Walsall Property News

Walsall Landlords and Tenants : What does the Tenant Fee Banning order mean for you?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
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walsall-letting-fees-ban
  • Tenant Fees set to be banned within 12 to 18 months
  • Rents due to rise as those fees passed to Landlords
  • Landlords won’t be worse off – and neither will tenants or agents

With our new Chancellor of the Exchequer revealing a ban on tenant fees in his first Autumn Statement on Wednesday what does this actually mean for Walsall tenants and Walsall landlords?

The private rental sector in Walsall forms an important part of the Walsall housing market and the engagement from the chancellor in last Wednesday’s Autumn Statement is a welcome sign that it is recognised as such. I have long supported the regulation of lettings agents which will establish and cement best practice across the rental industry and, I believe that measures to improve the situation of tenants should be introduced in a way that supports the growing professionalism of the sector. Over the last few years, there has been an increasing number of regulations and legislation governing private renting and it is important that the role of qualified, well trained and regulated Lettings Agents is understood.

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A bit of TLC for a yield of 6.00% on this 2 Bed Terraced House, Whitmore Street, Walsall, WS1.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Buy to Let Property Deals , , , , , , , ,

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A two bedroom terraced house in the Palfrey area Walsall, WS1. The photos clearly show that the property is in need of a little bit of TLC. What we have here is a blank canvas and for just a relatively small investment, this property can be turned into a top notch lettable spec.

A bog standard two bed terraced house with two double bedrooms. However, the listing lacks a photo of the kitchen, so an urgent viewing would be advantageous. There is double glazing and gas central heating, apparently, though it is hard to see in the published photos.

The asking price is for offers in the region of £90000 and at a pcm rental of £450.00 will give you a nice yield of 6.00%.

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Walsall’s Spare Rooms..Perhaps the Answer to our Housing Crisis?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
Walsall’s Spare Rooms..Perhaps the Answer to our Housing Crisis?
Walsall’s Spare Rooms..Perhaps the Answer to our Housing Crisis?

Of the 107,822 households in Walsall, 33,667 of those properties don’t only have one spare bedroom, but two spare bedrooms! Could this be the cure for Walsall’s housing crisis?

The fundamental problem is the fact that the supply of homes to live in has not historically met demand, increasing property values and rents, thus ensuring home ownership becomes an unattainable ambition for the youngsters of Walsall.

Let’s state the obvious..demand needs to drop or supply needs to rise to stop this trend getting worse for the generations to come.  Don’t get me wrong, I admire Downing Street’s plans to build 200,000 starter homes which will be offered to first time buyers under 40 with a minimum 20% discount price.  However, the building of starter homes on current building sites, where new homes builders already have to build a certain number of affordable ‘starter’ homes at the moment under a different scheme, does not increase the stock of new ‘starter’ homes, it simply replaces one affordable scheme with another.

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3 Bedroom Semi, Green Rock lane, Walsall, WS3. With Yields Of 6.60%.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Buy to Let Property Deals , , , , , , , ,

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It’s ok spec wise, but just needs a little TLC to really get the decor up to a lettable standard. Another property billed as a buy-to-let investment by Connells (01922 716 026) priced at offers in the region of £100,000. The property benefits from double glazing and gas central heating.

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2 Bedroom Terraced House, Star Close, Walsall, WS2. With Yields Of 5.87%.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Buy to Let Property Deals , , , , , , , ,

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A two bedroom terraced house in the Bentley area of Walsall, WS2. A pretty much decent spec here and one that could be let as is, but you will want to change the decor at least. The asking price is £92000, which is well below average for a property of this type and area. The location is ideal for local schools, all within a mile. Healthcare amenities such as doctors, dentists and chemists are also within easy each. Transport services are very good with bus routes and major road networks nearby with Walsall town centre about a mile away. There is double glazing and gas central heating as far as I can tell. I would urge a viewing asap.

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Walsall Landlords vs Walsall Savers

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , , ,

A couple of articles back, I did a piece on the effect of the 0.25% base rate on the Walsall property market. This time, I want to look at the situation that Walsall ‘savers’ find themselves in.

What, you might ask, has the plight of Walsall savers have to do with the Walsall property market… well, everything in fact!

Read the newspapers, and every financial wizard is stating that with the decision of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee in early August to cut the Bank of England base rate to an all time low of 0.25%, savers should prepare themselves for interest rates to stay low well into the early 2020’s.

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One Bedroom Apartment, Camborne Road, WS5. With Yields Of 6.75%.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Buy to Let Property Deals , , , , , , , ,

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A one bedroom apartment, Camborne Road, Walsall, WS5. The asking price is in the region of £80000 with Connells (01922 716 026).

Property details here, brochure here and EPC here.

Park Hall is an excellent and very popular location in Walsall. Some consider it to be the “posh” end of the street and therefore prices in general can be higher.

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Which month of the year is ‘best’ to sell your Walsall property?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Which month of the year is ‘best’ to sell your Walsall property?
Which month of the year is ‘best’ to sell your Walsall property?

I had a homeowner from Bloxwich email me the other day. She said she had been following my blog for a while and wanted to pick my brain on when I thought is the best time of the year to sell a property in Walsall. Trying to calculate the best time to put your Walsall property on the market can often seem something akin to witchcraft and whilst I would agree that there are particular times of the year that can prove more productive than others, there are plenty of factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Even if you are putting your property on the market, you don’t know how long it will take to find a buyer. At the moment, for the latest set of figures for all 52 Estate Agents that cover the Walsall area (not including the online), the average length of time it takes to find a buyer for any Walsall property is as follows…

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2 Bedroom House, Cannon Street, Walsall, WS2. With Yields Of 6.75%.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Buy to Let Property Deals , , , , , , , ,

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A two bedroom mid terraced house in Walsall, WS2. With the asking price at £80000 and well below average, here’s a nice little bargain.

The downside as you can see from the photos is that it will need some TLC especially in the decor department despite it having double glazing and gas central heating.

There are a wide variety of schools, health services and amenities locally and the transport services are very good with bus routes and major road networks nearby.

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Nearly Half of Walsall Tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
Nearly half of Walsall tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!
Nearly half of Walsall tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!

With Walsall youngsters not able to buy their own property, my research would suggest the progressively important role the private rented sector has been playing in housing people in need of a roof over their head. This, at a time of increasing affordability problems for first time buyers and growing difficulties faced by social housing providers – local authorities and housing associations – in their ability to secure funding from Westminster and then compete against the likes of the Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon Homes of this world to buy highly priced building land.

Renting isn’t like it was in the 1960’s and 70’s, where tenants couldn’t wait to leave their rack-rent landlords, charging sky-high rents for properties with Second World War wood chip wallpaper, no central heating and drafty windows. Since 1997 with the introduction of buy-to-let mortgages and a new breed of Walsall landlord, the private rented sector in Walsall has offered increasingly high quality accommodation for younger Walsall households.

So, whilst I knew in my own mind that the type and ‘class’ of tenant has improved over the last 20 years, I had nothing to back that up… until now.

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