All writing below is purely my opinion!

With buy to let mortgages increasing in popularity more and more people are becoming Landlords.

Television is partly responsible for the popularity of the buy to let mortgage and the corresponding house price increase is also partly due to the booming buy to let market. It makes me cringe when I see people on the TV who are venturing into the buy to let market for the first time with little more than a deposit and a handful of hope, quite often these people have little or no idea about letting! Renovating is a far easier option in a booming market.

I have seen intelligent people on the TV who are venturing into their first buy to let property, they have saved a large deposit and wish to invest it wisely. This is in my opinion a far better way to make money than say a pension but carries risk also! Most Landlords are not aware that once you grant a tenancy agreement (which will probably be an assured shorthold tenancy agreement) You cannot get the tenant out of your property even if the tenant does not pay the rent, you could end up going to court to get a court order (which will cost you) and it could take two years to get them out, bear in mind that you will not be receiving rent in this time and consider that the tenant will probably cause considerable damage to your property.

Click here for sample of an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.

We are living in the 21st century and tax payers have less rights than people who do not work, People on benefits get legal aid to sue hard working decent law abiding people. The Police do not want to know when you report a crime, they don't want to catch real criminals. Most police officers seem to be in a job where the aim is to do as little as possible until they get their pension but go 3 or 4 miles over the speed limit and they issue you with 3 points and a fine!

If you are going to rent out a property make sure it is to someone who works and has some money, then they can't screw you with the legal aid system, They still might not pay the rent and wreck your property but at least they will have to pay their own legal bills!

As a Landlord you must  Comply with all legal requirements-

A gas safety certificate is needed every year.

Electrical installations need testing every Year.

Buy to let insurance is required as normal house hold insurance will not cover you for letting a property.

You are obliged to inform the Inland revenue of the income you receive, It is best to employ a good accountant as they will ensure that you don't pay too much tax as most outgoings for the property are tax deductible.

There are some signs that landlords may find useful on this site, simply right click on one of them and save it to your computer ready for printing off.

If you decide that buy to let is for you the profits can be enormous and will make working for a living seem a bad option. Do your homework and look into all the possibilities, there are some excellent books and e-books at very reasonable prices, I have some of these and they can save you lots of money!

When talking to your financial advisor be aware that he makes money from selling! And will often try to sell you products that you don't need to increase his income. Financial health checks usually find that surprisingly you need Life Insurance and a host of other financial products that you don't really need and don't forget your pension, that is under performing and you need to pay more into it then you can have the quality of life that you are used to when you retire! What a Complete load of Rubbish. You pay thousands of pounds into a pension and most people do not reap the benefits, many people die a couple of years into retirement. Property investment is far better than any pension or life insurance etc.

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