It’s easy to run scared from buy to let. It had as much bad publicity as any other sector in 2008/9 and at D&G we’ve been managing all sorts of rented properties for over 50 years.

 There may be only a handful of mortgage products out there but perhaps no fewer by proportion than there were for ordinary purchases. As usual with any investment sector there’s always a degree of overshoot on the downside, as there is often with upside too, and it’s probably true that prices an in recovery mode at the moment, even if it’s a bit too soon to say it’s going to last. 

I’ve just had a call from a recommendation. He currently lives in E11 and knows what he wants to spend but not where he wants to live. These days central London, even prime central London, can embrace areas as diverse as Hampstead, Chelsea, Nottinghill Gate, Earls Court, Kensington, Wandsworth, Islington, Mayfair to name but a few….you get the idea. For anybody thinking of moving the main thing they need is to talk to someone, and preferably someone who knows what they’re talking about. His first question was about how long my team had been together and did they know the area.

I was on my way to work this morning hammering round Hyde Park Corner on my sixteen year old BMW when I happened upon something called a Kawasaki ZX10. Now this is one of the fastest bikes in the world, vivid green and a quite a handful, but the rider was wobbling about all over the place and I made short work of riding round him on the bend. As soon as we got to the straight he opened the throttle and left me for dead with a glance in his mirror. I drove away with my wife swatting me about the head having forgotten momentarily she was there. 

The budget was so dull I can’t be bothered to talk about it. 

You go into a block to view a flat. You like the block and the porter seems a cut above. The agent swishes you up to the front door, you pause and notice the rich dark blue of the paint and the clink of keys. You’re about to be ushered in to the flat you finally feel sure is the one. Then you glance right and there’s a service door surrounded by yellow and black tape, along with a skull and crossbones and a sign saying “beware asbestos”. Other than persuading my salespeople to put on some weight and stand in front of the sign my hands are tied and even though there’s one pipe with a smidgen of the unpleasant fibres in it it’s effectively killing any chance of a sale stone dead.