Mortgages Uncovered

Here are some tips to ensure your investment stays afloat.

Offset your mortgage interest repayments

Landlords can cut the tax they pay on their rental income by claiming a deduction for making interest repayments, however, you may not claim these deductions on repayments made towards the capital amount it is strictly on interest only repayments.

Claim all tax deductible expenses

Make sure you claim all expenses back and check what is a tax deductible cost such as painting and property maintenance and also letting agent fees are deductible from your taxable income. If you pay council tax, water, gas and electricity these are also deductible from your taxable income but obviously not if your tenant is paying these bills for the property.

Make your property a holiday let home

For holiday letting you can claim up to £50k tax relief on maintenance and renovations to improve the property as a holiday letting home. This is not applicable to buy to let mortgaged properties.

You could qualify for furnishings finance

There are some companies offering finance for investors who have committed to buying off-plan but have run short of money for furnishing their properties due to rising mortgage costs.
Some companies such as Style Counsel Interiors will grand landlords 12 months leeway for finding money for furniture or alternatively will arrange staged payments. If you are able to repay your loan within a year you will not be charged interest. For a loan over 36 months a rate of 9.9% is available.