happytorq wrote: On the flip side, interest on mortgage is tax-deductible, so most people who are paying off a mortgage end up with a pretty hefty tax rebate each year (especially early on in the mortgage because of amortization) - that encourages people to buy sooner than they can probably afford to.
Mortgage interest is NOT tax-deductible; that 'benefit' was stopped in 2000.
If you're a buy-to-let landlord, then mortgage interest and some other 'business expenses' can be used to offset the taxable profit of the rental income.
I am one of those bar steward landlords, us landords can be ripped just as much as tenants, my first tenant had a young child and split from her partner, she could no longer pay the rent the council advised her to sit tight not pay the rent and force me to evict her, she told me this and said that was not on and decided to move in with her mum in return for her honesty I disscounted her last months rent by 50%, I am by no means a rich man and the council could have cost me £1000's that I didn't have, sadly some agencies and tenants seem to think all landords are rolling in it not allways the case, I was also hit with a £350 bill for the repair of a leaking pipe that took 1.5 hrs to do, expensive lesson leanrt letting agency sacked, now manage the house myself.
Andy you have already had some very good advice, however don't be put of renting privately, you could end up renting a very nice house in a nice area for less in terms of rent, and for every bad landord there are far more who are good and above board, my rental house is a neighbourhood watch area of Kingstiegnton and I charge around £125 a month less than some like for like houses in the area, I can do this due to having no management fees to pay.
Do your research, find an area you think you like and then widen your search by 20 miles or so, you might be surprised to find rent value's can be very different from one area to another close by, a letting agency will check you in and out of a property and all paperwork will done correctly, however if you did view a privately rented house some signs to watch for, a well maintained house for a start is allways a sign of a good landord, gas safety certificates cost a landlord no more than £45 to have issued they last for 1 year, a good landord would have it renewed regardless of how long it had left to run for a new tenant, look for working smoke alarms with private landlords there should be one on every floor, I have the built in cooker cleaned and the carpets, ask if thats is part of the package a good landlord would do this for you.
The tenant deposit as said above can not be held either by the landlord or by the letting agent, it has to be placed in a protected tenant deposit scheme, a good landlord would be able to provide you with details of the scheme your money is being placed into both quickly and with out question, it is your money and you have right to ask.
Again already said above if you go private make sure before you move anything into the house you do a tour with the landlord and agree and note any damage, find out whether decorating is included in the rent, I don't however I do not object to my tenants decorating the house to their tastes if they wish to, unless stated you would have to pay council tax, gas/electric and water.
As said above mortage interest can only be offset against the rental property as can many other things wink, wink, however why not I am probaly still paying more tax than starbucks.
Gullscorer wrote:I didn't know that mortgage interest is tax-deductable. I may be wrong, but my understanding was that this ended some years ago, so you pay the full interest.
All of the stuff I wrote applied to the US, where I live. I did mean to say that but apparently I..didn't.
Cheers everybody for all the advice it is most welcome and appreciated.
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
Spoke to a few people in the lettings area today down in devon and they said i can still rent in spite of my various problems. Basically my credit record has more black marks on it then a dalmation, i have pets and i also asked how i go about taking a job down there when many landlords ask for new employment references for at least 6 months. I asked how i go about doing this as i needed somewhere to live BEFORE i started the job!
They were very helpful and said basically that if i paid 6 months in advance on a rolling contract then credit is not a problem nor is an employment reference. The lady said however that pets are the biggest problem, perhaps even bigger than having a dire credit rating. She said that most landlords won't accept them, some may require an extra deposit and some are ok with them but generally i'd struggle. I have a responsibility to my cats so i'll just have to see what happens. Obviously i'm not going to put them in an Aldi bag and sling them in the derwent! I'll find a relative who can look after them properly.
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
Anyone live in or near Shiphay? Is it a decent area?
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
My daughter (and her mate) has just moved flats. They settled the bills, cleaned the flat then rang to hand in the keys. For weeks!
Suddenly landlord kicks off, he cant let flat as they still have keys, and hes lost 2 months rent (despite daughter continually ringing and getting no answer) and hey ho-he's not returning bond!
He rang me (I'd left a message) and I refused to talk to him after about 3 minutes because he came over as a total cnut.
They have finally spoken to him and said if he doesn't return bond they will take it further, to which he laughed and said "two young lasses, you'll not take it any further, and anyway he's going to bill them for his lost two months rent" and hung up.
Next stop citizens advice and small claims court, the cnut isn't getting away with threatening one of mine.
I also know where he lives. And I will hurt him.
'Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level then beat you with their experience!
EmetEdadsBeard wrote:My daughter (and her mate) has just moved flats. They settled the bills, cleaned the flat then rang to hand in the keys. For weeks!
Suddenly landlord kicks off, he cant let flat as they still have keys, and hes lost 2 months rent (despite daughter continually ringing and getting no answer) and hey ho-he's not returning bond!
He rang me (I'd left a message) and I refused to talk to him after about 3 minutes because he came over as a total cnut.
They have finally spoken to him and said if he doesn't return bond they will take it further, to which he laughed and said "two young lasses, you'll not take it any further, and anyway he's going to bill them for his lost two months rent" and hung up.
Next stop citizens advice and small claims court, the cnut isn't getting away with threatening one of mine. I also know where he lives. And I will hurt him.
I love the way you just casually just stick this on the end Emet!
I know what you feel like though, if anyone had a go at mine i'd have a pop too. All you want is people to be reasonable, like this bloke should have said sorry for not being contactable , thanked your daughter and her mate for being good tenants and give them the bond back upon checking all is ok. Some people just want to take advantage and it's not on. I hope i don't get any arsehole landlord when i rent otherwise he may find he doesn't have a property left to rent!
Anyway, merry Christmas Emet!
I shall be in Donny at some point over the new year so if you see a Torquay shirt in the Mark Jarvis, in the Sun Inn, ALDI or down at the carolines corner papershop then it's obviously me so bip your horn or shout! ( don't attack me though mate, we're both fellow Gulls yes?
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
EmetEdadsBeard wrote:My daughter (and her mate) has just moved flats. They settled the bills, cleaned the flat then rang to hand in the keys. For weeks!
Suddenly landlord kicks off, he cant let flat as they still have keys, and hes lost 2 months rent (despite daughter continually ringing and getting no answer) and hey ho-he's not returning bond!
He rang me (I'd left a message) and I refused to talk to him after about 3 minutes because he came over as a total cnut.
They have finally spoken to him and said if he doesn't return bond they will take it further, to which he laughed and said "two young lasses, you'll not take it any further, and anyway he's going to bill them for his lost two months rent" and hung up.
Next stop citizens advice and small claims court, the cnut isn't getting away with threatening one of mine.
I also know where he lives. And I will hurt him.
Couple of things grab me here, Beardy.
You know where he lives, but does your daughter?
When and how did you find out where he lives (importantly, when was this in relation to your daughter giving notice?)
Is it a direct let, or is there a management company/estate agent involved?
What were the relevant dates? (when did she tell him she was moving, what was the notice period, when did she settle up, when did she start calling him, when did he start complaining, which two months rent has he lost, when did you leave him a message and when did he call you back)?
Does he have her up-to-date contact information?
This situation is more complicated that it sounds. Good news is that he has absolutely no grounds on which to bill your daughter for the rent he has lost, he can try by all means, but he won't get it.
Matt, how do you manage to remain effortlessly analytical at half five in the morning mate?!
At that time i'm just stirring for my first bowel movement.
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
You know where he lives, but does your daughter?
When and how did you find out where he lives (importantly, when was this in relation to your daughter giving notice?)
Is it a direct let, or is there a management company/estate agent involved?
What were the relevant dates? (when did she tell him she was moving, what was the notice period, when did she settle up, when did she start calling him, when did he start complaining, which two months rent has he lost, when did you leave him a message and when did he call you back)?
Does he have her up-to-date contact information?
This situation is more complicated that it sounds. Good news is that he has absolutely no grounds on which to bill your daughter for the rent he has lost, he can try by all means, but he won't get it.
Matt.[/quote]
She knows now as they sent her a letter with his address on. Well, the company address, but I took one of the keys there (expecting an office) and its a residential house, well secured, CCTV everywhere, intercom on gates etc. Wonder why that is?
Shes only just found the address from said letter, all other business was done by his son on the phone or at the flat as far as I'm aware.
Not sure about the third point. He said he owns the flats, but the company is called Park View estate agents.
They gave a months notice and settled up, including finalising all the bills, then started to call (without success) to hand the keys in, and he started complaining last week, two months later claiming they hadn't tried to contact his son (phone records are already in the pipeline), it was at this point I got involved as daughter No2 doesn't drive so I rang to arrange the return of the key, he rang me back about two hours later and came over as a right obnoxious tvvat, so much so i refused to carry on the conversation and ultimately his secretary rang me back.
And no mate, he has her phone number but not her new address, she's doing all her business C/O mine now, so he'll have to deal with me (and even more scarily her mother, Mrs Beard! =Z )
She's like her mother, quite feisty and determined not to let it go. I did suggest they withheld the last months rent as I could see this coming (all too common I'm afraid) but they wanted to do everytghing correctly and hes still being a cnut. The Moustache is over for Christmas and he said we should drive over and smash the flat up, but I dont think that would help the situation (although at the moment it sounds like a good idea).
whats your interest anyway mate, have you had similar dealings?
'Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level then beat you with their experience!
austrianandygull wrote:Anyone live in or near Shiphay? Is it a decent area?
I'm not far away, seems quite a nice area (but bear in mind I live in Hele, so anywhere seems good by comparison!). Transport links are good as it's near the Newton road so there'll be buses into town and to Newton (oddly enough) and Exeter, plus Torre station isn't far away.
No, no similar dealings, just trying to establish the legality of the situation for both my own interest and potentially to save you either a wasted trip to the CAB or to recommend a decent method of removing DNA from a cricket bat
Sounds to me like the inevitable "reasonableness" clause in all of this has been satisfied on your part. If he has her contact number but has chosen not to use it, it's very much his problem, especially regarding the two months rent owing. Indeed, if he has set himself up as a business rather than merely being a geezer who rents out a flat or two, then he owes even greater responsibility to your daughter. Any civil claim made against him will be decided on the balance of probabilities, so you only need show to a 51% likelihood that your daughter took reasonable steps to comply with the conditions upon her in respect of him returning the deposit. Phone records, settling the bills, giving plenty of notice etc will all go a long way to showing this. Be prepared for the CAB to recommend mediation before they send you down the route of Small Claims. This will probably be in your interest, since mediation is usually free and lawyers are essentially banned form the process, it's little more than refereed arguing, but it works more often than not in disputes of this nature. Sadly, the judgements made are not binding, so they can't be legally enforced, but there is nothing stopping you upping the ante if he doesn't comply with any direction made. It will also work in your favour, if it does go to SC, that you have attempted mediation and he has failed to comply.
Failing this, I do have some other specialist knowledge that could come in handy if you decide to take the front row from the local rugby team round to his place for a nice chat...
