28 guides. The whole journey.
Plain English, verified against official sources, updated as the rules change.
Buying a home
Start at 01 if you've never done this before, it walks the whole process.
Buying your first home, step by step
This is the whole process in England, from "can I actually afford this?" to keys in hand. It's written for first-time buyers and new investors buying a whole property in their own name, and it assumes you're smart but ha
02How much deposit do you actually need?
This one's for UK first-time buyers and anyone buying their first investment property in their own name. The honest answer is "5% gets you in, but every extra 5% makes the mortgage cheaper", and there's free government m
03Stamp duty rates 2026/27, explained with real numbers
If you're buying a home or your first buy-to-let in England or Northern Ireland, stamp duty is probably the biggest single fee you'll pay, and the one most people get wrong when budgeting. This guide gives you the curren
04Freehold vs leasehold (and the traps)
Buying your first home or first buy-to-let in England or Wales? This is the legal distinction that can quietly cost you tens of thousands. Here's what freehold and leasehold mean, the traps ranked by pain, and where the
05What your solicitor actually does (conveyancing)
You've had an offer accepted. Now a solicitor takes over and, from the outside, nothing seems to happen for three months. This guide is for first-time buyers and new investors in England and Wales who want to know what's
06Which survey to get (and what to do with it)
This one's for first-time buyers and new investors who've had an offer accepted (step 7 of the first-home guide) and are now staring at the word "survey" wondering which one to pay for. Short version: the survey is the o
14Making an offer (and negotiating it properly)
You've found a place you want. Now comes the bit where most first-time buyers, new landlords and new investors leave thousands on the table, or lose the property entirely by playing it wrong. This guide covers the Englan
15What a house actually costs to run (the number nobody budgets)
This one's for first-time buyers, new landlords and anyone whose budget spreadsheet has one line on it that says "mortgage". The monthly payment your broker quotes you is usually only 60 to 70% of what the house actually
25Lease length and extensions: the 80-year cliff, explained
How many years are left on the lease is the single most important number on a leasehold flat: it decides whether lenders will touch it, what it resells for, and how much putting it right will cost. This guide covers how
28Remortgaging when your fix is ending: the six-month plan
This one's for homeowners, and landlords, whose fixed rate ends in the next year. Do nothing and your lender moves you onto its standard variable rate, which on average costs about one and a half points more than a new f
Investing
Your first buy-to-let: the honest version
This is for UK first-time landlords who've heard property is a good earner and want the real numbers before committing a deposit. No hype, no shortcuts. Just how a buy-to-let actually works in July 2026, including the bi
08Yield: the number everyone quotes and most get wrong
If you're looking at your first buy-to-let, "yield" is the number every sourcer, agent and Instagram guru will throw at you. This guide is for UK first-time investors who want to know what that number actually means, why
09Buying at auction without getting burned
Auctions look like the cheat code for buying property: fast, transparent, sometimes genuinely cheap. This guide is for first-time buyers and new investors who've watched a few episodes of Homes Under the Hammer and are t
10Below market value: what BMV really means
This one's for first-time buyers and new investors who keep seeing "BMV deal, £30k instant equity!" and wondering if it's real. Short answer: sometimes. Long answer: only if you know what "market value" actually means, a
13HMO licensing, explained before you buy one
HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, shared houses rented by the room) earn more per property than a standard single let. That's why every first-time investor eventually looks at one. This guide is for anyone in England
17Is buy-to-let still worth it in 2026? The honest maths
This one is for anyone sitting on the fence: landlords wondering whether to sell up, and new investors wondering whether the boat has sailed. We are going to weigh the genuine negatives against the genuine positives, the
19Buy-to-let mortgages explained: ICR, stress tests and why deals get declined
This guide is for anyone applying for their first buy-to-let mortgage, or anyone who got declined and wants to know why. We cover how lenders actually decide what to lend you, with the real maths behind it. If you have n
20Do I need planning permission for an HMO? Article 4 explained
This one is for anyone thinking about buying a house to run as an HMO, or converting a buy-to-let they already own. Whether you need planning permission depends almost entirely on one thing: whether the property sits ins
Landlord rules & tax
Guide 22 is the hub, every date on one timeline, updated when the rules move.
New landlord rules: every change to 2030, dated
The rules for private landlords in England are changing faster than at any point in decades: the Renters' Rights Act, a national landlord database, quarterly digital tax reporting, new tax rates on rent, reformed EPCs an
11The Renters' Rights Act: what landlords actually need to know
This is for first-time landlords in England trying to work out what actually changed on 1 May 2026, and what's still coming. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 became law on 27 October 2025, but it switched on in phases, and h
12Every certificate and check a landlord legally needs
You've bought a place, you've found a tenant, and now you need the paperwork that keeps you legal. This is the full compliance checklist for letting a single residential property in England as of July 2026: what each thi
16Section 21 is gone: how to actually end a tenancy in 2026
This guide is for landlords in England who need to end a tenancy now that Section 21 has been abolished. It covers the transition deadlines for old notices, the Section 8 grounds that actually matter to a small landlord,
18The PRS landlord database: what it is and how to register
Every private landlord in England will have to register themselves and every rental property on a new national database, or lose the right to evict through the courts. Registration opens region by region from 15 December
21EPC C by 2030: what the Warm Homes Plan means for landlords
If you let residential property in England or Wales, the energy efficiency rules are about to get a lot tougher. This guide covers the law as it stands today, the confirmed government plan for EPC C by October 2030, and
23Section 13 rent increases: the 2026 rules, both sides
Since 1 May 2026 there is exactly one lawful way to raise the rent on a normal private tenancy in England: a Section 13 notice. Rent review clauses in contracts are void, verbal agreements do not count, and the process n
24Making Tax Digital for landlords: the real rules
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is the biggest change to how landlords deal with HMRC since self assessment began: digital records, four quarterly updates a year through software, and a penalty system that punishes lat
27Landlord income tax, explained with real numbers
If you let property in your own name, alone or with someone else, your rental profit is added to your other income and taxed like wages, with a few landlord-only twists that make the bill bigger than most people expect.
26Capital gains tax when you sell a rental property
If you're selling a buy-to-let, or a home you used to live in and later let out, capital gains tax is usually the biggest bill on the sale, and it lands fast: HMRC wants it within 60 days of completion. This guide covers