How To Sell Your Home for More: 7 Tips to Staging Your Home
Preparing your home for potential buyers – otherwise known as ‘staging’ – is an important process to ensure your property has maximum appeal for buyers. Staging your home correctly can not only sell your property faster but can also help to add thousands in value to your home – so check out our top tips […]
Read MoreTardy Tenants are a Financial Nightmare for Landlords
If you’ve ever been a landlord, this scenario will almost certainly sound familiar to you. Your property needs a small repair. It’s a loose door hinge, a dripping pipe, or something else minor that could easily be repaired by the tenants in an hour or two. It could also be just as easily fixed if […]
Read MoreWhy Landlords and Tenants Hate Mould and Damp
Mould, landlords and tenants: They’re a combustible combination. Tenants feel landlords ought to take responsibility for the problem and fix it ASAP without any cost to them. Landlords, on the other hand, often feel that mould and dampness caused by condensation are tenants’ fault because they dry clothes inside or keep the windows closed when […]
Read MorePrivate Landlords Fight Unfair Buy-to-Let Tax Changes
Changes to tax laws that govern buy-to-let properties have landlords up in arms. The planned buy-to-let tax is deemed unfair because it targets private landlords who have buy-to-let properties in their own names and doesn’t target companies that invest in rental properties. Furthermore, tax will be on turnover rather than profit, which will eat into […]
Read MoreNew Campaign Forces Premier League to Accommodate Disabled Fans
We’ve written about popular sports for people in wheelchairs, but what about wheelchair-bound and other disabled sports fans? Do sports stadiums give them easy access so they can watch their favourite sports live? Apparently not, if the sport concerned is football. There are only seven clubs in the UK which have or will soon have […]
Read MoreHow Can We Make Playgrounds Safe & Fun for Disabled Children?
Children’s playgrounds are places of fun, laughter and the occasional injury. But not all children can join in the fun because playgrounds simply don’t cater to their special needs. Sadly, children with disabilities are often unintentionally discriminated against in public parks and playgrounds. Parents of disabled children in Cork have had enough. They successfully lobbied […]
Read MoreBuilt-To-Rent Market Threatens Buy-To-Let Private Landlords
Property is a smart investment. With more people unable to afford to buy their own property and needing to rent long-term, investing in the rental market is a good idea. While renting is a good idea for landlords, it’s not ideal for tenants. Negligent landlords are a problem (although they’re a minority). And tenants are […]
Read MoreEasy Peasy Tips for Home Improvements That Save Your Energy Bill
Living can be expensive. When we think about the costs of everyday living, we need to consider the cost of food, travel, rent and then bills on top of that, and that’s just to get by! Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing left after necessities – nothing for a spot of fun. So how would […]
Read MoreMost Popular Sports for People in Wheelchairs
Sports are a great way to keep fit, relieve stress and hang out with friends. You can participate in an individual sport, or you can play in a team. Being in a wheelchair by no means suggests people aren’t interested in or capable of participating in sports. Although wheelchair users are restricted from some able-bodied […]
Read MoreSafety Checks for a New Home: Don’t Move Into a Danger Area!
Buying a new home is a stressful but exciting time. It’s not an easy or straightforward process, either. It’s a long road from finding a house to buying a house and then moving in. There are many steps involved and many things to consider along the way. When you finally move in, you may find a […]
Read MoreCourageous Landlords Capitalise on Short-Term Rentals!
Buy-to-let property owners want the best possible returns. One of the most promising areas is the short-term rental market. In the short-term renal market landlords let their properties at daily, weekly or monthly rates.
Read MoreDeposit Protection Is Failing Tenants: What You Need to Know
Rent (or tenancy) deposit protection schemes are designed to protect the deposit amount that tenants pay landlords when they move into a property. The deposit is supposed to be reserved for repairs to damage or replacement of lost (or stolen) items. It is also supposed to be returned to tenants when the tenancy ends. This […]
Read MoreGovernment Tells Landlords: Green Up & Improve Energy Efficiency
2016 has been a heck of a year for landlords, and there are still 4.5 months to go. The latest is the revision of the government’s energy efficiency policy for landlords. It’s illegal for landlords to rent any property that doesn’t meet Band E energy requirements come 2018. Furthermore, they won’t get any help paying […]
Read More7 Critical Factors That Affect Your Home Insurance Rates
How much are you paying for home insurance, and what can you do to reduce insurance rates? Insurance providers, much like the homeowners themselves, want less risk. In a sense, their confidence in the homeowner is reflected in the cost of the insurance premiums. As such, anything you do to make your property more secure will […]
Read MoreWhat New Landlords Need to Know About Energy Performance Certificates
Energy efficiency is one of the most important issues of our time, and it’s an issue that the UK government takes very seriously. In 2008, legislation regarding energy performance certificates (EPC) gave landlords incentives to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. If you’re looking to get into the landlord business, you need to be […]
Read MoreHow To Choose A Reputable Contractor For Home Renovations
There is little Brits love more than a good home renovation. This is evident in statistics released by Zopa following a survey of over 1200 people who’ve qualified for home improvement loans. One of the biggest findings is that most Brits renovate so that they can create their dream home. The intention is not to […]
Read MoreDiscover How Home Maintenance Affects Home Insurance Claims
Many first-time homeowners aren’t prepared for the work required to make their houses well-maintained and habitable. They also don’t realise that home maintenance is not just a matter of aesthetics or practicality. It’s also necessary to ensure the validity of home insurance claims in the event of some sort of disaster. According to statistics from […]
Read MoreLandlords Benefit From Massive Growth In Retirement Rentals
What do you want to do with your retirement years? Do you want to indulge your love for travel? Do you want to live close to your children and grandchildren? Would you prefer a quiet life in the country? Whatever you want to do, you have to make one important decision: Are you going to […]
Read MoreDiscover How Your Claims History Impacts Your Home Insurance
Buying a home is the dream, but actually having a home is an expensive business. Every month we dutifully pay for home insurance so when a disaster happens, we can claim and replace household items. Unfortunately, claiming from your insurance just once will have an effect on any future claims, no matter the reason for your claim. […]
Read MoreRenovating Your Home? It’s Critical You Remember Insurance
Are you thinking about renovating your home, even doing something relatively simple like remodelling your kitchen cupboards or making your bathroom en suite? Whatever renovations are on the cards, you need to take care of one detail first. Inform your home insurance provider of your intentions. It’s essential that your home insurer knows what your […]
Read MoreDiscover If Your Listed Property Is Suitably Insured?
Listed buildings are a treasure and often have hundreds of years of fascinating history lending to their character. Life is complicated for listed property owners when they want to buy insurance. This is thanks to a tangle of red tape that average homeowners never consider. What Insurance Do Listed Buildings Need? Listed buildings require non-standard […]
Read MoreForced Into Mortgage-Linked Home Insurance? You Can Say No!
Thirty percent of home buyers in the UK believe they have to buy home insurance from their mortgage provider. This is according to recent research by Gocompare. Home insurance is compulsory for most mortgage lenders, and most mortgage lenders offer home insurance products. You should know that you can shop around and choose the best deal for you. […]
Read More4 Simple Tips to Keep Your Drains Smelling Fresh as Daisies
Ew! What is that smell?! It must surely be coming from outside. No, wait… It’s the bathroom drain. There must be something in the kitchen cupboard to stop the smell. What? It’s in the kitchen, too! What is going on? Neighbourhood kids’ prank? Someone’s mother is getting a very stern phone call. So Why Do […]
Read MoreWhat’s Safe To Put In Storage Units (And What Isn’t)?
One of the most common questions people ask when it comes to self-storage is what exactly they can put in storage units? It’s not a foolish question. The penalties for storing prohibited items include fines, confiscation of items and if you’ve really fallen foul of the law, prison. The answer is that you can put […]
Read MoreSelf-Storage Tips To Help You Find Safe Facilities
The self-storage industry in the UK is growing rapidly, but it is still officially unregulated. This means consumers need to be very careful so that they don’t get taken for a ride. The good news is that some facilities take their customers’ best interests very seriously. They have voluntarily joined a self-regulating code of trading […]
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