Soaring inflation has taken its toll on would-be buyers’ deposit funds.
This rocketing cost of living, combined with the difficulty first-time
buyers are experiencing in obtaining a mortgage, is increasing the numbers
reliant on renting,” says LSL’s commercial director, David Brown. As a
result, he says, “rental gazumping is more commonplace and properties
are being let beyond asking price, putting further pressure on the market.
For tenants, unable to buy, renting is becoming less affordable. Rents are
increasing twice as fast as wages.”

A booming market

Figures from Countrywide – owners of estate agents ranging from top-end
Hamptons to small, regional firms selling lower-cost homes across the
country – show a 20 per cent rise in new tenants registering for
accommodation in May alone. The firm’s chief executive, Grenville Turner,
reports “an increasing number of owners dual-marketing their properties
in the sales and rental markets, to see where the greatest financial value is”.

The potential to make more money from renting than selling is what influenced
chiropractor Janet Simpson to let out her home in Plymouth, Devon. “I
was going to sell to move closer to my mother in Bristol but found, if I let
it out, I could afford a rental property for me, plus a small profit. I
haven’t been a landlord before and don’t intend to be one for long, but
there’s a profit to be made right now,” she says.

“Will I buy a home for myself again? I don’t know. There’s a lot to be
said for renting – no mortgage rate worries, less maintenance than as an
owner. I might just stay as I am and see how long it pays to be a landlord,”
she adds.

Not trouble-free

Not that acting as a landlord is trouble-free. Experts say there are six key
issues to address, the first of which is to ensure your mortgage lender and
insurer are on board.

“Although many people let their homes without informing their lenders,
this is in breach of your mortgage contract. You should seek ‘consent to
let’, which means you can rent out your home for a short period of time –
usually a year or two, depending on the lender,” says Melanie Bien of
mortgage broker Private Finance. “Lenders decide this case-by-case.
You’ll either continue with the same mortgage terms, pay a premium or in the
worst case you may have to move to a buy-to-let mortgage. This usually means
a higher rate and could mean you must pay off a chunk of the outstanding
mortgage to fit the lender’s maximum loan-to-value requirement,” she
says.

You should also tell your insurer you are letting your home, and possibly
switch to a specialist landlord insurance policy. Failure to do so means the
firm could refuse to pay out should you make a claim.

Second, gas appliances must be checked and certificated, electrical appliances
must be checked, modern furniture must meet strict fire-resistant
regulations, and new Energy Performance Certificates must be issued for your
home whenever a new tenant moves in.

“Even if [an owner] has just one rental property, they must remember
they’re subject to the same laws and regulations as a landlord with 50 or
100. With around 50 Acts of Parliament and 70 separate sets of regulation,
there’s plenty for a landlord to get his head around,” says David
Salisbury, chairman of the National Landlords Association.

Third, charge a competitive rent. If you hire a lettings agent, who will
charge a (tax deductible) fee of up to 15 per cent of your rental income,
they will advise you. If you go it alone, check local agents or property
websites such as www.primelocation.com and www.rightmove.com to see what
they charge for similar properties.

Fourth, when you find tenants, check they are bona fide. Again, a lettings
agent will do this but if you are a DIY landlord check the tenant’s
references, name, address, employment status and credit history. The
National Landlords Association’s www.nlatenantcheck.org.uk does this for
28. It is usual to take a six-month deposit but this has to be placed into
a recognised deposit protection scheme – for example, www.mydeposits.co.uk
or www.depositprotection.com.

Fifth, set up a proper contract to safeguard yourself and your tenant. A
standard shorthold tenancy agreement (the typical contract when you let out
your home for six months or more, with two months’ notice to quit from
yourself or your tenant) can be downloaded from sites such as www.rla.org.uk.

Hard work pays off

Finally, be prepared to work for your income. You should respond to tenants’
requests if there are problems. When the stopcock sticks or the toilet
blocks, you may recognise the need for good insurance or, perhaps best of
all, the usefulness of hiring a lettings agent for the duration of your time
as landlord.

If all this sounds like hard work… well, it is. Being a responsible landlord
is not meant to be easy, but the rewards are good in today’s market, even
outside London and the south-east. LSL figures show that the average rent in
East Anglia is 719, while in the south-west it is 625 and in the north of
England it varies from 513 to 565.

One day, a glut of lettings property may lead to a drop in those figures, but
no expert believes that day is coming soon. For intentional landlords, this
is a time to make hay.

The Accidental LandlordsThe rise of the ‘Intentional Landlord’ has not meant
the end of that other phenomenon, the ‘Accidental Landlord’ – an
owner-occupier who tries and fails to sell, so lets out their home while
still trying to find a buyer.

“About 30 per cent of our landlords are reluctant,” says Rosanna
Guest of John D Wood lettings agency in Esher, Surrey. But this trend is not
a new one – it happens in every recession.

Estate agents first used the term in 1990, with the last downturn in full
swing. Then in 2006, a year before the latest slump, a survey by the
National Landlords Association showed 43 per cent of landlords did not buy
their first rental property with the intention of letting it out.

They “stumbled” on letting because of a change in circumstances,
such as inheriting a property, ending a marriage or being obliged to work in
another area. Back then, homes were often not sold because owners felt they
would see prices rise if they waited; today’s slump is down to buyers not
getting mortgages and thinking that if they wait, prices will fall further.

The latest figures from the Land Registry show a continuing decline in
transactions with an average of 44,300 sales per month – less than half the
peak figures reported six years ago – so don’t expect ‘Accidental’ or
‘Intentional Landlords’ to disappear any time soon.