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Lou Valdini

Director

3384 Profile Views

About Me

Not much to say!

my expertise in the industry

'Amateur' landlord for 18 years. Director of 1 RTM company. Good understanding of the issues faced by 'small' landlords in the private rented sector.

Lou's Recent Activity

We need more apprenticeships, and more women in the trades is to be encouraged, if it's what they want. The big 'BUT' is, pregnant women on a site, up a ladder, on a roof...

From: Lou Valdini 07 March 2022 12:42 PM

Your right, but the situation is actually worse. The vast majority of new builds are apartments, predominantly in our major cities. Councils (predominantly Labour) have allowed developers to abnegate their responsibilities for s.106 and social housing for spurious reasons, and those extremely expensive apartments are then sold to offshore investors. The rents are extortionate and many are left empty to appreciate in value or let on e.g. airbnb, yet the councils don't hit them with equally extortionate council taxes., and when they are sold, the government doesn't what should be a considerable chunk of CGT. I won't even get into the massive impact illegal migrants and 'real' refugees is having.

From: Lou Valdini 02 March 2022 10:49 AM

If the objective is to attempt to address the housing crisis, why only 20%-30% for accessible rent... and from a staunchly Labour council?

From: Lou Valdini 07 February 2022 14:05 PM

Maybe this is an answer to BTL for those 'smaller' landlords who recognise the potential from 'property' but have seen their income devastated by consequences of the lockdown, and don't have the reserves to ride it out.

From: Lou Valdini 09 November 2021 15:48 PM

I have a 2-bed apartment now empty. It has always let without voids for the 11 years since new, and some years ago we won the RTM and keep service charges low, but I have decided to sell. I hadn't considered an auction before now. How do I find out what is and, more importantly, what isn't selling well? I can see why development sites sell well; they always will. But what about flats (without 'cladding' issues)?

From: Lou Valdini 20 August 2021 15:44 PM

I would add, again contrary to what @jasonmorrello says, ground rents are not "largely nominal and fixed in a lease". Leasehold law has allowed developers to set high ground rents which can double at e.g. every 5 years over the term of the lease... £350 becomes £700 becomes £1400 becomes £2800... after just 15 years. If you thought compound interest was magic, this is mystical... and obscene! Also, if the annual ground rent is over £1000 in London (not unusual) or £250 outside London (again, not unusual for newer builds) the Lease effectively becomes an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, and as currently provided for in the Housing Act 1988, arrears of rent (including ground rent) provide a mandatory ground for possession. So, if you thought you were buying your home; wrong! You are still renting, but paying a mortgage and every other cost, and you can actually have your home stolen from beneath you by your freeholder.

From: Lou Valdini 30 September 2020 13:36 PM

Contrary to what @jasonmorrello says above, this article has everything to do with leasehold tenure. Regardless of whether it is an older apartment block or the modern apartment block mentioned (or houses) leasehold is archaic legalised extortion with the law heavily weighted in favour of freeholders, and has been exploited by developers to earn obscene bonuses and ground rent investors over the past 15 years or so, at the expense of leaseholders. Hence the scandal we see today #NationalLeaseholdCampaign.

From: Lou Valdini 30 September 2020 13:26 PM

Today, we've just experienced the most appalling abuse of the MMOA. This was an auction by Hunters in York, run by Bambooauctions.com. The auction end time was set at 15.00 today. There were 3 bidders and the reserve had been significantly exceeded. We entered the highest bid at 15.00, and the next we knew, the end time had been increased by 4+ minutes, followed immediately by a higher bid from our competitor. The auction eventually ended at 15.09 following 2 extensions allowing that same bidder to win against us. We considered increasing our bid, but realised every time we did bid, the time would simply be extended to allow the other bidder to win, and so we walked away. This puts the MMOA into disrepute, and we will not use it again if bambooauctions.com is running it. We will submit a formal complaint to Hunters. Surely, this cannot be the norm for the MMOA.

From: Lou Valdini 01 May 2020 15:21 PM

As someone who has been in the process automation industry for nearly 30 years, and latterly RPA, I can't see where the AI is.

From: Lou Valdini 27 April 2020 16:05 PM

This will be our first foray into the MMOA world and we would benefit from any advice available. We are interested in a property just a few minutes walk away but we can't view it, and the online auction ends on 1st May. The one piece of advice you always get is... always view before bidding! I appreciate the need for social distancing, but surely they could open the front door and sit in their car while we walk to the house during our normal exercise. The auctioneers have said there are hundreds interested and if they allow one to view, they would have to allow all. I asked if they or the seller would take responsibility if there was a significant structural problem after buying, and they said no; buyer's risk! What are other auctioneers doing? More importantly, how is a bidder expected to know what to budget for any structural issues which are unlikely to show up in a [poor quality] video?

From: Lou Valdini 25 April 2020 12:35 PM

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