A further of the five attractive aspects of making an investment in London is related to the property rental regulations in force in England.

– General Provisions:

A first note that, as a substantial difference with Italy, is that rents are expressed in weeks.

For example, a flat rented at 400 GBP per week does not mean that you receive a monthly rent of 1,600 GBP, but rather a rent of 1,733 GBP. This result is derived from the weekly rent multiplied by the number of weeks in a year, i.e. fifty-two.

–Contracts:

The legislation does not place any limit on the maximum duration, but only on the minimum duration.

Thus real estate may be leased for a minimum duration of one year and with certain characteristics. One of these, where the parties agree, is inherent in the break clause.

A break clause means the possibility of both parties to terminate the lease before its natural expiry. The exercise of the break clause is contemplated in the contract itself, where the terms for which either party may exercise it are set out; this clause allows for greater flexibility in the contract signed between the parties.

–Rent payments:

Rents are values derived from the supply/demand relationship of the property rental market, as are rent updates. That is, these rents are not linked to consumer index updates, but remain unchanged throughout the term of the contract.

When the lease expires, the rent will possibly be renegotiated as a result of the market value at that time.

In the lease there are certain obligations and limitations for the parties. The landlord is obliged to carry out all ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, where necessary, to the rented property.

The tenant may not make any changes to the property, such as decorating the walls or affixing furnishings to the walls.

–Features:

It follows from this that the landlord, if he does not live near the property or due to lack of time, will have to mandate the management of the property. The manager will be in charge of rent collection, maintenance and all related activities.

The performance of this mandate shall be governed by special management contracts for an economic consideration. This fee paid by the lessor becomes a 100 % deductible cost for the purposes of determining the taxable income on which the tax due to the Treasury (HMRC) is calculated.

Another feature is that within the rent any condominium charges (service charge) are contemplated, i.e. included. Both the condominium expenses charged to the tenant and those charged to the landlord are deductible elements in their entirety.

–Conclusions:

It should also be noted that in England there are no taxes on the ownership of real estate.

The full legislation governing property leases in England, including all its implementations to date, can be found at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/