Seven years ago I bought a residential property in the north of England with the aim of doing a refurbishment and then selling. I thought I had bought well, and the local surveyor who inspected the property on behalf of a lender agreed with my assessment.

Had I followed my original plan to sell onwards I would have benefited after tax with a modest profit of around £10-15,000, however I decided to keep it and to let it out to a local family.

Looking back now that was without doubt a wise decision as I have had regular monthly income and the property has risen quite considerably in value, partly due to its coastal location.

Inside this edition we have two articles, including a very useful piece from Adam Lawrence on page 39, which address the theme of ‘should we buy, sell or hold’ this year and beyond. I am sure many of you are carefully assessing what the future may hold for your property businesses, given what we have experienced since March 2020 with the pandemic.