Do you have to pay council tax (Edinburgh) if you live in a flat but don’t actually pay any rent? And if you don’t have to pay, is there a max time you can do this for?

Real Estate Professionals

can we have addresses of letting agencies that will accept people in our case.give us ideas and opinions. thanks

Rent Back

I live in an apartment building and the air conditioning unit leaks every time the a/c is turned on. The pan is fine and the repair man can’t figure out where it’s leaking from. What seems to be the cause of the leak?

Sell House Quick

ive just agreed to rent out an apartment that is currently being renovated, it is having everything re-done includuding the kitchen. We needed somewhere right away and agreed to take before it was done (risky i know) but now we are worried that we wont get anything at in as they said it was unfurnished.

We know it will have an oven, but should we expect a fridge and washing machine? is that a minimum requiremen? is there any legal minium?

Quick Property Sale

they buy your property about 10-15% cheaper than the market value,with the option of you renting it back- do you think these companies are dodgy. I am in the process of selling my flat to one of these people, not to rent back, just because i want to get rid quick, but i am worried i am going to get stung- has anyone got any stories to share?

Real Estate Professionals

I’ve been approached by a trades person who did some work on the flat for me, asking if he could rent the property. As the property is my principal property (and the only one I own) would I be liable for income tax and are there any other changes I need to make like insurance, mortgage etc And is it really all worth it, as the maximum rental income I could make would only just cover mortgage, but as I live rent in my work’s accommodation anything towards paying the mortgage would be great. Any help or suggestions would be great. Rupert Scotland.

Sell House Quick

I am moving out of my apartment. No deposit was required when I moved in but I hear that the company charges greatly for the smallest of problems left behind. I’ve kept my apartment in good shape and plan to steam clean the carpets, repair nail holes, etc. However, I’m worried about being charged for things beyond my control such as aging, peeling wallpaper, and old grout that needs to be recaulked. Any tips to avoid charges after I move out?

Repossession

You know how some credit cards have cashback bonuses for purchases? I want to find a way to do that for my rent… But writing cash advance checks don’t count towards this, and my landlord doesn’t accept credit cards. Does anybody know of a checking account program or billpay system that would give cashback rewards on paying my rent?

Passive Income

This is a long one so bare with me!

About 3 years ago now my partner and I bought a flat. We were first time buyers and had no savings but were desperate to get on the property ladder so we decided to get a ‘Together Mortgage’ with Northern Rock. This meant we got a mortgage and an unsecured loan at the same rate of interest so we were able to pay a deposit and also clear some of our credit card debts.

We were happy with the deal at the time and quite confident that house prices would continue to rise (which they did for a while) so that when we came to sell, we would be able to pay off the mortgage and the loan and hopefully have some equity as well.

Unfortunately, my partner had a bit of a problem with personal debt and despite having paid off his credit cards with the unsecured loan when we bought the flat; he continued to use them until he got into a situation where he was struggling to meet the minimum payments each month. As you can imagine this caused a great deal of stress.

We decided the best option was for him to contact a financial management company and enter into a payment plan. It’s not an IVA. They explained that he would not be able to obtain any credit whilst he was in the plan which was fair enough, and they negotiated with his creditors so his interest rates were frozen enabling him to pay back the debts much quicker. He’ll be debt free in 18 months. What they failed to mention to us though, was that this agreement means that he has defaults on his credit file. We didn’t know this until he’s been in the payment plan for over a year.

This was at Christmas when we attempted to get another mortgage. Our fixed rate deal with Northern Rock was coming to an end and they wanted ridiculous amounts of money for us to go onto another fixed rate deal.

However, as we had a 115% mortgage and my partner has a bad credit rating, we tried everything, even putting the mortgage in my name, but we couldn’t get another mortgage.

So we stayed with Northern rock on their variable rate mortgage and although we are paying an extra £150 per month, touch wood, it hasn’t gone up this year.

My question is though, how on earth do we get out of this situation? We are nearly 25 now and I don’t want to be stuck in a one bedroom flat forever. I want us to move forward in our lives but I don’t see how we can with our huge mortgage and my partners bad credit rating?

Sell and Rent Back