Home Based Business Ideas UK: Urgent Update on PM Speech Regarding the Repeal of...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Urgent Update on PM Speech Regarding the Repeal of...: Prime Minister Theresa May Listen to my Money Tips Podcast to find out what the current PM has to say about landlords and le...

Urgent Update on PM Speech Regarding the Repeal of Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act

Prime Minister Theresa May

Listen to my Money Tips Podcast to find out what the current PM has to say about landlords and letting agents.

Podcast -https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Urgent-Update-on-PM-Speech-Regarding-the-Repeal-of-Section-21-of-the-1988-Housing-Act-e4feh8

Respond to the consultation and lobby your MP if you feel the removal of section 21 would be a mistake.

You’ve heard a lot of negative news, so is this the end of property as we know it?

NO! Of course not.

Firstly, entrepreneurs are adaptable and it’s in their DNA to find solutions to problems.

Secondly, property investment is not just about buy-to-let and becoming a landlord. There are dozens of strategies from development and conversions to rent to rent and lease purchase options which require little or no deposit and no mortgages.

You can learn these strategies and more by attending short courses where you get to meet expert trainers and investors, as well as network with likeminded people. Who knows, you could meet your future business or JV partner at an event?

If you like further details a property courses, such as a one-day introduction to property investing, drop me a line to charles@charleskelly.net

I have a limited number of complimentary tickets to attend an excellent course run by experts, which will give you a clear overview into the market.

Here are some of the courses coming up in the next few months:

Multiple Streams ff Property Income (Three days of world-class training)

Beginner Property Secrets (Full days training)

Deal Packaging Discovery Day

Serviced Accommodation Discovery

No Money Down Discovery

For full details and a list of further courses click here to learn how to become a UK property investor or go to http://bit.ly/2ZVAVtvcourses.

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Breaking news for landlords which could prevent yo...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Breaking news for landlords which could prevent yo...: I recently attended a landlord’s meeting and was shocked at the lack of knowledge in the room, especially regarding important change...

Breaking news for landlords which could prevent you gaining possession of your property under Section 21

I recently attended a landlord’s meeting and was shocked at the lack of knowledge in the room, especially regarding important changes which came into effect this month.

Firstly, new legislation came into effect from the 1st of June under the Tenants Fees Act 2019 regarding charging tenants – what you can and cannot charge tenants. If you are a landlord and you ignore new letting rules, you could face fines of up to £30,000 and a criminal charge, according to the National Landlords Association (NLA).

Secondly, many of the landlords were unaware of Section 24 removing mortgage interest tax relief on their buy-to-let mortgage.

Finally, landlords had no idea that following a court ruling (Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz) Section 21 notices are invalid unless the gas safety certificate has been given to the tenant before the tenancy agreement has been signed.

Landlordsadvice.co.uk reports that Section 21A of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the Deregulation Act 2015) provides that for tenancies granted after 01 October 2015, a Section 21 Notice cannot be validly served on the tenant if the landlord is in breach of a “prescribed requirement”.

Remember that the landlord is ultimately responsible, even if your letting agent screws up. Several agents in my area had never heard of prescribed information when I quizzed them.

The prescribed requirements are set out in The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 (the “AST Regulations”).  Regulations list the requirement for a landlord to provide a tenant with a gas safety certificate in compliance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (the “Gas Safety Regulations”).

Regulation 36(5) of the Gas Safety Regulations states that it is a statutory requirement for every landlord to ensure that:

(a) a copy of the record made pursuant to the requirements of paragraph (3)(c) above is given to each existing tenant of premises to which the record relates within 28 days of the date of the check; and

(b)  a copy of the last record made in respect of each appliance or flue is given to any new tenant of premises to which the record relates before that tenant occupies those premises save that, in respect of a tenant whose right to occupy those premises is for a period not exceeding 28 days, a copy of the record may instead be prominently displayed within those premises.

However, Regulation 2(2) of the AST Regulations states that the time limit for compliance with Regulation 36(5) of the Gas Safety Regulations does not apply.

In this case, the court had to decide whether a landlord could validly serve a Section 21 notice if Gas Safety Regulation 36(5)(b) hadn’t been complied with at the start of the tenancy.

The judge came to this conclusion on the basis that a gas safety certificate had not been provided to the tenant at the start of the tenancy, before the tenant took up occupation although one was served shortly before the service of the s.21 notice. Caridon Property Ltd. The ruling has been appealed.

The judgement is a county court appeal and therefore not binding on the county courts. However, the judgment is a decision of one of the country’s leading housing lawyers and therefore County Courts may be persuaded by this ruling when dealing with your claim for possession.

Interestingly, HHJ Luba is also one of the authors of “Defending Possession Proceedings”, which is the textbook that most District Judges have on their benches to consult when deciding housing cases.

AST regulations could be amended following this judgement or the ruling heard by a Court of Appeal. In the meantime, any landlord who failed to provide a gas safety certificate at the start of the tenancy, in other words before the tenant moved in, is likely to find that they cannot serve a section 21 notice during the period of that tenancy.

The government recently announced proposals to abolish “no fault evictions” under Section 21 notices.

On 26 June 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the government’s intentions during a frank speech at the Housing 2019 conference.

The Prime Minister said:

“…We are re-balancing the relationship between tenant and landlord, making major changes that will make an immediate and lasting impact on the lives of millions of families.

In the private sector we’ve already capped the size of rent deposits and abolished letting fees, cutting the amount tenants have to find upfront and making it harder for landlords and agents to take advantage of desperate house hunters.

Now we’re going further…because if you rent a property it will not be your house, but it is still your home. 

And to me that means that if you pay your rent, play by the by the rules and keep the house in good order your landlord should not be allowed to throw you out on a whim. It is simply not fair. 

So we’re bringing to an end the practice of the so called no-fault evictions. Repealing the section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act.

A consultation on the changes will be published shortly, with a view to introducing legislation later this year.”

The Government will shortly launch a consultation as to the proposed repeal of section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in which landlords will have the opportunity to give their views to the government on this major proposed change. 

It is well worth becoming a member of the NLA, or similar organisation, which represents the interests of landlords, lobbies the government, runs a helpline and holds meetings all over the country.

The important thing is to learn your trade do your CPD by keeping up with changes to legislation. Property still a good investment because you can use leverage or bank and other people’s money to acquire properties.

If you currently own property, I would not panic about new rules or jump ship as they tend to drive out the cowboys or reluctant landlords. If you are planning to invest, always educate yourself before dipping your toe in the market.

If you like further details a property courses, such as a one-day introduction to property investing, see learn how to build a property portfolio or drop me a line to charles@charleskelly.net

I have a limited number of complimentary tickets to attend an excellent course run by experts, which will give you a clear overview into the market.

Here are some of the courses coming up in the next few months:

Multiple Streams Of Property Income (Three days of world-class training)

Beginner Property Secrets (Full days training)

Deal Packaging Discovery Day

Serviced Accommodation Discovery

No Money Down Discovery

For full details and a list of further courses click here to get started in property in the UK.

Is the welfare state system broken, and if so, what are you going to do to provide for your retirement?

Is the welfare state system is broken, and if so, what are you going to do to fund your retirement and elderly care?

When I was growing up in London there were different waves of migrants coming into the country. Many members of my extended family were coming over on the boat from Ireland, where there was little opportunity and widespread poverty. I also went to school with many first generation migrants from Cyprus, India, East Africa and the Caribbean.

Later on, I saw other waves of immigration from places like Uganda, after Idi Amin literally kicked out all of the Asian population, and the Philippines.

I noticed that many of them bought their own houses rather than relying on council housing, perhaps because this was not so readily available to them as it was to the indigenous population. 

Like some of my own family, they rented out part of their house or took in a lodger to help make ends meet. Sometimes, the rent they would and would often cover their mortgage and enable them to save money for another house. It was inconvenient in some ways and not as comfortable as having your own space to yourself, but they did what it took to get on.

They also had a higher tendency to start their own businesses, based on my anecdotal observations. Perhaps because they could not find a job which utilise their education and skills from their own country.

I also noticed that they worked harder than the average person and often had two or three jobs.

Most British people still believed in and depended on the so-called “cradle-to-grave” welfare state brought in after the war. They were told by the government that they will be looked after from the time they were born until they were buried.

Everything was meant to be free from healthcare, education up to university level to elderly care. People pay taxes and national insurance contributions which was supposed to provide for their pension in old age. They also had the safety net of the benefit system which meant that they were paid if they were unemployed or could not work.

During my early years in financial services, people would often say things like, “the government will look after me if I don’t have enough pension savings”, or “the state will look after my wife and children if I die with no insurance”. In many ways, they were correct. The state does provide benefits for people who retire without any pension, which seems on fair to all of those people who have sacrificed and saved for retirement.

Mature Times Recently quoted a report by Canada life that almost 2 in five pensioners or 38% of claimants receive less than £150 a week.

Can you live on £150 per week? You can probably survive on it but you can’t live comfortably on the state pension or benefits, which is why are you here of pensioners freezing to death in the winter or having to make the choice between food or heat. Most people blame the government but the fact is we all have the opportunity to work and say during our lifetime. Furthermore,, The amount most people pay in taxes during their lifetime hardly covers what the government needs to spend to keep everybody safe, healthy and happy let alone provide income and benefits for another 20 or 30 years in retirement. In other words, if someone on a low income was refunded all the taxes they’d paid during their lifetime it would not be enough to live on for almost as many years in retirement as they had spent in work. 

The welfare system is broken and unsustainable. This is why successive governments have had to change the rules and move the goalposts. Retirement ages have increased, people have to sell their homes to pay for elderly care in nursing homes and university education is no longer free in England.  

Most governments have had to borrow money to make ends meet based on the current expenditure, which means that the country is not paying its way as it has in the past. When we talk about the government, we are really talking about the money we all and businesses pay in taxes.  That’s it. There is no magic fund sitting there and there are no oil wells to subsidise us. The money through taxes come in and goes out.  

When the welfare state was devised just after the war in the 1940’s, it was estimated that in average people would live for less than 5 years in retirement – a large proportion of males died before they were 50 and a 70 year old seemed ancient! I know people in their 70’s now who look and act like someone in their 50’s. The actuaries then also calculated that the number of people in work would be able to support the number of people in retirement in the tax payer funded pay-as-you-go old aged pension system. There is no old state pension ‘fund’ put aside for you.

The above seventy-year-old assumptions are long out of date. People are now living far longer on average and there are now more people in retirement and ever before. More worrying, the ratio of working people to retired has changed dramatically.  

As in other developed countries, advances in medicine and diets have contributed to UK citizens living longer, a trend set to continue. By 2050, the proportion of the UK population aged 65 and over is projected to reach nearly a quarter at 24 per cent, up from 17 per cent in 2012, according to the ONS.

The fastest increases will be among the “oldest old”, with the proportion aged 85 and over forecast to treble from 2 per cent to 6 per cent.

Academics say these rapidly evolving demographic changes will affect everyone in society, not just the elderly.

An even bigger problem is that as the proportion reaching retirement age grows, the number of working age people will shrink as birth rates decline.

This is a concern because UK state pension payments are funded through taxation and national insurance contributions from those of working age. It could be described as some similar to a legalised ‘Ponzi’ scheme.

Tax revenue from those in work may fail to keep up with demand for social security — and governments will have to make tough choices, according to David Sinclair, International Longevity Centre UK in an article in the FT.

The number of working age people to every pensioner, or the “old age support ratio”, is forecast to fall to 2.9 by 2050, from 3.3 in the mid-1970s to 2006, or a 10% drop. That’s less than 3 people working to support one person in retirement and all of the other benefits as well as healthcare, social care, education, security and defence. I’m not an economist, but to me the figures just don’t add up!

“Tax revenue from those in work may fail to keep up with demand for social security and healthcare from an increasingly large proportion of people aged over 65 and out of work and who have poor health,” said Mr Sinclair. “This will force governments to make tough choices.”

This is already happening. Not unaware of the looming problem, the government has pushed back the qualification age for the state pension to 67 by 2028. The state pension age will equalise at 65 for women and men by 2018.

The government has also taken steps to address big shortfalls in private pension savings, through the automatic enrolment of eligible staff into workplace pensions.

Under this policy, 2 per cent of a worker’s qualifying earnings is saved into a pension, comprising a contribution from employer, employee and tax relief, rising to 8 per cent by 2018. However, the pension scheme is a defined contribution, rather than benefit, and returns and not guaranteed and will depend on fund growth, much of which will be stock market based.

Like Universal Credit, these policies are not vote winners. When the state owned BBC recently announced that it would be removing free TV licenses (which costs about £13 per month) for the over 75's, there was public outrage and a campaign has already started to reverse the decision. I expect the BBC will cave in under pressure and have to make cuts elsewhere.

Since the new pensions policy was introduced, 5m have been automatically enrolled. But there is a concern new “Freedom and Choice” reforms giving pension savers full flexibility to spend pension savings as they wish, such as on cars or holidays and not on a secure pension income, could undermine auto-enrolment.

“Before the age of 65, workers are actively nudged into pension saving through auto-enrolment,” says James Lloyd, director of the Strategic Society Centre, a think-tank.

If you would like to find out more about your pension entitlement go online or contact the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for a forecast.

You can top up your state pension or fund your own private pension scheme or employers’ scheme. In reality, most people are not saving nearly enough into their pension plan, as I explained in my earlier podcasts.   

As always, take professional independent financial advice because I am not your financial adviser.

So, is the welfare system broken? It may not be completely broken but it's certainly in need of a major refit or overhaul. Unfortunately, it is being patched up here and there like an old house because it is difficult for any government to tell it like it is and make those tough decisions.

I expect what will happen is that we will all muddle along for another decade until the government decides to take more radical action to deal with the pensions timebomb and elderly care problem. I haven't even started on elderly and social care, or dementia, which is another Pandora's box!  In the meantime, you better start rowing your own boat and not relying on the state or your employer to look after you.

On a more philosophical note, maybe the centuries old party is over for the west as the east grows stronger and takes more of our lunch? As the 16 year old Swedish climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg wisely put it, why should the rest of the world suffer so we can live in luxury?

Does all this make you worried? If so, good. We all need to wake up!

What can you do? Follow these three steps.

1. Step one, wake up.
2. Step two, start educating yourself on money and investing.
3. Step three, keep on learning about money and investing.

When I talked about migrants coming here years ago and buying houses and renting out the rooms, you might say that that was alright then but you can’t do it now, but you’ll be wrong.

The same opportunities to invest in property are available to you today and in fact it is much easier to get into property than it was years ago. 

Mortgages are easier to obtain and money is everywhere

Interest rates are lower

There are buy-to-let mortgages available in abundance

You can rent out a room tax-free up to £7500 per annum

There are training courses available where you can learn how to build a property portfolio even if you don’t have any money to put down.

The last point is the most important. When my family migrated to the UK there were no training courses and nobody tell you how to get a mortgage or buy a property. They had to learn by trial and error and mortgages were not so freely available.  

Since I started attending courses a few years ago the information I received literally open my eyes to the world of opportunity.

If you would like more information on a beginner’s property taster course, I have a limited number of complimentary tickets to attend an excellent course run by experts, which will give you a clear overview into the market. Click the link below or email me at Charles@charleskelly.net. 

To get further details on property courses, such as a one-day introduction to property investing, see https://ambassadorshub.co.uk/ambassador/index.php?aid=AMB0427 or drop me a line to charles@charleskelly.net

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money is everywhere in abundance if you have the r...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money is everywhere in abundance if you have the r...: You will see that money is everywhere if you have the right 'money mindset, which I cover in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happ...

Money is everywhere in abundance if you have the right money mindset to 'see' it

You will see that money is everywhere if you have the right 'money mindset, which I cover in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness. There are trillions of Dollars in circulation right now. This does not include the hundreds of billions in pension funds, venture capital and hedge all looking for places to invest.

Examples of people who had a different money mindset are two former members of the Beatles pop group, the late John Lennon and George Harrison.

John Lennon wife once asked him for a swimming pool and he said, okay I’ll write you one!

When the ISKCON Hari Krishna movement approached George Harrison, for help to fund a new centre in the UK in the early 1970’s, he donated money for a property and wrote the album All Things Must Pass to help raise the money for the movement. One of the massive hits from that triple album was My Sweet Lord, which featured the chant Hari Krishna and went on to sell 7 million copies, outstripping sales by his former Beatle colleagues after the band split. The property Bhaktiavedanta Manor in Hertfordshire is still there today. I have visited the manor many times and walked in the commemorative garden opened by his widow Olivia.

You might be thinking, "ok, that's alright if you're a songwriter, but what about me? Fine, you may not be a writer or an artist, but you have talent, knowledge and experience in some other area.

In another example, a Guru in India, who needed millions of dollars to fund a new temple and centre., was asked, where is the money going to come from? He replied, “from where ever it is now “.

People with this level of mindset realise that when you have a project or a goal money is no object. The money is out there and you just have to find it, attracted, manifest it, ask for it or whatever you want to call it. Lionel Richie said songs and ideas are "in the air".

Billionaires are multimillionaires truly believe that if they lost everything today they would soon be rich again. Don’t forget, only a few years ago Donald Trump’s business empire was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and people were saying he was finished.

If Richard Branson lost it all today, how long do you think it would be before he would be a billionaire again? Much of his fortune has been made using other people’s money, ideas and work. All they needed was the virgin name.

Develop an abundance mindset by remembering that there is more money in the world chasing good ventures and ideas than there are ventures available.

If you are interested in developing and improving your money mindset, check out more on this subject in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, on Amazon - http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook

Home Based Business Ideas UK: The 4 D’s Of Getting Things Done And Feeling Bette...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: The 4 D’s Of Getting Things Done And Feeling Bette...: This simple, 4 step process will help you stay on top of things and feel better about yourself what ever the outcome. Do you find...

The 4 D formula for getting more things done and feeling good whatever t...

The 4 D formula for getting more things done and feeling good whatever the outcome!

This simple, 4 step process will help you stay on top of things and feel better about yourself whatever the outcome.

Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by endless to do lists and a tray full of things to sort out? If the answer to this question is, yes, join the club! Most of us have been there!

I want to give you a quick 4-step process to help you get more organised and, more importantly, feel better about yourself whatever the outcome.

The process has evolved from the combination of things I’ve learned over the years and the many books. For instance, Life Leverage by Rob Moore and Getting Things Done by renowned expert and bestselling author David Allen.

David Allen’s book is great, well I say great, but I haven’t actually read it! I’ve read bits and pieces and I think it will be a dipper rather than a page turner. It will, however, look great on my bookshelf and people will think that I must be super organised! 

My advice to David is, if you write in the book aimed at people who are overwhelmed and can’t get things done, there is no point in writing a 300-page, small print book, with no photos because no one will ever finish let alone someone who is disorganised! How will they ever get around to it? Your book will end up in that pile of unread books and things to do and cause them more stress!

Before I start, over the years I have observed hundreds of people, many of whom I have employed in my businesses, and I have come to the conclusion that there are two types:

Organised tidy desk person (OTDP)

Disorganised messy desk person (DMDP)

Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s the way it is.

Incidentally, I have a messy desk. I really do envy those OTDPs who can breeze into work on time and looking fresh and just eat admin, get everything done and then leave the office with a completely tidy desk, other than a photo of their loved one and their favourite personally washed clean mug! Bang on leaving time, they smile and wave goodbye to everyone, pick up their gym bag and walk out of the office knowing they have finished the jobs they set out to finish and some more.

Invariably, I have found that if you want to employ someone in an admin or an office based role you better make sure they are an OTDP.

When it comes to getting things done, how do you feel about things matters more than you imagine.

If you are already stressed about a task or hate doing that task, the chances of you getting on with it are slim. Invariably, you will leave until the eleventh hour and do it badly or miss the deadline altogether.

There must be a better way of going through life than being stressed all the time - becasue there will ALWAYS be things to do, problems, grass growing under your feet and so on. 

Have you read the book, 1000 places to see before you die? How on earth can you say 1000 places all over the world? It might well be called 1000 places you probably won’t see before you die, so get over it! I started reading that book a few years ago and at first it was great. There I was, highlighting the places I had already seen and would be visiting in the near future. But then it started to become a little overwhelming. How was I going to get to all of these countries in the time I had available? Even if 5 years off and went backpacking around the world I never get to all the places. Most people only have one or two main holidays a year where they travel abroad, so that's about 80 places you might get to in a forty-year working life!

Back to getting things done and feeling good regardless. Here are my 4 Ds:

1. Do it
2. Delegate it
3. Defer it
4. Ditch it

1. Do it

Sometimes you’ve just got to knuckle down, lock yourself away, turn off the TV and get it done! Sorry, but nothing moves without action, so you may need discipline or a kick up the arse from someone or yourself.

Things stop us getting things done are fear and not knowing how to do them. 

Fear is easy to overcome - just get started.

Not knowing how it's done is easy to overcome. There is a very simple way to learn how to do almost anything nowadays - Google it. You can now google almost any task on earth and quickly find out how to perform even the most technical things in minutes. When a friend of mine was locked out of her Porsche Boxster because the battery had gone flat. We got the door open and then realised that the boot lever was electronic and needed battery power! The battery was in the boot and the boot lever needed a full battery. 

After searching the manual in vain, I googled it and within minutes I was watching a video of how to get the boot open with a flat battery. It worked!

If you really can’t get things done you might need some help or you might need to go to step two

2. Delegate it

Delegation sounds obvious, but so many people fail to master it or think they are the only ones who can do the job right. 

You have to learn to let go, recognise your strengths and weaknesses and delegate tasks you don't like doing or don't do very well.

I don’t like admin and things like tax returns and forms. This is why I delegate it to a PA, accountant or bookkeeper.

I also get no fun out of cleaning and mowing the lawn, so I hire people at £10 an hour so I can either do things I enjoy doing or tasks that will earn me more than £10 per hour.

You can also delegate thousands of tasks using the millions of freelancers listed sites such as Upwork.

If it’s a job you cannot delegate you may need to go to step three.

3. Defer it

Deferring something will not cause the stress by not doing it and worrying about why you have not done it. 

In other words, you’re making a deal with yourself to say, I can’t do this right now, but I will do it at a future date. Pop it in your calendar. Stress over.

It’s ok to have a “someday Isle” list of things you may or may not do.

If you can’t do it, delegate it or defer it you know what comes next.

4. Ditch it!

This can be the most liberating step at all, but I would suggest you go through the first three steps before you start throwing everything away!

Ditching it can mean that you just tell yourself that you’re not going to do a certain task and you’re not bothered about it. You could still go back to in the future, but in the meantime,  it’s not weighing on your mind.

At the end of the day you can lower the high standards of efficiency you mentally set for yourself in many areas of your life. It's fine to have a messy garage or unpacked boxes from the last move. Don’t worry about it.

When I ran a business, I would have a good clear out of old papers every once in a while. It was amazing to find that many of the things that hadn't been done or responded to months back had not made any difference to my life. So many seemingly important things to do, which I thought were problems and caused me stress and worry at the time over time actually 'went away' by themselves. I could have ditched those things at the time and never had to worry about them.

I'm not suggesting that you ignore problems, but do apply the 4 D process to them.

On the other hand, as Mark Twain once said, I’ve had many problems in my life, but most of them never happened.