Search Results for: Mortgages
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Latest property news
Experian says reporting tenants’ rent DOES help improve their credit scores
Read how the reported rents of both social and private sector tenants captured in recent years are now flowing into Experian's credit score creating system.
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Features
Property market on ice
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Uncertainty in the economy and reports of constant fears over Brexit may lead to people deciding to ‘stay put’, reducing both stock on the market and demand. The biggest danger to the market is stagnation.”
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Latest property news
Landlord portfolio size drops by 16% over past four years
Research published by buy to let lender Paragon reveals landlord portfolio size has decreased by over 16% since 2014.
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Supplier Blogs
Not the last chance saloon!
Recent surges in property auction sales are a reflection of changes in the market, says Jason Lee, National Sales Manager at SDL Auctions.
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Features
Kate’s latest house price index analysis
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Many agents will have a tricky task over the coming months to encourage sellers to put their properties on the market for the right price, rather than what they think their property should achieve.”
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Latest property news
Ground-breaking legislation to help tenants onto property ladder enters Commons
New legislation designed to force lenders to take rent and council tax payments into account when assessing tenants for mortgages has begun its journey through the House of Commons, sponsored by former government minister and MP Justine Greening. Introduced into parliament in June last year by Big Issue founder Lord Bird, it is now likely to get Royal Assent and become law next year; its passage through the Lords was unopposed and supported enthusiastically by all parties. “Thanks to Justine Greening plus [other] MPs from every party for sponsoring the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill in the House of Commons – it’s an historic moment in our campaign,” Lord Bird said. The bill will force a subtle but important change within the lending industry. Currently, credit reference agencies and lenders can opt to factor a borrower’s rental payment record into their lending decision, but it’s not an approach adopted uniformly. To date take-up of the ideas has been relatively slow – only Experian adds tenant rent payment records to people’s credit files while its two competing reference agencies do not. Royal assent When the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill does become law, lenders will be compelled by the Financial Conduct Authority to include rent…
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Features
Property market watch from Kate Faulkner
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Agents need to focus on ensuring that local people understand the reality of the local market now and not let ‘trends’ dictate.”
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Latest property news
Number of Airbnb landlords set to increase as lender offers first no-strings mortgage
The UK’s first no-strings mortgage for Airbnb holiday lets has been launched, opening up the short-term lets platform to a much wider pool of potential landlords. West Midlands lender The Tipton & Coseley Building Society says its new two-year discount rate mortgage for holiday lets can be taken out by borrowers looking specifically to rent their properties out via the short-term lets platform. The building society says that, unlike other lenders, it sets no limit on the number of weeks a borrower can rent their property out via Airbnb and that whole-property rentals are allowed too. Despite hostility from within the financial industry, some lenders have been enabling borrowers to rent out their properties via Airbnb but have placed restrictions on how they rent them out and how long for. Rental difficulties But even if borrowers can now get mortgages for Airbnb properties, it’s not always that easy to rent them out. Edinburgh flat owner Nicola Golden yesterday launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise £112,000 in order to take City of Edinburgh council to court. The dispute is over an enforcement notice the council has issued against her property, banning her from renting it out via short-term let platforms. The…
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Latest property news
Time for a Belfast branch? Northern Ireland booms as rest of UK slows down
Mortgage lending to first time buyers and home movers in Northern Ireland is booming while rest of UK struggles.
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Latest property news
HM Treasury backs three rental fintech firms with £1.4 million
HM Treasury has today revealed the three fintech services it’s decided to back with £1.4 million to develop their platforms and ultimately help more tenants build up their credit scores and get on to the property ladder. The cash is the final phase of an initiative called the Rent Recognition Challenge, which was in part a political reaction to a e-petition that gathered over 140,000 signatures and called for rental payments to be included in tenants’ credit histories. This e-petition was debated in parliament and soon afterwards HM Treasury announced its ‘challenge’ which has spent a total of £2 million helping fund the growth of six fintech firms. Three of these including the UK’s largest rent recognition platform CreditLadder plus Bud and Rental Step, are the finalists in the challenge. CreditLadder is believed to have received the largest cheque, for £500,000. Scrutiny Today’s announcement follows scrutiny of each firm’s presentations by a panel of leading figures from the Fintech sector including Al Lukies of Motive Partners; Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of Innovate Finance and Paul Smee, Former Director of Mortgages, UK Finance. “Our service was the first in the UK to enable tenants to have their rent recognised by a leading…
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