News

This is a concerning time for landlords, and it is crucial letting industry professionals face up to fresh challenges. At Just Lets, we are here to ensure all Peterborough landlords receive support and guidance if they require it.

While landlords should have a clear vision of what they wish to achieve in the lettings market, it is vital to know what tenants want. When you can tailor your service, or rental property, to meet the needs and demands of the rental market, you enhance your chances of success.

The announcement of the property and rental market reopening caught many by surprise. Many industry experts believed it would be June before the Government gave the market the green-light.

While there are many factors which influence the work a landlord undertakes, the importance of finding the ideal tenant cannot be overstated. With a respectful tenant who pays on time and who cares for your rental property, being a landlord is a more manageable activity.

Becoming a landlord for the first time is an exciting prospect, with not only the opportunity to bring in some additional income but also the chance to expand your portfolio further and perhaps even start up your own property business. However, it can be tricky to know where to start once you have invested in … Continue reading 7 Essential Tips for New Landlords →

Beast from the East, Russia, Facebook, Brexit, Trump, House prices up, House prices down … the Press is full of column inches on Brit’s favourite subjects of politics, scandal, weather and not forgetting (and I appreciate the irony of this!) the property market. As an agent belonging a national group of letting and estate agents, … Continue reading Peterborough Property Market – Which Houses are Actually Selling? →

As I have mentioned a number times in my local property market blog, with not enough new-build properties being built in Peterborough and the surrounding area to keep up with demand for homes to live in (be that tenants or homebuyers), it’s good to know more Peterborough home sellers are putting their properties on to … Continue reading 4% More Peterborough Home Owners Wanting to Move Than 12 Months Ago →

The value of all the homes in Peterborough has risen by more than 262% in the past two decades, to £12.358bn, meaning its worth more than the stock listed company Standard Life Aberdeen, which is worth £11.134bn. Those Peterborough homeowners and Buy-to-Let landlords who bought their homes twenty or more years ago have come out … Continue reading Peterborough Property Market Worth More Than Standard Life Aberdeen →

The degree to which young Peterborough people are locked out of the Peterborough housing market has been revealed in new statistics. A Peterborough landlord was asking me the other week to what effect homeownership rates in Peterborough in the early to middle aged adult age range had affected the demand for rental property in Peterborough … Continue reading Homeownership Amongst Peterborough’s Young Adults Slumps to 44.99% →

A little bit of good news this week on the Peterborough Property Market as recently released data shows that the number of first time buyers taking out their first mortgage in 2017 increased more than in any other year since the global financial crisis in 2009. The data shows there were 1,009 first time buyers … Continue reading 1,009 First Timer Buyers in Peterborough Bought Their First Home in 2017 →

As our families grow bigger the need for more space, be that bedrooms or reception rooms, has grown with it. Also, as our older generation lives longer and nursing home bills continue to rise quicker than a rocket on the 5th of November  (the average nursing home bill in the area being £752 per week) … Continue reading An extension could add £43,075 to the value of your Peterborough home →

According to the National House Building Council (NHBC), more than 17,300 new homes were registered to be built in the East last year, an increase of 8.7% on 2016 levels of 15,900 dwellings. Great news when you consider it is one of the highest number of new builds in the region since the pre-recession levels … Continue reading Peterborough Property Market – The 33.3% ‘New Build Premium’ →

That got your attention … didn’t it! But before we start, what is Generation X, let alone Generation Z, Millennials, Baby Boomers  … these are phrases banded around about the different life stages (or sub-components) of our society. But when terminologies like this are used as often and habitually as these phrases (i.e. Gen X … Continue reading Peterborough’s ‘Millennials’ set to inherit £225,031 each in property! →

Yes, I said ‘rentirement’, not retirement … rentirement and it relates to the 1,722 (and growing) Peterborough people, who don’t own their own Peterborough home but rent their home, privately from a buy to let landlord and who are currently in their 50’s and early to mid-60’s. The truth is that these Peterborough people are … Continue reading Peterborough’s £276,484,320 “Rentirement” Property Market Time Bomb →

As I am sure you are aware, one of the best things about my job as an agent is helping Peterborough landlords with their strategic portfolio management. Gone are the days of making money by buying any old Peterborough property to rent out or sell on. Nowadays, property investment is both an art and science. … Continue reading Peterborough Private Rents Hit £9.59 per sq. foot →

Gas Safety Checks New Legislation effective from 6th April 2018;  Landlord gas checks will now be allowed up to 2 months ahead of time from the 6th of April to start the process early and have a valid test certificate in place before the old one runs out without affecting the renewal dates. This is … Continue reading Landlords Gas Safety Checks – New Legislation →

As we go headlong into 2018, I believe UK interest rates will stay low, even with the additional 0.25% increase that is expected in May or June. That rise will add just over £20 to the typical £160,000 tracker mortgage, although with 57.1% of all borrowers on fixed rates, it will probably go undetected by … Continue reading £567.53pm – The Profit made by every Peterborough Property Owner over the last 20 years →

Looking at the newspapers between Christmas and New Year, it seemed that this year’s sport in the column inches was to predict the future of the British housing market. So to go along with that these are my thoughts on the Peterborough property market. With the average 5-year fixed rate mortgage at 1.98% (down from … Continue reading With Peterborough Annual Property Values 7.8% Higher, This is My 2018 Forecast →

I was recently reading a report by the Home website which suggested that hordes of landlords are selling their buy-to-let investments due to increasing burdens on them in the buy-to-let market. Their findings suggest the number of new properties that came onto the market nationally (for sale) jumped by 11% across the UK as a … Continue reading My thoughts on the future of the Peterborough Buy-To-Let Market →

Talk to many Peterborough 20 something’s, where home ownership has looked but a vague dream, many of them have been vexatious towards the Baby Boomer generation and their pushover ‘easy go lucky’ walk through life; jealous of their free university education with grants, their eye watering property windfalls, their golden final salary pensions and their … Continue reading Youngsters unable to buy their first home in Peterborough – Are the Baby Boomers and Landlords to Blame? →

My research shows that certain types of Peterborough property are more affordable today than before the 2007 credit crunch. Roll the clock back to 2007 just before the credit crunch hit which saw Peterborough property values plummet like a lead balloon and the Peterborough property market had reached a peak with the prices for Peterborough … Continue reading Peterborough Apartments are 14.2% more affordable than 10 years ago →

I miss the good old days of George Osborne as Chancellor, with his hardhat and hi-vis jacket. He must have visited every new home building site in the UK with his trademark attire! For the last few years, the nearest Philip Hammond got to donning a ‘Bob the Builder’ outfit was at his grandchild’s birthday … Continue reading Peterborough Property Market and Hammond’s Budget Promise to Build 300,000 more homes →

It’s now been a good 12/18 months since annual rental price inflation in Peterborough peaked at 3.3%. Since then we have seen increasingly more humble rent increases. In fact, in certain parts of the Peterborough rental market over the autumn, the rental market saw some slight falls in rents. So, could this be the earliest … Continue reading Peterborough Rents Set to Rise to £740 pm in Next 5 Years →

  TIME TO MAKE A CHOICE – MAKE IT COUNT With the General Election just a week away, you may be wondering exactly what each of the three main political parties are proposing for the Private Rental Sector and how it might affect you if they were to win. To help you gain some clarity, … Continue reading Election Manifesto – The Impact on Private Rental Sector →

GOVERNMENT COULD CAP DEPOSITS AS WELL AS BAN TENANT FEES With the Government finally announcing its long-awaited consultation on the ban on tenant fees and then deciding to scrap its proposed workshops to consult with the sector as soon as news of a General Election was announced, the industry is understandably all at sixes and … Continue reading Government Could Cap Deposits as Well as Ban Tenant Fees →

Prepare early for EPC Regulations changes From April 2018, new laws will make it an offence to let out properties with the worst energy efficiency ratings. The new legislation, brought about by the Department for Energy & Climate Change seeks to ensure that all tenants have the right to live in an energy efficient home. … Continue reading Energy Performance Regulations – Be Ready For The Change →

Just Lets – Peterborough is happy to be working with The Alzeimers Society as its chosen charity. We hope that we will be able to raise awareness of the various forms of Dementia and the support structures that are available for those who have the disease and for those who care for them. We will … Continue reading Just Lets – Peterborough Nominated Charity →

The 2017 National Pet Month is on the way. This is the 27th annual National Pet Month and runs from 1 April to 1 May 2017. Through this period thousands of people around the United Kingdom will be celebrating life with their pets, spreading the word on responsible pet ownership and/or raising money for their … Continue reading National Pet Month – Your Pet, Your Home…Your Responsibility →

Can You Afford Not To Change Supplier? This month sees three of the Big Six energy companies hiking their prices again, and it can only be a matter of time before the other three follow suit. The Lettings Hub has been working behind the scenes, to develop a new Utility Management Service that will help … Continue reading Utilities – Can You Afford Not To Change? →

Currently, tenant fees vary considerably between letting agents but typically tenants are charged for professional services such as administration, references, changing contract, inventory checking, contract renewals and chasing of late payments. All of these services are essential to protecting a landlord’s property and to managing the tenancy in a legally compliant way, so removing the … Continue reading Tenant Fee Ban – What’s It All About →

Scam Awareness Month has been and gone but that does not mean that we should not all continue to be vigilant and mindful of the threats that exist.  We should all be very mindful that sensible precautions will help to keep us safe and, importantly, keep our details and our finances safe and secure.  The … Continue reading Scam Awareness →

Those of us on the Lettings front line have, for some time, found that demand for accommodation in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) is consistently outstripping the supply.  Not least of which here in Peterborough City there is a real shortfall of PRS property.  This being the case, it is hard to fathom why there … Continue reading PETERBOROUGH – Named as a Buy-To-Let HOTSPOT →

The BBQ war is raging.  Do you side with Gas or Charcoal?  Which one do you prefer to use for a sizzling fun-packed eating experience? It doesn’t really matter which side of the BBQ wars you are on…it is a great way to enjoy the outdoors.  Freshly cooked food done in the company of friends and … Continue reading BBQ Wars….Food Safety →

90% of e-mails sent worldwide can be regarded as spam; undoubtedly a large proportion of that spam will be scams trying to get your hard earned money. A recent survey has revealed the top five email scams to be aware of this year. Bank scam emails A few pieces of key information may be all the … Continue reading Top 5 email scams revealed →

IS YOUR PROPERTY REGISTERED? Immobilise is a national property database that allows you to protect your possessions by registering them for free. Any valuables that have a unique serial number, such as mobile phones, can be registered online. These details are searchable by all UK Police Forces and form an extremely powerful tool in helping … Continue reading A National Property Register for Phones, Gadgets, Bicycles and more… →