The Business of Property - Episode 9: Changes for landlords in 2020

Episode 9: Changes for landlords in 2020

01/29/20 • 32 min

Every year brings new regulations and changes to the property market. Stuart and Simon discuss some of the changes landlords need to be aware of that are coming in 2020. With only a few distractions along the way.

The landlords changes in 2020 discussed are:

All rental properties (including those with existing tenancies) must have an EPC rating of at least EPC E from April.
- The EPC Register site.
Section 24 will be in full effect from April (the new tax year), meaning finance costs such as mortgage interest can no longer be claimed as an expense against rental income.
- PaTMa provides a free buy to let profit calculator that includes Section 24 estimates (make sure you scroll down). There's also a re-mortgage version of the buy-to-let calculator that can be used for existing properties or entire portfolios.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 prevented new tenancies from charging tenant fees, but where existing tenancy contracts included fee-charging clauses, those fees would still be due. From June 2020 these clauses are no longer valid and even existing tenancies can no longer charge fees.
- PaTMa has a free deposit calculator and the official Government guidance on the Tenant Fees Act is here.
It looks likely that Section 21 is going to be removed at some point (probably not finalised in 2020).

There are a number of articles around listing these and other changes for landlords (and letting agents) in 2020. A couple of example are these from OpenRent and Letting a Property.

The landlords changes in 2020 discussed are:

All rental properties (including those with existing tenancies) must have an EPC rating of at least EPC E from April.
- The EPC Register site.
Section 24 will be in full effect from April (the new tax year), meaning finance costs such as mortgage interest can no longer be claimed as an expense against rental income.
- PaTMa provides a free buy to let profit calculator that includes Section 24 estimates (make sure you scroll down). There's also a re-mortgage version of the buy-to-let calculator that can be used for existing properties or entire portfolios.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 prevented new tenancies from charging tenant fees, but where existing tenancy contracts included fee-charging clauses, those fees would still be due. From June 2020 these clauses are no longer valid and even existing tenancies can no longer charge fees.
- PaTMa has a free deposit calculator and the official Government guidance on the Tenant Fees Act is here.
It looks likely that Section 21 is going to be removed at some point (probably not finalised in 2020).

There are a number of articles around listing these and other changes for landlords (and letting agents) in 2020. A couple of example are these from OpenRent and Letting a Property.

Previous Episode

Episode 8: SDLT exceptions and selling tenanted

Stuarts talks about his ongoing experience with the legal ombudsman about a potential SDLT overpayment.

Simon discusses (very little) progress on selling a property a property which spawns a chat about being fair to tenants (and landlords) when trying to sell tenanted properties.

Next Episode

Episode 10: Time management

Where do you spend your time? How do you know? How do you plan your future time?

Simon talks about his obsessive tracking of time, using Toggl and a helper app that makes switching between common items really quick.

Stuart discusses his time planning strategy and how the 12 Week Year approach has helped. It's important to focus on "the big things" rather than letting your time get filled up with all the little things.

There's a quick mention of using PaTMa to provide reminders for fixed rate mortgage expiry and of Stuart's other podcast, Executive Juice.

Books mentioned: