The Property Unleashed Podcast

Decent Homes Standard Countdown

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 373

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The next wave of rental regulation isn’t a headline to skim, it’s a checklist that will decide whether your property is legally “decent.” We sit down with Alison and Anthony McMullan from Homemaker Property to map out what the Decent Homes Standard actually requires, how it connects to the Renters’ Rights Act, and why waiting until 2035 is the fastest way to get caught out. 


We talk plainly about the five criteria, the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), and the kind of evidence landlords need, from inventories to periodic inspections, to prove you’re running a professional, compliant rental business.  


We also dig into the part that’s keeping many investors awake: energy efficiency and thermal comfort. EPC C by 2030, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, and the possibility of changing EPC methodology can shift what “good enough” looks like, especially for gas central heating versus newer low-carbon systems. We share practical guidance on when it makes sense to act now, how to think about upgrade budgets, and why you should focus on smart, defensible steps rather than panic spending on the wrong improvements. Damp and mold, repairs, core facilities, and the grey areas that lead to disputes all get a real-world run-through. 


Then we flip from compliance to opportunity. Using an independent “top 50 buy-to-let hotspots” style report, we look at what’s performing across the UK, including Manchester and Glasgow near the top and Coventry holding a standout spot. We break down what these rankings measure, what they miss, and how to pressure-test any location with local insight so you don’t buy a great “deal” that becomes an unsellable asset. We finish with a rapid set of buying tactics: stronger offers, proof of funds, negotiation posture, sales fall-through reality, and how to keep solicitors moving so your purchase doesn’t stall for weeks. 


If you want more grounded property investing advice like this, subscribe, share the episode with a landlord friend, and leave a review so more investors hear it. What’s the one Decent Homes Standard change you’re preparing for first?

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The New Standard Is Coming

SPEAKER_01

The decent homes standard. And as a landlord or investor, are you ready for it? Let me help you in this episode. Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with your host, Mark Fitzgerald. So in this episode, I'm joined by two lovely guests and two professionals in their sector, Alison and Anthony McMillan, joining me here from Homemaker Property. And we're going to be discussing today the decent homes standard for all investors and landlords. We need to make sure that our properties are up to the standards that are set. And also we're going to be talking about the hot, the hot areas right here, right now in the UK to be buying or investing in property. We're really going to be looking at the top 50, and Anthony's going to be taking us through that. So let's get started, shall we? So, as always, it's great to have you both here because you share with us your wisdom, your expertise, and what's happening in the world of property management at the moment. And of course, if you're out there investing as well, there's always a wealth of knowledge there. So we've got some hot topics to cover today. So I will hand the reins over to you both.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Now then, here's the big question: do we want to go into the nitty-gritty of what's going to happen and what you need to be really aware of or exciting potential about how the country's doing as far as the different cities in the country and how well each city is faring.

SPEAKER_01

Let's start with the doom and gloom first.

SPEAKER_03

Let me depress you all in. Turn it around at the end.

SPEAKER_00

Take a breathe in. Prepare yourself. This

Decent Homes Standard Timeline And Phases

SPEAKER_00

is a good one.

SPEAKER_03

So, yes, today I'm going to talk about the decent home standard. So, this is something that's coming in as part of the Renters' Rights Act. This is phase three. So we've had phase one. We should have all kind of taken action and done what we need to do in phase one that we've covered previously. Phase two will be the landlord database and ombudsman. Not much more information's been released on that yet. But it stuff has started being released for the decent home standard, which is phase three.

SPEAKER_00

That makes no sense. So phase two, they've really released the phase three, but not phase two.

SPEAKER_03

I mean they've released that makes sense. Fluffy. But yeah, so the decent home standard that is due to come in in 2035. So although enforcement is coming until 2035, it's not a let's leave it till 2035 to start thinking about it. It's basically 10 years' notice that there's certain things that we need to do to our properties to make sure they remain compliant, most of which probably you're already doing. So it's I don't want to scare you because there's a lot of rules already in place that you should be adhering to. So these changes are more kind of hopefully making it easier to understand our duties rather than adding lots more to it. But yeah, part of that is also the minimum energy efficiency standards, which are the MES regulations. So that's the EPCs needing to be a C rated. So that's by 2030 to October 2030. And yeah, so don't delay taking action if your properties need it. But yeah, it's the idea being it's a common standard that we all know tenants are clear on what they should have in place to make their home decent. Um, because their idea of decent is sometimes different to what our idea of decent is, and a landlord's idea of decent is also something

Hazards And Proof Through Inspections

SPEAKER_03

completely different as well. But your property, in short, will have to adhere to five criteria. So criteria A is a home must be free of the most dangerous hazards.

SPEAKER_00

So hopefully you're already no murderers or anything like that in your house.

SPEAKER_03

So hopefully you're already adhering to this. But these kind of the regulations that apply now are the HHSRS, so the housing, health, and safety rating system. I always get it all backwards, but yeah. So that we've got that in place at the moment. That's just been reviewed to supposedly make it easier to understand. But it's in short, 29 hazards that could kill or injure your tenants that you should be avoiding. And as part of the decent home standard, any category one hazard identified under the HHSRS will mean that your home, if you've got one of those, then your home won't be classed as decent. So, broadly speaking, a category one will be anything that may result in your tenant having to seek medical attention within the next 12 months, whether that a GP visit or a hospital visit. So I yeah, there's 29 hazards at the moment on that.

SPEAKER_00

So things like the common sense though. So the walls look like they're gonna fall down, or the the gas meter's not safe, or there's a safety certification.

SPEAKER_03

You know, things like category one hazard, I believe something like a missing handrail on a stairway would be classed as category one because a tenant could fall and injure themselves or die as a result. It's all doom and gloom, but yeah. I would say that your properties are probably already meeting with that. Have a look at HHSRS, some bedtime reading, and read through it. It is a lot of it is a common sense what you're hazard, what hazards are in the home, and you can see it.

SPEAKER_00

Tick box exercise in the majority of cases. I'm sure a lot of this, so landlords that do things and do things right, it's gonna be a tick box, yes, got that, got that, got that. But at least you then know, right, I've met the standards they need to meet. It's very clear now, right? Because there's many grey areas. Oh, that's not safe. Well, where does it say what's safe and what's not safe? So we can all chuckle at the fact that we've got this, but now at least it's in, you know, it's written down, we've got a documented.

SPEAKER_01

And if um, just just a quick question on that. So, from your guys' experience and everything, obviously, some handrails are just on the wall, aren't they? Well, on some staircase. So sometimes you get somebody's slips, they grab hold of the handrail and they they almost like pull it off the ball, don't they? But then they might not report it. So the next time somebody might have a slip, grab it and the whole thing goes. Yeah, where would we stand on that?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, that's a so it's down to them to report it, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03

It's down to them to report it. So the HHSRS at the moment is that's what the if you have had an enforcement visit from your local authority, that's what they assess your home under anyway. But something like that, and they see you've got to be seen to if it's reported and you haven't done anything about it, you're in trouble. Yeah, if it hasn't been reported and it's kind of a you know, you can show that you've been inspecting the property regularly, then it is one of those things, I would imagine, that that's where your periodic inspections and regular reviews of your property need to happen, and you need to have your evidence to show that you're taking reasonable steps to kind of eliminate some of these things.

SPEAKER_00

Prove you've done what you've done.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I I have seen tenants fix things with like super glue rather than screws and all sorts of stick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't understand it. It's just yeah, it's okay, okay, cool. Thank you. That's a good

Repairs Core Facilities And Grey Areas

SPEAKER_01

answer.

SPEAKER_03

So, criteria B, a home must be in a reasonable state of repair. So this is quite grey. It's very grey. It's grey, yeah. So definition under this that they've provided at the moment is if one or more key building components are in not in a reasonable state of repair, then you're gonna fail it. Or if two or more other building components are not in a reasonable state of repair, you're gonna fail it. So key components are considered wall structures, roofs, kitchens, bathrooms, external doors, windows. So anything that's gonna have an immediate impact on your tenant's well-being or the security of the property if not dealt with. So if there's one or more element of those that's not right or not in good repair, you're not gonna be meeting with that decent home standard. And then other building components, okay, there's things like drains, gutters, your balustrades, which was devoted. So there's a lot of overlap in these, so like handrails, things like that.

SPEAKER_00

So it's different. There's a look through also when you're doing a property refurbishment, perhaps. If you're buying a property and investing and then you want to then renovate it, it's almost like another checklist of things you need to make sure are done for any contractors that are doing work for you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so it's I think it's important to know this now because if you've got properties, you need to make sure they're compliant with it. But if you're buying properties, you need to make sure you're refurbing them, refurbing them to the right standards.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And criteria C is a home must provide core facilities. So a kitchen needs to be of adequate size and space and layout. So in effect, it needs to hold all of the things that a kitchen would usually hold, like sink, cupboards, cookers, an appropriate located bathroom and WC. So when I first read this, I was a bit like a lot of Coventry houses are two up, two downs, the bathrooms at the back.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm thinking, are they gonna say that that's not located appropriately adequately placed?

SPEAKER_03

I'm thinking, oh my goodness, what are we gonna have to do? But reading into it, it's if a bathroom has to be accessed through a bedroom, that would be not adequately placed. If the sink is separate to the toilet, and you have to go through or access a cooking prep preparation area, they would deem that not suitable, or if the sink was on a different floor, which I think most hopefully you've got a toilet and you've got a sink in there. I don't know if there's many homes that don't, but obviously there is.

SPEAKER_00

Usually the hurdle is getting the water in and out. You've got a toilet there, you can get the water in and out. So there shouldn't be a problem there piping that off to get a sink in.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and that doesn't include that doesn't include ensuite. So if you've got like a HMO and you've got an ensuite that's accessible from a bedroom, that that's different because you've got one whole household, one single person, so you're not having to that that would that would meet the standard, that doesn't apply there. Adequate external noise insulation, which I think there's rules surrounding this and development anyway at the moment, but if you're near you need to be protected from traffic noise, so aeroplanes, rail, road, and any factory noise, so you need to make sure we're gonna have some noise.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we you you know if you live by a railway line and the houses were built there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so I I in my mind I was thinking all of these houses and flats you go through when you're going into London on a train and they're like right there. But I'm guessing they already have it in place anyway.

SPEAKER_00

I know that we've planned super thick windows and the walls will be insulated sufficient, you'd assume, to have sound insulation, would they?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I know that for example, uh a landlord that was renovating an HMO and it was sui generis planning, they had to have a noise survey done and because it was near quite a busy main road. So I'd imagine that yeah, similar things would have to happen, but something to be aware of and adequate size and layout of common areas if it's a block of flats. So they class it as long as you've got sufficient room to move easily, again, grey.

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, what's what's sufficient? Are you you could get be able to get to the room?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's one of those, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03

I imagine that more information will be passed and perhaps some examples. I don't know. That's what I hope for. But I was trying to think of something where I think, oh, that would apply, and I can't at the moment think where I've been, where I thought, oh, this is a bit tight, narrow, narrow.

SPEAKER_00

Pain Shallows, where they've tried to squeeze in the rooms, they don't they're not so quite obligatory on the old um staircases, are they? In that case, it's the skinny narrow staircases. As long as the rooms are the right size and the communal rooms are the right size, they're happy. But skinny, skinny staircases, some of the houses where they never forget that one over in the side of the commentary where it went back to brick, it was just a shell. That was it, and they built the whole, all the floors, all the bathrooms. So the rooms were literally within millimetres of the exact size they needed to be, but they met compliant, they're compliant, it got a license, all these different things. But my word, the staircases were narrow. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01

Always think about how you're gonna get the furniture in there.

SPEAKER_00

Flat back. A three-story one as well. So you've got a couple of staircases.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so I think I when I was reading this, a lot of this came across this very HMO guideline. So if you've got a HMO, you probably are dooming to a lot of this already. And I think it's just essentially rolling it out to the electrics, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00

And it's just HMOs in the park and certain types of properties, and they've rolled that out now. If everywhere's safer and people are safer, do what you're doing. And as long as it's clear and concise for everybody.

SPEAKER_03

And then and then the other thing that comes under that is child-resistant window restrictors. So again, those people that are doing doing HMOs are probably used to having to have those window restrictors in. Kind of think, well, maybe just they should probably be in anyway.

SPEAKER_00

I think there's like trickle vents are now typically in all types of windows, WPVC windows out there, I believe. Yeah. So it may well be that that's then something that's introduced naturally. If it becomes law, window providers, when they're doing new windows, make sure you have to make sure that they're in them. However, old ones, you'd assume they'll be, yeah. There's different types of ones you can get, I know.

SPEAKER_03

So then criteria D is a home must provide thermal

Thermal Comfort EPC C And Costs

SPEAKER_03

comfort. So homes must maintain adequate warmth in a cost-effective and energy efficient manner. So this is kind of where the minimum energy efficiency standards, the EPC guidelines, that will fall under this section. And yeah, so the minimum requirements on there'll be minimum requirements on the primary heating system. So I was speaking with an EPC assessor the other week, and he is saying that it seems that they're going to be very much pushing kind of smarter homes and kind of energy efficient heating systems, the heat pumps and things like that. He was saying that they're going to be downgrading the gas central heating system on your EPC. So he believes it would be harder to get that C rating in the future once they've finished doing this reviewing.

SPEAKER_00

Um make it harder for you.

SPEAKER_01

Um you've got an you've got adequate central heater, but because it comes off of gas, all of a sudden it doesn't.

unknown

Who do you think?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, honestly, people just sit there and think, how what can we do this this month? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Who knows what's going to happen though, in the fact of with all the changes politically at the moment, whether we're going to have the same government or whether reform come in and all of a sudden it all goes out the window. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03

So, what struck me was like some of the properties that we deal with that have got their um old style kind of storage heaters, electric storage heaters.

SPEAKER_00

They're only built in the last 20 years, these apartments. You know, those apartments that have blocks that have been built the last 20 odd years. Storage heaters, convector heaters.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so they're in each room. So just I wondered if that's gonna meet with it. I wasn't sure how that's how I was interpreting it. I don't know. More information will be released. But I mean, I grew up, my house, my mom and dad's house, has electric storage heaters, and I was left cold. I was never cold, there was never a problem. I know tenants hate them, they can't seem to get their head around them, but I was gonna say they've already warm, it's never cold. So instead of me fine going for me now, it's not fine now. So I yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that one plays out. But in terms of the EPC, that needs to be a C rating at the moment by the 1st of October 2030. If you have got a current C rating and you'll have a C rating on the 1st of October 2029, they're saying that that will still your expiry date will still stand on that. So if you've got a C rating in 2029, you will have until 2039 with that C rating. You won't need to get things redone or anything like that. So my advice at the moment is if you've got a D rating, but you're really close to a C rating, have a chat with your energy at the EPCSS, just see if you can get it up now. Because I think it will be easier now going forward. That's the information I've been given. But yeah, I spoke to someone the other week, they were like one point off a C rating. Just like get your EPC. Come on, change a light bulb, do something. I'm sure there'll be something you can do.

SPEAKER_00

Just don't start on the radio or do some bulbs, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um, and give ABC SS that I was speaking to, he said it's all it's all very much how it works is interpretation as well. So he said, you know, it's down to the assessor's interpretation of the age of the building and things like that that can kind of change these metrics. But that whole system is being reviewed at the moment. So I wouldn't necessarily go out and spend loads and loads of money on expensive stuff like solar panels. I'd I'd probably wait and see. But yeah, I think it's definitely something you should consider when you're buying investment properties at the moment. What the EPC. Landlords will have to spend up to £10,000 on getting their property up to a C rating. That includes any grants they might receive or third-party funding, but it's a big, big additional spend that you're gonna have to spend.

SPEAKER_01

And they're all on about it, aren't they? They're all on, they've all been on about the UPC. So just try your best now, innit? I as as I as you say as well, to try and get it as high as possible because it's just it's not going anywhere, is it? You know, at some point they are going to enforce all of this, whether they push it out again, you know, uh we remains to be seen.

SPEAKER_03

But I mean, it was originally, I think, put on the table by the Conservatives. They did do a U-turn on it, but then the Labour government have come in and have kind of put it back there. Who knows? Is the Labour government going to be in power come 2030? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

But I think a certain man won't be the leader of it. We shall see. No, yes.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Who knows? This is it's all a long way off, so things could change, but a lot of this is kind of supposedly in the interests of tenants, so I can't see there being, you know, you're always going to be encouraged as a landlord to improve your homes energy efficiency-wise or the condition of them. So I don't think there's going to be it's always a safe investment.

SPEAKER_00

As long as you do your due diligence, it's always good to invest in property, of course. It's a safe bet, and you'll get gradual growth of value over the years. This may well scare some people off, but it's always positive, but it's frustrating. And on one side, you think to yourself, well, there may be less properties to let economies of scale, that's great if you're a landlord still, because it's going to push the rents up because there's less properties and more demand. We were having this conversation, weren't we, on the way into work today, about new housing estates that are being built, an uproar about certain locations of them. Well, we need more houses. And it's like, well, what do you want to do? It's well you go. Apologies, next one.

Damp And Mold Plus Enforcement Reality

SPEAKER_03

And then the final step is criteria E is a home must be free of damp and mould. So this is landlords need to, if they have damp and mould reported to them, they need to take action to deal with it. They need to be proactively looking at ways they can prevent it. And then under this is an AWAPS law, which will have certain framework that landlords need to adhere to in order to deal with damp and mould in the house. But hopefully, as landlords, we're already doing this and we're not speaking. But interestingly, you know, people saying, why are we having to have this? 21% of private rented homes at the moment would not be meeting with this decent home standard. So yeah. But then again, I suppose that's probably down to EPC rating. Yeah, if they're classing it on that, I don't know. Apparently, 10% of social only 10% of social housing is not decent at the moment. This is government statistics.

SPEAKER_00

Because it is the thing, though, if you buy a property and it already meets the standard it needs to to allow you to let it, you do a renovation, but you're like, well, why would I spend 50, 60 quid on an APC when it already meets the standard? I'll worry about it when it expires. That may well then be pushing the the stats a little way different to what they actually are.

SPEAKER_03

Not much, but yeah, but my main point here with this is I know some of it sounds a bit scary and lots of costs involved, but a lot of this is already in place. You know, we've got things like the homes fitness for human habitation regulations that cover a lot of this. The HHSRS is already in place. So a lot of it. Is already kind of in place and we should be adhering to. There's not a load of differences. Some of the requirements, I think the HMO sector is probably more aware of, and standard by to lects might need to be aware of some of those things as well. But a lot of it, I think, common sense, if you're a good landlord looking after your properties, I don't think it's too scary. No.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03

I think the EPC is probably.

SPEAKER_00

As I said, the tick, the tick list on those things. If they're going to bring in new rules about all these extra things, you're going to have to spend a fortune to try and get something up to a standard that's more than good enough as it is. It's just very the uh you'd hope there's a number of naive things that have been bought in over the years that you've obviously not a landlord by making that decision. However, there's a number of very, very good things. And I think if the health and safety of tenants is increased, that's wonderful. As long as it's not unrealistic of what landlords have got to do.

SPEAKER_03

And then also the your record keeping, so your inventory's at the start to prove that you have let that property in a condition that meets with this standard and your regular inspections to kind of document that you're keeping on top of things. You're going to get tenants that you know abuse some of this and don't look after properties, but you need to show that you're doing everything in your power as a landlord to kind of rectify things.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. And I think some of it will come down to the assessors as well, because you know, if if an assessor has to use their judgment, well, you could be all over the place there, couldn't you? But like you say, as long as you're abiding by the rules, you've got your documentation to say we've done our regular checks. That wasn't like that the last time we checked, and nobody's actually reported it. So you've got a good system to report these things. And it's all it boils back down to is there's still slum landlords, which they're trying to get rid of, which is right because it's not good enough. The other thing is to treat it as a business, have your processes in place, be a professional, I think is the thing now. You can't be an amateur with this anymore. You have to be a professional. And if you can, as a landlord or an investor, be a professional, get a professional that you can trust to do it for you, innit?

SPEAKER_03

And I think for me, the the a lot of the regul the regulations aren't the problem. Adding more and more regulations, that I don't think that's going to solve a lot. It's it comes down to the enforcement. You have all of these rules, but if they haven't got the resources to have that enforcement action.

SPEAKER_00

And meaningfully not following the actions. I mean, cobrantry, here's a stat for you that'll scare you. Cobrary have got the most amount of fines as a council on landlords that aren't following the rules and regulations as they should be. What was it last year?

SPEAKER_03

600 and Yeah, 600,000.

SPEAKER_00

£600,000 worth of fines for landlords getting it. Meaningfully not wanted that. That's the key factor. The key word here is meaningfully. Because in the fact of that, the councillors aren't going to go out looking for problems, they'll say, right, we've found an issue, whether that be an improvement notice, please fix it. Go do that. That resolves a matter. Or you we found you've not got a licence, smack on the back of the hand, go get your license sorted, get us license. But in a lot of cases, it's people are ignoring that and not doing it.

SPEAKER_03

And that's where there's a lot of these rules are already in place, and there's already processes in place where there could be enforcement action against you. It's just they're not being enforced. Lots of councils I was reading haven't ever issued an improvement notice, haven't done any inspections.

SPEAKER_00

We're not trying to scare everybody. But yeah, uh you don't know what you don't know, but here's unfortunately as a as a for the council, all of a sudden they come and they whack a file on your desk and say, Well, I didn't know about it. Well, I'm sorry. Can't get away with it. Right. So we're gonna

Top 50 Buy To Let Hotspots

SPEAKER_00

go positive now.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so that's the negative.

SPEAKER_00

Intriguing, no, no negative, it's critical for people to know about.

SPEAKER_01

It's good, it's good information, absolutely. It's so so important, like you say, because you can't be dumb on these things, you know. You need to educate yourself, get out there and learn about these things. So thank you ever so much, Ali, for uh sharing that with us.

SPEAKER_00

Now that exciting. This is good, intriguing, I think it is. And you'll be asking me where location is at. So for every investor, when you're buying, whether you, you know, you live there or you're venturing into the unknown of a place you want to invest in property, knowing that property or that area and that location and stats about it, and digging, digging, digging, digging to make sure that you're buying in the right location is critical. So, with that in mind, you've got a number of avenues you can speak to agents, like we offer is as far as if you're looking to invest in the cover tree area, come and speak to us. We're more than happy to give you guidance. We've done webinars, podcasts, all different different things to help people. However, being get being able to get independent stats from somewhere that backs up where it's being successful at the moment, that's not you know driven, it's independent, and where it's not quite doing so well is really useful. So, the Daily Mail, here it is. The big headline for today. So, we're gonna be getting the Daily Mail today. This is telling us about the UK's top 50 buy-to-let hotspots. Now you can tell I'm really pleased because a certain sky blue city is that in third, which is wonderful. So you may well ask yourself, okay, well, what criteria is it that the Daily Mail all the more is the lender that's actually carried out this survey? So they've carried out searches, and they've said the average rent per room per month, short-term yield, average price, property, property price increases over the past decade, proportion of homes that are vacant, and size of the private rental market. So they're the variables they've done assessments on. So top of the pile last year, because they did this, they published it last year as well in February last year, and they've just published it today. Manchester sat top of the pile, doing very, very well. And as far as here's a key thing, obviously, that their point score is the same as it was last year as far as their overall score. House prices. Now, you think to yourself, well, surely there's been quite a lot of fluctuations here. For me and my observations of what the market's been, it's been quite stagnant now for a period of time. Manchester's average price increased by £3,000 over the last year. It's neither here nor there, realistically. And as far as their average house price was up at £246,000, as far as the city was concerned. Second place, Glasgow, a very different market. They've got different rulings. So that was really interesting to see that the fact that a Scottish city is doing second best as far as Biotalette's are concerned. Their average house prices was £186,000. When their average yield was up near 10%, which is wonderful. Now, the Sky Blue City, my fantastic city, sat in third, sat at £221,000 is the average house price. And interestingly, the yield increased. However, the average house price reduced by £5,000. Now, realistically, in the grand scheme of things, what's £5,000 when it's a £220,000? It's neither here nor there. You've got a nice kitchen, you've not got a nice kitchen. There's the variables that could well be impacting upon that. But you then look at the four the fourth place is Wigan. So the top four has been the same for two years running now. They're moving into fifth. You've got Bristol last year, it's Nottingham this year, you've got Liverpool, Birmingham, all in the top ten. Now, I'm sure you're aching to know who sat bottom of the pile. Aberdeen didn't do quite so well. Unfortunately, that sat in 50th. Newport, 49th, Swansea, 48th. So South Wales wasn't doing quite so well. Bournemouth, surprisingly. Lovely place to go and visit, but not quite so well as far as that. Now, a key thing I'll say to you here is London. You may all say, well, London is if something happens in London, it's almost exaggerated, isn't it? In the fact that if prices rise, wow, then rock it in London. If the rents rise, then rock it. But if they go down, they plummet, they fall off a cliff. Satin 35th as a city, as far as buy-select hotspots. Now, the key thing with you is, and when you're looking to invest in property, as I said, knowing those places is really, really important. But surrounding yourself by people that know that area, because if you go in there steamrolling in, or even if you're investing, only invest local, well, that's great, okay. But if you went into the unknown of looking at other cities and looking at investigating from you know reports like this of other cities that are doing well, independent report based on an array of different stats, why not go look in there? But the key thing, as I've said, is that make sure you can then surround yourself by people that know the area and know the area well because you can get advice because it may well be they'll say, Oh, I'm looking at such and such a property, all the figures are great. Where is it? Do you want to buy there? Oh gosh, no. And then we'll say, Yeah, but the numbers are great. I says, Yes, it may be great at the start, but you'll have an unsaleable asset. You'll probably make no growth in value, you make some money out of it over the years, but as an unsalable asset, it's not really that. And that's where speaking to agents that are in the city or other people that are investing in the city is really, really important to do. But really positive of the fact of that, you know, house prices pretty much maintaining that yields are increasing in some cases as they have done in cities. But yes, you've got your top 10, your top 15 there that are pretty maintaining there as far as Manchester, Glasgow, Coventry, Wigan, Nottingham's in the top 10, Liverpool's in the top 10, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Derby, Telford. Is there a city you'd like me to check for yourself?

SPEAKER_01

No, I'm just looking because you sent it across to me, didn't you? Yeah. Um, so I was just looking at it myself. I was just seeing. See, I'm I'm quite surprised Sheffield's so far down because I thought that was easy quite well.

SPEAKER_00

Because Leeds is a two-university city. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean Sheffield. So on there, but obviously, prices and fluctuations. I know a lot of investors, the further north you go, you get more for your money. And obviously, commentary, that hour from London is great, it's not too far away. Prices are right. And I know when, gosh, when I was back at university, I'll never forget it. My dad was looking at buying a big house that me and all my friends could live in. It was like a seven or eight bedroom house. 70,000 pounds. And bearing in mind, admittedly, it was 25 years ago, so I can imagine why the prices are like that. And I wish he was probably sitting there wishing now that uh there wasn't hadn't been the problems that he'd found with the property itself. But that's the key thing. As far as prices and values of properties, they've been pretty stagnant for a period of time. But on the flip side of that, I know Ali and we did a webinar recently, rents since 2020 have increased by 50%. Was that the right stat?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_00

Which is incredible. Yeah, it is. Values it depends on there's an array of different fluctuations that are impacting upon that. Um, but rents and return on investments and all sorts are are doing very, very well.

Buying Smarter Offers And Negotiation

SPEAKER_00

So it's still a good time to buy. And I'm gonna put a post about that on my Facebook today because I've done a video before I did this one with you. Don't be scared off, is what I'll say to you by all this stuff that's coming. A lot of it you're already doing. Um, property is always a good investment as long as you do your due diligence, but set those targets before you start. Say to yourself, right, here's my 10 criteria, and any investment has to have seven of them. And if it meets them, do it. Stop finding reasons why not go for it. If you've got the investment capital, stop finding reasons why not. And if there are mistakes that are made, you've just paid for a training session. That's all it is, and it's cost you. That is, you've just paid for a training session, you won't make that mistake again. And this is where being in part of a network like we've got with yourself, other investors that are part of the group, and other investment opportunities and the networking events that you can go to, surround yourself by other people of the right mindset, and you'll be you'll do well.

SPEAKER_01

I think the great advice, as always, but you know, the other thing is people try and over overspend, if you like. So you might have a budget and they try and spend that whole budget of that that they've got. And I always say, well, no, no, no, look in areas or look for properties that are slightly below it. So if the you know something does happen, you've got a bit of a contingency there to be able to use, you're not all of a sudden in in the in the doo-doo, so to speak, because you've spent everything that you've got and you've got no more money. And I think there's that mindset that a lot of people say, Well, I got I got 250,000 pounds, so what can I buy for 250,000 pounds? It's just you're looking at it the wrong way, aren't you? Yes.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's a different phrase we've both learnt over the years is if you've offered something and you don't feel uncomfortable, cheeky, embarrassed by the amount you're bidding, you're bidding too high.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Um, the key thing is, and I'll always say this: if you're going to be, if it's an on-the-market deal, go into an estate agent and say, right, here's my proof of funds, my decision in principle, my proof of ID, my proof of address. You've got everything there to facilitate an offer being accepted. And sit there and put your offer forward to them. Say, I want to put this offer. Can you give the vendor a call now for me and see if he'll accept it? Put them in an awkward blooming position. Make it difficult for them and say, Look, I want to get this resolved, and you want to get a sale, I want to get the purchase. So let's see what we can do. And put them in that position and get the deal closed if you can do it. Don't be afraid to do that, or even book an appointment to come in and see them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stops all the to-in-and-froing, doesn't it? You know, oh, they get back to you and everything. And at least you can see that your offers have been put there. And they can even say, Well, they, you know, you don't you are putting people on the spot and everything. If they need a bit of time to think, they need a bit of time to think. But at least they can, like you said there, great advice again. They can see that you're serious. You know, we're going to go through with this because we've got everything, we're ready to move. You know, don't forget to tell on that part. But if you just put your offers across on the phone or by your email, you don't know what they're saying and what they're not saying, do you?

SPEAKER_00

No, exactly. And how quickly they'll do that and whether they're waiting for somebody else to come in and offer another bill. I I did a VM with somebody else, might be able to get a bit more. No, close them there and then.

SPEAKER_03

So always follow up when you get a name. You know, if you walk away at the start, always follow up and keep track of that until it's actually sale completed.

SPEAKER_00

If someone else has accept had an offer accepted and said, right, well, keep me up to date if there's anything else, and then keep an eye. You can, as you can do on different portals, you can actually track a property, you can put a heart on it, so you can monitor

Sales Falling Through Solicitors And Speed

SPEAKER_00

it.

SPEAKER_03

Well, yeah, one in three sales are falling through.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. I was going to say how you find it in a market in your area at the moment.

SPEAKER_03

I think nationally, about one in three are falling through. And I'd say, yeah, we know.

SPEAKER_00

Far as the marketplace, we're seeing more and more investors now come into the marketplace, but we're also seeing more investors that purchased 20, 25 years ago that are now at an age where they want to retire and enjoy their retirement and offload properties. That's what we're seeing. So being able to facilitate that, so we obviously we do the off-market sales, we just start doing auctions, but a couple of property sales that go through in auctions or on-the-market sales, whatever they want to go down the route of. And it's been, yes, it's been popular. And we're seeing new people come into the marketplace. And this is where when you're an investor, knowing a little bit more prior to just jumping feed first would really, really help, as we've found with some offers that have come in. But one thing also to prepare for is your solicitors. Obviously, searches typically are taking six, seven weeks. So you then think to yourself, okay, well, offer is accepted, you know, memory of sales gone out, all the different contracts backwards and forward, you're probably talking seven or eight weeks. Then you've then got inquiries backwards and forwards. So three months would be perfect, you know, in a realistic in a realistic world. And basically, auctions you can do in 28 days, they're wonderful.

unknown

Love that.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, 58, 56 days if it's with a mortgage. But uh yes, being on the back of the solicitor, I'd recommend do do do, you know, how are things going, how things are progressing. Get dates and times at which certain progress is being made, uh, contact them again. They you're they're working for you. Keep on top of them. That will certainly help. Because if there's little thing, for example, we've had a sale that has been sat there for a little while. So, what's going on? What's going on? And eventually there's this. Well, we can't get any answers from the vendor.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. What were the questions? Did they get any fencer certificates when they installed new windows? They didn't install new windows when they refurbished it. Okay, that's that one done. Can we get the EICR certificate? Okay, the electric installation, no problems at all. And what was the other question that they asked? I can't remember what it was.

SPEAKER_03

Boiler service.

SPEAKER_00

Boiler service, map. And I was just, yeah, the boiler warranty. Or no, there was no, it's the building rates pass for the boiler install. So you go on the commentary planning map, there's the information job done, right? Got the answer. Didn't do any windows, didn't do any window installations, the no fencer certificate, and here's the ICF. Done!

SPEAKER_03

But why have you waited? So yeah. I'm gonna come up with another three questions. Yes. So I I never understand why it's not one long list.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, give me a long list, we'll go get it all sorted, and there you go, job done. Um, but hounding your solicitors, whether you or your estate agent, um, or the buyer is the vendor, whatever it is, just make sure that they're as progressed as possible. Because they're dealing with many cases. So if you'll just make sure you're at the front of their mind all the time.

SPEAKER_03

Don't skimp on costs, maybe this list for us.

SPEAKER_00

Oh no, don't go one where you oh you're on the phone waiting.

SPEAKER_03

You see it sometimes, yeah, when we're like, oh, what's this? Here's your solicitor, and you see the name, you think.

SPEAKER_00

Because it just happened like recently speaking to somebody and they're asking for all this information. He says you don't legally need no, we need that information for the for legally for the cell. No, you don't, and then you then speak somebody. Oh, I need to get that to my manager, and then my manager will then tell me what I need to do, and you're just like you can tell our frustrating.

SPEAKER_01

Can it brilliant brilliant? Well, thank

Events Consultations And Closing Advice

SPEAKER_01

you as always for your knowledge and your skills, and also for giving us a heads up with these things. Fascinating facts on the hot spots around the UK at the moment, and of course, the decent home standard. What have you guys got coming up? Anything coming up there soon?

SPEAKER_00

We're planning on in the focus of planning a face-to-face, potentially investing coventry and an array of other things in September, October time. We're just investigating different locations for that one. And have you got any webinars?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, our next webinar, I should have the date should nine, is I believe of somewhere the first of July.

SPEAKER_00

But we'll update you on that one next month when it's all website and everything all ready and planned to go. We'll be just firming a few things up for our next couple of webinars and also a face-to-face one, which we'll do probably once a year as well.

SPEAKER_01

Nice, nice. Sounds good, sounds good. Always interested in that to keep us updated.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Brilliant stuff, brilliant stuff. So, any final thoughts before we wrap this one up?

SPEAKER_00

No, we're all good. If you're looking at investing in Coventry, third spot, two years on the truck. Hey, hey, hey. Second in England, second in England, there you go. Yeah, yeah, there's another step up the ladder.

SPEAKER_03

As the sky goes blue, the blue should be too many Scottish people, which is the sky blue city.

SPEAKER_00

The sky, the blue sky, the blue sky's come out, um, sky blue city. No, basically, we've got I'll send you over the link. Basically, someone can basically book a call in our diary. Free. You know, if they're looking at investing in the city, free consultation they can have with myself or Alison. If it's investment, it's me, if it's legislation is Alison. But we'll send you over the link that gives you access to our diary to book that call. Love to speak to you.

SPEAKER_01

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03

And I'd just say, like, legislation-wise, don't fear it. You know, get to know it and it will help you with all your deals. You'll know, you'll start seeing the really motivated landlords that are not going to be meeting with this. So that's your in. And yeah, don't fear it. Just make sure you're aware of it, you know what's coming, and different areas. So England rules are different to Scotland, different to Wales. So make sure you know your rules. I only really talk about England, that's the area we operate in. And also local authorities will have different rules as well, especially around HMOs. So just make sure the area that you're in, you know the rules.

unknown

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Great point there as well. Just on top of that, because if you are looking at purchasing a property that was a buy to let, and maybe you can see for yourself because you're knowledgeable now, you know, in your decent home standard, you can knock the price down on the grounds of saying I've got to spend X amount on this.

SPEAKER_00

All day long. And also, if you've got an Article 4 City, when did it come in? Has it got the planning permission in place? Are you going to have grandfather rights? Has it got a license in place? If it didn't have a license in place by that point, then you're not going to get a new license. You're not going to get planning permission. There's a reason why the council bought that in. All those sorts of things as well.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Sorry, that'll be next session. Yeah. Thank you ever so much for your time today, guys. It's always great to see you as well. And I look forward to seeing you both again next month. So I'm sure you'll all agree that was an amazing session. Um so much knowledge, so much wisdom in there as well. And if you want to stay up to date, making sure that you are the property professional of 2026, which you should be, then do check out www.thepropertyunleashed.com. Nearly forgot my own website then, for more information. We have free tools and resources to help you there. I obviously have ETA, our education to action community, where we have our expert panels, i.e. Allison, Anthony, Rupin, we have James, we have a different professionals in different sectors that come and help us, including our very own mortgage update and advisor as well. So if you want to keep your finger on the pulse and you want assistance from myself and my power team of experts, then come and have a look at joining education to action. It's a monthly subscription and it's a very, very modest monthly subscription as well. In fact, it's only £97 a month for full trainings on rent to rent, service to accommodation, HMOs, refurbishments, assisted sales, purchase lease options, deal sourcing, you name it, you get access to all the skills and the training that you want, plus us. So check that out at thepropertyunleash.com. And if you need any other further help, then do feel free to. Reach out to us. I look forward to you joining me in the next episode very, very soon. We've got some more great guests, some more great topics to talk about. And of course, get out there, build your property business to something that you're proud of. I look forward to seeing you again soon. Take care. Bye for now.